HomeMy WebLinkAboutEmail - Mail Packet - 5/1/2018 - Information From Darin Atteberry And Jeff Mihelich Re: Email From Michael Dino, Squire, Patton, Boggs Re: Thornton�S 1041 Application To Larimer County And It�S Water Rights DecreeFrom: Dino, Michael [mailto:michael.dino@squirepb.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2018 2:51 PM
To: Jeff Mihelich
Cc: Dawn Burgess; Carrie Daggett; Judy Schmidt; Darin Atteberry
Subject: Re: Thornton's 1041 application to Larimer County and its water
rights decree...
Hi Jeff,
Thank you very much for contacting me about this. I appreciate it.
Please share my email with the Ft. Collins City Council. If there is additional information or
clarification needed, let me know.
Regards,
Mike
Mike Dino
Principal
Squire Patton Boggs
303-894-6143 (work)
303-594-8818 (cell)
michael.dino@squirepb.com
(iPhone)
On Apr 23, 2018, at 9:46 PM, Jeff Mihelich <jmihelich@fcgov.com> wrote:
Hi Mike:
Thank you for the detailed email below regarding Thornton’s 1041 application to Larimer County. The
email includes some excellent detail which we really appreciate.
Our City Council has been asking for an update regarding this matter. We’d like to forward a copy of
your email to them. Are you comfortable with this being forwarded to our City Council?
Please advise and thanks in advance.
JM
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
JEFF MIHELICH, ICMA-CM
Deputy City Manager
City of Fort Collins
970-221-6684 office
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April 26, 2018
TO: Mayor & City Council
FROM: Darin Atteberry & Jeff
Mihelich
FYI /sek
From: Ali Recio
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2018 2:37 PM
To: Jeff Mihelich
Cc: Dawn Burgess; Carrie Daggett; Judy Schmidt
Subject: FW: Thornton's 1041 application to Larimer County and its water rights decree...
Hi Jeff,
Per your request.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ali Recio
Executive Administrative Assistant
City Manager’s Office
City of Fort Collins
970-416-4312 office
arecio@fcgov.com
From: Dino, Michael [mailto:michael.dino@squirepb.com]
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2018 12:04 PM
To: Darin Atteberry <DATTEBERRY@fcgov.com>
Subject: Thornton's 1041 application to Larimer County and its water rights decree...
Hi Darin,
I thought I’d check in with again about the Thornton Water Project and share some information that was
recently sent to the Coloradoan. Mark Koleber with Thornton also discussed similar information with
Donnie Dustin in Ft. Collins’ water resources group. In short, Thornton is distinguishing between its
1041 application to Larimer County and the water rights decree it received 20 years ago.
As you are well aware, Thornton has proposed, through Larimer County’s 1041 permitting process, to
construct a pipeline that will convey the water associated with the ditch company (Water Supply and
Storage Company and Jackson Ditch Company) shares that the City purchased in the mid 1980’s. Some
attention has arisen recently associated with a 1996 Colorado Supreme Court opinion in the Thornton
Northern Project (TNP) water rights case that addressed a long-term plan for Thornton’s water supply
that goes beyond what is currently proposed through the 1041 regulatory process.
The Supreme Court opinion led to a Decree on Remand for the Thornton Northern Project which
gives permission to a water rights holder to divert water as long as the terms and conditions outlined in
the decree are met. The decree does not require the water rights holder to divert the water or follow
any specific plan, nor does it give permission to use or construct any facilities needed to divert the
water. A water rights decree is all about how that particular water right fits into the grander scheme of
water rights administration in the state.
Likewise, a 1041 Permit doesn’t give the permit holder any right to divert water, it addresses the
impacts from construction and operation of a facility. They are separate approval processes, but both a
decree and a facilities construction permit are needed to provide a water supply.
If at some point in the future, 50 or more years down the road, when the City determines that it is time
to pursue some or all of the additional water granted by the decree, the City would file the appropriate
permits to construct the facilities necessary to deliver that water. To try to determine what permitting
requirements would be appropriate 50 years in advance of any construction or operation would be pure
conjecture, and it would be unreasonable to expect that Larimer County could do so effectively at this
time. It’s best to permit facilities at the time they are needed so that the applicant can address the
concerns that are important to a community at that time, and within the then-existing regulatory
structure.
The water rights in the decree were never intended to be developed all at once; rather, it was
contemplated that the development and use of these water rights would follow the pace of Thornton's
growth. To provide context for the development of the water rights, the water court decree described
three project phases. Phase 1 was described as the delivery of Thornton's WSSC and JDC water and
junior water rights via a pipeline, as well as operation of some exchanges on the Cache la Poudre River;
Phases 2 and 3 were described as a ditch exchange where Thornton would utilize the remaining WSSC
share water for municipal purposes in exchange for returning other water to the WSSC system by way of
return pipelines.
Since 1998, the City's plans for how best to utilize the water rights decreed in the TNP has changed as
water conservation by Thornton customers has significantly reduced the immediacy of projected
demands, and growth rates within the city have fluctuated. Thornton utilizes a 50-year planning horizon
for its water supply, and the city has determined that only a portion of the water rights it was granted in
the Thornton Northern Project decree - specifically the use of the WSSC and JDC shares that Thornton
owns - are necessary to meet the demands of Thornton's growth through the year 2065. Thornton has
determined that a single pipeline from the WSSC system to the city is sufficient to deliver its share water
and meet the community's water needs through 2065.
The Thornton Water Project pipeline as proposed to Larimer County in the 1041 application will only be
used to deliver Thornton's WSSC and JDC share water; it will not be used to deliver Thornton's junior
direct flow Cache la Poudre River water rights to Thornton. Nor does the Project include the
construction of a parallel pipelines or other facilities that would be necessary to operate the ditch
exchange.
Please let me know if I can be helpful in clarifying or expanding upon this information.
Take care,
Mike