A water rights issue that threatened to derail three separate annexation applications and called into doubt one of Bellevue's best water sources has been successfully resolved.
Bellevue City Attorney Jim Phillips relayed the good news to the City Council during a special meeting Wednesday when the proposed annexation of 100 acres in Slaughterhouse Canyon was discussed.
The city and Muldoon Canyon landowner Alvin Shoemaker reached the agreement at a recent meeting, Phillips said.
"The meeting went well," he said. "There's going to be no dispute between the city and Shoemaker."
The issue concerns one of the city's primary water sources.
Located on the privately owned Ee-da-ho Ranch east of town, the water source is a series of springs found on the upper portion of the scenic ranch.
An underground, gravity-fed pipeline carries water from the springs to a large municipal water tank located on a hill east of Bellevue.
In the mid-1980s, then owners of the ranch James and Donna West claimed the city had voluntarily given up some of its water rights when city officials reached an agreement with them. The agreement stipulated that Bellevue would pull water from a different source that is uphill from the springs where the city had been drawing water.
The city negotiated the change because of a contamination issue caused by cattle grazing around the lower springs.
The recent doubt cast over the water right was a matter of the city not knowing if Shoemaker took the same position as the ranch's previous owners had.
The meeting clarified that Shoemaker does not take that position and will not question the city's water right, Phillips said.
"As far as the Shoemaker issue, it appears to have been put to bed," he said. "He's not going to challenge our water right."
What this means for Bellevue is that city officials can now begin moving forward again on three separate annexation proposals without the looming specter of questionable water rights.
At a meeting held last month, the City Council voted to delay any decision on the annexation applications until the water rights issue was resolved.
