When FCLWD purchased the Alkire Farm property in early 2024, it wasn’t because we were looking to acquire land. We were looking to secure water rights for our growing service population. In Colorado, those two things often go hand in hand. But what we found after purchasing the land was a captivating story, like our team was walking into a living museum. We were honored to be part of a chapter of the story and grateful to have facilitated the next chapter, a potential future Weld County RE-9 School.
TL;DR Summary
- FCLWD purchased and then sold a 145-acre farm in Pierce, Colorado. We are still in the process of changing the water rights to municipal rights to secure additional water resources for the District.
- The land came with a rich agricultural history, but ultimately, selling the land was the best move for the sellers, the Alkire family, who were ready to retire and had no successor for the farm.
- FCLWD did everything within our power to ensure a neighborly transition, including allowing a previous tenant farmer to move an existing structure to his own farm.
- In a net-neutral transaction, FCLWD sold the land to Weld RE-9 School District, which is adding the land to their portfolio for a potential future school.
The History of the Alkire Farm
FCLWD purchased this 145-acre lot last year for $942,000. The historic farm is located just outside Ault, Colorado, along Highway 85, which the Alkire family had farmed for generations. The property is named after Robert Alkire, the grandfather of the former longtime owner J.R. Pennington. A past generation of the family built the original farmhouse in 1910 and gradually assembled the surrounding fields one at a time, creating a cooperative irrigation system shared with neighboring farms.
J.R. was ready to retire and didn’t have a successor in place to take over the operation. He reached out to FCLWD and we began conversations about what it would look like for FCLWD to acquire the land and water rights. We became that buyer, not because we needed farmland, but because the water rights tied to the land were an essential long-term investment for our District.
The sale was between a willing buyer and a willing seller. It allowed an agricultural family to move forward with the next chapter of their lives, while allowing us to serve our community better in the future.
What It Takes to Put Water to Work for Our Customers
Once we secured the property, our focus shifted to preparing the water rights for municipal use. This is a long process, both legally and physically, and in fact, it is still underway following the sale of the land. We are leasing back the land for three years to ensure the restoration to dryland grasses reaches 75% coverage and comes to a successful close.
To legally change the use of water from agriculture to residential, we filed a Change of Use application in Water Court. That process involves thorough analysis, documentation and court review to ensure the change does not negatively impact other water users.
On the physical side, we began the process of stopping irrigation, converting the land to dryland grasses, mitigating weeds and demonstrating that the water was no longer being used for farming. We also had to make sure our changes didn’t interfere with the ditch systems that serve nearby landowners.
“We have been really intentional about making sure other ditch users aren’t affected by the changes we are making,” said Chris Pletcher, General Manager. “We are working with the Water Supply and Storage Company and the Pierce Lateral Company to ensure continued access and protect the infrastructure.” Supporting the other farms includes infrastructure upgrades to the ditch, like check structures. These modifications help to maintain water delivery to other farms in the area that still rely on the ditch for irrigation. We also will construct recharge ponds onsite to replace historic return flows for the benefit of downstream water rights.
A Neighborly Transition with a Stewardship Mindset
We knew from the beginning that we wouldn’t keep the land long-term. But while we had it, the FCLWD team did our best to be good stewards. We maintained the lease of some of the remaining active fields to a local tenant farmer, who also helped with reseeding. He even relocated a structure to continue using it on his own farm. The building was placed on a steel base with wheels and pulled down the road.
As we worked the land, we uncovered traces of the past, including an old baseball bat, handwritten deeds and a paper ledger used to record original titles. The experience of being on that land, hearing stories from neighbors and walking in the footsteps of past generations left an impression on our team.
“What I was most surprised about was that I personally experienced almost a grieving process throughout the transition of the active farm through the sale to the school district,” Chris explained. “This farm was a community asset, and there is a lot of history here. I did feel sad to see this chapter of the land come to a close. But when we had the opportunity to sell the land to the school district, it became clear that this community asset would live on, just in a new way.”
Why a School District Made Sense
On June 30, 2025, FCLWD closed on the sale of the Alkire Farm property to the Weld RE-9 School District for $942,000—the same amount we paid in 2024 for a net neutral sale. The school district has been evaluating multiple options for a future building site, and the Pierce location is a promising one. It’s centrally located in the town of Pierce, near existing community ballfields and even includes a non-potable irrigation well that will remain on-site and can be used for landscape watering in the future.
While plans for construction of the new school are not immediate, the Weld County RE-9 will retain the property as a long-term asset for the community.
Wrapping Up Our Role
Although FCLWD no longer owns the land, we’ll continue to maintain a lease for a few years to complete groundwater recharge and dry-up requirements for Water Court. These efforts will help ensure the water can be legally used for our customers and support our long-term water portfolio.
This project allowed us to acquire important water rights while supporting a local family’s transition and making space for something new. Generations of children played on that land when it was a farm. Hopefully, a new generation will play there again, this time at a school.
To learn more about our future planning strategy, visit https://fclwd.com/who-we-are/future-planning/.
