PUEBLO — A $30.48 million offer to buy water rights for the proposed Battle Mountain Ski Resort near Minturn will be voted on by the Pueblo Board of Water Works on Thursday.
The resort’s developer — Ginn Development — has offered to buy the Columbine Ditch north of Leadville.
The Thursday vote would finalize the deal, but the city of Aurora will have 60 days to match the offer under an earlier agreement with the board.
The ditch would yield about 1,300 acre-feet annually under limits in water-court decrees.
Money from the sale would go toward an estimated $60 million needed to buy Bessemer Ditch shares to reduce the water board’s dependence on Western Slope water.
The Bessemer Ditch rights could provide about 7,500 acre-feet per year, based on estimates of historic yield.
Ginn plans 1,700 homes in three villages, a 1,200-acre private ski hill and a golf course on 5,300 acres above Minturn purchased in 2004 for $32.75 million.
