- Home
- Services
- City Improvement Projects
- Westminster in the Works
- Big Dry Creek Streambank Restoration
Big Dry Creek Streambank Restoration
What's Happening Now
January 2026
Trails are now fully open along Big Dry Creek at City Park! Major streambank and floodplain work has been completed on the Big Dry Creek Streambank Restoration Project. In November 2025, crews finished pouring the final stretch of concrete along the main trail.
In addition to completing the main trail, crews constructed a wetland boardwalk, installed a shade shelter, and put up rope fencing around pollinator plants.
This concludes five years of design and construction in this area. Beginning in 2020, the City updated critical sanitary sewer infrastructure, reshaped the floodplain, upgraded City Park pond, and replaced the disc golf course. Outside of maintenance and smaller improvements, no further construction activity is planned for this area.
What's Next?
Some equipment remains as crews finish site work and complete irrigation work for the season.
Early next year, crews will install picnic tables, benches, and seating around the area.
For the next year or two, you will continue to see fencing along the trails and around the base of trees to help protect new plants as they become established. It will take several years for the plants to become established, so while they may appear sparse initially, they will eventually develop into a thriving native landscape. This growth can be described as: Sleep, creep, and leap. Over the first year, they adjust to the stress of transplanting. During the second year, they grow deep roots. By the third year, they put out canopy.
Ribbon Cutting
Thank you to the community for your patience and support throughout construction. To celebrate the completion of the project, you’re invited to a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, May 14, 2026, at City Park!
Join us for food trucks and a chance to enjoy the new and improved Big Dry Creek with neighbors and friends.
More details will be shared closer to the event date.
The City of Westminster partnered with the Mile High Flood District to improve Big Dry Creek’s water quality and flood management capabilities through City Park. Years of urban runoff have led to steep, unsafe streambanks and erosion encroaching on trails and water infrastructure. This project is addressing Big Dry Creek’s stream instability, flood management, and maintenance needs by repairing and stabilizing streambank sections
Project work includes:
- Local channel grading, stabilization, and replanting
- Vegetation management
- Trash and debris cleanup
- Weed and noxious vegetation control
- Sediment removal
- Re-vegetation
- Reconstructing or replacing grade control structures, box culverts, and retaining walls
- Installing new trails
- Constructing new water quality ponds
Project Partners
- Olsson — design engineer
- Stream Landscape Architecture — landscape architecture services
- Naranjo — civil constructor
- Western States Reclamation — landscape restoration
- Iris Mitigation – Landscape Restoration
- Colorado Water Conservation Board – Water Plan Grant
- Butterfly Pavilion – Pollinator “Flyway” design assistance
City Park
Status: Substantially complete
Timeline
- Construction: Fall 2023 through winter 2026
- Vegetation establishment and growth: Spring 2026 through 2031
During this phase, crews reconstructed sections of Big Dry Creek between W. 104th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard, near City Park and Hylands Creek.
Wadsworth Boulevard to Westcliff Parkway
Status: Substantially complete
Timeline
- Construction: Fall 2022 through spring 2023
- Vegetation establishment and growth: Summer 2023 through 2026
Tree Removal & Planting
One of the project goals was to build a healthy and thriving habitat for native plants and animals. Crews removed invasive and non-native tree species, and planted 225 native trees, hundreds of willow whips, and thousands of plants and grasses.
Tree Species
- Western Hackberry
- Narrowleaf Cottonwood
- Plains Cottonwood
- Gambel Oak
- Gam-Bur Hybrid Oak
- Chinkapin Oak
- Bur Oak
- Sensation Box Elder
- Swamp White Oak
- Espresso Coffeetree
- Rocky Mountain Juniper
- Ponderosa Pine
- Pinon Pine
Questions?
Send the project team an email or give us a call at 303-706-3406.
- Will all the trees be cut down? Will the trees be replanted?
-
The trees are being strategically removed as part of the stream bank restoration process. Trees will be replanted once work is complete and new vegetation will take time to fully establish.
- When will the disc golf course reopen?
-
We’re excited to announce the Grand Re-Opening of the City Park Disc Golf Course! After being temporarily removed for a construction project, the course has been rebuilt and refreshed, and we can’t wait to welcome players back to enjoy the updated layout.
Date: Saturday, October 25
Time: 11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Keynote Speaker: Begins at approximately 12 p.m.
Location: 10495 Sheridan Boulevard
Parking: Available just west of the Parks Operation CenterCome join us for the ribbon cutting, hear from community speakers, and be among the first to try out the new course design. Bring your friends, family, and discs — we look forward to celebrating with you!
- Will there be soft/gravel trails next to the concrete ones?
-
The City's project team is still undergoing the final design phase for the City Park segment of this project so we are still determining the trail and recreation amenities that will come at the completion of the stream bank work. At this time, our proposed trail alignment calls for a ten-foot-wide concrete trail with a parallel, attached five-foot-wide soft trail. We plan to have a public open house in July to discuss the project and that design in more detail. Join our email list to receive notifications for the open house.
- Why has the pond east of the Westin been drained?
-
This pond has been drained to prepare for upcoming construction in this area. The pond will be removed to enable construction crews to reroute Big Dry Creek through this area and reinstate a natural curvature in the creek to help slow the water, preventing erosion. A new storm water pond will be added in this area
Fish, turtles and other aquatic species were removed from the pond prior to draining the pond. The City and its contractor worked with Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) to obtain the proper permitting and procedures. Turtles and non-native fish were donated to the Colorado Gators Reptile Park in Mosca, Colorado.
- What is a water quality pond?
-
Water quality or stormwater detention ponds are shallow depressions designed to filter pollutants from stormwater runoff before the runoff enters the nearby waterways. The ponds will be dry most of the time except following rainstorms. Any water in the ponds will drain via a spillway or outlet structure over the course of several days following the storm.
Documents
Project Email Update Archive
Project Materials & Information
- Work Notice (PDF) - Mailed the first week of February
- Project Flyer - Mile High Flood District (PDF)
- Project Design Graphic - April 29, 2024 (PDF)
- Construction Updates - Naranjo Civil Construction Site
- Project Flyer - Distributed to the neighborhood nearest to Eaton Street on June 20, 2024 (PDF)
- Project Flyer- Distributed to homes on West 108th Circle and W 108th Avenue on August 9, 2024 (PDF)
- Open House Boards - Project boards presented at the Open House on September 26, 2024, at City Park Recreation Center (PDF)