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Annexation to City of Thornton <br />The HOA has had discussions with the City of Thornton regarding the possibility of <br />purchasing raw water for the Wadley Reservoirs, but has been advised that the city would <br />not enter into such an agreement without annexation of the Wadley Farms No. 3 <br />subdivision to 'Thornton. liven with annexation, 'Thornton appeared to be interested in <br />obtaining use of the three HOA FHL shares for its municipal use and converting Wadley <br />Farms No. 3 to treated water irrigation only. <br />This means of obtaining additional water supply is considered to be too expensive and <br />not desirable for other reasons as well, even though it might provide the additional <br />amount of water supply the HOA is seeking. In the HOA discussions with the City of <br />Thornton regarding annexation, it was found that the requirements to be imposed by the <br />city for such things as road paving, curb and gutter installation, and zoning requirements <br />would not only be an unnecessary expense, but would change the rural nature of Wadley <br />Farms No. 3 to something more suburban. The character of the neighborhood would also <br />be negatively impacted if the three FHL shares were no longer used to fill the Wadley <br />Reservoirs. Just the cost of installing water and wastewater system piping and paying for <br />water and sewer taps to meet Thornton standards would have been in the millions of <br />dollars and would have required the abandonment of functioning wells and septic systems <br />that had already been paid for by residents. There would also be the on -going cost for <br />irrigation water at treated municipal water prices, instead of the current less- expensive <br />costs for raw water deliveries. <br />Effluent Exchange with the City of Westminster <br />The City of Westminster is the majority owner of FHL shares and also is the operator of a <br />wastewater treatment plant that discharges to Big Dry Creek. The HOA approached <br />Westminster with the proposal that the existing Wadley Farms No. 3 FHL shares be made <br />available for use by the city at Standley Lake and, in return, the HOA would receive a <br />greater number of acre -feet of wastewater delivered into Big Dry Creek than yielded by <br />the three FHL shares. Implementing this proposal would require the construction of a <br />pumping plant at the creek and about 8300 feet of pipe running from the creek east to the <br />Wadley Reservoirs. This would entail crossing the railroad with the pipeline and would <br />likely involve construction in 144th Avenue. <br />The discussions with Westminster did not prove fruitful. The city wanted either payment <br />from the HOA for the trade or to deliver a lesser amount of wastewater than the amount <br />of water yielded by the three HOA FHL shares, which would negate the reason for doing <br />the trade. In addition, construction of over one and half miles of pipeline in a busy <br />roadway with a railroad crossing was estimated to cost in excess of $1.2 million. The <br />pump station and on -going operating and power costs put the overall present value cost of <br />construction and operation in excess of $1.6 million. <br />An additional concern was the quality of water delivered from Big Dry Creek into the <br />Wadley Reservoirs. The addition of water consisting mostly of treated wastewater <br />Wadley Farms No. 3 Water Supply CWCB Loan Feasibility Study Page 23 <br />