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Cherokee Ranch Foundation sells water
The Cherokee Ranch and Castle Foundation is selling rights to 2,400 acre feet of nonrenewable ground water for about $4.1 million.
By By: Christine McManus
The Cherokee Ranch and Castle Foundation is selling rights to 2,400 acre feet of nonrenewable ground water for about $4.1 million.
The final cost and amount of water is still being hashed out in the state water courts, said Stan Lewandowski, president of the Cherokee Ranch and Castle Foundation. A ruling is expected in about a year, said Ken Broadhurst, a consultant with Dakota Water Resources, LLC who negotiated the deal.
"They have the legal right to do it. I just wish the foundation had been more concerned for the citizens of Douglas County," said Jan Dixon, a geologist who lives in western Douglas County. Dixon is president of the resident-activist group Western Douglas County Citizen's Alliance. She said people concerned about water issues in Parker, Franktown and Sedalia are increasingly contacting the alliance, known for staying up-to-date on water issues.
Once the water deal filters through the courts, the man who hired Broadhurst, Bob Lembke, managing principal of The Bromley Companies LLC, plans to sell the water for residential use. Lembke would eventually pump water from underneath land in Sedalia, supply households in the area though metro districts and town water systems, and receive treated effluent in return, which he would release into the South Platte River, Lembke said. Downstream in Brighton, Lembke eventually could then feed South Platte River water to new neighborhoods, Lembke said.
Brighton is northeast of Denver near Denver International Airport, about 40 miles from Cherokee Ranch.
Although he has not yet talked to water planners in Highlands Ranch, Castle Rock and Roxborough, he said he will approach them first to trade aquifer water for treated effluent. Lembke said he is buying the water rights for future use. The Cherokee Ranch deal is just one of several Lembke said he has in the works on both the north and south sides of Denver.
County residents rely on
nonrenewable aquifers
Most of the water that flows through faucets in Parker, Castle Rock, Highlands Ranch and throughout Douglas County comes from nonrenewable, underground wells. The wells tap into aquifers - enormous underground layers of rock with water that has seeped in from precipitation over millions of years. Water is being mined from the aquifers faster than it is seeping in, water officials say.
Multiple residential wells in western Douglas County at the edge of the Denver Basin aquifer have gone dry in the past decade. Residents had to dig more expensive, deeper wells.
Douglas County two months ago amended water regulations that legislate where water can be transported. Many of the changes clarified 3-year-old water zoning regulations.
But Douglas County residents protested several changes, including one that allowed open space water rights to be used on other properties. Commissioners and planners said the residents might be able to use the water under open space some day.
Foundation needs money
In Colorado, water rights can be detached from the property title and sold separately from the land. This includes private and open-space land deals.
Although some open-space deals include conservation of both the water rights and the land, others stipulate only that the land will not be developed.
The late Sedalia rancher Tweet Kimball, before her death, set up a 3,000-acre open-space deal with the county. For $2 million the county purchased the development rights for the 3,000 acres south of Highlands Ranch, north of Castle Pines and east of Sedalia. Today the Cherokee Ranch and Castle Foundation runs the cattle ranch, castle tours and educational programs. The open-space parcel was one of Douglas County's first; it adjoins Daniels Park and the 8,000-acre Open Space Conservation Area of Highlands Ranch.
Kimball wanted the water rights and an additional 1,000 acres of the ranch on the west side of U.S. 85 separate from the open-space agreement, said foundation president Stan Lewandowski. Kimball was land-rich but strapped for cash, so the foundation relies on payments from the county, payments for the 1,000 extra acres west of U.S. 85 and now water payments, Lewandowski said.
"The foundation doesn't run on air, it needs significant funding to operate," Lewandowski said.
Expensive restoration work is needed at the Scottish castle. The concrete foundation of the castle is cracking and crumbling. Designed by Red Rocks Amphitheater architect Burnham Hoyt, the castle sits atop a bluff east of Sedalia. Maintaining the cattle operation, educational resources for students, foundation staff and the castle museum also require operational costs.
"We understand they need the money. It's also a shame they haven't completely considered what it will do to the aquifers and citizens around the area," Dixon said.
The average family uses about one-half an acre foot of water per year. With this water-rights transfer however, a portion of the water pumped from Cherokee Ranch will seep into the ground and another portion will evaporate.
The Colorado state water engineer considers evaporation and seepage factors, so the amount of water Lembke can take out of the South Platte River in Brighton would be less than the amount he pumps into the river using aquifer water from below Douglas County.
The final cost and amount of water is still being hashed out in the state water courts, said Stan Lewandowski, president of the Cherokee Ranch and Castle Foundation. A ruling is expected in about a year, said Ken Broadhurst, a consultant with Dakota Water Resources, LLC who negotiated the deal.
"They have the legal right to do it. I just wish the foundation had been more concerned for the citizens of Douglas County," said Jan Dixon, a geologist who lives in western Douglas County. Dixon is president of the resident-activist group Western Douglas County Citizen's Alliance. She said people concerned about water issues in Parker, Franktown and Sedalia are increasingly contacting the alliance, known for staying up-to-date on water issues.
Once the water deal filters through the courts, the man who hired Broadhurst, Bob Lembke, managing principal of The Bromley Companies LLC, plans to sell the water for residential use. Lembke would eventually pump water from underneath land in Sedalia, supply households in the area though metro districts and town water systems, and receive treated effluent in return, which he would release into the South Platte River, Lembke said. Downstream in Brighton, Lembke eventually could then feed South Platte River water to new neighborhoods, Lembke said.
Brighton is northeast of Denver near Denver International Airport, about 40 miles from Cherokee Ranch.
Although he has not yet talked to water planners in Highlands Ranch, Castle Rock and Roxborough, he said he will approach them first to trade aquifer water for treated effluent. Lembke said he is buying the water rights for future use. The Cherokee Ranch deal is just one of several Lembke said he has in the works on both the north and south sides of Denver.
County residents rely on
nonrenewable aquifers
Most of the water that flows through faucets in Parker, Castle Rock, Highlands Ranch and throughout Douglas County comes from nonrenewable, underground wells. The wells tap into aquifers - enormous underground layers of rock with water that has seeped in from precipitation over millions of years. Water is being mined from the aquifers faster than it is seeping in, water officials say.
Multiple residential wells in western Douglas County at the edge of the Denver Basin aquifer have gone dry in the past decade. Residents had to dig more expensive, deeper wells.
Douglas County two months ago amended water regulations that legislate where water can be transported. Many of the changes clarified 3-year-old water zoning regulations.
But Douglas County residents protested several changes, including one that allowed open space water rights to be used on other properties. Commissioners and planners said the residents might be able to use the water under open space some day.
Foundation needs money
In Colorado, water rights can be detached from the property title and sold separately from the land. This includes private and open-space land deals.
Although some open-space deals include conservation of both the water rights and the land, others stipulate only that the land will not be developed.
The late Sedalia rancher Tweet Kimball, before her death, set up a 3,000-acre open-space deal with the county. For $2 million the county purchased the development rights for the 3,000 acres south of Highlands Ranch, north of Castle Pines and east of Sedalia. Today the Cherokee Ranch and Castle Foundation runs the cattle ranch, castle tours and educational programs. The open-space parcel was one of Douglas County's first; it adjoins Daniels Park and the 8,000-acre Open Space Conservation Area of Highlands Ranch.
Kimball wanted the water rights and an additional 1,000 acres of the ranch on the west side of U.S. 85 separate from the open-space agreement, said foundation president Stan Lewandowski. Kimball was land-rich but strapped for cash, so the foundation relies on payments from the county, payments for the 1,000 extra acres west of U.S. 85 and now water payments, Lewandowski said.
"The foundation doesn't run on air, it needs significant funding to operate," Lewandowski said.
Expensive restoration work is needed at the Scottish castle. The concrete foundation of the castle is cracking and crumbling. Designed by Red Rocks Amphitheater architect Burnham Hoyt, the castle sits atop a bluff east of Sedalia. Maintaining the cattle operation, educational resources for students, foundation staff and the castle museum also require operational costs.
"We understand they need the money. It's also a shame they haven't completely considered what it will do to the aquifers and citizens around the area," Dixon said.
The average family uses about one-half an acre foot of water per year. With this water-rights transfer however, a portion of the water pumped from Cherokee Ranch will seep into the ground and another portion will evaporate.
The Colorado state water engineer considers evaporation and seepage factors, so the amount of water Lembke can take out of the South Platte River in Brighton would be less than the amount he pumps into the river using aquifer water from below Douglas County.
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