This just keeps getting deeper and deeper. Like unwinding a crime before it happens. And that’s what it is – a crime. Take our water. Take our land. Take our way of life. For profit.
Walton Group bought a couple parcels of land less than two years ago right here in Colorado. Lochbuie in Weld County as a matter of fact. But what they did there was/is backwards to what they usually do – and it effects us. They usually buy AG land, use their strength to bully small town and county boards to flip the property zoning, then sell it off to developers for profit. In these acquisitions, they bought out the developers and their special districts in the middle of the developers developing their developments (say that 3 times fast). Here’s a few articles:
Walton Group Buys Altamira
Walton Group Buys Silver Peaks
It appears they bought both of the developments AFTER other developers went through zoning, planning, and county commissioners. After OTHER developers flipped the county regulators. Even bought it AFTER ground was broke and homes were being built.
And here’s their (consolidated name) project now:
Walton Group Silver Peaks Project Weld County
That’s quite a bit to take in, but it gets worse. Do any of these names ring a bell around here? Good God almighty, look at some of the Weld County Special Districts Board Members and their attorney!
Silver Peaks Weld County Special District Board Members
Dianne Miller Silver Peaks Special District Weld County
Colorado Water Developer “Looted” Development, Lawsuit Alleges
More importantly, look at the dates. Those Silver Peaks & Altamira developments along with their special districts were all put together, started developing, then were sold off to the Walton Group. And now Walton can put their new federally registered patent, “A Walton Community” logo to work:
Walton Group: A WALTON COMMUNITY
Is that what is happening here in Elbert County? It is not a reach whatsoever to speculate this is exactly what is happening here. Walk this through:
Attorney Dianne Miller puts together the Independence Special Districts with taxing and eminent domain powers, all 6 of them – check.
Developer Tim Craft brings the dead Bandera project back to life for Bluegreen Investments, and with a lot of money (who’s money?) and time, gets it approved by Elbert County Commissions. Zoning, Planning and the 3 Member County Commissioners all in his pocket – check
Walton Group raises over 9 Million dollars from their Asian partners for special warranty deeds on land they own abutting Independence. $9,000,000.00 raised and counting (that doesn’t even include any of their money) for a lousy 320 acres of AG land? – check
Walton applies for a change in zoning (out of AG) to Elbert County for their 320 acre parcel abutting Independence, a change NOBODY at the county says they know anything about (I have the emails), but yet what is this “confidential” document? Oh, let’s speculate, “Description: Received correspondence from new owner re AG. Uploaded docs and notified Bart Chambers.”
So who’s lying?
Walton Confidential Doc re: AG 02/2017
Somewhere down the line Walton annexes, buys or takes over (they’ve done all three previously) Independence and bam, we have 2,500+ homes with 7,500 or so new neighbors. And where do you get the water, the resources, to satisfy the needs of 7,500 people? The ingress/egress roads for 30,000 daily vehicle ins and outs that aren’t even in Elbert County. You think our wells here in Elbert County can supply 100% of the water required for this monstrosity? Not a chance, and they know it. I say slay it before it grows.
We got lucky here. I didn’t know about Bandera in 2009, didn’t care, didn’t live here yet.
I didn’t even know about Independence until just a few months ago, and I’ve been an Elbert County citizen and property owner for over 5 years. Seems most people ’round here (me included) mind their own business and don’t get too involved with county matters, just the way country life should be, right? Pretty much easy prey to be taken advantage of by greedy developers and crooked government officials. Hell, half the county doesn’t have reliable cell phone service. Rural.
But now I know.
And I’ll post everywhere, anywhere I can so you’ll know too. I’ll call the old posse and park a hundred Harley’s in front of the County Commissioners to get their attention. I’ll knock on your door, wake you up at 8 AM to get the facts of the matter out. I’ll write posts like these, give you the facts, quote articles, public resources, assessors info, etc. so you can determine what it is they’re doing to our “rural and western” way of life.
Is this what Elbert county residents want? Construction dust and noise for decades? Impossible access along Hilltop and Delbert Roads? Stinky sewer plants for 10,000 folks? To have developers come in here with high density cluster homes and take what’s ours?
Are we going to let this sneak by again, or are we gonna’ take a stand? Reasonable growth is Elbert County is expected, but OVERDEVELOPMENT and taking our water, our resources isn’t.
Listen, I know this is a lot to read. Maybe too much so. But sooner or later you have to make a choice. Stand or fall. Let your commissioners, planning commission members and zoning department know your thoughts. Don’t sit there on your ass and let this freight train run you over – again.
Leave that 320 acres zoned AG, AG. There’s no law that says it must change. There’s no law that says big money wins. There’s no law that says you cannot deny their request. There’s no law that says it’s OK to steal our water, clog our roads (that we don’t fix now) or get bent over a barrel by a few greedy clowns in new cowboy boots. This is rural Elbert County. Growth is coming, but there’s no law that says it can’t be smart growth. There’s no law that says our County Commissioners are not supposed to protect the citizens of Elbert County either.
Here’s your Elbert County Commissioners email addresses:
Chris.Richardson@elbertcounty-co.gov
Danny.Willcox@elbertcounty-co.gov
Grant.Thayer@elbertcounty-co.gov
Coming soon, Part III – that sneaky little multi-million gallon drinking water storage tank that’s connected to Rueter-Hess Reservoir on Singing Hills Road that will feed the machine. Remember pipelines run both ways. Water in, water out. Stay tuned, they broke ground and today there’s excavation and backhoe equipment there. Check back when you can.
Wayne Ordakowski, a concerned RURAL Elbert County Citizen
Taking a peek at only one single Special District Service Plan, the Independence Water And Sanitation Service Plan (there’s 6 total), I broke out what I considered a typical Colorado Spring/Summer/Fall month for water and sewer costs. Mind you this is only water and sewer costs per month. It does NOT include infrastructure, streets, roads, HOA, parks, storm sewers, or anything else. ONLY water and sewer.
That didn’t take long.
We all heard it. Several times.
We all understand this “Independence” project is a big thing. Where do you/we start? Independence’s population will be double Elizabeth (1,358 2010 Census) and four times larger than Kiowa (723 2010 Census). Big things have big problems.
But here’s a few items of note:
You may wish to write a letter to the Honorable Judge Spear that there is no mention whatsoever of the restriction on exporting county water in the Subdivision Improvement Agreement (The Independence SIA). We were all told at the September Public Hearings the restriction on “exporting water” language would be in there, but it was completely omitted.
And here’s why I believe it was omitted: Developer Tim P. Craft and water attorney Dianne Miller don’t want the “no export water” language integrated into the SIA like we were promised because:
“The board of county commissioners or any purchaser of any lot, lots, tract, or tracts of land subject to a plat restriction which is the security portion of a subdivision improvements agreement shall have the authority to bring an action in any district court to compel the enforcement of any subdivision improvements agreement on the sale, conveyance, or transfer of any such lot, lots, tract, or tracts of land or of any other provision of this part 1.”
If our county commissioners really had Elbert County citizens best interests in mind, the export water clauses would absolutely be in the SIA protecting the new homeowners of Independence. Commissioner Grant Thayer’s public remark “buyer beware” to prospective Independence homeowners rings loud and clear now. Why our county commissioners do not want the “no export water” language in the SIA is beyond me (use your imagination). Why would the BOCC give up their power to challenge any water export defects in court? I thought Elbert County citizens came first? Why don’t they want the “no export water” language there? Especially after they said it would be there, but now say it’s in the Special District Service Plans? If it’s not there, it can’t be enforced, right? Commissioner Richardson calls the SIA an “offsite” document. That’s laughable.
Colorado Law at Justia
Another point could be made in the final Independence Water & Sanitation Service Plan, Section X. Section X should be without a doubt a “material modification” that would require Public Hearing and BOCC approval. As it is written, nothing at all stops them from connecting a pipeline to other districts. Two districts come to mind, and both are across the Delbert Road Extension Road just a few feet away in Douglas County. One; Hilltop Metropolitan District owned by 303 Investments, and two; Rueter-Hess Reservoir Singing Hills Water Storage Tank owned by the Parker Water & Sanitation District. (The multi-million gallon drinking water tank land off Singing Hills was seized from the Elkins with Parker Water & Sanitation District’s power of eminent domain years ago). No BOCC approval is required to connect pipeline, no public hearings, no asking, no nothing. There’s not even a time frame requirement for notice to the BOCC after the fact. Here’s Section X:
X. INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENTS
No intergovernmental agreements are proposed at this time; however, the District anticipates that intergovernmental agreements may be required in the future. The District shall provide the County Board of County Commissioners with notice of all intergovernmental agreements entered into by and between the District and other local governments.”
https://www.saveelbertcounty.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Independence-WS-Service-Plan-FINAL-BOCC-9-7-2017.pdf
Remember, Special Districts such as Hilltop, Parker Water & Sanitation (and others) are considered “quasi-governmental” entities.
Say it isn’t so Joe!
Another point may be that ALL SIX Special Districts should contain the strong “no export water” language we were promised at the Public Hearing. While the Independence Water & Sanitation District Final contains some weak export language, the other 5 including the Overlay District contain barely a mention. A single half-assed line. Not acceptable as duties, districts, etc. can be assigned, shifted, transferred, etc. between themselves. What is restrictive in one district can be reassigned to a less restrictive district. There is no guarantee a district won’t sell its water to another district that can sell outside the Independence borders and circumvent the spirit of the agreement. Does anybody remember the attempted 2011 Elbert County Water Heist involving the same water attorney?
1,000 plus Elbert County Citizens Gather
You may wish to write about having a raw sewer reclamation facility approved by commissioners and planners that have no idea of a project that’s never, ever been done before in any residential development in Colorado. Why are us Elbert County citizens the guinea pigs here?
You may wish to write about where does the other 15% of raw waste from 3,000 plus people go? By Craft’s best estimates in his application, if 85% of the well water is somehow reclaimed “twice” as he says, where does the other 15% go? There’s no natural creek, runoff, nothing in their plat. Does it just magically disappear? What about precautions for storm runoff? We occasionally get feet of snow, inches of hard rain, where does it go? Pots and pans, or runoff through our existing neighborhoods and take the overflow from the shitholes with it? There are no discharge exit routes whatsoever.
It is entirely possible you did not agree with the Board of County Commissioners decision to run public hearings for the SIX Independence Special District Service Plans AND the Independence 920 PUD Application together on September 5, 6th and 7th. Public comment was only allowed for a few hours on September 5th. These were huge programs (more than the population of Elizabeth and Kiowa combined) that needed extended time for our right to public comment and to demand answers to our questions. Deciding to run them concurrently took away much needed discussion time from both of them separately. Who gave the Elbert County BOCC the power to circumvent the process?
Why were several letters that were supposed to be public record not recorded? Why were a few finally put on the County Website just hours before hearing? Why were letters from Independence supporters like the Walton Group who own the 320 acres next to Independence only posted to the Website hours before the hearing, and not available when they were submitted much earlier, months earlier, in MAY? It is possible somebody didn’t want them seen until it was too late?
Speaking of Serenity Pointe owners and neighbors to Independence, the Walton Group – how does their Manager of Real Estate Acquisition & Disposition know to send a letter of support for Independence and its TWO schools, when the plat only shows one middle school? Again, that letter not posted until hours before the public dog and pony show, but written in May. You can’t ask for an answer if you don’t know the question to ask, right?
Walton Group Independence Letter
It strikes me as odd that I have several emails from the commissioners stating they did not know anything about the Walton Group, nor that they owned the 320 acre parcel next to Independence. Nor did they know 415+ Asian investors have invested more than $10,000,000.00 in the 320 acres called Walton’s Serenity Pointe next door? How can that possibly be because if they read that letter like they said “they read everything”, if they read that single letter of support they could not have known Walton Group was a neighbor? In fact, I was told by Commissioner Willcox, and I quote, “At no time were we interested in the neighboring property or was it discussed”. How is that possible? How can you make such a large decision, effecting more people than your largest two cities combined, and say you “weren’t interested” in what or who’s next door? And how do the commissioners not know about neighbors to Independence, when the Elbert BOCC approved a resolution in 2009 naming Serenity Pointe as a neighbor to the former Bandera? Back when current County Commissioner Grant Thayer was the Elbert County Planning Commission Chairman. He worked on this project back then!
Elbert County BOCC Resolution 09-14
“4.) The current site layout shows residential clusters abutting the property boundaries on the north, west, and east. To avoid potential conflicts between agricultural uses and the smaller lots (1/2 acre), the buffer area along these property boundaries should be increased. This will require shifting some of the perimeter lots toward the interior to create additional buffer area, eliminating the perimeter lots, or re-locating them elsewhere on the property. Serenity Point is a proposed development adjacent to and immediately north of Bandera. The lot configuration being proposed along Bandera’s north boundary may be appropriate, provided the open space and road connections are coordinated between the two proposed developments”.
And yet, none of them knew anything. Uh huh.
And why does Commissioner Richardson call us folks opposed to this development “the 1%”? Did somebody poll 25,000 Elbert County citizens and find 24,750 approve of Independence? Personally, I think it’s just another show of arrogance against the Elbert County citizenry that wish to protect our water and western way of life.
These are a few questions for Judge Spear who is reviewing the SIX Service Plans. Some questions are for the Court that is reviewing the entire Independence project approvals and all its documents.
Whatever you write the Judge, just be honest and do the best you can. Something our elected officials should be doing for us, don’t you think?
Hopefully the good Judge is fair in his review of the Service Plans (and everything that is lacking in them). Our way of life, our water is important to all of us. Start writing!
“Fairness“, what a concept – especially around Elbert County government.