Grand Junction city council reviews draft master plan for river corridor

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KJCT) - The Grand Junction City Council was presented with a draft master plan that focuses on preserving rivers while looking toward future development.

The Grand Valley River Corridor Master Plan addresses how to support natural areas along the Colorado and Gunnison rivers while accommodating growth in the Grand Valley.

The plan focuses on protecting wildlife, promoting recreation and supporting economic and developmental growth.

Hannah Holm and Joel Sholtes, members of the Grand Valley River Corridor Initiative, are spearheading the process. Their team studied 54 miles of river in the Grand Valley — 39 miles of the Colorado and 15 miles of the Gunnison.

“This river corridor brings so many important values to our community,” said Holm, who is also the director of strategic projects & partnerships for American Rivers’ southwest region. “It’s a source of our irrigation water. It’s an important recreational asset. It’s incredible habitat for a number of species.”

During their presentation, Holm and Sholtes shared two main areas along the riverfront. One was Quiet areas.

“This is going to be a more agricultural areas or state wildlife areas that don’t have a lot of intense development, don’t have a lot of people necessarily in them,” said Sholtes, who’s also an associate professor at Colorado Mesa University.

The other are active areas, which could include developments and recreation like boat ramps and parks, Sholtes said.

The team proposed a riverfront guidance area concept, which looks at streamside, intermediate and outer areas. Streamwide areas are right up along the river. The plan proposes protecting these areas. The intermediate zone, or floodway, is described as the cushion between development and sensitive habitat. The outer zone could accommodate development.

“If you’re doing a development right along the river, here are some zones you could think about where we have vegetation. This is where the bank might be eroding, so we don’t necessarily want to build right up against that and fight that battle,” Sholtes said. “And as we get farther away, then there’s going to be recommendations for what kind of vegetation do we want to support and maintain. Maybe we can have some trails there, but then let’s keep the heavy development ideally a little bit farther back.”

“So it’s sort of a guide for how to juggle all these different, sometimes competing, sometimes compatible interests in a way that we can do the most good and the least harm,” said Holm.

The master plan does not make changes to property rules and zoning but acts as a guide for future developers in the Grand Valley.

Holm, Sholtes and their team are working with Grand Junction, Fruita and Palisade to fine-tune details before a full plan is presented in the fall.

The Grand Valley River Corridor Initiative is seeking public input and will host public workshops later this summer.

“We hope to have an ongoing process where people have issues and concerns and ideas with the River Corridor can come to the River Corridor initiative, come to our meetings and be part of that process to create a river that continues working for everyone,” Sholtes said.