HomeMy WebLinkAboutWATERFIELD THIRD FILING - PDP - PDP130037 - CORRESPONDENCE - (6)We recently had a serious house flooding situation along the Poudre Valley Canal up near
Wellington. Again, that was a situation where I asked the Development Process to hold houses
back from the general vicinity of the ditch bank as well as prevent the construction of many
basements. Because we ran the Poudre Valley Canal pretty hard this year as a result of the flood
waters, there were at least a half dozen or more houses that had serious basement flooding and
damage.
I would think that somewhere in the planning process the common sense of the situation
could be evaluated as well as any engineering tests that may be appropriate. Then, building
restrictions can be placed that will avoid a whole lot of problems for a number of people in the
future.
Thank you for considering my comments, and I will be happy to discuss this in further
detail with additional information should you wish in the near future. Please feel free to call me
and I would welcome the opportunity should you so choose. My direct phone number is (970)
420-9775 and email is mayosomm@q.com.
Again thank you for reviewing these concerns.
Yours very truly,
THE DOW LAW IRM, LLC
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Mayo ommer
General Counse or
Larimer & Weld Irrigation Company
MSIbs
Cc: Donn Engel
Northern Engineering, Nick Haws, PE, LEED AP
Parker Land Investments, LLC, Jim Dullea, Curly Risheill and Steve Nichols
TIMOTHY J. DOW, MBA, JD
PATRICIA T. DOW, CPA, JD, LLM*
ASHLEY A. PERKINS, MA, JD
THE DOW LAW FIRM, LLC
ATTORNEYS AND COUNSELORS AT LAW
P.O. BOX 1578
FORT COLLINS, COLORADO 80522-1578
(970)498-9900
FAX: (970) 498-9966
E-MAIL: dow@dowlawfirm.com
MAYO SOMMERMEYER, LLC
OFCOUNSEL
December 12, 2013
City of Fort Collins Current Planning
Attn: Ted Shepard
Project Planner
PO BOX 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
Re: PDP130037 Waterfield Third Filing PDP — Type 1
Dear Mr. Shepard:
# 5 CLOCK TOWER SQUARE
323 SOUTH COLLEGE AVENUE
FORT COLLINS, COLORADO 80524
• AISO ADM=D M PRAC= LAW IN NEBRASKA
I represent the Larimer & Weld Irrigation Company who owns the Larimer & Weld
County Canal which borders the northern portion of the referenced subdivision. I appreciate the
time for comment has expired, but I still want to get this information to you for whatever use it
might be in this particular application as well as in future applications of this nature.
Houses built near our ditches are subject to flooding from seep water. This has been an
ongoing problem for a long time and even though I have constantly tried to get the Planning
Process to hold houses back a good distance from the ditch, I have been unsuccessful in that
mission. I have generally been unsuccessful in getting the developer to put a restriction on the
drawings concerning the installation of basements as well as building close to the ditch. The
economic realities overwhelm the real world realities of flooded basements, yards, swimming
pools as so forth.
On this particular subdivision I am concerned with the row of houses that runs generally
along the Rosybill Drive. At least, the building restrictions should require ground water tests
during the time of year when the ditch is running full to see whether the installation of a
basement is appropriate or even how close a house can be built to the ditch even if built on a
crawl space situation.
In years past we have had the experience just to the west of this subdivision in the
Lindenwood subdivision of houses backing on our ditch with flooded yards, swimming pools,
swimming pool equipment pits, and some interior water. It is interesting to note that back in 70s
when that was developed I again pleaded for the Process to hold those houses at least 100 feet
back from the ditch and it was not done. Thus the owners have water problems and they try to
blame the Ditch Company! We take no responsibility because our ditch has been there since the
1800s, and all ditches seep.