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Planning commission backs waiver to approve Rolling Hills Estates final plat despite 300‑year water-rule gap
Summary
The commission recommended approval of Rolling Hills Estates filing No. 3 after the county attorney said the property's well predates modern groundwater administration and a strict 300‑year water-supply showing could not be produced. The recommendation includes a waiver and a finding of sufficiency for water quality, quantity and dependability.
The El Paso County Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend approval of SF2423, the final plat for Rolling Hills Estates filing No. 3, with a waiver of certain water-supply code requirements, including the county’s 300‑year water rule.
Lori Segoe of the County Attorney’s Office told the commission that the property includes a well installed in 1972 that predates Colorado’s modern groundwater administration and the county’s current Land Development Code water provisions. Segoe said applicants in that situation often lack court decrees or allocations typically required to demonstrate long-term water rights, so the applicant requested a waiver of the code provisions to allow a finding of water sufficiency based on available operational data.
“The property owner in 1972 was able to get a well permit… and that was the end of it,” Segoe said, explaining why the historical permit record limits the documentation now available. Segoe said the estimated demand for the lot is 0.33 acre-feet per year and that a recent report showed the well’s pumping rate at 11 gallons per minute, “more than adequate to meet that estimated demand.” She recommended the commission forward the waiver request and a finding of sufficiency to the Board of County Commissioners, noting that the recommendation would not be a waiver of the sufficiency finding itself but of specific code information requirements such as the 300‑year showing.
Commissioner Trowbridge asked whether a new well permit would be required if the existing well fails; Segoe said she did not have an answer on that procedural point. The commission then voted 9-0 to recommend approval, on a motion by Commissioner Trowbridge and a second by Commissioner Whitney.
The planning commission’s recommendation asks the Board of County Commissioners to make the final determinations and to consider the waiver when they review the final plat. The transcript records that the motion included five conditions, four notations and the waiver regarding water requirements.
The commission’s discussion on this item was lengthier than many consent items because of legal and technical questions about groundwater administration and how historical wells interact with current county code requirements.
