Save Our Rox History
In October of 2021, a group of homeowners within the Roxborough Park Neighborhood, got together to discuss the Homestead property, which had recently been put up for sale and immediately went under contract to a residential developer. Soon thereafter, Save Our Rox, was created to raise awareness of this unique property of 35 acres that if allowed to be developed, either with residential or commercial dwellings, would cause devastating impacts on the community. When the first residential contractor walked away in late 2021, Pomeroy Lodging quickly followed on their heels. In 2022 they made a formal submittal to Douglas County for a Major PD Amendment to rezone from residential to club/resort. Throughout 2023 Pomeroy pursued their DC rezoning submittal, while SOR worked to gain funding to buy the parcel, if the opportunity arose. In January 2024 Pomeroy officially bought the property from the original owners. In September 2024 Pomeroy received authorization from the Board of County Commissioners to make the 35 acre parcel a Metro District, giving Pomeroy the power of eminent domain. As of 2024 Pomeroy has produced plans to build 6 custom homes and 31 condos and/or apartments on both the east and west side of the property if they cannot get it rezoned to commercial.
The Mission: The stated mission of Save Our Rox has always been to place the 35-acre Homestead property into a Conservation Easement whereby it would be safe from any development in the future. The property is currently zoned residential. We believe the worse case scenario is for this parcel to be re-zoned commercial.
Why Save Our Rox: Roxborough Park is known locally as Rox Park. Our use of Save Our Rox is ubiquitous to the area. In many ways, SOR was meant to save, i.e. protect Roxborough Park in its entirety, with its historic (and wild) nature. More specifically, we are trying to save the parcel from any commercial development to preserve the 50-year intent that our Planned Development is a golf/residential community. The parcel is private property, but it is zoned residential. How is that different? Residential is the foundation this community was built on legally (it’s in the 50-year-old PUD), one that is tranquil and at one with nature. Think of the density and pressure of the proposed commercial development. Imagine the effect of a 40,000 square foot Hot Tub Spa complex covering more than 8 acres and a parking lot for over 200 cars and delivery trucks. The developer has told us they must also build an 8’ high wall surrounding the facility (per zoning requirements) due to the pools it will build outside.
Pomeroy states that over 100,000 visitors are expected annually at their commercial venture. Along with severe traffic impacts, there will be increased fire evacuation risk, light and noise pollution, crime, and irreparable damage to wildlife habitats on the parcel.
A Critical Habitat: We call the parcel a Red Rocks Wildlife Sanctuary because it is. It has Red Rocks and it’s a Wildlife Sanctuary. It is where the wildlife live, breed, and is a migratory path. It is their sanctuary. The initial construction traffic and building noise, followed by the continuous traffic, noise, light, and human presence afterwards would feel like a threat to wildlife and drive them away. This 35-acre area habitat has always been undeveloped, wild & free. It is the heartbeat of Roxborough Park.
The migratory elk have few places left in Douglas and nearby Jefferson County; this is one of their last. If you golf Arrowhead you might have seen the mountain lions, bears, mule deer, foxes, eagles, hawks, falcons, and riparian wildlife that inhabits the parcel that is surrounded by holes 1, 10, 15, 16, 17, 18. It is contiguous to Roxborough State Park by 1000 feet and shares wildlife habitat with the park. There are as many as 14 endangered, threatened, and special concern species that have been known to share the habitat. The sensitivity for nesting and procreation would be disrupted and before long, fully desecrated.
Activities to Date
SOR Members: As of November 2024, SOR currently has over 1000 members who receive our newsletter.
Business Development - Since the Fall of 2021, Save Our Rox has researched and strategized with multiple people and organizations including, neighbors and friends in the surrounding Roxborough area; various third parties including Douglas Land Conservancy, Roxborough State Park, West Metro Fire District, Colorado Parks & Wildlife, Office of the Governor, Douglas County Sheriff, Office of Emergency Management, Office of Archaeology & Historic Preservation, One Rox, and the list goes on.
The Original Homestead Parcel Owners – SOR engaged on multiple occasions with the original Homestead Owners and their representative. Initially, it was believed those private owners would consider placing the property into a Conservation Easement by which they could generate significant revenue via Colorado Tax Credits, then selling the tax credit through a broker, and then eventually having SOR purchase the property. This strategy was placed in the original owners hands in Spring 2022, in a written document. SOR stood ready, along with Douglas Land Conservancy, to assist them in this effort. Despite the huge financial gains, the owners chose not to take this path, and instead sold the property in January 2024 to Pomeroy Lodging for development.
Douglas Land Conservancy & Tax Credit – SOR worked closely with experts on how to establish a Conservation Easement and receive a tax credit that could be sold. Douglas Land Conservancy and the Trust Credit teams allowed the committee to develop a clear strategy as to how best the land can be purchased, placed into a conservation easement to then generate a Colorado tax benefit that can be sold through a tax credit broker.
Douglas County Board of County Commissioners – It is this group of 3 powerful people who will vote on rezoning the Homestead property to club/resort. In the summer of 2022, before the formal submittal was filed with DC, SOR met individually with each of the three county commissioners (Teal, Laydon and Thomas) for a site visit near the Homestead parcel. The objective of these meetings was to ensure each commissioner had visited the property and understood the negative impacts to the community.
The process for a Major PD Amendment: DC has a 9-step process to determine re-zoning of a property. Currently, we are down to the wire at Step 8 with the public hearing as Step 9. This public hearing was scheduled for Monday, July 24 2023, but was postponed by Pomeroy at the last minute. It has been on hold ever since.
The Roxborough Info Team (RIT): SOR has partnered with over 2 dozen homeowners within the community to share information to expand SORs outreach to the 1,056 homeowners. This engagement has generated numerous meetings and information being shared on an on-going basis.
Roxborough Park Foundation – SOR was originally established because the existing HOA board and management team was in need for additional support to dig into this critical issue. The Foundation was unable to make it a priority amongst its other projects. SOR and RPF have continued to partner side-by-side and will continue to do so. In March 2023 the RPF board officially established The Roxborough Conservancy committee with the objective to develop options by which to purchase the Homestead property after Douglas County denies rezoning the property to Club Resort. In January 2024 the committee was set aside as they had provided those purchase path-ways to the HOA Board and fulfilled their charter.