OMAHA, NE — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Omaha District will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, December 12, 2018 to provide an update on the Cherry Creek Dam Safety Modification Study and seek public input on necessary maintenance activities within the spillway that were identified as part of the dam safety study. The meeting will be held at the Lake House at Cherry Creek, 4800 South Dayton Street, Greenwood Village, Colorado. The location for the public meeting is inside the State Park but there will be no park entrance fees for attendees of the meeting.
The meeting will run from 6-8 p.m. with a brief presentation at 6:30 p.m. followed by an open house. “During the open house, the public will have an opportunity to talk with Corps team members about the results of the dam safety study that has been ongoing since 2015,” said Steve Butler, Chief of the Omaha District’s Dam Safety Production Center. “In addition, we would like to gather the public’s feedback on proposed spillway maintenance activities that were deemed necessary during the dam safety study process.”
In 2015, the Omaha District initiated a dam safety modification study in response to Cherry Creek Dam receiving an elevated risk rating through the USACE risk characterization process primarily because of the dam’s large downstream population and the potential for overtopping issues during an extremely rare precipitation event. A series of public scoping meetings were held in cooperation with the Denver Office of Emergency Management Homeland Security to begin development of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). After incorporating public comments and conducting detailed economic and risk analysis, the draft EIS, which recommends No Action, is now available for public comment.
Although the recommended plan is No Action, the dam safety study did identify maintenance issues with the Cherry Creek Dam spillway. Over time, sloughing of soil along the sides of the spillway has increased the spillway’s crest elevation approximately 12.5 feet and reduced its capacity to carry water. Because this has been identified as a maintenance issue, the Omaha District is pursuing a spillway cleanout project using operation and maintenance funding. The spillway project is outlined in the draft Environmental Assessment, also available for public review.
Both the draft EIS and EA can be downloaded from https://www.nwo.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Planning/Project-Reports/. Comments can be emailed to cenwo-planning@usace.army.mil or mailed to: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, CENWO-PMA-C, ATTN: Cherry Creek DSMS/EA, 1616 Capitol Avenue, Omaha, NE 68102-4901. Comments must be postmarked or received by January 12th for the Spillway Maintenance Project EA and January 28th for the Dam Safety Modification EIS.
Release no. 18-086