Northern Water petitions for eminent domain over Lind land

WELD COUNTY — The Northern Integrated Supply Project Water Activity Enterprise operated by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District has petitioned for condemnation of land owned by developer Martin Lind’s Vima Partners LLC on which it hopes to build water pipelines and related infrastructure necessary to move water.

NISP, as it is called, will include two reservoirs, Glade and Galeton, to store water from the Cache la Poudre and the South Platte rivers, collecting 40,000 acre-feet of water annually to be delivered via pipelines to water utilities throughout the Front Range. Comprised of 15 municipalities and water districts, NISP is expected to deliver enough water for nearly half a million residents by 2050. Part of the project is building pipelines to reach the end users and the reservoirs.

The water district and the developer have locked horns over the purchase of an easement on Lind’s property to build a pipeline. Eminent domain is a tool for a government entity to take property for the benefit of the public; a judge will not only determine if NISP enterprise can take the property but will also determine a fair market value.

Lind, who owns Vima Partners, said it is disappointing that negotiations had to end up this way.

“We’re real big fans of NISP, but we’re not agreeing to the value they set for this easement on our property,” Lind said Thursday. “We’re very disappointed in them because we have gotten over two miles of the exact same easement where they worked in good faith and we found the right answer.”

The property in question is a half-mile easement south of Weld County Road 60, paralleling Colorado Boulevard, Lind said. 

“We’ve offered them identical values to what they paid for the rest of it, and the value they’re offering is hemispherically different, and we’re not going to agree to it,” Lind said. 

According to the petition filed in Weld District Court, the water provider entity is seeking access to the Vima property “for proper and effective surveying, locating, construction, operation, and maintenance of water delivery pipelines and related infrastructure that will be used to transport water for NISP, and that this is in furtherance of the public purpose of providing the NISP participants a new reliable supply of water to meet their current and future water needs,” the petition states.

“Petitioner has negotiated in good faith with respondent–landowner VIMA Partners, LLC, in an attempt to acquire the property, but has been unable to do so,” the petition states. “The just compensation to be paid for the property cannot be agreed upon and further negotiations would be futile.”

In a written response for comment, NISP officials said: “Northern Water is following the highly regulated eminent domain process authorized by state law and look forward to advancing its work on behalf of communities throughout Northern Colorado. The specifics of this particular case are outlined in the appropriate court filings.”

The petition also names other entities that may have an interest in the land: The City of Thornton, DCP Midstream LP, WES DJ Gathering LLC f/k/a Kerr-McGee Gathering LLC, and Brigitte Grimm, Weld County Treasurer.

Case No. 24CV30952, Northern Integrated Supply Project Water Activity Enterprise v. Vima Partners LLC, City of Thornton, DCP Midstream LLC, West DJ Gathering LLC, formerly known as Kerr-McGee Gathering LLC, and Brigitte Grimm, filed Oct. 16, 2024, in Weld District Court.

on Facebook on LinkedIn