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Water concerns delaying Headwaters plan
Developers of the proposed Headwaters golf course and residential development have not submitted a land-use plan to Douglas County planners.
By By: Sean Hadden
Developers of the proposed Headwaters golf course and residential development have not submitted a land-use plan to Douglas County planners.
Mark Knight, a county planner in charge of the Headwaters project, said in March that a public hearing to discuss the plan might be scheduled for early June.
But county concerns about water for golf-course irrigation have caused a delay, said Douglas County's water consultant Bruce Lytle of Halepaska and Associates.
Lytle said he is concerned about plans to irrigate two proposed 18-hole golf courses with water from West Plum Creek and Jackson Creek.
The concerns are based on whether these creeks can provide enough water to keep the golf courses green, and whether additional depletions would have environmental effects, Lytle said.
Wetlands surrounding these creeks are home to the threatened Preble's meadow jumping mouse.
Developers have been planning to use their junior water rights on West Plum Creek for the majority of the golf course irrigation, Knight has said. Some also would come from senior and junior rights to water in Jackson Creek.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers monitors developments that will impact waterways by putting fill material such as earth into creekbeds, corps environmental resource specialist Terry McKee said.
In some cases, developments need special permits, but Headwaters is not seen by the corps to need such a permit, he said.
But they do not make judgments about impacts to threatened species, McKee said.
A spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said taking water from the two creeks should not impact negatively mouse habitat in downstream wetlands.
Lytle said the developers are addressing these environmental and water use issues but he has not seen a plan yet.
Calls to Hanlon regarding when the county would receive a land-use plan were not returned.
The county granted developers George Hanlon and Armen Suny a waiver March 10 that allowed them to use Arapahoe aquifer water for 132 proposed houses.
But they were disallowed from using aquifer water to irrigate the golf courses.
The next step for Hanlon and Suny is to present a land-use plan to the county, county planners said March 10.
After being reviewed, it would be discussed at a public hearing.
If the land-use plan were approved, a third plan and public hearing would be required to discuss the proposed water district developers have said they plan to establish to serve the residential part of the development.
Only after Douglas County commissioners approve both plans could construction on Headwaters begin, county planners have said.
Mark Knight, a county planner in charge of the Headwaters project, said in March that a public hearing to discuss the plan might be scheduled for early June.
But county concerns about water for golf-course irrigation have caused a delay, said Douglas County's water consultant Bruce Lytle of Halepaska and Associates.
Lytle said he is concerned about plans to irrigate two proposed 18-hole golf courses with water from West Plum Creek and Jackson Creek.
The concerns are based on whether these creeks can provide enough water to keep the golf courses green, and whether additional depletions would have environmental effects, Lytle said.
Wetlands surrounding these creeks are home to the threatened Preble's meadow jumping mouse.
Developers have been planning to use their junior water rights on West Plum Creek for the majority of the golf course irrigation, Knight has said. Some also would come from senior and junior rights to water in Jackson Creek.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers monitors developments that will impact waterways by putting fill material such as earth into creekbeds, corps environmental resource specialist Terry McKee said.
In some cases, developments need special permits, but Headwaters is not seen by the corps to need such a permit, he said.
But they do not make judgments about impacts to threatened species, McKee said.
A spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said taking water from the two creeks should not impact negatively mouse habitat in downstream wetlands.
Lytle said the developers are addressing these environmental and water use issues but he has not seen a plan yet.
Calls to Hanlon regarding when the county would receive a land-use plan were not returned.
The county granted developers George Hanlon and Armen Suny a waiver March 10 that allowed them to use Arapahoe aquifer water for 132 proposed houses.
But they were disallowed from using aquifer water to irrigate the golf courses.
The next step for Hanlon and Suny is to present a land-use plan to the county, county planners said March 10.
After being reviewed, it would be discussed at a public hearing.
If the land-use plan were approved, a third plan and public hearing would be required to discuss the proposed water district developers have said they plan to establish to serve the residential part of the development.
Only after Douglas County commissioners approve both plans could construction on Headwaters begin, county planners have said.
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