BOARD00033

• Board Meeting Date: 11/23/1998
• Description: CF Section - New Loans - Columbine Ranches Property Owners Association
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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The Columbine Ranches Property Owners Association

The Association is a nonprofit corporation registered in the State of Colorado. There are 54 members (one
for each of the 54 lots within the subdivision), and each member has one vote. Membership in the
Association is required by the Covenants as a condition of property ownership within the subdivision_ The
Association also has the power to set assessments to be paid by the membership, the power to create a lien
if those assessments are not paid. and the power to foreclose a lien so created. The subdivision
encompasses 160 acres, of which 55 acres are irrigated_ The subdivision is 93% built out, with houses on
50 of the 54 lots_ The CRPOA owns the irrigation well, the storage tauk, and the deeded right of way for
the distribution system_ The Association would also own the senior water rights purchased for
augmentation of the welL

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Proiect Descrintion
Five alternatives were analyzed in the feasibility study:

1. The no-action alternative
2_ Rely on GASP to augment the well
3_ Purchase senior water rights for augmentation water
4_ Purchase water from another source for the centralized system
5_ Pumping of non-tributary wells

While Alternative 3, purchase of senior water rights for augmentation water, has a significantly higher cost
than Alternative 2, it is considered to be a far more reliable approach to continued use of the Association's
irrigation welL Alternative 4 was ruled out because of its high cost, and Alternative 5 was ruled out
because insufficient water could be pumped from the non-tributary aquifers that underlie the subdivision_
The no-action alternative was unacceptable since it would result in an order from the State Division of
Water Resources that pumping from the well cease.

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Selected Alternative 3 involves purchase of senior water rights that would be acceptable to augment the
CRPOA irrigation well. The main sources are: the Burlington-Wellington rights, the Brantner Ditch, the
Fulton Ditch, and the Lupton Bottom/Lupton Meadows Ditch_ The consumptive use for irrigation within
the Columbine Ranches Subdivision is 84 acre-feet per year.

The exact rights that the CRPOA will purchase have not been determined, and will depend on availability
and purchase price_ Regardless of the rights selected, they will need to represent 84 acre-feet of
consumptive use per year_ As an example, Fulton Ditch shares yield 1_7 acre-feet of consumptive use per
share, and the per-share price is approaching $6,000_ Approximately 50 Fulton shares would be required, at
a total price of $300,000. In contrast, an adequate number of Burlington-Wellington rights would cost
approximately $390,000.

Selected Alternative 3 also includes a one-time engineering cost of $7,000 to evaluate the consumptive use
of the shares to be purchased, and a one-time cost of $1 0,000 to install flow measuring equipment and
hydraulic structures to route augmentation water hack to the riveT-

The implementation schedule calls for completion of financing arrangements in 199811999, with formal
approval and resolution by the Association members in early 1999. (On October 17, 1998 the CRPOA
membership voted to proceed with CWCB loan, and authorized the Association board to set assessments.)
Closing on the water rights purchase would probably occur after the Construction Fund bill is approved
(June of 1999_) However, due to rising prices, the association needs the flexibility to negotiate and
purchase water rights in spring 1999, using short term financing_

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