Durango RICD Related News Articles

Home Browse Search

vU pp'tv kp_� No l A A-a Boston's fashionable Back Bay. aton, Robinson stopped to ad- the day. naust ana gave an lncci.viaw a= ••��_� = = =�a�� -� �r -- Robinson, atall, sturdy woman mire campaign buttons and T- The card bears her name, her the F1eetCenter. For all the ex- think anything could be as l with wavy auburn hair and shirts for sale throughout the title, a picture of John R citement, Robinson was most good as this." 10 �S.eltr Rap '' wate r heats a� By Dale Rodebaugh Herald Staff Writer A possible request by the city of Durango for water rights at Smelter Rapid, a training ground for world -class kayak - ers, opened a ranging, spirited debate and left a lot of ques- tions Tuesday: ® How much of Animas River water is being used and who is using it? ® Who has a right to water? ® Are the rights of long -es- tablished users upstream in jeopardy if the city of Durango acquires water rights for recre- ation? 0 How much water is enough for kayakers and rafters to have a good time on 600- meter Smelter Rapid? 0 Is recreation as legitimate a use for water as irrigation or drinking? ® Would a collegial ap- proach to settle conflicting wa- ter demands be preferable to court battles? Probably the only undis- putable thing said at the four - hour meeting at Fort Lewis College appeared to be one of moderator Steve Harris' open- ing remarks. "This is not the last discus- sion on the topic," said Harris, a water engineer. "It's the first discussion." The meeting, convened to bring as many water interests as possible to one spot, opened with four presentations: 0 Ted Kowalski, a legal pro- tection specialist with the Col- . orado Water Conservation Board, explained the state's his- tory of setting aside water for special uses and particularly the recent effort of cities to ac- quire water rights for recre- ation. ® Gary Lacey, an interna- tionally - known designer of whitewater parks, said the swelling popularity of white - water sports has reaped huge economic benefits for sponsors for a relatively small invest- ment. Limited water flow won't attract top competitors in the field, he said. 0 Jack Rogers, director of public works for the city of Du- rango, said discussion of water rights for Smelter Rapid that started two years ago ran aground (a reference to ex- tremely low flow in the Animas at the time and lost tourism dri- ven way by the Missionary Ridge Fire). He said water in the Animas benefits many peo- ple other than kayakers. ® Ken Beegles, the state Di- vision of Water Resources engi- neer in Durango, said the Ani- mas River has no trouble sup- plying present users. But the sit- uation could change if the river is listed as "critical," meaning shortages become more than occasional. A state Supreme Court deci- sion on what is the minimum amount of water required for a reasonable recreational experi- ence would go a long way in determining how much water Durango could acquire for Smelter Rapid. Kowalski's agency has just appealed an al location of up to 1,500 cubic feet per second of water to the city of Gunnison to the high court. Fort Collins, Golden, Breck- enridge, Littleton and Vail ac- quired generous water rights be- fore the Legislature approved a bill that changed the law. Long- mont, Steamboat Springs and Pueblo also are seeking stream allocations for whitewater sports. Reach Staff Writer Dale Rodebaugh at daler@durangoherald.com. 19 5: 9; Transferable development rights on planning agenda By Ann Butler Herald Staff Writer There hasn't been much pub- licity about them lately, but transferable development rights continue to be on the agenda. TDRs, as they're called, are a way to encourage density in al- ready built -up areas while pre- serving areas of public benefit like open space and river corri- dors in others. The program is voluntary. It allows landowners to sell their development rights and keep their land, while de- velopers increase profits by adding more units to develop- ments already approved else- where where high density is de- sired by government planners. The concept moved ahead last week when The Grandview Rural /Urban Incentives Dem- onstration Group decided to take the results of its two years of research to both the La Plata County and city of Durango planning commissions. The dates for presentations have not yet been set. It would be a trial program for the Grandview area, and they eventually may be consid- ered for other parts of the county. The group concedes transfer- able development rights may be a moot point for Grandview Pat Vaughn, president of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe Growth Fund Properties sub- sidiary, which is in charge of the Three Springs Develop- ment, said "We're already pay - ing.for the infrastructure, and it will take a lot of time to do that. We won't be in the market to buy TDRs for more than 20 to30 years." But Nancy Lauro, county planning director, noted that the Three Springs development could potentially exchange transferable development rights within the development, allow- ing it to preserve more green and open space. At the group's final meeting, committee members noted that transferable development rights tend to work best in an area that has zoning in place, which is true at Grandview but not in' many parts of the county.