Tag Archives: grant thayer

Elbert County Water Theft

So who remembers when Tim Craft said he was waiving his rights to move water outside the Independence Special District boundaries? A bunch of us remember, and so did Elbert County notes from the public hearings… (click to enlarge)

Tim Craft Indepencence Hearing Waiving Water Export Rights

Elbert County’s Independence Hearing Notes

Of course one week before Christmas when nobody is looking, Tim Craft has petitioned the Colorado Water Court to do the opposite – he now wants to amend his decreed rights and export water off-site. (click to enlarge)

Independence Water Court Notice

From their public notice December 19, 2019;  “The decreed uses are in-house and irrigation on the subject property.  By this application, Applicant requests that the decreed uses be amended to include in-house, irrigation, domestic, municipal, industrial, commercial, stock watering, fire protection and exchange and augmentation purposes both on and off the subject property.”

And per their plan Larry and Moe Elbert County Commissioners sit silent. I’m not sure whether they are just that stupid or corrupt?  No hearing, not a peep from the Stooges. Crooked is, as crooked does, Fredo.

Do these clowns really believe that if Craft is granted his petition to amend his decreed water rights and move water outside his Independence boundaries – these county fools really believe they will somehow supersede Colorado Water Rights decreed by Colorado Water Court?  Better get with it and file your objections right now Douglas and Elbert County Folks – or as Tim Craft’s notice says in his first (and final) public notice, “or be forever barred“.

Concerned citizens are meeting at the Elizabeth library on January 7th (2020) at 7 PM to learn how to fill out the proper opposition forms, and also learn how to “piggyback” others oppositions.

It cost me $12,500 in March to lower a new pump 63′ after I ran dry just months after Independence started drilling their deep wells out back of my property. Coincidence? Nah… (click to enlarge)

Dawson Aquifer Well Filters

Independence Well Water

Who’s next? What’s your house worth without water? And for those with “adjudicated” water rights – what’s it going to cost you to tap the Denver or Arapahoe aquifers at roughly $20 a foot to find water because your well went dry? Maybe like Tim Craft personally told me, “we’ll provide you a tap!”  Of course you will Schmuck, at a monthly fee to sell me back the water you thieved from all of us in the first place.

Nothing we can do about the expected 9,922 vehicle in and outs A DAY off Hilltop Road\CR 158, but we can still try to save our wells!

Get with it folks. See you January 7th.

I’ll show off my Elbert County Commissioner replies to my emails in my next post. You won’t want to miss these!

Happy New Year!

Who’s Kidding Who Here? Part II

Elbert County TrustThat didn’t take long.

I received a reply from a Elbert County Commissioner of an email I sent concurrently with writing Part I, “Who’s Kidding Who Here“.  My email touched upon the same points in my post.  In his rebuttal the Commissioner states that the Independence “SIA governs OFFSITE improvements” and that the language denying Craft and his cronies is in “The Service Plan for the Water and Sanitation District contain the language restricting water export..”

So I went and found one of the Service Plans approved on September 7th, 2017.  It had all I needed to see – I don’t need to see any of the other 5 Special Districts – I already know what they say.  All I needed to see was in the finalized Independence Overlay Special District Service Plan.  I compared it to the original same Service Plan filed in June, 2017 – well before the public hearing.

Finalized (pdf) Independence Overlay District Service Plan.

And this was my exact reply to the notion that the Independence SIA governs offsite improvements:

Absolutely laughable that as important as water is to this community, you believe placing a single line on the bottom of a Service Plan is going to stop water from leaving this county?  And more specifically leaving the Independence “project”?

“The District shall not export water outside of Elbert County, with the exception for provisions of any emergency services.”

Are you kidding me?

You approved six districts that are allowed to merge, regroup, consolidate, transfer, etc. and you approved this service plan language:

“The District will be authorized to provide for the acquisition, construction, installation, operation and maintenance of the Improvements (as defined in §32-1-1006(1)(c), C.R.S., as amended, and for the ongoing maintenance of the Improvements, within and without the boundaries of the District, as described in Exhibit F. The District may accept appropriate, purchase, lease or otherwise acquire any water or water rights, either potable or non-potable, for use within or without the Development area.”

Because of your language, all a waterburgler has to do is paper transfer water to another one of their Districts, and/or a District with no boundaries, and/or a District without restrictions, and that District can sell anywhere it wishes.  A brilliant idea since everybody is looking to buy Elbert County water!  And you know it.

After with what this county went through with the same water attorney and other special districts prior, the document preventing the transfer/sale/export of our water should have been 20 pages deep to prevent just a theft.

Good grief!

And that SIA is specific to the Independence project.  It is not some kind of OFFSITE document as you call it.  It is EXACTLY as the headline name says it is: “SUBDIVISION IMPROVEMENT AGREEMENT AND RESTRICTION ON CONVEYANCE RELATED TO THE SUBDIVISION AND DEVELOPMENT OF INDEPENDENCE“.

It is the exact place the export language (all 20 pages of it, not one half-assed line) should be placed, as well as within the special district documents.  Even the districts and their functions are specifically spelled out in it (page 3, number 3).

That Independence “project” (and it’s SIA) is a transferable document SEPARATE of Special Districts.  It can be sold to a buyer (such as Walton), assigned to another developer, or annexed by others.  I am sure the developer/investors plead their case so that language would not be included in it.  You stated it would be in the SIA (where it should be), and you let us down, again. 

I cannot see how you are protecting the citizens of Elbert County with actions like these.

Wayne Ordakowski”

And so it it goes.  A fight to maintain our western way of life.  A fight to protect our Elbert County water.  A fight against corruption.  A fight to protect our home values, and a fight to establish everything that is rightfully ours.

Elbert County citizens deserve better than this.  Way better.

Wayne Ordakowski, a concerned Elbert County Citizen

Who’s Kidding Who Here? Part I

Elbert CountyWe all heard it.  Several times.

At public hearings over three evenings before their approval vote (3-0) on September 7th, 2017 – we heard our Elbert County Commissioners promise that several “negotiated” changes would be made to the 920 home “Independence” application.  Over two hundred concerned citizens heard our BOCC say the county attorney and developer would work on the language for changes that needed to be made to the Independence subdivision improvement agreement (SIA) over the coming hours and days.  Our Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) approved the application that night with the understanding the “discussed” details would be worked out in the SIA.  Elbert County Citizens were left trusting our commissioners, county attorney, a developer in new cowboy boots and a special district “water” attorney to get this done satisfactorily and all “above board”.  Exactly why and how an application was approved before it was completed is beyond me, but I guess in our county government we shall trust.

And it turns out most of what they said would be haggled out in the SIA is in the final SIAMost.  From my notes they mentioned curbs and roadwork along the new Delbert Road Extension.  That’s in there.  They mentioned that same road would have to be completed before the 371th home permit would be issued.  That’s in there.  Chip seal of CR 158 to CR 13 at the builders expense, check, it’s in there.  Many of the so-called “negotiated” commissioner demands are in the document.  Language clear, concise, and issues addressed.

Elbert County Independence SIA (tif)

Elbert County Independence SIA (pdf)

It’s pretty much all there EXCEPT the biggest and most important item of all.  After a short break on the second night of public hearings, we all heard Tim P. Craft and Dianne Miller agree to NOT export any water outside the borders of Independence without a public hearing and BOCC approval.  This was by far the most important issue facing all of Elbert County.  We’ve seen attempted water theft around here before, and it was clear they both reluctantly agreed that NO water would leave the borders of Independence without a public hearing AND BOCC approval.

From elbertcountynews.net:

“You have to understand the psychology of our community,” Thayer said to Miller and Craft. “There is great fear that we’ll be merged with another metro district or export water.

“If you want to step outside the metro district, if you want to do it without coming to us first, I’m afraid — I’m not afraid — I’m pretty sure you’ll have trouble,” Thayer said as the room erupted with applause.

After consulting with his legal team during a recess at the second meeting, Craft made the concession to meet the request of the commissioners.

“By placing borders around the metro districts, they can’t do anything with any of their metro districts’ infrastructure outside of their borders without a notice to public hearing and approval by the BOCC,” Thayer later said.

But there’s NOT A SINGLE MENTION of that agreement in all of the final SIA.  None.  The Independence Special Districts are all mentioned by name.  The other issues are addressed.  But there’s not a single word about what we feared most.  Zip, Zero, Nada.

And to top it all off, if our leaders eventually do tell us that this agreement indeed somehow, somewhere does exist, if there’s some kind of agreement in place in some special district document, some initialed map overlay, some other paperwork they can wave around and say, “here it is right here”, well, that doesn’t matter.  It doesn’t matter one bit because here’s why:

Page 11, section 30.  It is very clear.  Crystal clear.  And this line will hold up in court every day, all day (click to enlarge):

Independence SIA

So basically, if it’s not in the SIA, it doesn’t exist.  It’s not “herein”, capisce?

This is like that chick Lucy that pulls the ball away from Charlie Brown right when he goes to kick it.

And we fall for it every time.

Crooked is, as crooked does.

Wayne Ordakowski, a concerned Elbert County citizen.

UPDATED Read Part II of “Who’s Kidding Who Here”, rebuttal from a County Commissioner

Independence 920 Homes or 2,500? Part II

The Walton GroupThis 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 Confidential RequestWalton 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