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City ditch piping project: Littleton to accept easements, discuss preservation of historic flume
Summary
Littleton council received an update from Englewood on the City Ditch piping project, which would pipe roughly 2.5 miles through reaches that include Slaughterhouse Gulch Park and Littleton's maintenance yard, and heard that easements, restoration requirements and arrangements for preserving part of the historic flume will be brought back for approval.
Officials from the City of Englewood updated Littleton City Council on the City Ditch piping project and the easements and intergovernmental agreements the two cities will need before construction on reaches 3 and 4 can start.
The project matters because piping the ditch is intended to improve source-water quality, reduce operational energy and chemical use at the water treatment plant, and protect the ditch from contamination while also creating a plan to preserve the historic flume and portions of the ditch alignment, presenters said.
Brent Satterlund, Littleton public works and utilities director, introduced Englewood staff and said the project has been in planning for several years; Stephanie Ellis, project engineer for the City Ditch project, described the scope. "City Ditch is a 150 year old ditch that was built to convey water to the Denver Metro Area," Ellis said, and added that the planned work pipes four stretches totaling about 2.5 miles, with much of reaches 3 and 4 lying within Littleton city limits.
Englewood and Littleton staff outlined four documents planned for council action on July 15: (1) an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between the cities covering construction responsibilities, a tree mitigation fee (stated in the presentation as about $216,000 payable to Littleton), and preservation of a section of the historic flume; (2) temporary construction easements to allow contractor access, staging and material storage during construction; (3) permanent easements for the new pipeline alignment and restoration requirements after construction; and (4) a quitclaim deed that would release Inglewood's rights in the abandoned ditch area and transfer title to Littleton once construction and conveyance actions are finalized.
Staff described stabilization and restoration work in Slaughterhouse Gulch Park: the plan calls for slope stabilization, filling and seeding to a specified seed mix, and surface restoration standards that exclude large permanent structures and generally restore the surface to a park-like condition. Satterlund and Ellis said the agreement requires 70% vegetation growth before Littleton will accept restoration work under the permanent easement.
Council members asked about public engagement and historic preservation. Ellis said project staff have held multiple public and stakeholder meetings since 2022, met individually with adjacent property owners, and engaged historic preservation groups in both cities. Council discussed salvaging a portion of the flume; staff said one flume section will be preserved and the project will remove remaining flume pieces at an estimated demolition cost included in the project budget (presenters cited an estimate of about $75,000 for contractor demolition work).
Construction on reaches 3 and 4 is planned to begin in summer 2025 and target completion in 2026, staff said; reach 2 remains under redesign and will return to council later. Staff said they plan to discuss flume commemoration with the Historic Preservation Commission and to present the easements and IGA at the July 15 regular meeting for formal council approval.
No formal council action was taken at the study session. Staff will return with the four agreements and clarified legal language about the quitclaim deed for council consideration at the July 15 meeting.
