ALAMOSA — During Wednesday night’s meeting of the Alamosa City Council, a motion expressing support for the Alamosa Riverfront Project passed by unanimous vote. 

While the vote to approve took no more than a couple of minutes, the project the motion supports is large in scope and of enormous value to fish and wildlife, farmers hoping to efficiently access their water rights, those people of Alamosa yet to discover or longing to connect with the river and the health of the Rio Grande River itself, the lifeblood of the San Luis Valley.  

The project originated with the Rio Grande Headwaters Restoration Project (RGHRP), a non-profit created to, in their words, “restore and conserve the historical functions and vitality of the Rio Grande Basin in Colorado.” 

As the organization has taken on the health of the river that runs about 200 miles through the basin, they recognized it is encountering significant challenges in its passage through Alamosa. 

The project is a collaborative effort between RGHRP and Alamosa’s Parks and Recreation Department along with SLVGO!, SLV Water Conservancy District and the Rio Grande Farm Park.  While the larger vision is to improve overall river health as well as preserve riparian habitat, improve drought resistance and replace an aging irrigation ditch diverting water off the Rio Grande, the project also aims to make the river easier and safer for people to access.  

That is where the goals of Alamosa Parks and Recreation intersect with the larger project as the 2017-2018 Comprehensive Plan for the City of Alamosa included “Activating the Rio Grande Corridor” as the department’s top priority, according to Andy Rice, director of Parks and Recreation.  

With that in mind, Wednesday night’s presentation to council largely focused on access to the river from Cole Park, the stretch of the river that is within Alamosa city limits.  

As described by Heather Sanchez, Alamosa city manager, the project calls for a new river-right take out location at Cole Park that will complement the river-left take out located at the State Avenue Bridge. It also includes a pedestrian underpass for the levee trail under Highway 160.  

As was reported in the Valley Courier, there have also been two meetings with the public to solicit feedback on the project.  

“What we heard overwhelmingly from the public,” Sanchez says, “was that, if we moved the levee into the park by about 70 feet, we can make the incline into the river more gradual, which makes it ADA accessible. We could also put some jetties in there so people can interact with the river more easily.” 

Although concerns have been expressed about the move causing the loss of several mature Cottonwoods and grassy areas in the park, moving the levee is needed to improve flood conveyance and create more of a beach type landscape.   

Based on that feedback, engineers are already working on the design but “before [Parks and Recreation] told them to go ahead,” Sanchez says, “they needed to make sure council knew what was going on with Cole Park.”  

The project will probably require significant investment. RGHRP has raised over $200,000 in grants and the city has contributed $40,000 toward the design effort for the project. Given the success that both RGHP and the city have had in obtaining funding in the past, it’s anticipated that adequate funding can be raised over the next five years. 

Council’s vote indicated strong support with moving forward. 

“This project just fits in with so many things the city is doing,” Sanchez says.