Stantec seeks input from Saratoga residents

Stantec has announced they are in their preliminary stage in the Upper North Platte River restoration project. This project will impact areas of the river through the town of Saratoga.

In two separate presentations on Thursday, Stantec representatives and representatives from Wildlife Hydrology outlined their preliminary results and to gather ideas from the public for the upcoming project.

"The first reason we are always here is that there are a series of objectives within a community," said Dr. Dave Rosgen of Wildland Hydrology who has worked almost 50 years in river restoration, "It always comes back to (the community) trying to say 'can we improve our river, can we improve fish habitat, can we reduce some of our flood risk, can we protect our property and infrastructure. The are always a list of objectives that we have to listen to real close. Then we have to look at the river and look at its existing conditions, we have to look at some of its problems and to do an assessment or any evaluations."

Nathan Jean, Stantec representative and project manager of the Upper North Platte River Restoration Project, said that their goal for the meetings was to listen for additions and refinements in the projects goals and objectives. More specifically, they wish to hear input on land issues, property owner issues, fisheries concerns, bridge stability, flooding concerns and any other applicable issues.

The team has already collected data on the river, but is still not ready to progress onto physically restoring the river.

"Keep in mind that we are only in the preliminary designs," Nathan Jean said, "We need to collect more data particularly sediment data, before we can get our contract. What we want to do is guide (Saratoga residents) onto the next steps."

Stantec will collect more data when the river runs at about 5,200 cubic feet per second.

"This is basically a sketch. We want to know what what you guys are thinking so we can integrate this (project) with your concerns," Jean added.

The final plan will be presented on June 21, 2014. There will be another public meeting sometime in spring 2014 for Santec to discuss their project and progress.