PROJ00515

• Contract/PO #: FS0019X
• Contractor Name: Turkey Creek Snowball Creek Project CWRPDA 1985
• Contract Type: Loan
• Water District: 0
• County: Archuleta
• Loan Projects - Doc Type: Feasibility Study

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4.4.1 Road Right-of-Way

The road leading to the dam site crosses several different parcels of
private property, as well as the Forest Service land. Sheets 10 through 13
from Appendix B depict the proposed pipeline route which follows the access
road. The sheets also show the land ownership.

Archuleta County and J.W. Hershey have been involved in a civil suit
to determine whether or not the road across Hershey's property is open to
the public. The unimproved portion of the road involved extends from
pipeline Station 162+50 to Station 122+00.

The court 4ecided that the road was a public road since it had been
maintained at least once by the County. The decision made no mention of
the designated right-of-way width, allowance for maintenance or
improvement, or ownership. The road across Hershey's property, from
pipeline Station 80+00 to Station 47+00 was not involved in the court
proceedings and the Hersheys currently control access to this area by
locking the gates. Further, the section of this land where the pipeline
would cross is being donated a portion at a time to the Audubon Society for
use as a learning center. The gravelled portion of the road from Station
260+00 to Station 162+50 is primarily owned by Hershey and no prescribed
right-of-way exists. However, the County grades the road from fence to
fence (approximately 50-feet wide), and thus may have some basis for
claiming that an easement exists.

For the purposes of this report, it was assumed that rights-of-way
would not have to be purchased from Station 260+00 to Station 162+50 if the
pipeline were routed in the shoulder of the road, since the County provides
road maintenance. It was assumed that a 30-foot wide right-of-way would
have to be purchased across the remainder of Hershey's property. Prior to
construction, a legal opinion should be obtained to verify these
assumptions.

Table 4.1 shows the property ownership contiguous to the road and
pipeline and the approximate acreage based on a 30-foot width. Based on

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