Montava files lawsuit to secure crossings of irrigation ditch

FORT COLLINS — Developers of the massive, 999-acre Montava development in northeast Fort Collins near the Anheuser-Busch facility have filed a lawsuit against the owners of a ditch that runs through the development.

Montava Development & Construction LLC claims in the lawsuit that after years of negotiations with the ditch company, WRCC Inc., based in Eaton, the company has illegally blocked the development with demanded changes to proposed crossings of the ditch. It is asking a judge to order the ditch company to accept a proposal “consistent with Colorado law” and to pay damages for “negligent misrepresentation.”

WRCC general manager Kim Nelson did not return a call seeking comment on the case. 

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Montava has been under planning, design and review since at least 2017. The ditch, known as No. 8 Outlet Ditch, runs through the parcels that the company accumulated. 

As noted in the complaint, Montava attempted to negotiate ditch crossings over multiple years, with the demands changing along the way. Montava first proposed an open ditch, then an enclosed pipeline, then a box culvert design. Water flows also changed along the way from the historic 85 to 90 cubic feet per second at peak flows to a requested 250 cubic feet per second. 

At one point, Montava thought it had reached an agreement that would cost about $5 million more than the open ditch approach, but a change in ownership structure of the ditch in 2023 resulted in additional demands, including a demand to relocate the ditch, something that Montava also agreed to factor into the development.

Yet it still was not able to reach an agreement, Montava’s lawsuit said.

“Plaintiffs allege that the open ditch proposal, ditch pipeline proposal, box culvert proposal, the various maintenance proposals, the various draft ditch agreements shared with the defendant, and the various stormwater proposals each met or exceeded the legal requirements to cross or otherwise modify the ditch or ditch easement and that defendant’s changing positions and unreasonable demands negligently or intentionally caused Montava significant damages,” the lawsuit said.

“…(A)fter 5-6 years, plaintiffs are no longer willing to pay for the most expensive and burdensome accommodations it offered to defendant to obtain its consent without litigation. Such consent was not achieved and litigation is needed.”

Montava seeks a declaratory judgment to “have its rights and status declared and established by an order of the court” to permit development of the property on both sides of the ditch.

The case is Montava Development & Construction LLC, et al, versus WRCC Inc., case number 2024cv30143 filed in Larimer County District Court on Feb. 19, 2024.