CYCLONE CELEBRATION View photo/Loretta Sword The Pueblo West High School football team notched its first-ever state playoff victory last Saturday and will meet Pueblo South High in the state quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Friday at Dutch Clark Stadium in Pueblo.

Pueblo investors move West

Koncilja siblings and a partner hope land they gave to the metro district may become home to a community recreation center.

By LORETTA SWORD
The Pueblo West View

A trio of well-known Pueblo philanthropists are making their mark on Pueblo West.

The Pueblo West Metropolitan District Board of Directors on Tuesday accepted a gift of about 36 acres of land from brothers Jim and Joe Koncilja, their sister Frances Koncilja and another partner, W.J. Faris.

The acreage comprises a 600-foot-wide and half-mile long strip along the southern edge of 220 acres directly north of Pueblo West High School. The foursome, under the name of K&K1 LLC, bought the land last year as an investment.

Metro district Manager Don Saling said that, after the Konciljas learned of the metro district's hopes to build a community recreation center within the coming decade, they offered to donate part of the land they bought as a potential site.

Saling said there are few metro-owned sites that would accommodate a center large enough to serve the community at its buildout population, and that the donated land might fit the bill.

Additionally, Saling said, the site offers "some very good potential to collaborate with (School) District 70 for a swimming pool," which is one of the amenities the district hopes to add to the school as part of a future bond issue.

"I think it's a very generous gift," Saling said, to which a near-capacity crowd applauded in agreement.

The Koncilja brothers are lawyers in Pueblo and their sister is a lawyer in Denver.

Joe Koncilja provided the spark to early renovation efforts in Pueblo's Union Avenue Historic District. He purchased several properties himself and brought in a group of Atlanta investors who bought many more that today are thriving businesses. The crown jewel of the area is the Union Depot, a project he undertook years after his initial foray into the area's renaissance.

In other business Tuesday, the metro board approved a resolution amending its original intergovernmental agreement with the cities of Colorado Springs, Fountain and Security regarding their proposed Southern Delivery System (SDS). The system, if approved with the "preferred" route, would involve construction of a pipeline from Lake Pueblo, through Pueblo West and northward to serve those cities' water needs.

The amendment changes a 2003 agreement between Pueblo West and the three cities. The new agreement increases the amount of water that Pueblo West would be allowed to run through the pipeline into its system from 12 million gallons per day to 18 million gallons per day.

The SDS is awaiting approval by the federal Bureau of Reclamation, which is expected sometime next year or in 2009.

Water also was the topic of the final resolution approved Tuesday: an agreement with the Pueblo Board of Water Works to jointly pursue majority ownership of the Bessemer Irrigating Ditch Company.

If a purchase is negotiated, the agreement commits the metro district as a partner in Water Court applications to change the use of the water from agricultural to municipal and "other beneficial uses."

The agreement also commits the metro district to pay $10 million for approximately 1,200 shares of the total 10,020 shares needed to obtain a controlling interest in the company. The remainder of those shares would be owned by the Pueblo water board.

Bessemer Ditch rights are attractive to both entities because they are among the most senior rights on the Arkansas River, and the ditch headgate is located at Lake Pueblo.

The water board's intent to buy a controlling share of the ditch already has met with opposition from Lower Arkansas Valley water officials who claim a majority sale of the ditch would spell the end of farming in Pueblo County.

The metro board at Tuesday also heard a presentation from recreation planning consultant Jeff King, who recently completed a feasibility study for the parks and recreation department that focuses on the need for a community recreation center.

King's 50-page report offers options for the size of the center as well as some design recommendations.

His presentation was still underway at press time so could not be included in this report. The View will publish a comprehensive story about the study next week.

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