Utilities asks Pueblo County for OK on pipeline

Colorado Springs Utilities on Wednesday officially asked Pueblo County for permission to build a water pipeline across the county, a long-awaited step that might lead to litigation.

"This application took major, major effort," project manager John Fredell said of the paperwork that filled 10 boxes. "It moves us way ahead in the process."

The application asks to build the Southern Delivery System, a 66-inch pipeline from Pueblo Reservoir to the El Paso County line that will largely follow Interstate 25.

Pueblo County hasn't been friendly to the pipeline project and adopted new land-use rules in recent years after the project was conceived.

Utilities officials have said they think the new rules make it tougher to get a permit because they're vague and contain no time requirement for a decision.

Still, Fredell downplayed Pueblo County's expected opposition to the 43-mile pipeline project.

"We can stop speculating in terms of a review. We're going to find out," he said. "We need to give them the benefit of the doubt. I think they're going to do the right thing."

Pueblo County commissioners refuse to comment on the project, citing their quasi-judicial role should the application eventually be presented to them.

The city paid $50,000 to cover initial costs of a review, but Pueblo County has 30 days to set a review fee.

The city's fall-back plan is a route through Fremont County that would draw water directly from the Arkansas River.

It plans to submit an application to Fremont County within a few weeks.

That line would span 55 miles and cost about $50 million more than the $1 billion preferred route from the reservoir, Fredell said. It also poses more operational problems and means the city couldn't use the reservoir, built largely with money from El Paso County taxpayers.

Fredell said if Pueblo County is unreasonable in applying its land-use rules, the city could sue, but it doesn't want to.

The city already has a case on appeal after a 10th Judicial District Court judge ruled earlier this year Pueblo County has authority over the project.

In another major development, Utilities officials said they're ready to make offers to 34 property owners for 70 parcels for which Utilities expects to pay about $4.6 million.

The tracts, ranging in size from less than an acre to 3,700 acres, cover a 30-mile path for the pipeline from the Fountain area to a water treatment plant site in northeast Colorado Springs and also for a distribution line for treated water.

Although the Bureau of Reclamation isn't expected to issue its decision on the project until early next year, the route north from Fountain is common to all seven proposals under consideration.

Of the 70 parcels, all but two are easements only. Those two include 40 acres for a pump station and 120 acres for the treatment plant.

Only seven tracts are owned by individuals; the rest are in the hands of developers and commercial interests, said Dan Higgins, project construction and delivery manager.

Twenty of the 70 tracts are owned by the Banning Lewis Ranch Management Co., he said, which owns most of the 23,000-acre Banning Lewis Ranch. As yet, the ranch is mostly undeveloped but it's a chief reason the pipeline is needed.

Higgins said the staff will seek permission next month from the Utilities Board, which comprises City Council, to make offers. Utilities paid a consultant $445,000 for appraisals and other work in drafting offers.

Utilities officials didn't say whether the economic slowdown will affect the timing of the project, which is slated to begin delivering water in 2012. The city has spent $79.2 million on the project since 2000.

-

Contact the writer: 636-0238 or pam.zubeck@gazette.com