Tall Tales Ranch to build a ordable housing in Lone Tree

BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

A Douglas County nonprofit is planning a multifamily housing project in Lone Tree catered to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Tall Tales Ranch is in the early stages of building 28 income-restricted apartments in the Ridgegate area to serve people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, as well as others.

The project is expected to cost around $20 million.

The first phase of construction will include 14 units and is expected to start in summer 2024.

Laura McKenna, executive director of Tall Tales Ranch, said the project aims to help relieve some of the high demand for housing in Douglas County and create an inclusive community.

McKenna said the housing will prioritize people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, but will also accept neurotypical residents, and is aiming to serve people making between 30-60% of the area media income.

“To be able to afford a typical rent in Lone Tree is really impossible for (people on social security) so our goal is to make it affordable for people with intellectual and developmental dis-

abilities to stay there,” she said.

On top of the housing units, which will be a mix of one and two bedrooms, the Tall Tales Ranch project will include a community space with amenities for residents, as well as an event barn and coffee shop, where Tall Tales Ranch will have its offices located.

“Our residents, or even people who don’t live there, will be able to work in the coffee shop because employment is just as difficult (to find) as housing for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities,” McKenna said.

e comments from area residents also included disapproval of transgender people.

One resident, talking about gender changes, said “this is satanic evil” and criticized the county commissioners for considering supporting Castle Rock Pride.

“You cannot recreate what God created,” the resident said at the July 25 commissioners meeting.

Groups at higher risk

Across Colorado, nearly 800 people died by suicide in 2004, and that one-year total reached almost 1,300 in 2022, according to state data cited by Douglas County sta .

In Douglas County, the number of suicide deaths went from a recent low of 15 in 2005 to dozens higher in years afterward.

Last year, 53 people died by suicide in Douglas County, according to the state data.

But suicide risk is a direr problem for certain demographics, and that includes LGBTQ+ youth, who are far

SEE COUNTY, P12

Earlier this month, Douglas County’s commissioners discussed providing $2 million to help fund the project, which would come from monies distributed to the county by the American Rescue Plan Act. The commissioners also challenged Tall Tales Ranch to raise matching donations to their contribution.

Tall Tales Ranch partnered with Schweiger Ranch to lease four acres, while Shea Homes is donating land development services and PCL Construction is donating their services for the commercial elements of the project.

McKenna said the support from the county and Lone Tree has been crucial to Tall Tales Ranch’s ability to grow and invest in housing.

“We have had phenomenal support from the people in Lone Tree, they’ve been really warm,” she said.