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City of Durango: Animas Basin Residential Buildout and Water Demand Study Final Ropod 2006 <br />of patented claims in San Juan County. By digitally comparing the <br />location of the points to areas where the slopes are estimated to be <br />40% ( =rise /run) or greater, RPI was able to provide a coarse -scale <br />estimate of the proportion of mining claims located on prohibitively <br />steep slopes. <br />c. Two sources were used to determine road access potential to mining <br />claims, the Forest Service system roads layer available on <br />http : / /www.fs.fed.us /r2 /sanjuan /, the San Juan Public Lands website and <br />the Colorado Department of Transportation's 3 available road layers <br />(http: / /www.dot.state.co.us /). Using these layers, accounting for Federal, <br />State, and County roads, RPI was able to identify the claims that are <br />beyond 800 meters from an existing public road. These claims were <br />determined to be prohibitively distant from road access given the <br />terrain in San Juan County and the fact that extensive road access <br />easements would be necessary through a complex patchwork of <br />federal and private lands. A visual map survey provided an additional <br />verification to make sure that claims beyond the 800 meter range <br />were not potentially accessible, given the slopes mapping. Several <br />such claims were selected to be included in the potentially buildable <br />claims. <br />FINAL STEPS AND RESULTS <br />The road access and steep slopes analysis components of the constraints analysis <br />leaves 47% of patented mining claims in San Juan County potentially buildable. <br />Fine scale site -scale analysis would surely reduce this proportion, but that is beyond <br />the scope of a river basin buildout study. The San Juan County Assessor <br />hypothesizes that about 10% of the claims in the County are buildable, but for the <br />purpose of conservatively estimating future water demands, this study will assume <br />that properties not found to be constrained using the geographic methodology <br />described above are potentially buildable. <br />The constraints analysis leaves 1430 mining claims as potentially developable. This <br />analysis assumes one dwelling unit per mining claim. In nearby La Plata Canyon, <br />a historic mining district in La Plata County where GIS mapping and digital assessor <br />records are coordinated, the average mining claim size is 22 acres. Given the <br />roughness of the terrain, the generally limited size of mining claims, and access <br />challenges, one unit per mining claim is realistic. <br />tart. 970.382.9153 12 <br />