Monday night, the Monument town council approved a long, thin “flagpole” annexation to bring a water tank to the north within town limits. While the culmination of a multi-year infrastructure project, the legal move drew some caution from one councilmember.

The water tank on Beacon Lite Road – and its inclusion into the town – has been in development for over six years. The next stage of the project is to replace an older tank with new infrastructure in the same location.

“We’ve been working on this for quite some time, many years, actually,” said Monument Planning Director Dan Ungerleider.

To connect to the town, the annexation will include a section of Beacon Lite Road. El Paso County is currently running a project to improve the unincorporated road by converting its surface from gravel to asphalt.

Councilman Steve King raised concerns over Monument taking ownership of the road while the county is in the midst of the project. He said he was worried that the town could be financially responsible if the county’s plans fell through or required further work.

Town attorney Bob Cole said that the scenario was unlikely.

“I don’t know what the practical risk of that would be,” he said.

Since the project was multi-staged and funded, Monument Mayor Mitch LaKind said he was confident moving forward with the annexation.

“It would be weird if the county just cancelled everything,” he said.

Ungerleider said negotiations were still underway with the county over when the town would take ownership of the road.

Another potential concern with the annexation was addressed with a successful ordinance last month, banning town water use north of the Palmer Divide. The town’s new rule would preclude any new connections that it deemed on the wrong side of the geographical feature.

The reasoning behind the rule is the town’s hopes to join a future renewable water project, rather than relying on its depleting well system. One of the contenders, the Northern Delivery System, restricts water use north of the Divide.

Monument Hill is the most obvious visual marker of the Palmer Divide, which splits water drainage between the Arkansas and South Platte river basins.

Last month, King explained that the ordinance meant the town would not be obligated to approve new water connections along Beacon Lite Road after the annexation.

That would probably include the Monument Ridge West, LLC, property at the County Line Road Interstate 25 exit, where developers have been hoping to build Colorado’s second location of Texas travel chain Buc-ee’s.