Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2.0 Extension of Water to Rifle Airport - Water Rights Filing 07.30.1982IN THE DISTRICT COURT IN AND FOR WATER DIVISION NO. 5 STATE OF COLORADO Application No. 82CW21 FILED IN CISTPICT ",OCT WAT,ft DIV,SI.N 5, C :LO..ADO JUL3 01982 MARIE TALAMAS, CLERK IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION ) FOR WATER RIGHTS OF )• RIFLE LAND ASSOCIATES, LTD. ) RULING OF REFEREE IN THE COLORADO RIVER ) OR ITS TRIBUTARIES ) TRIBUTARY INVOVLED: UNNAMED ) TRIBUTARY OF MAMM CREEK ) IN GARFIELD COUNTY ) The above entitled application was filed on January 29, 1982, and was referred to the undersigned as Water Referee for Water Division No. 5, State of Colorado, by the Water Judge of said Court on the 3rd day of February, 1982, in accordance with Article 92 of Chapter 37, Colorado Revised Statutes 1973, known as The Water Right Determination and Administration Act of 1969. And the undersigned Referee having made such investigations as are necessary to determine whether or not the statements in the application are true and having become fully advised with respect to the subject matter of the application does hereby make the following determination and ruling as the Referee in this matter, to -wit: 1. The statements in the application are true. 2. The name of the structure is Crann' Pipeline. 3. The name of the claimant and address is Rifle Land Associates; Ltd.; 718 Seventeenth Street; Denver, Colorado. 4. The source of the water is a spring tributary to an unnamed tributary of Mamm Creek, tributary to the Colorado River. 5. The spring is located on the West bank of a gulch at a point whence the Southeast Corner of Section 24, T. 6 S., R. 93 W. of the 6th P.M. bears S. 18°E. 540 feet. 6. On November 25, 1908, in Civil Action No. 1333, the Garfield County District Court awarded to Crann Pipe Line, Structure No. 83, irrigation priority No. 130 and domestic priority No. 11, an absolute water right right for 5 cubic feet of water per minute of time (0.083 c.f.s.) and a conditional water right for 35 cubic feet of water per minute of time (0.583 c.f.s.), all for irrigation use, providing that additional lands be put into cultivation and the water put to use with reasonable diligence. The Court further awarded, under domestic priority No. 11, 20 cbic feet of water per minute of time (0.333 c.f.s.) to be used for domestic and livestock water purposes. The date of initiation of appropriation for all of the water is September 14, 1903. AUG -61982 82CW21 7. On January 29, 1982, the claimant filed, in Water Court for Water Division No. 5, an application for change of water right in which it is requested that the use of the water be changed from its originally decreed uses for irrigation, domestic and livestock water to domestic, municipal and commercial. The historical consumptive voila' use will not be changed and the place of use will not be changed. 8. An Engineering Report calculates the consumptive use for households is 0.12 acre foot per year, for irrigation is 8.13 acre feet per year and from livestock water 0.83 acre foot per year, and evaporation from the farm pond is 0.65 acre foot per year, for a combined total consumptive use of 9.73 acre feet per year. 9. The 35 cubic feet of water per minute of time conditionally awarded for irrigation use was not developed and put to beneficial use with reasonable diligence, and the claimant failed to show to the Court that reasonable diligence had been exercised in the development of the conditional water right as required by C.R.S. 1973, 37-92-601 and the conditional water right should be considered abondoned and such conditional water right should be cancelled. 10.0 The requested change of water right will not injuriously affect the owner of or persons entitled to use water under a vested water right or a decreed conditional water right, and the application should be granted in accordance with C.R.S. 1973, 37-92-305(3). 11. An Entry of Appearance was filed on behalf of the City of Rifle on April 23, 1982. The Referee does therefore conclude that the above entitled application should be granted and that the uses of the water previously awarded absolutely and unconditionally to Crann Pipe Line under irrigation priority No. 130 and domestic priority No. 11, be changed from irrigation, domestic and livestock water uses to domestic, municipal and commercial uses, provided that the historical consumptive use shall not be increased. The Referee does further conclude that the 35 cubic feet of water per minute of time (0.583 c.f.s.) previously awarded conditionally to the Crann Pipe Line under Priority No..130 should be and hereby is considered abandoned, and said conditional water right is hereby cancelled. It is accordingly ORDERED that this ruling shall be filed with the Water Clerk and shall become effective upon such filing, subject to Judicial review pursuant to Section 37-92-304 C.R.S. 1973. It is further ORDERED that 'a copy of this ruling shall be filed with the appropriate Division Engineer and the State Engineer. Done at the City of Glenwood Springs, Colorado, this 3r pday of Jvt y , 1982. BY THE REFEREE: 44 W'r Referee Water Division No. 5 State of Colorado No protest was filed in this matter, and accordingly the -2- 82CW21 the foregoing ruling is confirmed and approved, and is made the Judgment and Decree of this court; provided however, that the approval of this change of water right shall be subject to reconsideration by the Water Judge on the question of injury,to the vested rights of others during any hearing commencing in they: calendar years succeeding the year in which this decision is rendered. Dated \� -3- <_ SEP p AGREEMENT `` THIS AGREEMENT, made the (9T}iday of ___ 1983, between Rifle Land Associates, a partnership, having its principal office at 718 Seventeenth Street, Suite 2000, City and County of Denver, State of Colorado, hereinafter called "Rifle Land," and the Garfield County Airport Authority, a quasi-municipal corporation, existing under and by virtue of an act of the General Assembly of the State of Colorado, with jurisdiction in and over certain properties in Sections 13 and 14, Township 6 South, Range 93 West of the 6th Principal Meridian, and Section 18, Township 6 South, Range 92 West of the 6th Principal Meridian, in the County of Garfield, State of Colorado, hereinafter called the "Authority." WITNESSETH: WHEREAS, Rifle Land is engaged in the acquisition, including the development of a for an area to be subdivided, located south business of land supply of water of the Garfield County Regional Airport, Garfield County, Colorado, with various sources of water, including numerous adjudicated springs located in the drainage basin of Mamm Creek, a tributary to the Colorado River; and WHEREAS, the Authority is in the process of developing a Regional Airport, together with supporting facilities and related improvements, requiring water commercial uses; and WHEREAS, Rifle Land for domestic and is the owner of an existing water system and a water supply based upon adjudicated springs in the Mamm Creek drainage of Garfield County, Colorado, and has a supply of water decreed for domestic, municipal, and commercial uses and is willing to provide said water to the Authority for delivery to the south boundary of the Garfield County Regional Airport property; and WHEREAS, the Authority desires to provide an ample and sufficient supply of water for the use of the Authority and the Lessees and occupants of properties at the Garfield County Regional Airport, and to obtain from Rifle Land a supply of water therefor from Rifle Land's spring supply; and WHEREAS, the Authority has heretofore made certain expenditures for the purpose of insuring a water supply to the Garfield County Regional Airport using Rifle Land's spring supply, which expenditures are to be reimbursed by Rifle Land in the manner provided below at such time as the Authority is no longer the sole beneficiary of such improvements; and WHEREAS, both parties acknowledge that Rifle Land, by the terms of this agreement, is not functioning as a public utility, is not offering water for sale generally, and is only providing the Authority with access to a supply of water; NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration with the keeping of the mutual covenants and agreements contained herein, it is mutually agreed as follows, to -wit: 1. That Rifle Land agrees to deliver to the Authority, at a point of delivery defined in paragraph 2, such quantity of water as the Authority may require but not exceeding delivery of twenty-five (25) gallons per minute from its existing source of supply. If, however, the present source of supply becomes inadequate to furnish said twenty-five (25) gallons per minute, and it becomes neces- sary to obtain additional water from Rifle Land's other water rights, then Rifle Land and the Authority agree, within a reasonable time after demand by the Authority, to mutually install and operate any additional facilities including additional development of Rifle Land's springs and stream sources or additional pipelines to enable the 2 Authority to obtain said twenty-five (25) gallons per minute, and to undertake any legal actions necessary to furnish such water. 2. That deliveries of water to the Authority hereunder shall be made and measured at a point on the south boundary of the Garfield County Regional Airport which is referred to in this Agreement as the "point of delivery." The connection to the main supplying the Authority and any meter is to be installed and maintained by Rifle Land. 3. That after Rifle Land has installed a water meter, the Authority shall pay to Rifle Land a fee for water delivered at the point of delivery, which fee shall be identical to the charge for water made by the City of Rifle to customers within the Rifle City Limits, as the same may be amended from time to time; provided, however, that there shall be applied against any such payment obligation that amount expended by Garfield County for the construction and improvements of Rifle Land's spring supply, and any mains or water transportation lines installed from such supply to the point of delivery at the south boundary of the Garfield County Regional Airport, which improvements are set forth on Exhibit "A" hereto. The amount of any such repayment shall be $41,000.00, without interest, and the same may be repaid by credit against water delivery unless or until a govern- mental body assumes ownership of the system, in which case the Authority shall be repaid any outstanding balance immed- iately. Rifle Land, at its option, may repay in whole or in part at any time the entirety of any balance or any part thereof. Upon the repayment of the sums called for above, or at the end of the initial term of this Agreement, whichever comes first, the Authority shall transfer title, by proper conveyance, to Rifle Land, all of the Authority -installed system. An accounting of water delivered shall be tendered by Rifle Land to the Authority quarterly and if payment therefore is required, the same shall be due and payable at 3 Rifle Land's Office sixty (60) days subsequent to such delivery. If Rifle Land elects to credit charges for water delivered against its obligations to the Authority, it may do so, but in any event it shall provide a quarterly accounting to the Authority. 4. That Rifle Land undertakes to maintain pressure of not less than thirty (30) pounds per square inch at the point of delivery specified herein and, in the event that such pressure is not maintained, any funds due Rifle Land may be abated during such period that the required pressure is not maintained. 5. That the Authority shall at its own risk and expense install, maintain, and operate any pipelines or other facilities necessary to deliver the water from the point of delivery hereunder to the Authority or to occupants of the Garfield County Regional Airport. The Authority agrees to hold Rifle Land harmless from any and all claims of third parties arising from the maintenance or condition of such pipelines and other facilities within the boundaries of the Garfield County Regional Airport. 6. That, until Rifle Land, or any successor, is able to supply the Authority with potable water fit for human consumption from other sources, the Authority shall be entitled to maintain at the expense of the Authority, the water treatment plant constructed by the Authority and located on the lands of Rifle Land in the SW1/4 SW1/4 SW1/4 of Section 18, Township 6 South, Range 92 West, for the purpose of insuring that potable water will be available to the Authority. 7. That it is understood and agreed that the water rights and existing water system presently owned by Rifle Land are intended at some time in the future to be transferred to a district or other entity whose function shall be, among others, to supply water to the area south of the Garfield County Regional Airport. Notwithstanding such 4 transfer, the Authority shall have a continuing right to obtain such water that may be required by it on terms identical to any water user within the boundaries of such district. 8. That it is understood and agreed by the parties that the Authority will be supplying the water delivered to it hereunder to Lessees and other occupants at the Garfield County Regional Airport, and that the delivery of such water to those Lessees and occupants shall be the sole responsibility of the Authority, for which delivery the Authority may establish its own rates and charges. 9. The term of this Agreement shall be thirty (30) years, commencing the 1st day of January, 1982, pro- vided, however, that this Agreement shall remain in effect after the expiration of thirty (30) years for four (4) additional five-year terms, unless either party shall give to the other written notice of intention to terminate this Agreement eighteen (18) months prior to the end of the primary or any additional term. Unless otherwise mutually agreed by the parties, this Agreement shall not be termin- ated except at the end of the primary or an extended term. 10. Any notice which is provided or permitted to be given to either party hereunder shall be deemed to have been given or made five (5) days after such notice has been deposited in the United States mail, postage prepaid, and addressed as required by this Agreement. Notices directed to the respective parties shall be addressed as follows, unless otherwise directed in writing by either party: Rifle Land: Authority: Mr. Robert E. Chancellor Rifle Land Associates, Ltd. 718 Seventeenth Street, #2000 Denver, Colorado 80202 Garfield County Airport Authority P. 0. Box 31 Rifle, Colorado 81650 5 11. This Agreement and all rights and obligations hereunder shall be binding and inure to the benefit of the parties hereto, their respective successors, heirs, personal representatives and assigns. 12. Time is of the essence of this Agreement. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have executed this Agreement as of the day and year first above written. 6 RIFLE LAND ASSOCIATES, LTD. /aTx ifa4-7 cc -j Robert E. Chancellor General Partner By: GARFIELD COUNTY AIRPORT AUTHORITY Bv: EXHIBIT A to that certain Agreement Between Rifle Land Associates Ltd. and Garfield County Airport Authority dated lel , 1983 1. The water treatment plant located in the SW1/4 SW1/4 Sw1/4 Section 18, T6S, R92W. 2. The water main from the water treatment plant location described in paragraph 1 above to the "point of delivery" as defined in the main agreement. 3. A total of 1,040 lineal feet of PVC water pipe installed in the vicinity of Rifle Land's springs. With the exception of the items described above, the remaining facilities are the sole property of Rifle Land to which the Authority has no legal claim. INITIALS Rifle Land Associates Ltd. Garfie d County Airport Authority