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more photosA consultant's report released by the Bend Park & Recreation District offers several options for modifying the footbridge and spillway on the Deschutes River downstream of the Colorado Avenue Bridge in Bend to improve safety for those floating the river.
Dean Guernsey / The Bulletin file photo
Will you one day be able to float this?
The recommended proposal includes a smooth chute for casual floaters, white water for more adventurous types and fish habitat
By Kate Ramsayer / The Bulletin
Published: October 27. 2009 4:00AM PSTA white-water play area and a safe floating route over the spillway at the Colorado Avenue Dam could cost $1.72 million, according to a new report prepared for the Bend Park & Recreation District.
And although district officials don't yet have the money lined up for the potential improvements, they and others said they hope finalizing a plan will help line up funding possibilities.
The report, released Friday, outlines five different options consultants developed that would overhaul the dam, just north of The Old Mill District.
And it recommends one option, which would include a smooth chute over the spillway for those floating on inner tubes and air mattresses, a more challenging white-water path for paddlers that drops between three pools, and an area set aside as more natural fish habitat.
Other options contain just a smooth-passage route and habitat, a three-pool option and habitat, or different configurations of the routes.
The park district is holding an open house Thursday evening for people to learn more about the proposal and provide comments, before the district's board considers a final plan at a later meeting.
The idea for creating safe passage over the Colorado Dam started several years ago, when the park district studied the possibility of a continuous paddle trail along the Deschutes River within Bend, said Bruce Ronning, director of planning and development with the district. The Colorado Dam was at the top of the list of obstacles — primarily because of safety concerns in the area, he said.
A woman drowned at the spillway in 2006, and a Bend Elks player drowned nearby in 2005.
“It made sense to look at the improved safe passage of the Colorado Dam, but also the opportunity for a white-water play park there,” Ronning said.
Consultants with a Boulder, Colo., firm came up with a draft of several options for a revamped spillway in April, Ronning said. Based on public comments, the consultants revised the ideas for their recent draft, which also includes an option that scrapped the white-water path.
The consultants also attached cost estimates to some of the options, and found that the option with a white-water path, along with the smoother route, costs about 11 percent more than the smooth-route-only alternative, Ronning said.
The Colorado Dam project is not currently a top funding priority for the district, he said, noting that it's in the district's second tier of projects. The district has spent about $100,000 on the project planning so far.
Neither the park district nor the dam's owner — William Smith Properties — has committed funding for the project, Ronning said.
“The district has a long list of capital needs and projects, and on an annual basis the board, along with staff and the budget committee, prioritize that list,” Ronning said. “Right now the list is much longer than the available funding sources.”
But one of the reasons the dam project ended up in the second tier is there was no definitive plan, said Don Horton, executive director of the park district.
After the district board has agreed on what the improvements should be and learned more about the associated costs, the project could become a higher funding priority, he said.
“That will be a board decision, but before it was difficult for them to put it at the top of the list because we didn't know what the solutions were to fix the safety problem,” Horton said.
“I think the reason why the board wanted to do the study in the first place is we recognize there is a hazard here, and we felt we needed to be a part of finding out what the solution is.”
The Bend Paddle Trail Alliance, which has been working to develop the Deschutes Paddle Trail, is in favor of the options that include both an easy way down and a play area, said Karl Koenig with the group.
“When you're going into a river and doing that much working, doing just the flume (smooth route) without the additional recreation opportunity doesn't make that much sense,” he said, “especially since it's only 11 percent more.”
The paddle trail group also wants to make sure that any final option includes some eddies or slow water on the safe-bypass route, so boaters can safely paddle upriver.
The organization is planning to help raise funds for the Colorado Dam project, Koenig said. But it needs to have a plan in hand before it starts.
The dam's owner, Bill Smith, said his company just wants to ensure that the osprey nest near the dam is not disturbed.
He's looked at plans and has provided comments, he said, but the company will not help pay for it.
“We've done our share for the river and the parks in Bend,” Smith said, noting projects to clean up the river and its banks, the public paths through The Old Mill and access to the river and parks in the area.
At the Thursday meeting, the park district hopes to get specific comments on the different options presented, Ronning said, and from there the board will consider the different options at a meeting later this year. One option was ruled out because it didn't leave enough habitat, while another isn't a contender because it doesn't keep experienced paddlers and floaters separated.
All of the options involve reconstructing the footbridge over the Deschutes River just downstream of the Colorado Avenue Bridge, to allow people and boats to pass under, he said.
And all options also include building a footpath under the Colorado Avenue Bridge on the right side, facing downstream, and building a path on the left side for people who don't want to float down the chute to bypass it on foot.
The plans still aren't finalized, he said, and once the board picks an option, more engineering work is needed — something that is included in the estimated price tag.
Kate Ramsayer can be reached at 541-617-7811 or at kramsayer@bendbulletin.com.
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