Commission votes 2-1 to delay Fields development plan

BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

A plan to turn a piece of longtime agricultural land near Parker into a residential neighborhood met resistance from two of Douglas County’s elected leaders.

“Based on what you’re proposing, it just does not seem to be congruent” with nearby neighborhoods, said County Commissioner Abe Laydon at an April 25 meeting.

e pushback comes on the heels of the Douglas County Planning Commission’s April 17 meeting, where more than a dozen other speakers criticized the proposal in front of a crowd that applauded several other commenters. After hearing the feedback, the planning commission locked in a 3-3 tie vote, unable to send a recommendation to the county’s board of three commissioners — Laydon, Lora omas and George Teal — who ultimately make the nal call on development decisions in areas outside of municipalities.

At that earlier hearing, the plan was referred to as “high-density housing,” and residents in the rural area lamented what they said would be an encroachment on country living. at meeting heard concerns about streetlights ruining the view of stars, a lack of quiet and the potential for more tra c — including congestion on Hilltop, which is a two-lane road in that area.

Many commenters at the April 25 meeting in front of the county commissioners spoke against the proposed development. e commissioners voted to postpone their decision on the proposal until May 23, hoping the developer would tweak the plan in that time.

‘Respect for property rights’ e proposed Fields development would sit on land along Hilltop Road, southeast of Parker and close to the Elbert County border. Flintwood Road runs along the proposed development’s eastern boundary, in an area where rural life is not far from suburban neighborhoods. e plan could place public park space, open space and 247 singlefamily homes on smaller lots on land otherwise dominated by eight home properties that are 35 or more acres in size, setting. of owned for land over worked build Wallden the it Wallden meeting. been that tial over said.

Asked whether he expects metro districts and other districts to waive the cap,