The Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) Board of Directors will hear a presentation at a special meeting tonight, Thursday May 29, at 5pm.
The presentation will take place at the PAWSD Board Room, 100 Lyn Ave. The public is invited.
A special invitation to hear the presentation was sent to the San Juan Water Conservancy District (SJWCD) Board of Directors.
The presentation by Trey Fricke will outline a proposal whereby Mr. Fricke’s company, Zipper Valley Ranch, can assist the community in building a 3,000 acre-foot water reservoir on the Running Iron Ranch property north of downtown Pagosa.
The proposal would also relieve the PAWSD customers of future loan payments, connected to the 2008 purchase of the Ranch. The debt relief would amount to more than $10 million, which might conceivably be used for future upgrades to the PAWSD water system, or to lower monthly rates.
A 3,000 acre-foot reservoir would be approximately twice the size of Lake Hatcher, which serves as the primary water reservoir for uptown PAWSD customers.
The PAWSD Running Iron Ranch subcommittee has been working with Zipper Valley for several months, to help refine the reservoir plan, but tonight’s presentation will be the first chance for the public — and the full PAWSD Board — to hear the proposal.
PAWSD is currently involved in a lawsuit with SJWCD, seeking to clarify a 2016 agreement between SJWCD, PAWSD and the Colorado Water Conservation Board. PAWSD has asserted that the agreement gives PAWSD the right to sell the Running Iron Ranch, at its sole discretion. SJWCD, as a joint tenant of the Ranch, denies that the agreement allows PAWSD to unilaterally sell the Ranch, and has also filed a counter-suit accusing PAWSD of violating the 2016 agreement.
SJWCD, which currently has no debt obligations related to the 2008 Ranch purchase, is currently moving forward with plans to design, finance and construct a 11,000 acre-foot reservoir on the Ranch. Such a reservoir would be about six times the size of Lake Hatcher and would extend outside the Ranch boundaries onto neighboring parcels which SJWCD does not own.
Zipper Valley has, in the past, offered to make a presentation of his proposal to SJWCD, which holds a water right for an 11,000 acre-foot reservoir. The SJWCD has repeatedly declined to hear Mr. Fricke’s presentation.
The 5pm presentation tonight is open to the public.