Triview Metropolitan District, Nov. 20 – Land inclusion approved; legal counsel charges defined

Petition for land inclusion
General counsel engagement
Higby Road project update
Road sign updates
Tap fee update
Water operations update
Executive session

By Natalie Barszcz

At the Triview Metropolitan District (TMD) meeting on Nov. 20, the board approved a petition for inclusion of land into the district from All in Investments LLC and an engagement letter from White Bear Ankele (WBA) Local Government Law PC to provide a continuance of general counsel legal services to the district. The board heard the Higby Road project was delayed, and additional well water was being delivered to customers to supplement the district’s surface water delivered via the Northern Delivery System (NDS).

The board held an executive session to discuss the purchase and sale of water and land, agreements with the Town of Monument (TOM) and other governmental and private entities, the acquisition of right-of-way for Blevins Buckle, the Northern Monument Creek Interceptor (NMCI) project funding timeline and discussions with Donala Water and Sanitation District (DWSD), and the Monument 2040 Plan.

Petition for land inclusion

District Manager James McGrady requested the board approve a petition for land inclusion from All in Investments LLC for about 8.07 acres at 16050 Old Denver Road.

Water Counsel Chris Cummins said it is unknown what will eventually be developed on the property and the land inclusion will not be presented for board approval until such time. There is no commitment for the district, but the request for a petition for land inclusion allows for a letter of intent to provide water to the west side of Old Denver Road and allows for next-step discussions for the district to provide utilities, said Cummins.

The board unanimously accepted the petition for land inclusion and continued the discussion in executive session.

General counsel engagement

General Counsel George Rowley of WBA Local Government Law PC said new legislation requires law firms to provide clients with transparency of pricing (the fixed costs). The board was presented with an engagement letter stipulating the legal fees.

The board unanimously approved the engagement letter.

Higby Road project update

Assistant Manager Steve Sheffield said the Higby Road project ran into some unforeseen delays due to other utility conflicts with the district storm drain infrastructure. The delay is significant enough to put the project into mid-March 2026. The district is working with Kiewit to release a new schedule for spring and fall 2026.

McGrady said the original plan would have paused in October for the winter months and the new design is expected to be finalized within days.

Note: For additional information about the project and updates, visit https://triviewhigbyroad.com.

Road sign updates

Parks and Open Space Superintendent Matt Rayno said the district installed additional pedestrian crossing warning signs at Toreva Drive and speed limit signs on Leather Chaps Drive. The signs are needed to get drivers to slow down, he said.

Tap fee update

McGrady said the district budgeted 85 tap fees from residential homes and year-to-date 84 taps have been received, but it is difficult to project the commercial taps fees. Year-to-date the district has received about $4.627 million in tap fee revenue (includes some commercial tap fees). The tap fee revenue is very important to maintain the utility enterprise fund used to expand the distribution and collection system that supplies the districts water. The fund is supporting the Bale Ditch and Arkansas Valley Irrigation Co. headgate/diversion construction projects, said McGrady. For more information on the district projects, visit https://triviewmetro.com.

Water operations update

Water Treatment Superintendent Gary Potter said the NDS produced 39% of the district’s water in October, using more wells to lower production costs to meet budget goals, said Potter.

McGrady said the district is supplementing the NDS water with pumped well water to ensure the allocated 700 acre-feet of surface water lasts through the remainder of the year.

Potter said issues continue with the reading accuracy of the flow measuring equipment at the Upper Monument Creek Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility. Additional meters have been added to help determine the district’s daily flow rate.

The district produced about 22,745 gallons in the October billing cycle and sold about 21,830 gallons to customers, leaving 807,960 gallons of non-revenue water (unbilled). The following counter-measures took place:

Several irrigation meters were found to be severely under registering water usage and have been replaced.
The billing data was analyzed, and anomalies were found that were creating inaccuracies.
Leaks in the distribution system have been identified and repaired.
Water meter bypasses have been identified and removed (one had been running for a long time in a neighboring HOA east of the district).
The district is improving the accuracy of unbilled water usage.

Since working for the district, it is the first time the non-revenue water is a six-figure number but it may never be zero, said Potter.

District Administrator Sara Lamb said the irrigation season has ended for 2025, and the district’s irrigation and domestic accounts had been checked for leaks after winter shut-off using the Beacon data (meter reading system), and no leaks were found as of Nov. 13.

Executive session

The board moved into executive session at 7:56 p.m. to receive legal advice pursuant to Colorado Revised Statutes (CRS) section 24-6-402(4)(b), as it relates to water matters and agreements with the TOM, and other governmental entities, acquisition of right-of-way for Blevins Buckle, NMCI project funding timeline and discussions with DWSD, and the Monument 2040 Plan. The board was working to determine positions related to matters that may be subject to negotiations, developing strategies for negotiations, and instructing negotiations as it relates to the previously mentioned subjects, pursuant to CRS section 24-6-402(4)(e).

Sheffield confirmed to this reporter that when the board returned to the regular session at 9:04 p.m., a question/answer session took place with McGrady and Cummins regarding the need to hire a consultant to begin the process of building the Central Reservoir. The board unanimously approved the hiring of Jody Schreiber as a consultant for the Stonewall Springs Central Reservoir project.

No further action items were discussed and the meeting adjourned at 9:12 p.m.

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Meetings are usually held on the third Thursday of the month at the district office located at 16055 Old Forest Point, Suite 302. A public hearing for the proposed 2026 budget will be held at the next regular board meeting scheduled for Dec. 11 at 5:30 p.m. For meeting agendas, minutes, and updates, visit https://triviewmetro.com.

Natalie Barszcz can be reached at nataliebarszcz@ocn.me.