'Why don’t I know about that?' Community protests primitive camping proposal in open space

LARKSPUR, Colo. (KDVR) — A plan for an open space in Douglas County is causing some concern among residents whose properties border the land.

Sandstone Ranch Open Space was purchased by Douglas County in January 2018. The 2,038-acre property is home to multiple historical buildings, native grasses and shrubs and an abundance of wildlife. It is also open to hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians, and cross-country skiers in the winter.

In early January, the plan for the open space took a slight shift when residents bordering the open space learned about a proposal to add five to ten minimalist campsites in Sandstone Ranch.

“They sent out 107 postcard invitations to an open house meeting, January the seventh,” said Gary Wood, who lives in the Perry Park area, on the northwest side of Larkspur.

Many of the other 800 households began hearing from friends and neighbors about this new proposal, which they said should have come directly from the county.

“My initial response was, ‘Why don’t I know about that?'” said Gary Dunning, who lives a few doors down from Wood. “And as we started kind of checking around, a lot of people hadn’t heard about it.”

FOX31 reached out to Douglas County, which responded with a statement.

“We are thankful for the neighbors who attended our very first open house on Jan. 7 to discuss the idea of camping at Sandstone Ranch. This neighborhood meeting, focused on those immediately next to Sandstone Ranch, was our very first step in a public process on this topic.  There is still plenty of room and time for public input and refinement of this idea.”

Douglas County

Douglas County also highlighted that these would be minimalist campsites. A minimalist campsite is:

• Undeveloped, designated and dispersed sites
• No plumbing, running water or utilities
• Pack in and pack out all belongings and waste

They would be limited to tents, meaning no RVs or trailers would be permitted. The sites would also follow the 7 principles of “Leave No Trace.” This would also allow others from different parts of the state or out of the state more opportunities to appreciate all that the Sandstone Ranch Open Space has to offer, Douglas County said.

However, along with the news of the proposal, worries about what this could mean also began circulating.

“There are other concerns, but the primary one is fire,” Wood said.

The Sandstone Ranch Open Space and the area surrounding it is known for its winds and fire risk.

“We had a fire last spring at the Wien’s ranch which burned for one day,” said Joe Brickweg, chair of the Firewise Committee. “They thought they put it out and I think it was a week or two weeks later, it started back up.”

Many people living in the area also remember the 2002 Hayman Fire, the second-largest fire in Colorado’s history which burned more than 138,000 acres.

“We were actually in Las Vegas,” said Carol Manlove. She, her husband, Gary, and their children were on a work trip when they got a call from a neighbor. “He said, ‘Hey, did you guys hear that the neighborhood is being evacuated?'”

Carol and her daughter took the first plane home and they had the all-clear to return to their homes. But, that night, the neighborhood was evacuated again.

“We were eating dinner and we got a Reverse911 call and they said, ‘The fire’s moving your way again and you guys have to get out’,” Carol said.

With a history of fires, the community is now asking why the county would add an additional risk.

“We’ve spent millions of dollars trying to protect ourselves, we don’t need an outside force to come in,” Brickweg said.

Even if the county put up signs telling folks not to have campfires, the community said that has never stopped people before.

“That’s part of camping. The camping experience is having a fire. And it can be just a small little, teeny innocent thing, but it just takes one,” Dunning said.

Residents also expressed worries about the Colorado Renaissance Festival which comes to their community once a year for six weeks in the summer.

“We’re so impacted here in the summer months with traffic,” said Brenda Shirely, who lives in the Bear Dance community in Larkspur. “You have to leave your home before 8:30 in the morning at latest and you can’t get back in until after one. We already have that now add some camping in there. It’s the same road in, it’s the same road out.”

On top of that, the community said festival goers could also seek out the campsites for a close and convenient place to stay, further boosting the fire risk.

“It would be the noncommunity guests that would show up there that we worry about,” Wood said.

Douglas County said the pilot program is still in its early stages and there is still time for people to submit public feedback, which you can do so by clicking this link.