Laserfiche WebLink
addressed in City of Fort Collins despite the applicants' efforts to fit these square <br />pegs into that round hole. <br />C. The Fort Collins Decision Was Limited By the Legislature. <br />In response to the 1986 Fort Collins application, the legislature passed Senate <br />Bill 212 ( "SB 212 ") in 1987. Senator McCormick, Senator Anderson and <br />Representative Paulsen, whose statements were completely unrebutted by the <br />Applicants, stated repeatedly that SB 212 was being passed to prevent anyone other <br />than the CWCB from appropriating water for use in the channel, and to prevent the <br />type of subjective bank -to -bank recreational appropriations of all the water in the <br />stream, such as is sought here. <br />The Legislature specifically considered, but rejected, the pleas of recreational <br />users who opposed SB 212 because "it poses a serious threat to River Water Outfitters <br />throughout the state," and could "cripple" recreational uses and the tourist economy. <br />(May 28, 1987 Hearing, page 31). The recreational users also argued that the CWCB <br />should not have the "exclusive authority to appropriate instream flow water rights" <br />which are "critical for river outfitters" because "[f)or river runners, beneficial use <br />represents instream flows." (Id.) As the boaters noted, SB 212 "singles out river <br />outfitters as being prohibited to secure water rights to maintain their occupation and <br />employment." (Id., p. 32). <br />The concerns of Senator McCormick, Representative Paulson, and Senator <br />Anderson seem especially prescient when in light of the applications in these matters. <br />The applicants are seeking "bank -to -bank" appropriations for all the water in the <br />stream on the basis of rock formations. These applications cannot be granted in light <br />of the history of Colorado water law, the case of Fort Collins and the obvious and <br />undeniable intent of the legislature to prevent this type of right. <br />D. If the Court finds these Structures Similar to the Power Dam in Fort <br />Collins the Amount Must be Limited in a Manner Consistent with that Decision. <br />boulder formations should be considered to be diversion structures if the applicants can prove the <br />formations fimction as designed. Such an argument, however, confuses two different <br />requirements - -the diversion requirement, and the beneficial use requirement. The applicants must <br />satisfy both these requirements. First, the applicants must prove the boulder structures control <br />water. In addition to this first requirement, the applicants must prove the boulder structures <br />beneficially use water, and thus fimction as designed. <br />4 (Transcript of House Committee on Agriculture, Livestock, and Natural Resources, <br />June 4, 1987; Legislative History, SB 97 Hearings Before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, <br />Livestock, and Natural Resources, February 5, 1973). <br />