Cornerstone Golf & Equestrian Community

The intent of the Cornerstone Golf and Equestrian Community is to create a year-round, high-end residential golf course community consisting of a residential community, championship 18-hole golf course, an equestrian center, seasonal recreational activities and an extensive trail system for outdoor activities. The development is on 6,057 acres of open rangeland in both Montrose and Ouray counties in Colorado (1,575 acres and 4,482 acres, respectively) on the Uncompahgre Plateau, approximately 20 miles south of Montrose.

More than 3,000 acres of the entire development will remain as deed restricted open space, which will be maintained through the implementation of a Wildlife Management Plan. The golf course has been designed to incorporate as much of the existing terrain and natural features as possible in order to minimize construction costs and impacts to the environment.

• Agency coordination
• Wetland permitting
• Section 404 permit
• Wetland mitigation plan
• Wetland design

In the process of developing a master plan for the site, Cornerstone needed to obtain two Section 404 permits from the Corps of Engineers. A Nationwide Permit 12, which was obtained by Cornerstone for the first phase of the project, included the installation of a waterline for the proposed development, which crossed through wetlands and streams.  Cornerstone retained Burns & McDonnell’s to provide Section 404 wetland permitting services for proposed impact due to the construction of infrastructure (roads, utilities and a holding pond). Burns & McDonnell was responsible for the coordination and preparation of documents to be included in a Joint Application Package. The Joint Application Package consisted of an alternatives analysis, conceptual mitigation plan and preliminary engineering drawings developed by Burns & McDonnell. In addition, the preparation of figures illustrating the location of the delineated wetlands, which were included in the wetland delineation report prepared by another consultant and the conceptual mitigation plan.

Burns & McDonnell developed a conceptual mitigation plan consisting of 16.51 acres of mitigation divided among 13 mitigation sites located within the project site and owned by Cornerstone. A majority of the areas proposed for mitigation are hydrologically impacted wetlands that were impacted as a result of the ranching and agricultural use of the property in the past. These historical wetlands will be restored to support the historic wetland community. The remaining mitigation areas are riparian corridors associated with streams that have been impacted by grazing animals causing erosion of the banks and channel.

The conceptual mitigation plan and preliminary drawing were reviewed and approved by the Corps of Engineers. The Section 404 permit was issued in March 2006. The mitigation sites were constructed in July 2006.