Along with high-density subdivisions come central water systems, wastewater treatment plants and the entire infrastructure needed to support new residential growth.In 1988, the Paint Brush Hills Metropolitan District constructed a wastewater treatment facility. Today it provides wastewater treatment for Woodmen Hills, Meridian Ranch and other Falcon subdivisions.The Cherokee Metropolitan District (CMD) operates a 2.0 million gallons-a-day treatment plant near Peterson Air Force Base and Highway 24. Wastewater from homes in the Cimarron Hills subdivision and Schriever Air Force Base is treated and then discharged into the East Fork of Sand Creek. However, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment records show the facility will reach its design capacity by 2008 unless growth along the Highway 24 corridor is curtailed.On April 25, the Cherokee Metropolitan District submitted a request to the El Paso County Planning Department to construct two lift stations, a pipeline and a 4.8 million gallons-a-day wastewater treatment plant on 160 acres near the corner of Drennan and Miline roads in Ellicott. Engineers for CMD propose to spend about $22.2 million to build a facility capable of handling waste from Falcon, Cimarron Hills and Schriever Air Force Base.According to the Cherokee Metropolitan District’s “Letter of Intent, Location Approval, Wastewater Treatment Facility,” the Meridian Service Metropolitan District (MSMD) entered into an inter-government agreement with CMD and agreed to pay about $14.3 million of the construction costs for the new facility. MSMD hopes to form agreements with the metropolitan districts of Woodmen Hills, Falcon Highlands and Paint Brush Hills. If that occurs, the letter states that the 2.2 million gallons-per-day of wastewater will be transported from Falcon, via the pipeline, to Cherokee’s new treatment plant in Ellicott. Once the new facility is built, the existing Cherokee and Paint Brush Hills treatment plants will both be closed down.Documents prepared by CMD show that the water needed to operate the new plant will come from the alluvium of Upper Black Squirrel Creek. The report states that after the water is treated it will be discharged into the southern end of the Upper Black Squirrel Basin near Ellicott Highway and Henderson Road.On June 21, Ron Martin, an Ellicott resident living near the proposed waste-water treatment site, spoke at the El Paso County Planning Commission. Martin presented a petition signed by 70 Ellicott residents who oppose the new wastewater treatment site.Martin told the planning commission: “The citizens believe the benefit-to-risk ratio of the Cherokee Metropolitan District’s proposal to be too high of a price to pay, as the citizens of the Ellicott Metropolitan District will be taking all of the risks to their property values, environment and groundwater resources without receiving any of the benefits of the proposed wastewater treatment facility.”The planning commission also heard from Bob Cordova, an Ellicott landowner, who informed the commission the public notice for the hearing had mistakenly been placed on his land, which is one mile west of the actual site for the new facility. Members of the Planning Commission decided to postpone any decisions until the proper site is legally posted for 30 days.Martin said because this issue will only be heard by the planning commission and does not need to go before the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners, he will use the continuance to gather facts and to urge Ellicott residents “to show-up at the meeting and voice their dissent.”Update: On July 19, the planning commission turned down the Cherokee Metropolitan District’s request to build a wastewater treatment plant; however, the district does have the right to appeal.
