2002
Central CO title since
A statutory town of eighty-one people on Highway 17, in the middle of the biggest wave of solar leasing this valley has seen. Three things decide a Hooper file: the county line, the well, and what’s already recorded against the ground.
Hooper incorporated in 1898 and is one of only two incorporated municipalities in Alamosa County. Its post office opened in 1891 as Garrison and was renamed in 1896 for a Denver & Rio Grande official. The railroad came in 1890 and left in stages — the line north to Villa Grove pulled up in 1950, the rest in 1959. The census tells that story plainly: 170 people in 1940, 103 in 1950, 58 in 1960.
Start with the county line, because the ZIP will mislead you. Two of the best-known places carrying a Hooper 81136 address sit a few miles north across the line in Saguache County. Then check the well, because acreage decides what you may do with the water: at 35 acres or more a domestic permit can irrigate up to one acre, and under 35 acres it is in-house use only — no irrigation at all. The basin is over-appropriated and no new wells are being drilled. Water rights convey separately from the land and aren’t part of a title search — we flag the recorded instruments and point you to the right water experts.
Then what is already recorded against the ground. This stretch of Highway 17 is ringed by utility-scale solar, and more is coming — a 110-megawatt project proposed just north of the existing Hooper plant, and a 600-megawatt solar-and-storage development spanning 2,578 acres into Mosca and Hooper, with landowners contracting now and a county permit under review. Options, leases, memoranda and transmission easements are being recorded against this farm ground currently, and they turn up as exceptions on a commitment.
What we examine on Hooper files — read locally, explained in plain language.
A Hooper 81136 address can sit in Alamosa or Saguache County. We confirm it from the legal description — before someone drives to the wrong courthouse.
Utility-scale projects are optioning this ground now. We find what is recorded, read what it encumbers, and flag what a lender will ask about.
At 35 acres a domestic well can irrigate one acre; under 35 it is in-house use only. We say what the permit actually allows before buildability gets assumed.
Mosca is seven miles south on Highway 17; Moffat and Crestone sit north and east over the Saguache County line.
“On this ground the question isn’t just who owns it. It’s what’s already been signed against it.”
Straight answers. Informational only — not legal advice.
No — we work Hooper from our Salida office, over Poncha Pass. Close in person, in Denver, or remotely with a notary. Call 719-539-1001 or email info@centralcoloradotitle.com.
Not necessarily. ZIP 81136 crosses the county line, and some well-known Hooper-addressed places sit in Saguache County. The county decides where the deed records, who assesses it and which land-use rules apply, so we confirm it from the legal description rather than the mailing address. Informational only, not legal advice.
Generally not on an exempt domestic well. In Alamosa County a parcel of 35 acres or more can carry a permit allowing irrigation of up to one acre; under 35 acres the permit is in-house use only, with no irrigation. The basin is over-appropriated and new wells are not being drilled. The Division of Water Resources in Alamosa is the authority on any specific permit.
It can, materially. Options, leases, memoranda of lease and transmission easements are recorded and run with the land, so they appear as exceptions on a title commitment and a lender will have questions. Colorado’s standard land contract now has a dedicated line for an existing solar agreement. Get the recorded instrument read before you sign a purchase contract, either side of it.
Request title work, get a quote, or just ask a question. We’ll move quickly.