The Town of Morrison is pushing back against the demand for water taps from Red Rocks Ranch, a new development under construction at C-470 and Morrison Road. The decision has left several would-be homebuyers in limbo, unable to close on their homes because they have no water connections.
Some are living in hotels and Airbnbs while they wait for the issue to resolve, according to a Lennar Homes representative. One of them came to the town hall Oct. 1 to plead with the town board, which is pointing the finger at the project’s metropolitan district.
“I’m waiting for a home in Red Rocks Ranch,” said Tim Rawson, who’s living with his wife and two children in his mother’s nearby home while they wait to close. “I want to establish my family here. I just want to know why it’s so difficult to come to a decision to let people move into homes that will bring taxpayer revenue and help the community? What’s the plan ahead?”
Town leaders say the problem lies with the Mount Carbon Metropolitan District, which is charged with providing water and sewer to the unincorporated development. Those utilities come to Red Rocks Ranch via the nearby Town of Morrison’s facilities. While Mount Carbon paid to upgrade the town’s wastewater treatment plant and is funding construction of a new, nearly complete water treatment plant, the plant isn’t yet online. And a required revision of an intergovernmental agreement between Mount Carbon and Morrison is also incomplete.
Meanwhile, the district is asking for more water taps to serve homes that are under contract.
“Mount Carbon has not met their obligations,” said Town Trustee Katie Gill. “I understand his (the homeowner’s) frustration, but I don’t know where the message is coming from that this is the town’s fault.”
In an emergency meeting on Sept. 26, town trustees voted to give the special district 50 additional taps, adding to the 355 it’s already been given. But they denied a request to convert existing irrigation meters to 39 additional residential water taps, saying they’re not obligated to provide more taps until a 2008 intergovernmental agreement between Morrison and the Mount Carbon Metropolitan District is rewritten — an effort that’s been under way for years.
Because of that, Rawson — and 38 other prospective homeowners — can’t close on their homes.
“I believe all of us on the board sympathize with the homebuyers who cannot close on their homes due to water taps,” Town Trustee Katie Gill said. “However, the responsibility to build the necessary infrastructure to increase Morrison’s capacity is Mount Carbon’s. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves and sell water we can’t serve.”
Gill said on Oct. 2 that the board will “probably schedule another special session in consideration of the 39” soon.
An attorney for Mount Carbon said he believes the new IGA will be ready in about a month, and that it will not only resolve the town’s immediate concerns but address long-term water supply for the development.
Attorney David O’Leary also said the district will reapproach the board with its plan to convert irrigation meters into residential water taps.
“I think the proposal is a reasonable one,” he said. “It addresses an immediate need so some of those houses can close. I’d love to help those homeowners.”
The development’s irrigation system has been shut down to allow for the conversion, O’Leary said. He believes a new water treatment plant in Morrison will be operational, and current water issues resolved, before irrigation is needed again in the spring.
Town Trustee Katie Gill doesn’t see the issue the same way. She pointed to a 2023 amendment of the IGA that states the town isn’t obligated to provide more taps until the document is updated.
“I think we have given Mount Carbon too many taps ahead of their building the infrastructure to support them,” Gill said. “We have said ‘yes’ to everything they’ve ever asked the town. I think it’s time to say ‘no.’”
Mayor Chris Wolfe said the town wants to keep the development on track.
“We are trying to do our best to make this a mutual agreement with Mount Carbon and to move forward,” he said. “We want to be partners.”
Townhouses and condos are rising fast at the project site, which is set to eventually have more than 1,300 single-family homes, townhomes and condos, 70 acres of trails, parks, and open space, and 40 acres of commercial. Home prices in Red Rocks Ranch, which bills itself as an “exciting” community with “incredible scenery and recreation galore,” range from $750,000 to $1.25 million. While multiple homes are under construction, a Morrison utility report shows 319 homes in Red Rocks Ranch currently have town water service.
Red Rocks Ranch is not part of incorporated Morrison, but the small town of less than 400 residents is providing water and wastewater to what is slated to be the much larger development just outside its boundaries. Mount Carbon agreed to build the infrastructure required to meet its needs, and has already updated the wastewater treatment facilities. Construction of a new water treatment plant, for which it’s also paid, is nearly complete. The plant will double the town’s water capacity to a million gallons per day.
But that’s only part of what’s needed to serve Red Rocks Ranch at full development. The plant is fed by untreated water from Bear Creek, and while the current supply is enough for Morrison, it isn’t enough for the development. To tap into additional town water rights, a new diversion must be built on Bear Creek west of the plant.
The process to build that diversion hasn’t yet begun, and Gill believes it could take years.
“I think (builder) Lennar is not aware how long it’s going to take before we can get to full capacity,” she said. “There’s a water court process we have to go through. That might be just an administrative thing they can approve in a couple months, or it might be a thing we wait on for a year. Then we have to design the diversion and pump station, and build it. My non-technical opinion is this could take a few years.”
O’Leary agreed that issue needs to be addressed, but feels time is on the district’s side.
“We’re talking years before this thing is fully built out,” he said. “If we had 1,100 units that came online all at once, yes, we would have an issue. Yes, you’ll need to enhance it, but I think all of that will be handled in the IGA.”
O’Leary acknowledged the process to update the IGA has been long, but cited turnover in town and district staff among the reasons. O’Leary himself joined the effort about six months ago.
“We’ve been working on it with them for about five years, and I’ve been working on it for about six months; we’ve made some progress,” he said. “The new agreement will hit all their concerns.”
Gill said the revised IGA needs to outline the costs each entity will be responsible for in expanding the raw water infrastructure, among other things.
“How many taps they need and what we need to build has changed a lot,” Gill said. “We’ve been negotiating the terms, timeline and capacity (of infrastructure) they’re willing to build for years.
“The town has both the intention and the capacity to meet its obligations to the development,” she continued. “But we cannot do that until the district meets its infrastructure obligations. It would be reckless of the town to issue taps beyond our capacity.”
The district was created in 1976 the Mount Carbon Water and Sanitation District, and converted to a metropolitan district in 1982.
While Red Rocks Ranch was once within the town limits, the Morrison Town Board voted in 2018 to disconnect the property from its jurisdiction into unincorporated Jefferson County. Many residents supported that decision for upholding the town’s “Keep Morrison, Morrison” motto.
Tagged: Chris WolfeDavid O'LearyKatie GillMorrisonMount Carbon Metropolitan DistrictRed Rocks Ranch
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