To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
From: Mark Marlowe, P.E., Director of Castle Rock Water
Title
Resolution Accepting the Conveyance of Certain Denver Basin Ground Water for Credit to the Crystal Valley Ranch Parcel 2 Water Bank
Body
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Executive Summary
Crystal Valley Ranch (CVR) Parcel 2 development is currently water short for the number of entitlements in the development. The developer is proposing to dedicate water for 246.3 single family equivalents (SFE) from property located just south of the town limits to the Town to fill some of this shortage. Town code and the Development Agreement do allow this option for overcoming a water bank short fall subject to Council approval by resolution.
In accordance with Municipal Code Section 4.04.080 - Manner of compliance, paragraph B, “At the sole discretion of the Town Council, the rights to the Denver or Arapahoe aquifers underlying properties outside the municipal limits may be accepted for credit against the calculated water demand at a rate determined by Town Council.”
A proposed Council resolution approving the dedication and acceptance of this water for credit against CVR’s Parcel 2 water bank is provided in Attachment A. The location of this water is just south of Crystal Valley Ranch as shown on Attachment B. Staff has reviewed title on this water, and we believe the title opinion provided by the water lawyer for CVR is acceptable. The Special Warranty Deeds are provided as Exhibit 1 to the Attachment A.
Key terms of the agreement include:
1. This is a one-time transfer. If the full SFE amount is not used on CVR, the water reverts to the Town and cannot be used on other developments.
2. Access to well sites for pumping water associated with the 98CW298 decree has been provided through previous easement and property dedications. This water will be credited to CVR’s water bank upon Council approval.
3. Access to water in the 00CW156 case, acceptable to the Town at Town’s sole discretion, must be provided to the Town before this water is credited to CVR’s water bank based on the proposed Council approval in this packet.
4. Acceptance of this water from Ridge Estates has no bearing on future annexation discussions regarding Ridge Estates.
History of Past Town Council, Boards & Commissions, or Other Discussions
This item was presented to the Castle Rock Water Commission on June 28, 2017, and the commission was generally supportive of this item although all of the specifics of the agreement were not available as of the date of the commission meeting.
Budget Impact
There is no budget impact from this transaction beyond the limited amounts of staff time required to complete the deal.
Attachments
Attachment A: Resolution
Exhibit 1: Special Warranty Deeds
Attachment B: Location map