PROJ00061

• Contract/PO #: C153366
• Contractor Name: Ridges Metropolitan District
• Contract Type: Loan
• Water District: 72
• County: Mesa
• Bill Number: SB 81-439
• Loan Projects - Doc Type: Feasibility Study

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CHAPTER III - LAND

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A.

Land Classification

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The Ridges Metropolitan District includes within its service area the
Ridges Development, This Development was intended to follow certain
policies that have been established in recent years regarding the avoid-
ance of development in prime agricultural areas. To this extent the Ridges
Metropolitan District's service area is totally within nearly barren hills
made up of shales and clay.

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The proposed project will result in irrigation of lands not previously ir-
rigated. However, as explained elsewhere in this report, the scope of the
proposed project involves construction of pump stations, transmission lines
and reservoirs to provide irrigation water for small residential lawns and
gardens. This project will not provide irrigation waters for farmland crops
such as alfalfa, corn, beans, etc. Therefore, additional classification of
the soil within the project area based upon the land being converted to
large croplands will not be needed.

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The existing classification, badlands, will be the soil classification of
this area. This classification is taken from the "Soil Survey - Mesa County
Area, Colorado" prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture Soil
Conservation Service in cooperation with Colorado Agricultural Experiment
Station.

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The badlands classification consists of rough and broken succession of roll-
ing to very steep, nearly barren hills and ridges separated by steelwalled,
deeply entrenched gullies and canyons. Badlands consist of gypsiferous
shale that contains layers of sandstone outcrop along canyon walls. Included
within this mapping unit are Chipeta and Persayo soils. Vegetation consists
mainly of saltbush, sparse Pinyon and Juniper, and some grass.

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B. Service Area Map

A map showing the boundaries of the project with
lands classification is shown on Figure 3-A.

respect to the area of bad-

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The acreage involved within the project area will be 200 acres for Phase I,
with the remaining acreage being utilized during Phase II.

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Additional detail concerning the soils and underlying materials is described
within the geologic report which is attached as Appendix B.

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C.

Land Use

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The entire area is a residential planned unit development. The development
is being built in a hilly, rocky, non-irrigated and non-agricultural area
of the Redlands in Mesa County. This is in accprdance with the Governor's

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III - I