Advisory Panel Recommends Plan to Buy Circle K: Hutchinson News

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Page 2 of 2 All those factors came into play Monday when Upper Arkansas Basin board members discussed the issue for more than two hours. The first motion, to retire all the water rights and use necessary funds to make the property a wildlife area, was split 5 -5, Stover said. Another motion, made by Ron Ostenvuhr of Garden City, was to not purchase the land, but have the region's groundwater management district deal with cutting back irrigation use to meet the chief water engineer's request to reduce annual water usage by 41,000 acre feet. Ostenvuhr's motion died for lack of a second. The board eventually decided to retire all the ranch's water rights, adding to the motion that the groundwater management district, Big Bend No. 5, would help with the management and retirement of water rights and the state would have a written guarantee for the land's use. "There was a lot of concern about the economic impact" to Edwards County, Stover said. Stover said the next step is for the Kansas Water Authority to make a recommendation and decide which plan to use - partial or total water rights retirement. And if approved, "it gives the green light, telling Kansas Wildlife & Parks this is the way to go - the green light to begin negotiations," she said. How negotiations will go with the two cities is anyone's guess, said Steve Adams, natural resource coordinator for wildlife and parks. A recent appraisal estimated the land's value at $3.2 million, although Hays purchased the ranch for a million more. Neither party has discussed prices, Stover said. If a price were negotiated, the water authority would need to amend the 2006 water plan budget, and send it to the governor and legislators. There always a chance, however, "that we won't negotiate a price," Stover said. < return to o:ri:gin_al..page_ Copyright 2003 The Hutchinson News http: / /www.dailynews. net / hutchinson /cgi- bin/printerpage.pl 8/23/2004