CoHope

Alpers Farm

September Letter to P + Z

September 17, 2002
To: Mike Smythe, AICP
Planner
Jefferson County Planning and Zoning Dept.
100 Jefferson County Parkway, Suite 3550
Golden, Colorado 80419-3550

RE: 02-101177PAP-1 (Alper’s Farm Rezoning)

At the last COHOPE meeting on September 3, 2002, a COHOPE member organization, the Westbury Homeowner’s Association, brought up the issue of development of the Alper’s Farm area at West Fair and South Oak Street.
This parcel is currently a turf farm of approximately 30 acres and is bounded by 6 neighborhoods, Westbury, Stanton Farms, Stanton Farms Townhomes, Powder Horn, Fairway Vista, Terra Vista, and Fairway Vista. A 10 acre parcel on the north owned by the Jefferson County School District is also to be included in the development.
Trimark Communities apparently intends to build up to 210 multi-story duplexes with basements on the property. No plat or preliminary design was available at our meeting. The development is within the steeply dipping bedrock area, and the adjacent homeowners have reported existing problems with drainage and soils.

After discussion, the members of COHOPE voted unanimously to support Westbury in opposing this rezoning for the following reasons:

1. The high density development of this area will put an immediate and unneeded strain on Jefferson County law enforcement, West Metro Fire and Rescue and other county services. In a time of limited budgets, increasing the demand on county services and infrastructure by allowing developments such as these to go forward would not seem to be a prudent course of action for the county. By denying the rezone, the county can conserve limited resources. This type of high density development seems to be at odds with the county’s objective of increasing the commercial to residential ratio in our area.
2. The area already has drainage and soil problems that affect adjacent homes. There is a concern that building on this site will increase the problems for the adjoining neighborhoods, not to mention what may happen to the development itself.
3. The majority of the surrounding developments are middle to high end single family residences. Representatives present at the meeting were concerned about property values falling if high density housing is allowed adjacent to their areas. At the very least, middle to high end single family homes should be considered for this area.
4. Some of the adjacent residents would like to see the area acquired as open space or parkland, and that course of action is being looked into. It already is home to abundant wildlife, and with the soils and drainage problems would seem to be an ideal candidate for open space designation.

A final concern expressed at this meeting was the lack of notification on this proposal. Delegates from four nearby neighborhoods (Westridge, Lakeview Meadows, Williamsburg and Canterbury, all COHOPE members), indicated they had never been notified of the proposal or any meeting on it. If the county and developers want to streamline the process of rezoning, COHOPE strongly believes that notification of the affected and interested neighborhoods must be made.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this application.


Respectfully,



W.R. Moore
Secretary-Treasurer
COHOPE


COHOPE is a coalition of South Jefferson County Homeowner Organizations with over 30 members representing about 15,000 residences.

December Letter to P+ Z

December 12, 2002
To: Mike Smyth, AICP
Planner
Jefferson County Planning and Zoning Dept.
100 Jefferson County Parkway, Suite 3550
Golden, Colorado 80419-3550

RE: 02-116910RZ (Alper’s Farm Rezoning)

At the COHOPE meeting on September 3, 2002, a COHOPE member organization, the Westbury Homeowner’s Association, brought up the issue of development of the Alper’s Farm area at West Fair and South Oak Street.
This parcel is currently a turf farm of approximately 30 acres and is bounded by 6 neighborhoods, Westbury, Stanton Farms, Stanton Farms Townhomes, Powder Horn, Fairway Vista, Terra Vista, and Fairway Vista. A 10 acre parcel on the north owned by the Jefferson County School District is also to be included in the development.
Trimark Communities apparently intends to build up to 210 multi-story duplexes with basements on the property. No plat or preliminary design was available at our meeting. The development is within the steeply dipping bedrock area, and the adjacent homeowners have reported existing problems with drainage and soils.

After discussion, the members of COHOPE voted unanimously to support Westbury in opposing this rezoning for the following reasons:

1. The high density development of this area will put an immediate and unneeded strain on Jefferson County law enforcement, West Metro Fire and Rescue and other county services. In a time of limited budgets, increasing the demand on county services and infrastructure by allowing developments such as these to go forward would not seem to be a prudent course of action for the county. By denying the rezone, the county can conserve limited resources. This type of high density development seems to be at odds with the county’s objective of increasing the commercial to residential ratio in our area.
2. The area already has drainage and soil problems that affect adjacent homes. There is a concern that building on this site will increase the problems for the adjoining neighborhoods, not to mention what may happen to the development itself.
3. The majority of the surrounding developments are middle to high end single family residences. Representatives present at the meeting were concerned about property values falling if high density housing is allowed adjacent to their areas. At the very least, middle to high end single family homes should be considered for this area.
4. Some of the adjacent residents would like to see the area acquired as open space or parkland, and that course of action is being looked into. It already is home to abundant wildlife, and with the soils and drainage problems would seem to be an ideal candidate for open space designation.

This letter is a restatement of COHOPE’s position now that the pre-application has been upgraded to a rezoning.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this application.


Respectfully,



W.R. Moore
Secretary-Treasurer
COHOPE


COHOPE is a coalition of South Jefferson County Homeowner Organizations with over 30 members representing about 15,000 residences.