Water Rights and Innovative Water Supply Projects.

Glenn Porzak has worked on complex water supply plans for present and former clients such as the Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Heavenly Valley, Keystone, Powderhorn, Vail and Winter Park ski areas and resorts; the City of Golden, the Snake River Water District and the Town of Breckenridge, numerous metropolitan and special districts, including the Eagle River Water & Sanitation District and the Upper Eagle Regional Water Authority, which together provide water service to over 60,000 people in the Vail Valley; as well as numerous smaller developments, ranches, businesses, ditch and reservoir companies, and water providers. This work has included complex water acquisitions, adjudication of augmentation and exchange plans, and water right analysis. He has successfully adjudicatedover 200 cases in the Colorado Water Courts, and has been involved in over 35 cases before the Colorado Supreme Court. He also negotiated the first federal contracts from the Green Mountain and Ruedi Reservoirs and secured complex agreements with the Cities of Aurora, Colorado Springs and Denver to provide firm annual yield for West Slope projects. In addition, Glenn has also been instrumental in obtaining millions of dollars of loans from private and public entities for water projects such as Clinton Gulch and Eagle Park Reservoirs.

Recreational Water Rights

Glenn also pioneered the successful adjudication of the first large scale, in channel water rights for purely recreational purposes. In three separate precedent setting cases before the Division Nos. 1 and 5 Water Courts, and ultimately before the Colorado Supreme Court, he succeeded in obtaining recreational water rights of 400 c.f.s, 500 c.f.s., and 1000 c.f.s. for the communities of Vail, Breckenridge, and Golden, respectively. Subsequently, he obtained recreational water rights for two boating parks in Steamboat Springs.

Real Estate

He has also developed and prepared conservation easements and permits for numerous properties in Colorado. His clients have included the 200,000-acre Three Forks Ranch in Colorado and Wyoming, Caribou Ranch in Boulder County, Alpine Mountain Ranch east of Steamboat Springs, Crystal River Ranch near Carbondale, Wildcat Ranch near Snowmass, and Meadowdale Ranch in Larimer County.

Land Use Matters

In addition to handling land use matters for his real estate and water clients, he has represented numerous clients in hearings before county and state land use commissions and boards. Representative clients and projects include representation of the Caribou Ranch before the Boulder County Commissioners regarding special use and development permits, and construction of new recreational facilities. In addition, he has represented clients in land and real estate related litigation, including Ticor Title Insurance Company, Vail Resorts, Inc. and other businesses and individuals.

Mt. Everest

Befitting the firm's strong ties to the recreation based industry (ski areas and resort communities), in 1990 Mr. Porzak reached the summit of Mt. Everest (29,028 ft). In achieving this feat, he became the first American lawyer to climb the world's highest peak. Two years later, Glenn Porzak went on to become one of the first persons to climb the so called Seven Summits, the highest peak on each of the world's seven continents.