Golden – Jefferson County officials plan another stab at creating regulations that would require people building in the foothills to prove there is sufficient water and that their use won’t affect their neighbors’ supply.
Workshops and community meetings will review criteria for the regulations, which county planning director Tim Carl said Wednesday should take about a year.
“Water is finite and impacts development,” Carl said, particularly in the foothills, where wells draw water from fractured rock, a less reliable source than aquifers on the plains.
Requirements such as a hydrogeologic report and a pump test were proposed a year ago but were stalled by community issues and a Board of Commissioners that left office.
The main concerns raised by foothills property owners were the need to drill and test a well before getting a building permit, the size of the property that triggers the pump test and its $6,000 to $13,000 cost.
Commissioner Kevin McCas ky suggested the staff look at ways to provide “flexibility on a case-by-case basis” rather than just applying the requirements to lots of 12 acres or less.
Residents’ complaints about their wells going dry prompted a 1997 U.S. Geological Survey study that is the basis for the proposed requirements.
The proposed regulations would affect land west of the Dakota Hogback and above 6,400 feet, where an estimated 60,000 people already live.
Staff writer Ann Schrader can be reached at 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
