Boulder City Council approves eminent domain for Gregory Canyon Creek flood mitigation

Boulder City Councilmembers last week authorized city officials to seize private properties in the Gregory Canyon Creek corridor, if necessary, as part of flood mitigation efforts. The city would use eminent domain only if negotiations with property owners fail, according to a city staff memo.

Gregory Canyon Creek flows under Flagstaff Road to Boulder Creek through the Chautauqua and University Hill neighborhoods. The mitigation project, slated to begin in late 2025, is expected to cost around $19 million.

Under the plan finalized in 2015, the city needs to access portions of 22 properties along the creek to increase its capacity. Obtaining eminent domain authority, even without plans to use it, is standard practice for flood mitigation projects ahead of negotiations with property owners, the city told Boulder Reporting Lab.

“Construction of the project improvements is not expected to diminish any property owners’ property value or operation, or residents’ quality of life,” officials said in a memo to the Boulder City Council last week. “While construction impacts will occur on properties needing easements, direct flood protection benefits will also occur.”

There are more than 30 projects in the city’s flood project pipeline. A dozen were deemed the most urgent based on their potential to save lives, protect homes and other structures, and prioritize vulnerable communities, according to a new city formula that seeks to prioritize people over property. Some flood projects on the city’s list of more than 30 will be completed decades apart. The Gregory Canyon Creek plan is not considered among the most urgent under the formula but was already in the works.

The project is further along than the more controversial Upper Goose/Twomile Creek project. A $40 million project, Upper Goose Creek has faced community pushback during the design stages.