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 commercial 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 and the surrounding area of Roxborough. The goal of Save Our Rox is to place the Homestead property into a Conservation Easement whereby it would be safe from any development in the future.
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 in its entirety, with its historic (and wild) nature. More specifically, we are trying to save the parcel we call The Red Rocks Wildlife Sanctuary from any development to preserve the 50-year intent that our Planned Development remains as a golf/residential community. Keep in mind a commercial owner/developer could basically do what they want with the property. Therefore, the Fountain Formation (the Red Rocks), can be drilled, (blasting with dynamite is not allowed), if they find that it suits their needs for development.
A Critical Habitat: We call it the 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 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. Now, the developer has produced plans to build 6 custom homes and 31 condos on both the east and west side of the property if they cannot get it rezoned to commercial.
Imagine the effect of a Hot Tub Spa complex with 200 plus people, covering more than 8 acres, with a 2-story tall 40,000 square foot main building, and an asphalt parking lot for approximately 250 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.
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
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 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, West Metro Fire, Douglas County Sheriff’s department, Rox One and the list goes on.
Homestead Owners – We have engaged on multiple occasions with the existing owners. Initially, it was believed the owners would consider placing the property into a Conservation Easement by which they could generate revenue from such an action of approximately 2/3s of what they would receive from a sale to a developer. Unfortunately, the owners have chosen not to take this path.
Douglas Land Conservancy & Tax Credit - One of the key areas that Save Our Rox has engaged, was to become educated on how to establish a Conservation Easement and who are the organizations by which one works with to formalize. Therefore, the committee has had numerous educational sessions with Douglas Land Conservancy and the Trust Credit teams that have 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 for which the easement will generate for the owner of the property.
Douglas County Commissioners – It is this group, with recommendations from the Douglas County Planning team, who will vote on rezoning the Homestead property to commercial Resort/Spa. In the summer of 2022, SOR along with the Roxborough Park Foundation Manager met individually with each of the three county commissioners (list names) for a site visit to the Homestead. The objective of these meetings was to ensure each commissioner had visited the property and understood the value and the location of the Homestead. The county 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 is currently scheduled for Monday, July 24 at 6pm at the Douglas County offices in Castle Rock.
Roxborough Park Neighborhood – 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 and the Foundation was unable to make it a priority amongst its other projects to keep the community running under its normal operations. SOR and RPF have continued to partner side-by-side and will continue to do so as the RPF board has 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 commercial Resort/Spa.