{"id":802764,"date":"2020-01-04T17:43:26","date_gmt":"2020-01-05T00:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=376845"},"modified":"2020-01-04T17:43:26","modified_gmt":"2020-01-05T00:43:26","slug":"bills-ranch-add-their-say-in-ongoing-dispute-over-potential-fiester-preserve-condemnation-by-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/bills-ranch-add-their-say-in-ongoing-dispute-over-potential-fiester-preserve-condemnation-by-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill\u2019s Ranch add their say in ongoing dispute over potential Fiester Preserve condemnation by county"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Residents of the Bill\u00d5s Ranch neighborhood in Frisco get together on Friday, Jan. 3, for a roundtable meeting to discuss the Fiester Preserve open space development.<\/strong>
Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The battle for Fiester Preserve wears on. A local dispute near Frisco over the potential county condemnation of a conservation easement protecting 6.13 acres of open space that separates the Bill\u2019s Ranch neighborhood from the County Commons in Frisco has no apparent end in sight.<\/p>\n

The neighborhood association that represents many Bill\u2019s Ranch homeowners are building a case that the easement needs to be protected, citing a potential president that could further jeopardize the integrity of protected open spaces across the state and nation.<\/p>\n

The basic dispute is over the county\u2019s intention to extinguish a conservation easement the board of county commissioners had granted on its own land. By extinguishing the easement, the county can have the land free of any restrictions and develop it accordingly.<\/p>\n

The county has said that it is intended to be developed for assisted living and housing for seniors, as well as workforce housing. Bill\u2019s Ranch neighborhood residents see it as a broken promise by the county to keep the land undeveloped, and perhaps the beginning of a massive development effort destroying open spaces, potentially reaching far beyond the preserve.<\/p>\n

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Karen Little, a long-time resident of the Bill\u00d5s Ranch neighborhood, hosts a round-table discussion about the Feister Preserve open space land development in her home on Friday, Jan. 3.<\/strong>
Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

At a meeting with the Bill\u2019s Ranch neighborhood association on Thursday, a contingent of Bill\u2019s Ranch homeowners sat down with the Summit Daily to present their case for keeping Fiester Preserve free of development. Among those present were Karen and Bennett Little (in whose self-built log home the meeting was held), Paula Parker, Thea Tupper and Kingsley Poon. All have lived in Bill\u2019s Ranch for at least eight years, with several having been residents for decades.<\/p>\n

\n
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Prepared documents held by a Bill\u2019s Ranch resident during a meeting on Friday, Jan. 3, for a roundtable meeting to discuss the Fiester Preserve open space development.<\/strong>
Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The neighborhood association has been compiling evidence, data, community reactions and other documentation to put their case to the public. Since the easement is owned by non-profit Colorado Open Lands, and the county owns the land Fiester Preserve is on, the association does not have an automatic legal right to try to defend the preserve. But that isn\u2019t stopping them from trying.<\/p>\n

One key point the association wants to get across is that the Fiester Preserve is not an arbitrary piece of open space, nor is it just a natural visual buffer between Bill\u2019s Ranch and the County Commons. The preserve has a bit of a history behind it<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Part sentimental, part legacy and part cultural line in the sand, the preserve was originally protected by an open space designation put on it by the Board of County Commissioners in 1996. That protection was further strengthened by a conservation easement granted to the Continental Divide Land Trust, an open space non-profit that later merged with Colorado Open Lands, who now own the easement.<\/p>\n

The preserve was named after Mark and Roberta Fiester<\/a>, Summit County locals who had made their mark in the community as religious and educational leaders. They were also became local authors and historians who cherished the natural beauty and wildlife this small slice of mountain heaven provided.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Fiesters were such naturalists,\u201d Karen Little said. \u201cThey went to such lengths to preserve birds, plants and everything else that lives in the woods around us. That\u2019s why it was named Fiester Preserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the 90s, the preserve had a lot more big, live trees, but after the mountain pine beetle epidemic, most of those trees had to be cut down. Instead of letting the area succumb to blight, Bill\u2019s Ranch folks got to work trying to restore life to the space.<\/p>\n

In coordination with the county open space and trails department, the association made significant efforts to clean deadwood and fire hazards from the land over the years, planting many new trees that have grown as high as eight feet tall, as well as maintain trailheads and recreational pathways through the preserve, using it as a natural green belt through which to enter the forest.<\/p>\n

The association, which interchangeably calls itself a \u201ctask force\u201d protecting the preserve, said that they made such strident efforts to maintain the preserve as it meant something to the Fiesters, who had both passed by 1997, that a small but precious piece of land would remain green and undeveloped in their honor, and in perpetuity.<\/p>\n

In the two words, \u2018in perpetuity,\u2019 lies the crux of the association\u2019s legal and moral argument to defend the preserve, as well as the legacy of the Fiesters. The conservation easement held by Colorado Open Lands and bestowed by the county promised that it would be protected in perpetuity \u2014 without end.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we did this, it was their belief that the land was going to be preserved forever,\u201d Karen Little said. \u201cJust because the trees are gone doesn\u2019t mean that it isn\u2019t valuable anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aside from maintaining the legacy and memory of the Fiesters, the association sees \u201cin perpetuity\u201d as the county\u2019s sacrosanct promise to the neighborhood and public that the land would never be touched for development. Association members see those words as part of a contract signed between the county and the people they represent that promised unending protection for the land, as a buffer between encroaching development and the mountain town way of life.<\/p>\n

Members fear the county could renege further, going on to develop the entire border of Bill\u2019s Ranch, overtaking parcels south of Fiester Preserve and destroying the remaining forest around the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese were decisions made by the previous Board of County Commissioners and the people who elected them, and those decisions and the will of those people will be discounted by reversing their decision,\u201d Paula Parker said. \u201cIt\u2019s a relatively short amount of time to make that reversal; 1997 wasn\u2019t that long ago. It was meant to be preserved \u2018forever,\u2019 but 25 years later, they\u2019re saying, \u2018Ah, we were just kidding.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
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Ben Little, a resident of the Bill\u2019s Ranch neighborhood since the 1970s points to a map of the area during a neighborhood meeting on Friday, Jan. 3.<\/strong>
Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWhat does perpetuity mean if it doesn\u2019t mean forever?\u201d Bennett Little added.<\/p>\n

Association members also pointed to the countywide comprehensive plan, the Ten Mile Basin Master Plan, and other planning documents and policy blueprints upholding conservation and preservation of land as proof the county is acting in a manner inconsistent with its foundational values. <\/p>\n

In an interview with the Summit Daily, County Manager Scott Vargo couched the county\u2019s position in pragmatism, and in the current reality the county exists in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that the bottom line is that circumstances do change, and \u2018in perpetuity\u2019 is an awfully long time,\u201d Vargo said. \u201cThere are avenues that you can make these sorts of changes, and there\u2019s a reason for that. As situations change, circumstances change, the public purpose or benefit outweighs the original conditions or agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vargo added that the current commissioners felt that the easement for Fiester Preserve as originally drawn up was \u201csomewhat questionable\u201d to begin with, and should probably not have been given that protection.<\/p>\n

He also pushed back on the assertion that the county is anti-open space, given many land acquisitions and deals the county has struck over the years to preserve open space all across the county.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at the county\u2019s track record, and look at the infrequency with which this sort of change has occurred, you\u2019ll see that these aren\u2019t things taken lightly by the county commissioners,\u201d Vargo said. \u201cPeople should not expect that they will have dramatic changes in position all the time. The commitment the commissioners have shown to open space in general has been an incredible dedication toward preservation and acquisition of open space. We hope this one circumstance doesn\u2019t outweigh all of the incredible efforts they made and committed to making going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Residents of the Bill\u00d5s Ranch neighborhood in Frisco get together on Friday, Jan. 3, for a roundtable meeting to discuss the Fiester Preserve open space development.Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com The battle for Fiester Preserve wears on. A local dispute near Frisco over the potential county condemnation of a conservation easement protecting 6.13 acres of open […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-802764","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-29 10:36:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802764\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}