Development Impacts

1. Fire emergency evacuation – In the words of Colorado State Forestry Service, West Metro Fire, Douglas County Office of Emergency Management, “you live in the reddest of the red at-risk wildland urban communities in Colorado.” The Fast Local Emergency Evacuation Times Model (FLEET) simulation software, which provides estimates of evacuation clearance times for user-defined areas anywhere in the United States, states in the absolute best of conditions with all evacuation routes open, it will take six hours to evacuate Roxborough Park. The Sundown Trail/Roxborough Drive evacuation section with evacuating homes and cars from Arrowhead Golf Course will take three hours to evacuate. FLEET simulations adding only 150 cars at the proposed spa adds two hours to evacuation. When the emergency response agencies talk about wildfire in Roxborough Park, they “do not say if, they say when.” In a June 26, 2022, article in Out There Colorado and The Gazette news outlets, Roxborough Park was described as a “Non-survivable Wildfire Evacuation Community” along with Woodland Park and Evergreen. FLEET best case simulations predict the loss of six lives in a best-case evacuation.

2. Increase in Traffic – A commercial entity will obviously generate a considerable number of vehicles in and out of the entrance of the RPF.  In a recent public meeting Pomeroy representatives indicated that 100,000 people a year would come to the Spa annually. Other materials Pomeroy has presented indicate 600 vehicles per day on high use weekends. Pomeroy has conceded that Sundown Trail will need to be widened for the Spa traffic.   If you examine the road, it is unfeasible to widen it without encroaching on private property and disrupting drainage. A significant increase of vehicles will bring additional vehicle accidents, animal deaths, and property damage.  More vehicles arriving to the entrance booth during peak times, including golf course tournaments and wedding guests, will no doubt exacerbate the backup of vehicles and wait times and will impact residences.  It should be noted, Roxborough Park Foundation roads are private, therefore, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office does not perform traffic control or speed enforcement on the neighborhood roads and streets.

3. Increase in crime and decrease in safety – It is inevitable that more crime will come to the surrounding area with the promotion and awareness of a commercial business.  During the September 2024 BOCC public hearing on the Arrowhead (Pomeroy) Metro District, members of the Douglas County Economic Development Corporation testified that they are looking forward to the Spa as it will be an exciting “Tourist Attraction” and a “beacon” to the tourist trade.  The Roxborough Park neighborhood has little crime currently.  But it is not immune to crime.  Marketing awareness efforts to promote a commercial business with advertising, social media and other marketing sources will, in addition to patrons of the business, bring awareness to criminals seeking new areas to expand their criminal businesses.  Pomeroy has indicated they plan to market the spa “internationally.”

4.  Increase in property damage – Residents within the neighborhood have already encountered property damage from drunk drivers driving the wrong way, especially at night. This is likely to increase considering the spa will have a liquor license and be open during the evening hours.

5. Water – As in all areas of the West, water is at a premium and considering the needs of the spa, this will only further deplete any additional water needs we may have as a community and county, especially during times of a fire emergency.

6. Noise Pollution – The elevation and topography of the Homestead will increase noise levels into the evening hours and will impact residents on both the East and West side of the property. The flatter land at the top of the property would intensify the noise generated by the spa because of its location in the middle of the rock formations.  Sound waves bounce off hard objects and can be heard where there are hard surfaces all around.  It happens every day with the wedding noise and the golfers at Arrowhead.

7.  Light Pollution (Dark Skies) – Roxborough Park Foundation and its community has been a Dark Skies neighborhood since the program’s start in 2001. A public spa and their corresponding parking lot will increase light and decrease the “Dark Sky.”

8.  300-million-year-old Fountain Formation Red Rocks – Drilling and grading will negatively impact this priceless sandstone foundation as reported by Sara S. Foland, Certified Geologist and former CEO of the Geological Society of America.  Ms. Foland identified significant geohazards of development in this area including spalling and sheeting, heaving, fault zone movement and unloading, subsurface challenges, swelling clays, drainage diversion, and flooding. 

9. Ancestorial Rockies - We stand to lose what matters most, changing the ecological value of this wild and free habitat of this last remaining untouched example of the Ancestral Rockies and the heartbeat of the Roxborough Park neighborhood.

10. Wildlife Sanctuary - A Shared History with the State Park- The Homestead parcel is located less than 1,000 feet from the boundary of Roxborough State Park. It is well documented that this parcel is a "Red Rocks Wildlife Sanctuary" and contains most of the same natural values for which this state park was created. If not for a land deal in the early 1970’s, The Homestead parcel would no doubt have been placed inside the state park for preservation in 1975.