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• • Page 3 of 5 <br />agricultural community here to access, utilize and manage their water and land resources. If this groundwater is <br />simply ignored it will at least render my basement and septic system useless, if not destroy my foundation. <br />Obviously there is an exceptionally large amount of water located in my neighborhood. If Camas' plans are permitted, <br />unaltered, it takes little speculation to conclude that there will be groundwater's, drainage file water and seasonal <br />Poudre Flood waters all vying for passage and place on and around our private property. Any one of them alone could <br />ruin my land use and residence, combined they most certainly pose a dangerous, critical displacement of water. <br />According to Section 6.4.7, CRS Camas is expected to install monitoring wells. Shani Eastin, in her letter to the <br />County planning department (copy attached), acknowledges the same county requirement. Camas excuses <br />themselves from their responsibility to this mandate by noting that they do not intend to alter groundwater quality <br />(DMG permit application, page 7). <br />Unfortunately the interaction my neighbors and I have had with Camas has been frightfully contradictory regarding <br />their intent on these particular issues. It is in fact another objection I have to their being permitted before they have <br />secured thorough engineering studies and legal agreement where necessary. <br />4. Concerning water rights, Camas has a current condition to their county permit development standard regarding the <br />Elder Aquaculture Diversion structure. This is a large drain file that crosses Camas' land and feeds the Flsh farm west <br />of our home. Mr. Chris Elder developed the fish farm and received a legal right to the protection and usage of that <br />drain tile. Camas' permit specifically stipulates that they must acquire a written agreement with Chris Elder, the <br />original permitee (and remains the recorded owner at our county water court [reference Case Number 97CW160]). <br />Shani Eastin's letter to the county (copy attached) acknowledges Camas' obligation to provide a 200-foot set back on <br />each side of the drain file because no agreement could be reached between Camas and Mr. Elder. <br />Camas now proposes a 25-foot setback from the Elder file on their county and state applications. Camas <br />representatives informed us on December 2n° that they simply were not going to do the 200-foot set back and that Mr. <br />Elder was not locally available, thus not a necessary person with whom Camas had to negotiate. Mr. Tuttle, when <br />pressed, explained that Camas had decided that they didn't need the set back in order to preserve the drain file <br />properly. Without an impact study the Regulations state otherwise. Still later Mr. Tuttle said that perhaps Camas <br />would leave Cell 6 unlined (although that is not apparently reflected in their permit applications) in order to <br />accommodate seepage waters from the north. Camas' county permit, however, specifcally states in condition 3e that <br />a Use by Special Review (USR) permit will in all cases not cause injury to vested or conditional water rights. The fact <br />that the file and fish farm now belong to a different owner is not an excuse to ignore that condition. The Act, Section <br />34-32.5-116(h), CRS not only protects the hydrologic balance but notes that "nothing in (it) shall be construed to allow <br />the operator (Camas) to avoid compliance with other statutory provisions governing well permits and augmentation <br />requirements and replacement plans when applicable." Camas boldly and plainly ignores both county and state law to <br />resolve this issue by agreement or impact study. It sets a terrible precedent for their integrity. <br />5. I object to the following further discrepancies involving community members: <br />a. Richard Goetzel owns water rights on drain tiles that alternately drain his land of excess water or provide irrigation <br />to 40 acres adjacent to Lake 2. Although Camas has an extra condition on their permit to reach an acceptable <br />agreement concerning the file feeding the fsh farm, both state and county law protect Mr. Goetzel's water rights <br />as well. Both the fish farm and Mr. Goetzel, in fact, share one drain tile. If Camas fulfills their obligation to locate <br />and specify their plans concerning all associated conveyance structures they will obviously fulfill their legal <br />responsibility to protect Mr. Goetzel's water rights. Up to and nearly through the December 2ntl public meeting, <br />Camas representatives repeatedly stated that they intend to locate drain tiles as they mined and "take care of <br />any problems that arose then. By the end of our December 2n° meeting, Mr. Gary Tuttle offered to develop a <br />generic dewatering ditch for Mr. Goetzel. Camas has not, however, documented any dewatering ditches in their <br />plat. Subsequently, he scheduled a meeting with our Water Commissioner, Mr. Goetzel, my wife and one of <br />Camas' engineers to at least locate the tiles relating to Mr. Goetzel and our neighborhood. That meeting was <br />apparently canceled, unbeknownst to Mr. Goetzel and my wife. <br />b. Camas' reclamation plan dictates that all but Lake 1 will be lined and later sold as water storage lakes. A careful <br />review of the topography map will show the obvious difficulty with excess ground and storm run-off water draining <br />then through our neighborhood, around their lined lakes toward the river. Camas representatives have twice <br />publicly said they also expect those waters to travel diagonally down through our neighborhood into the drainage <br />ponds and out to the river. When several of my neighbors and I objected to a higher water table, Mr. Tuttle then <br />changed their position on the matter to "assure" us that instead of draining past our homes the excess ground and <br />storm run-off waters would be carried by dewatering ditches and/or the current drain tiles down to the drainage <br />ponds. If that were documented in Camas' permit plans I would at least be encouraged. In general, excess <br />