Representatives from Discovery Land Company and members of the board of the Morrison Creek Water & Sanitation District got an earful Wednesday at a public hearing concerning a proposal to annex 3,500 acres of land into the water district.

Submitted by Discovery, the annexation application comes as the luxury real estate company prepares to submit a development proposal to the county to construct roughly 700 homes over roughly 6,400 acres along with a private ski mountain, a golf course and other recreational amenities.

Discovery’s annexation application was submitted to the water district in May. The company has yet to submit a formal development proposal to the county for the private club development, but many community members already sense the project will proceed.

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“I feel a little bit like we are in the Ukraine and we are being invaded by Russia,” Adam Fernley said. “The water annexation is just taking resources from our community, and I care about our community and everyone that lives in it.”

Another Stagecoach resident, Lisa Nutkin, echoed Fernley’s sentiment, albeit without a reference to the war in Ukraine, and said she agreed the community should accept growth; but only if it would be “smart growth.”

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“I am concerned about transportation, trucks coming in and out all day long, I live at the corner of (County Road) 16 and (County Road) 212 … it’s going to make my life unbearable out here so I would just like everybody to think about smart growth and growth that is needed in our county, which is housing for workers,” said Nutkin.

“I think this is rushed, greedy growth and I don’t appreciate that. I would like to encourage you to disapprove the annexation,” she said to the water district’s board members.

Those in attendance applauded Nutkin’s statements but members of the Morrison Creek Water District’s board did not respond during the meeting to any comments or questions from the community members gathered inside the fire station.

Instead, they sat silent as the district’s manager, Geovanny Romero, and representatives from Discovery fielded some of the dozens of inquiries.

Discovery representatives said they planned to support the construction of two water towers, one built to hold 500,000 gallons and another to contain one million gallons. Within the water district, there are 12 existing wells — but only four are currently operational.

The Discovery staff said the annexation plans would require the construction of an additional two wells, but that at full build-out, the added real estate development for their project would create an estimated $5.5 million in property taxes each year.

Romero said there was an existing need for $8 million worth of upgrades to serve the district’s current population; but with the proposed Discovery annexation, an additional $8 million investment would be required to support infrastructure improvements.

At full buildout, Discovery said it believes its project will require at least an average of 275,000 gallons per day of additional water and wastewater volume in the district to serve the proposed development — a figure estimated to represent roughly one-third of the district’s capacity.

If the annexation application fails, Discovery indicated that septic tank systems and wells would need to be installed for the properties planned for the areas they are seeking to have annexed into the water district.

Some of the public comment and concern delivered during the water district’s meeting related to the impact that the annexation of the Discovery property would have on local property values and costs associated with local taxes.

“Property values increase based on assessments, but we don’t necessary benefit from the development,” said one community member. “So, all the other people in the neighborhood are going to be paying for these services and their benefit, is that correct?”

Public comments at the meeting also hit on Discovery’s plan to construct a private golf course on land adjacent to Stagecoach Reservoir.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency currently lists the reservoir as an “impaired” body of water with issues identified as stemming from mercury and other metals pollution being introduced into the water body and affecting aquatic life.

Romero and Ed Divita, one of Discovery’s founding partners, confirmed that in addition to the proposed water district annexation, there have also been discussions between the entities regarding the potential use of wastewater from the district to irrigate the golf course.

“We have discussed using the wastewater to irrigate and that is a possibility,” added Romero.

Discovery representatives said they believed that using wastewater to irrigate the golf course would be an improvement over the current state of operations where the water district releases the treated water directly into the reservoir under EPA regulations.

“The idea of reusing the wastewater is something we are contemplating and discussing, there’s a lot of precedence for doing that, the wastewater does, coming out of the treatment plant does still have nutrients,” Divita said.

Divita went on to explain that Discovery may consider purchasing water from the Upper Yampa Valley Conservancy District to replace the golf course irrigation use of the district’s wastewater.

“Which is us, that is us, so you are saying you are going to take wastewater from us, away from the reservoir, away from all the water bodies it then goes down to,” a community member shouted in response.

The water district’s board made no decisions on approving Discovery’s annexation application at the meeting on Wednesday.

If the board decides to move forward with the annexation application, a series of legal procedures would be followed before the land is moved under the water district’s jurisdiction, according to the water district’s attorney.