County acquires and preserves another 771 acres
The Palmer Divide Ranch, a 771-acre working cattle ranch on West Cherry Creek in southern Douglas County has been acquired by Douglas County for protection as open space. The land is important habitat for wildlife and protects the side and top of Lincoln Mountain, a highly visible butte from Highway 83 and other area road ways.
With the Palmer Divide Ranch acquisition the County’s open space sales tax has now protected 45,840 acres since 1995.
The property provides significant opportunities for outdoor recreation, education, and protection of agriculture. Soft-surface trails will be planned for the property that will open to the public in the fall of 2010. A fairly well-preserved structure on the property is thought to be a historic stage stop and will be submitted for landmarking as a historic site and restored for public viewing.
The property is currently a working cattle and hay ranch, on which there are two leased homes and outbuildings. A small herd of cattle are grazed on the ranch, and hay is harvested annually from the lower hay meadows.
Douglas County has designated the Cherry Creek Corridor as a priority area for protection and has invested approximately $11,400,000 to preserve properties in the corridor through partnerships with Great Outdoors Colorado, Pinery Water and Wastewater, Colorado State Parks, Town of Parker, Town of Castle Rock, and private landowners.
For more information on Douglas County’s Open Space and Natural Resources program, please visit www.douglas.co.us/openspace.
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As a citizen of Douglas County, I am all for preserving wild life and open spaces. However, at a time when services are being or may be cut and there is a salary freeze in place within the county government, I hardly think that this is the time for the County to spend in excess of $11,000,000 to acquire land. If the County Commisioners had saved even half of this money, I feel that they could have used it for so many other services or departments that are truly in need of it. I think that the decision to buy this land at this time was poor thinking/planning on the part of the County and I am very disappointed.
Diane,
I do understand your concern about the county spending money for open space at a time when there is a salary freeze in the County. The financial condition of the County is of concern to all employees. However, you may not be aware that there is a dedicated open space sales and use tax passed by the voters in 1994 that cannot be used for anything but the protection, management, and maintenance of parks and open space. The $11,000,000 has been spent in the Cherry Creek corridor over the last 15 years of the program. Similar to the Justice Center tax and the Road tax, the open space sales tax is a stand-alone fund that has no impact on general fund that provides most of the salaries and operating expenses for the county. We manage the open space fund very carefully and take advantage of every partnership opportunity possible to leverage our funds. While it may appear to some that the county used poor thinking/planning in making the purchase at this time, the opportunity to purchase the Palmer Divide Ranch at a greatly reduced price due to the downturn in the economy was very stragetic. I would be happy to speak with you if you have more questions or concerns. Thanks for expressing your opinion on the County blog.
Open space is one the most important programs for the future of Douglas County and its citizens. Without this program sooner or later Douglas County would look like Arapahoe and Denver Counties with nothing but sprawl and grid locked roads.
I realize the funds are limited for purchases but I would like to see some consideration to obtaining some properties in the north east part of the County before the developers get their hands on it. Some properties here have unobstructed views all the way to Pikes Peak, the Rockies, Longs Peak and the prairies half way to Kansas.
We still have time to preserve these vistas for generations to come.