By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

The R9 Ranch water rights transfer application was filed Thursday by the cities of Hays and Russell with the Kansas Division of Water Resources.

The go-ahead to proceed with the long-term water development project in Edwards County was approved by Hays city commissioners 23 months ago.

“It was February of 2014 we started the regulatory process,” said City Manager Toby Dougherty. “I remember at that meeting, then-commissioner Kent Steward asked how long it would take. I said ‘probably 18 to 24 months, but I hope it doesn’t take that long.'”

It did.

Dougherty told commissioners Thursday night that city staff and the city of Russell worked “very diligently. We weren’t dragging our feet.”

“The change applications (from agricultural use to municipal use) were filed in June. They’ve been received by DWR; they’re going through the process. The transfer application (from thirty water rights on the R9 to Schoenchen and then on to Hays and Russell) was the last piece that needed to be filed. It was posted on the city’s website today so anybody can read it.”

City Attorney John Bird recommended against reading the 6,000 pages of exhibits.

“However, the 85 pages of the application are actually pretty good–a really good review of how Hays got to where we are, and what we’re doing.  We know people will ask a lot of questions and this application does a good job of addressing those,” Bird said.

“Now, the ball is in the state’s court,” Dougherty said.  “We are in a reactionary mode, waiting  for them to set the hearings and go forth from there.”

The estimated cost to develop the R9 is $72 million.

Hays, which owns 82 percent of the ranch it purchased in 1995, enacted a sales tax in the mid-1990s to help fund the project. The city of Russell owns 18 percent of the R9 Ranch.