MEMORANDUM
TO:

Mayor and City Council

FROM :

April Long, P.E., Stormwater Manager

THRU:

Trish Aragon, P.E., City Engineer
Scott Miller, Capital Asset Director

DATE OF MEMO:

May 27, 2016

MEETING DATE:

June 6, 2016

RE:

Upper Roaring Fork River Management Plan Project, Professional Services
Contract Approval for Lotic Hydrological.

SUMMARY: Staff recommends that Council approves the contract for Lotic Hydrological in the
amount of $183,234.00 for professional services for the Upper Roaring Fork River Management Plan
Project.
PREVIOUS COUNCIL ACTION: In July 2015, Council identified the development of a River
Management Plan as one of its Top Ten Goals. The goal states: “Develop a River Management Plan
that seeks to restore and maintain the health of the Roaring Fork River as it flows through Aspen.”
BACKGROUND: The Roaring Fork River (River) is a high-quality mountain stream upstream and
downstream of city limits. However, there are significant impacts and impairments to the River within
the City limits and this stretch has been listed on the State’s 303d List for having impaired aquatic life.
Several studies suggest three potential impacts that are causing an impairment to the aquatic life and
the macroinvertebrate population:
1. Pollution from urban stormwater runoff.
2. Degraded or removed riparian areas.
3. Lack of water during critical/dry periods.
The City of Aspen (the City) has worked diligently and innovatively to incorporate stormwater
management techniques into the City’s parks and right-of-ways, policies, and operations to reduce the
impact of the City’s stormwater runoff on the River within the City limits. This approach has been
successful in preventing large amounts of pollutants from reaching the River. City Council has
decided that it is time to focus improvements in the other two areas of concern – riparian areas and
critical flows.
The City of Aspen, in partnership with Pitkin County, plans to study the upper Roaring Fork River,
from its headwaters to a point just below the confluence with Maroon Creek to determine river health,
community values and expectations, and river management possibilities to manage flows during
periods of critical need in ways that improve water quality, river health, ecological health, recreational

 opportunities, and riparian habitat. Stream Management Plans like this are a high priority in the
Colorado Water Plan. They are an action item in both the Roaring Fork Watershed Plan and the
Colorado River Basin Implementation Plan. The City and the County hope to be a role model for other
communities and to demonstrate how collaboration can improve the health of a watershed.
The ultimate goal for the project is to develop operational, management, and physical options that
improve the health of the river while respecting each stakeholder’s rights and interests. Implicit to this
primary goal are the following:
• Convene a group of experts familiar with the Upper Roaring Fork River to identify problems,
constraints, and stream management goals for various sections of the river.
• Form a stakeholder group to discuss and approve stream management goals suggested by
experts.
• Identify stream management techniques or projects (targets) that can achieve these goals.
• Run scenarios to see how effective these techniques or projects are at meeting goals.
• Weigh the effectiveness of techniques or projects with the feasibility (e.g. legal feasibility,
financial feasibility, physical feasibility, etc.)
• Decisions regarding goals, metrics, scenario planning, management and projects will be
reached through consensus of the stakeholder group.
DISCUSSION: Proposals were received from five consultants listed below:
AECOM
Lotic Hyrdological
SWCA
Western Water and Land
Wright Water Engineers, Inc.
A team of eight, representing City and County staff and one outside third-party reviewer, reviewed the
proposals and narrowed the selection down to the top three consulting teams. After interviewing the
top three teams, the selection committee agreed upon a consulting team led by Lotic Hydrological
(Lotic) out of Carbondale to complete this scope. This team was selected based on its expertise in the
subject matter, experience with similar and relevant projects, understanding of the project and of
Aspen’s desired approach, and their impressive answers to the interview questions. Lotic
demonstrated a more comprehensive understanding of the services the City and County were
requesting, a better ability to deliver understandable analysis, a facilitating group that better
encompassed the City’s vision for the process, and have recently completed a stream management plan
on the Crystal River.
The fee for Lotic Hydrological to complete the scope as presented in Exhibit B of Attachment B is
$183,234.00. To plan for contingency, the project is estimated to cost less than $200,000. Pitkin
County is entering into an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with the City to jointly participate in
the project, share the results, and fund half of this amount ($100,000). A draft of the IGA is included
as Attachment C.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: Staff intends to use stormwater funds dedicated and approved for
this Project by City Council in 2016 (Acct. # 160.94.95712.86001)

 RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that Council approves the contract with Lotic
Hydrological, as discussed above.
CITY MANAGER COMMENTS:

Attachment A: Resolution
Attachment B: Agreement for Professional Services (between the City of Aspen and Lotic
Hydrological) includes Scope of Work and Fee Proposal
Attachment C: Intergovernmental Agreement between Pitkin County and City of Aspen