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<br />completion of the $800,000, 55-foot-high Kenwood Dam, 5 miles <br />southeast of Denver, near Sullivan, Colorado. Despite its apparent <br />guarantee of security, Kenwood Dam was not regarded as the complete <br />answer to flood control on Cherry Creek and was abandoned. In <br />1950, Cherry Creek Dam was constructed just upstream of the former <br />Kenwood Dam at a cost of $20 million. The dam spans 14,300 feet <br />across the creek at a height of 140 feet, and now serves the <br />community as a park and water recreation area as well as a <br />retarding barrier for floods much larger than the event of June <br />1965. Cherry Creek Dam was designed and built by the CaE to store <br />the Standard Project Flood, which is approximately equivalent to <br />the 500-year flood. The dam eliminates the flood potential from <br />385 square miles of the total drainage area of 409 square miles. <br /> <br />With the history of major flooding on the South Platte River <br />through 1933, culminating in the planning, design, and construction <br />of the Cherry Creek Reservoir in 1950, citizens of the Denver <br />metropolitan area saw the need for an additional flood-control <br />structure on the South Platte River, just downstream of the <br />confluence with Plum Creek. During the 1950s, the planning and <br />design for a flood-control reservoir were completed for Chatfield <br />Dam. At that time, however, funding was not available to initiate <br />and complete construction. The floods of 1965 changed the minds of <br />many concerning the need for the structure. The loss of 8 lives <br />and property damage assessed at $300 million in the Denver area <br />prompted the release of funds and construction began. In 1973, <br />final closure of the dam was made and the facility became capable <br />of storing tributary floodwater. All the related reservoir <br />improvements, including recreational facilities, became totally <br />operational in 1976. Chatfield Dam is located approximately 0.5 <br />mile above the Ci ty of Li ttleton corporate 1 imi ts, in Douglas and <br />Jefferson Counties. The reach of the the South Platte River lying <br />within Arapahoe County will still experience flooding from <br />tributary streams at Littleton and downstream. <br /> <br />To assist the CaE with needed flood-control measures along the 6.4 <br />miles of the South Platte River that lie adjacent to the City of <br />Littleton, in Arapahoe County, citizens of Littleton voted in 1971 <br />to provide funds to assist the CaE in implementing a mutually <br />satisfactory project for flood control (References 32 and 33). In <br />1984, the City acquired and annexed property included within the <br />100-year floodplain limit within this 2-mile reach, and plans to <br />retain the rural, open-space environment of the area. <br /> <br />On the remaining 4.4 miles of the South Platte River that are <br />located in Arapahoe County and the City of Littleton, the CaE had <br />proposed a structural solution to flood control, incorporating <br />channelization and diking. State funds have been appropriated for <br />right-of-way acquisition and construction, for the purpose of this <br />study, has been completed. The resulting channelization project <br />contains the accepted 100-year flood discharge and, therefore, this <br />segment of the river presents minimal flood hazard to the county <br />and affected communities. <br /> <br />10 <br />