


With the ever-increasing development along the Northern Front Range, many of Lyons Gaddis’ irrigation company clients are asked to either permit a crossing of their ditch easement or to relocate their ditch to facilitate development. Both should result in an agreement. The difference between these two agreements is frequently not well understood but they are dramatically different legal agreements.
License Agreement for a Crossing
A license agreement for a crossing allows another party, frequently a developer, utility, telecommunication provider or a municipality, to install a crossing of their easement without affecting the easement. The license agreement does not grant an easement or other real property interest to the entity crossing. It simply allows or licenses the crossing on terms and conditions that protects the use of the ditch easement, covers all of the ditch company’s costs and almost always assesses a modest license or crossing fee, generally in the range of $1,000 - $5,000 per crossing. These license agreements for crossings utilize fairly standard forms and are relatively simple to draft once the necessary information is obtained. These license agreements for crossings are also used for bridges, road crossings, utilizing culverts, and sometimes for overhead powerlines. The guiding principle is that the irrigation company’s easement remains intact and unaffected.