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BOCC starts negotiations for road acquisitions
Southwestern Douglas County residents questioned the county's open-space policy last week as the Douglas Board of County Commissioners voted to authorize road builders to enter right-of-way negotiations for a fire-escape road.
By By: Christine McManus
Southwestern Douglas County residents questioned the county's open-space policy last week as the Douglas Board of County Commissioners voted to authorize road builders to enter right-of-way negotiations for a fire-escape road.
County engineer Fred Koch now has permission to officially enter property-acquisition negotiations with landowners. The move reheated a long-brewing battle among county-road builders, ranchers and Perry Park residents.
The county said it is necessary to build an emergency road for the Perry Park neighborhoods that have one access road for several thousand people. During a mandatory evacuation for the Hayman wildfire in June, hundreds of cars filed out of Red Rock Drive. The late-night evacuation of the neighborhoods, which back up to Pike National Forest, reportedly went well because there was time for warnings, a scenario that might not be possible if a fire started in the forested subdivision instead of eight miles away like the Hayman fire.
In addition to the emergency access, the county is also eyeing a 24-hour, paved, secondary access. Perry Park residents have also said they need more than one access road.
Ranchers who face possibly selling a portion of their land to the county or having it condemned have another point of view. The first-choice alternative would connect Doral Court and Dakan Road via the Turner Ranch, along the Wiens Ranch property line, through the Dakin Ranch and Fergusion property, said the county report.
"In 1993, as their legacy to me, my parents gave me the Dakan Ranch. It was and is an honor, a privilege and a responsibility to own it," said Katherine Brooks, who received tax benefits when she officially declared her property as open space several years ago. "No one wants a road through their property, but in light of the fact that numerous alternatives exist, it is a large irony that by giving away my development rights, restricting the use of this land, prohibiting the building of roads and reducing its commercial value, apparently it is viewed as a lower-cost lower-impact alternative for the county.
"This will be a cautionary tale for future [open space] donors," Brooks said.
Out of all the alternatives mapped out so far, the proposal that goes through official open space best achieves the county's safety objective, Koch said. Road planners said that the $1.6 million pricetag is not the cheapest nor the most expensive of the proposals. Extending Dakan Road is one alternative. One other shorter proposal could connect Perry Park to Tomah Road, but the ridge terrain would be more costly. Preble's meadow jumping mouse habitat prevented one of the alternatives, said the county.
Fourth-generation Douglas County rancher Betty Lee Prince was the first to speak about the Perry Park Road issue at the public comment session.
"How many people can say they've owned and operated the land for so many generations, the land which you want to destroy," Prince said.
"Ma'am, if you want to say the county is out to destroy [your property], I'm going to stop you right there," said Douglas County Commissioner Jim Sullivan, who lives in Perry Park. "No one's destroying anything. The county is taking no action. If you want to say destroy, we won't hear it. We don't want to hear destroy please. This is not a harangue."
Prince said her family should not be "punished for mistakes that the developers and commissioners made years ago." Several decades ago Perry Park was zoned for tens of thousands of people, but its remote location and lack of infrastructure has deterred homebuilders. The zoning becomes part of property rights, a right that is highly regarded in fast-growing Douglas County.
Douglas County has a good reputation for open-space conservation and should not do anything that would jeopardize that perception, said the attorney for Colorado Cattleman's Agricultural Land Trust, Larry Kueter. The land trust holds Brooks' conservation easement documents, which amend the land title. Employees from both the county open space department and the Division of Wildlife watched the afternoon business meeting Aug. 6 from the back of the meeting room at the Philip S. Miller Building.
Explaining her vote for the land-negotiation authorization, commissioner Melanie Worley said a mistrust of government was part of the problem and nothing could have prepared her for sobbing Hayman fire victims' pleas for help after their houses burned down. At post-Hayman meetings, residents asked for an emergency access, Worley said.
Worley said the BOCC is dedicated to open space and does not want to disrupt a conservation easement with a road through anyone's property without negotiation. Neighboring ranchers should work with the county to find the best place for the needed access, Worley said.
Residents wanted the county to guarantee that the inevitable gated, emergency access would not ever be paved as a permanent public arterial. The more people who develop their individual lots in Perry Park, the worse the fire situation, residents said. The BOCC would not guarantee that the proposed emergency road would not eventually become a parkway. County attorney Mark Hannen said that the board could not bind future boards.
"It is regretful that we have to move forward and impact some beautiful property. I didn't see anyone stand up and volunteer their land," Sullivan said. "We have no interest in cutting through a conservation easement."
About 100 people attended the business meeting at 1 p.m., Aug. 6.
County engineer Fred Koch now has permission to officially enter property-acquisition negotiations with landowners. The move reheated a long-brewing battle among county-road builders, ranchers and Perry Park residents.
The county said it is necessary to build an emergency road for the Perry Park neighborhoods that have one access road for several thousand people. During a mandatory evacuation for the Hayman wildfire in June, hundreds of cars filed out of Red Rock Drive. The late-night evacuation of the neighborhoods, which back up to Pike National Forest, reportedly went well because there was time for warnings, a scenario that might not be possible if a fire started in the forested subdivision instead of eight miles away like the Hayman fire.
In addition to the emergency access, the county is also eyeing a 24-hour, paved, secondary access. Perry Park residents have also said they need more than one access road.
Ranchers who face possibly selling a portion of their land to the county or having it condemned have another point of view. The first-choice alternative would connect Doral Court and Dakan Road via the Turner Ranch, along the Wiens Ranch property line, through the Dakin Ranch and Fergusion property, said the county report.
"In 1993, as their legacy to me, my parents gave me the Dakan Ranch. It was and is an honor, a privilege and a responsibility to own it," said Katherine Brooks, who received tax benefits when she officially declared her property as open space several years ago. "No one wants a road through their property, but in light of the fact that numerous alternatives exist, it is a large irony that by giving away my development rights, restricting the use of this land, prohibiting the building of roads and reducing its commercial value, apparently it is viewed as a lower-cost lower-impact alternative for the county.
"This will be a cautionary tale for future [open space] donors," Brooks said.
Out of all the alternatives mapped out so far, the proposal that goes through official open space best achieves the county's safety objective, Koch said. Road planners said that the $1.6 million pricetag is not the cheapest nor the most expensive of the proposals. Extending Dakan Road is one alternative. One other shorter proposal could connect Perry Park to Tomah Road, but the ridge terrain would be more costly. Preble's meadow jumping mouse habitat prevented one of the alternatives, said the county.
Fourth-generation Douglas County rancher Betty Lee Prince was the first to speak about the Perry Park Road issue at the public comment session.
"How many people can say they've owned and operated the land for so many generations, the land which you want to destroy," Prince said.
"Ma'am, if you want to say the county is out to destroy [your property], I'm going to stop you right there," said Douglas County Commissioner Jim Sullivan, who lives in Perry Park. "No one's destroying anything. The county is taking no action. If you want to say destroy, we won't hear it. We don't want to hear destroy please. This is not a harangue."
Prince said her family should not be "punished for mistakes that the developers and commissioners made years ago." Several decades ago Perry Park was zoned for tens of thousands of people, but its remote location and lack of infrastructure has deterred homebuilders. The zoning becomes part of property rights, a right that is highly regarded in fast-growing Douglas County.
Douglas County has a good reputation for open-space conservation and should not do anything that would jeopardize that perception, said the attorney for Colorado Cattleman's Agricultural Land Trust, Larry Kueter. The land trust holds Brooks' conservation easement documents, which amend the land title. Employees from both the county open space department and the Division of Wildlife watched the afternoon business meeting Aug. 6 from the back of the meeting room at the Philip S. Miller Building.
Explaining her vote for the land-negotiation authorization, commissioner Melanie Worley said a mistrust of government was part of the problem and nothing could have prepared her for sobbing Hayman fire victims' pleas for help after their houses burned down. At post-Hayman meetings, residents asked for an emergency access, Worley said.
Worley said the BOCC is dedicated to open space and does not want to disrupt a conservation easement with a road through anyone's property without negotiation. Neighboring ranchers should work with the county to find the best place for the needed access, Worley said.
Residents wanted the county to guarantee that the inevitable gated, emergency access would not ever be paved as a permanent public arterial. The more people who develop their individual lots in Perry Park, the worse the fire situation, residents said. The BOCC would not guarantee that the proposed emergency road would not eventually become a parkway. County attorney Mark Hannen said that the board could not bind future boards.
"It is regretful that we have to move forward and impact some beautiful property. I didn't see anyone stand up and volunteer their land," Sullivan said. "We have no interest in cutting through a conservation easement."
About 100 people attended the business meeting at 1 p.m., Aug. 6.
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