Number of county's homes may rise 70%
By Joey Bunch Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated:10/22/2006 10:25:27 PM MDT
This is going to happen, says developer Devin Davis. If not by us, then by somebody else with less to offer.
Elbert County - With a planned development that could increase the number of homes in the county by nearly 70 percent, residents who like the rural feel are gearing up to fight the growth.
"We moved out her for a lifestyle," said Laura Shapiro, who has lived on an 8-acre homestead in the Meadow Station subdivision since 1998. "And we don't want Aurora moving in next door."
Saturday night, about 60 residents gathered in the community's Rattlesnake Fire Hall to discuss scaling back - if not halting - a precedent-setting development, Spring Valley Vista.
The development, the subject of public hearings three times in the next two months, would bring 5,466 homes to a county that had 8,154 in 2004.
The 2,371-acre Spring Valley Vista community would set a benchmark for development density in its northwestern Elbert neighborhood: a home for every four-tenths of an acre.
Moreover, its roads, schools, water and sewerage would invite more such developments.
"We're not trying to stop development; I don't think we could if we wanted to," said Shellane Dorman, a neighbor to the Spring Valley Vista site. "But we are trying to make sure it happens in an intelligent manner. Putting high-density (zoning) up against agricultural property doesn't make a lot of sense."
While still bucolic, the area is marked for residential growth in the county master plan.
In the past few years, northwestern Elbert County, a few miles east of Parker, has attracted residents who commute to work in Denver. Real estate signs along the roadways promise bargains "starting in the low $500k's" in developments sectioned off by white fences.
"This is going to happen. This area is prime for development," said Devin Davis, who with his stepfather, Ron Heggemeier, hope to develop the property. "There's no way it won't happen; if not by us, then by somebody else with less to offer."
Spring Valley Vista promises to provide roads, water, a treatment plant and high-speed Internet, as well as a $5.5 million community center.
Heggemeier doesn't expect the largesse to hush most of development's critics.
"There's a no-growth contingent, and no matter what we do, we're not going to make them happy," he said.
Most of the homes in the community today are on 5- to 10-acre lots - much more density than the ranchlands knew before city folks started moving to Elbert County, said Hal Johnson.
"My family has been in Elbert County 65 years," said Johnson, who welcomes the boost to property values and the tax base. "All these other people came to a poor county, and I reckon they aim to keep it
Residents discuss plans for the 5,466-home Spring Valley Vista on Saturday at a local fire hall. We are trying to make sure it (development) happens in an intelligent manner, one says. (Post / Leah Bluntschli)that way."
Neighbors said they want Spring Valley Vista to abide by the same zoning rules their subdivisions did, with larger lots.
Debbie Trujillo worries about the heavy traffic the building boom will bring.
She lives in the nearby Mountain View Ranch development. From her 5-acre lot, she watches deer, antelope, coyote and other wildlife play.
"It's a very big change," Trujillo said of the zoning. "But it's a big change of lifestyle for the rest of us out there."
Staff writer Joey Bunch can be reached at 303-820-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com.
MORE ELBERT COUNTY INFO AT www.ColoradoDreamHomes.net
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