Colorado Springs Utilities got the green light from the City Council on Tuesday to start making deals for the Southern Delivery System’s north route in El Paso County.

Of the roughly 80 tracts, at least 10 are owned by Banning Lewis Ranch LLC. The 23,000-acre Banning Lewis Ranch, which has just recently started to be developed, is a prime reason for the proposed $1 billion pipeline from Pueblo Reservoir.

Banning Lewis Ranch and the other owners, which include several developers, a church and more than a dozen individuals, will share in $6 million set aside for property for the north route, which runs from Squirrel Creek Road east of Fountain to northeast Colorado Springs.

All but two of the transactions will be for easements, meaning the city will buy permission to use land beneath the surface. That means landowners would be able to use their property with certain restrictions, such as a prohibition on building structures over the 66-inch pipe. The pipeline will be buried in 12-foot-deep trenches beneath 66 inches of dirt.

The city will buy only two tracts, one for a treatment plant and another for a pump station.

Dan Higgins, SDS construction manager, said the city feels comfortable acquiring rights for the north route prior to a federal permitting decision slated for next year, because the north route works for either of two alternatives the city is pursuing.

The first, the city’s preferred route, would pump water from Pueblo Reservoir through a pipeline that would parallel Interstate 25 to Fountain. This path requires Bureau of Reclamation approval because it would rely on the reservoir, a federal facility.

The other route would pump from the Arkansas River in Fremont County above Pueblo Reservoir and is being pursued in case the city’s preferred route isn’t approved or Pueblo County commissioners reject the city’s land-use application to build the pipe in Pueblo County.

So far, the city has paid Wilson & Co., of Wichita, Kan., about $600,000 for real estate services in connection with identifying easements, title searches and other work for the north route. The consultant also will participate in negotiating with landowners.

All deals will be submitted to the City Council for approval.

This summer, the city identified another potential site for the treatment plant. The 120-acre tract is located at Marksheffel Road and U.S. 24 and Colorado Highway 94 and would work for both the Pueblo Reservoir and Fremont County alternatives, Higgins said. It’s owned by Colorado Springs Land Association, a coalition of investors.

The original 200-acre treatment plant site lies just below the Jimmy Camp Creek Reservoir site north of highway 94 and west of Blaney Road.

Utilities added the new alternative after substantial public concern was expressed during the Draft Environmental Impact Statement study about significant archaeological artifacts at the Jimmy Camp site from prehistoric times.

“It’s a consideration but not a driving force,” Higgins said.

Higgins said the Marksheffel site is closer to electric transmission facilities and would require less site work.

“Both potential treatment plant sites are still being evaluated as part of the EIS process,” Utilities spokeswoman Janet Rummel said in an e-mail.

“Reclamation has initiated an environmental resources review of the new treatment site location, and those findings will be made available to the public for review and comment along with the additional water quality analysis,” she said.

The city also has selected an alternate site for a reservoir. Besides the Jimmy Camp site owned by Banning Lewis developers, the city now is considering a tract south of Bradley Road east of Security for the reservoir, slated to go into service in 2018.

The council approved proceeding with land acquisitions without discussion.In a related matter, the council approved borrowing $45 million this fall to pay SDS’ project costs next year.

In other business, the council approved raising liquor license fees. The new rate schedule raises new licenses, ownership changes and new locations to $750 from $625; license renewal to $100 from $75; a new $100 fee for art galleries serving alcohol at events; and 3.2 percent beer special events licenses to $100 from $10 per day.

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Contact the writer: 636-0238 or pam.zubeck@gazettedev.gazette.com

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