 News-Press, May 8, 1996_files/dcnp125.gif)
As development eats up the Front Range of Colorado, Douglas County has emerged as a battleground in the fight to save some of the open spaces that symbolize this state.
Gaining national publicity in recent years as the fastest-growing county in the United States, Douglas County is now gaining the reputation as being the spot where land preservationists have drawn the line in the sand.
Some see Douglas County as the last best chance to preserve a Colorado as it used to be -- before the boom of the 1970s and the growth of the 1990s. A county now being squeezed between the metro areas of Denver and Colorado Springs.
National and state organizations have focused on the county as a spot where they can make a difference. Significant gains in the preservation of open spaces have occurred in all corners of the county but projects and resources dedicated for future work could dwarf what has happened to date.
With the help of local governments, a local land conservancy group, citizen initiatives, and state lottery funds, land has been purchased, conservation easements granted and land added to state parks.
In 1994, after a similar measure was defeated at the polls in 1992, county voters approved one-sixth of a cent sales tax to be used to purchase and maintain open space. That tax now is raising about $1.8 million a year for land purchases and is expected to raise significantly more as commercial development booms along the county's northern edge.
A major local victory to save open space came in 1995 when development on the edge of Roxborough State Park in northwest Douglas County was averted and the land purchased as a buffer to the park.
State and national land trusts also are busy in the area. Pine Cliff Ranch in the West Plum Creek valley was purchased by Colorado Open Lands. Parts of the ranch have been developed but most of it remains undeveloped ranch land and, if plans are carried out, will remain so forever.
Coming in to the scene more recently is the Colorado branch of the national Conservation Fund. Based in Boulder, the Conservation Fund has focused its energy on the wide open vistas from Larkspur south along Interstate 25.
A "Legacy" grant application to Great Outdoors Colorado, the agency which disburses money raised by the Colorado Lottery, is asking for about $50 million over a period of years to purchase up to 30,000 acres in that area.
Conservation Fund President Sydney Macy said in an earlier interview Douglas County is at a critical juncture at which there is still a chance to save large amounts of open space but developers are knocking at the doors from all directions.
Douglas County's growth, by any measure, is booming. According to figures from the Douglas County Division of Planning and Community Development, the county's population remained steady at between 3,000 and 3,500 between the 1880s and 1950.
By 1960 the population was 4,816. By the 1970 census there were 8,407 people in the county. The boom of the 1970s took the population to 25,153 by 1980. By 1990 the official count was 60,391. In February of this year the population topped 100,000.
Land-use decisions made in the 1970s will keep the population growing. According to planning division numbers, if master plans of the county and the towns are followed, 16.4 percent of the county will some day be urban. Right now, urban areas occupy 4.8 percent of the land and contain 81 percent of the homes in the county.
Douglas County is 842 square miles. Pike National Forest occupies 26 percent of the county, designated urban areas 16.4 and the rest, 57.6 percent, is classified as nonurban. Uses on that land range from commercial and industrial to traditional agriculture and large-lot residential.
A recent study by the Division of Wildlife indicated about three acres of open space and wildlife habitat were being chewed up every day of the year by housing developments.
Some conservation groups almost have adopted Douglas County as their home county.
"Douglas County is very near and dear to us," said Lee Dusa, president of Colorado Open Lands.
Colorado Open Lands is involved in three major projects in the county. After purchasing the Pine Cliff Ranch, COL added to that with the purchase two years ago of the Allis Ranch in the area of the St. Philips-in-the-Field Episcopal Church at Colorado 105 and Wolfensberger Road.
Using a combination of clustered site plans and conservations easements, COL has developed the land with the housing sites occupying about 10 percent of the land. The other 90 percent is protected forever.
That strategy, conserving most of the land by allowing limited development, seems to be the preferred plan of action at this point.
Douglas County government has been the most active local government in the quest for open space. Its planning staff serves as support staff for the Douglas County Open Space Advisory Council, the volunteer agency appointed to make recommendations on how the county should spend its open space sales tax money.
The two major towns in the county, Parker and Castle Rock, have rules and regulations governing how development occurs within their boundaries but are not actively pursuing the acquisition of open space.
Douglas County has identified five major areas it says are critical for open-space preservation. Those areas are the northern high plateau along I-25, the bluffs just south of Lincoln Avenue, the Cherry Creek Valley, the south I-25 corridor, and Roxborough State Park and the mountain backdrop area from Perry Park north.
Working for years, mostly quietly and behind the scenes, to save open space has been the Douglas County Land Conservancy. A small board of directors meets regularly to hear land conservation proposals. This non-profit volunteer group has had few resources and limited success until recently.
Early DCLC projects included enacting a conservation easement on an open meadow in Perry Park and other smaller easements in isolated areas.
Within the last year, however, the conservancy has had a major role in large conservation projects. It played a key part in putting together deals expanding Castlewood Canyon State Park and preserving about 70 acres east of Parker.
The board's expertise at putting together conservation easements, legal documents that restrict the use of land, has become known in local and state circles and DCLC has been called upon to negotiate and draft such documents.
As land preservation efforts increase and grow in maturity, the DCLC and COSAC are poised to provide local leadership in the fight.
Mark Weston, Douglas County Planning Commission member and vice chairman of COSAC, said everything seems to be coming together to provide a good climate for open space preservation.
"The timing is so fortuitous," Weston said. "With GOCO coming on line, and the Douglas County tax being passed, we now can leverage our money and handle an incredible amount of projects. If we had to spend only the tax money, we couldn't have done what we have."
But Weston is realistic in his appraisal of the open space battle.
"We are fighting a rear-guard action," he said. "We have land already zoned to give us a population the size of Jefferson County (about 400,000)."
Weston said he has faith in the county's master plan which designates urban areas. He said if the plan is followed with sound reasoning the county will develop in an acceptable manner.
"There is some sadness in seeing a favorite piece of land being developed into housing," Weston said. "But beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
Can the urban Front Range sprawl be stopped? Weston says no, but Douglas County could develop in a fiscally sound manner.
"We may not like the way it looks," he said. "But it will be sustainable. If we don't (follow the master plan, the cost) will overwhelm us."
It's a term that trips lightly off the tongues of Castle Rock residents more and more frequently, as development increases in the area.
But just what is this seemingly elusive open space and does anyone know how to acquire it?
The Town of Castle Rock differentiates between open space and public lands. Planning Director John Franklin said that open space is "a means, a tool to insulate the community and to preserve geographic features that are considered valuable. Open space property remains untouched and pristine." Public lands, on the other hand, can be used for such things as parks, well sites, golf courses, schools or fire stations.
Both open space and public lands are acquired by the town during the zoning and development processes. Castle Rock requires a developer to dedicate 10 percent of platted property to public lands.
According to Franklin, the dedicated land must be usable land, usually fairly flat, and cannot include drainage ways or detention areas. In the cases where there is no usable land to meet the 10 percent requirement, the town will accept cash in lieu of the land dedication. That situation generally occurs in commercial development, such as the new Total gas station being built on South Wilcox Street. The town received nearly $65,000 in lieu of a 10 percent land dedication.
Residential developers also must set aside 20 percent of the property for open space. Franklin stresses that 20 percent is the minimum requirement. "Developers of properties with extraordinary features often go far higher than that."
The planning staff conducts site visits to all residential planned developments "to get the true feel of how the important visual areas relate to the plan and get a reasonable plan. In the case of Red Hawk, we went out there 10 times to get a complete understanding of the site," Franklin said. The result is a preliminary plan that preserves important features and still allows the developer to develop the land successfully.
The town does not allow residential developers to contribute cash in lieu of open space.
Franklin works closely with the town's Parks and Recreation Director Bruff Shea. Shea, along with the town's Parks and Recreation Commission, is responsible for deciding the best uses for the dedicated land. They look at the need for neighborhood and community parks, tennis courts and playgrounds. "We often look at joint uses with the school district," he said, "to take maximum advantage of the properties involved." As an example Shea cites the planned elementary school site in Founders Village, just south of Mikelson Boulevard. The town will put a park next to the school.
"We try to put community parks, that might have lighted ball fields, next to middle schools," Shea said, noting that middle schools tend to be built just a little farther from houses than elementary schools are.
The commission makes recommendations for areas to be preserved as natural open spaces. Memmen Park, for instance, was purchased by the town and will be preserved in its natural state. According to Franklin, it will be accessible open space that will simply "be there," undisturbed and unimproved and "people will leave only footprints." Castle Rock receives about $150,000 annually from the county's open space tax and 20 percent of that money can be used for parks and recreation areas. The rest is used to acquire more pure open space.
Shea said the biggest problem the town used to have was when the town allowed developers to dedicate their 20 percent in small pieces as they went along. "It added very little to the development in terms of appreciable open space. You wouldn't even notice it if you didn't know it was there."
Shea thinks the biggest open space success for the town was acquisition of the Rock Park land. "If the town hadn't bought that land, it would have had 110 multi-family units by now," he said. "And of course, acquiring Memmen Park was a real success story too."
Franklin's favorite open space success story is Mitchell Gulch, east of Founders Village. "It's a mini Castlewood Canyon," he said. " Right now, development in Castle Rock is not pressing against open space. We have a lot of vacant land that is not open space. But I think the best is yet to come. Our policies have set the stage for even more success with open space."
Those who live in metro Denver see the sweeping vistas as they drive south of County Line Road on Interstate 25 and think the county has lots of open space.
Highlands Ranch residents see a sea of homes from their bedroom windows. In the rural parts of the county, property owners watch the land around them slowly degenerate from 1,000-acre ranches to 35-acre subdivisions. Newcomers to the county grab their parcel of land and then complain when newer homes block their view.
Everyone wants open space.
The recently implemented Douglas County Zoning Resolution defines open space as "public or private land and aquatic areas that are regulated or managed to protect the natural environment and significant cultural resources; provide recreation and agricultural opportunities; shape the pattern of urban development, or any combination thereof, including yards and common areas and including a limited number of buildings and accessory uses compatible with intended use. "Open space shall be deemed not to include driveways, parking lots, or other surfaces designed or intended for vehicular travel."
When new residential developments are zoned, the county requires the developer to dedicate 30 percent of the land to open space. That land then can be used to create active or passive recreation areas and greenbelts.
Commissioner Chris Christensen said that prior to 1984, there was less concern with open space in the county. "There seemed to be plenty of it," he said, "and maybe there was some reluctance to ask for open space. But in the last few years we've tried to be not only more diligent in asking for open space, but more demanding. It's been more of an evolutionary process than a revolutionary process."
The growth in the county's planning staff has helped in that effort, Christensen said. "We have the advantage of having a more professional planning staff than earlier boards. There are more people and they're better qualified. On the other hand, the public's expectations are higher as well."
One of the greatest challenges the commissioners face when trying to protect open space is previously approved zoning. "Both the United States and the Colorado constitutions protect the rights of property owners," Christensen said. "The county must be sensitive about respecting those rights. Where we can we work with the land owners to change density, but we can't impose that.
"Since 1989 we have reduced the number of buildable lots zoned by 11,000, all through voluntary down-zoning."
Christensen cited Bell Mountain Ranch as a good example of the county's success at encouraging cooperative down-zoning. Originally platted for 7,400 homes in the 1980s, the 2,040 acres now will contain only 305 homes. More than 10 percent of the property is dedicated to open space, and individual homesites have an average of 20 percent open space in the form of deed-restricted preservation easements.
When commissioners attempted to impose restraints on the developers of Pinery Southwest, however, their actions resulted in a law suit. Christensen said that's the down side of previously approved zoning. "We were trying to be sensitive to the long-term impact of that development, and they felt the terms were too arduous. If a land owner doesn't agree, it can end up in litigation."
Christensen said the definition of open space is "kind of subjective, I guess. Some people define open space as land not built on. One person's golf course is another's horror.
We're fortunate in Douglas County because more than a fourth of the county is natural forest."
Douglas County Planning Director Ed Tepe said, "We're fortunate that our forefathers had the foresight to preserve the forest, and it does provide a great deal of preserved open space.
"But it's not location specific," he said. "We need to go further and try to preserve certain key geographic features, like the mountain backdrop and the Interstate 25 corridor."
Tepe's personal definition of open space is "an area that is intentionally left free from development, where some action has been taken to keep the land free from development in perpetuity."
Tepe says a great deal of the county is nonurban and zoned for agricultural uses. "Even with the zoning that is in place, 80 percent of the county is nonurban."
The importance of open space designation is that it would ensure that nonurban land remains undeveloped. Tepe points out that a board of county commissioners in the future could approve zoning changes that would permit development on nonurban lands.
Open space designation would preclude such actions.
The county is attacking the issue of growth management on several fronts, Tepe said.
"The commissioners' desire for voluntary rezoning and large-lot development has helped to create definition within the county. By working with the developer of the Pinery 5th Amendment, commissioners were able to preserve Gondolier Farms, eliminate 1,600 building lots and hold the edge of urban development."
Tepe stressed that not all open space needs to be owned by the county. "The goal is not to have the citizens own it all. In the long run, open space is best left to the property owners, so the tax payer is not responsible for maintenance."
In the past few years with significant residential growth and numbers of 500 to 600 new single-family added homes each year and growing commercial development, concern increased. By the time the 1996 Parker election took place, open space and managed growth vied for top voter issues.
With the adoption of the Town of Parker Master Plan in February, the preservation of open space is defined in terms of zoning and the subdivision process. The town considers the following as appropriate environmental characteristics to preserve as open space: environmental hazards (floodplains, geologic hazards and slopes greater than 20 percent.); Visually prominent or unique landforms; wildlife habitat or migration corridors: historic structures, sites or trails; archaeological sites; vegetation; water features or wetlands.
In the master plan, Parker has committed to working with Douglas County, other municipalities, nonprofit conservation organizations, state agencies and other entities to provide open space within and adjacent to Parker. The Parker Town Council recently commissioned Parker Parks and Recreation to set up guidelines in conjunction with the county to look at open space acquisition.
Some town officials think getting started with an organized approach and priorities has been slow.
"What concerns me most is everyone wants it (open space) and we have no plan or priority of the parcels of land we want to acquire," said Councilman Dave Aldredge, "We need a priority plan."
Councilman Chip Stern echoed similar thoughts saying no organized program is in place for open space acquisition. He went on to say major budget concerns exist.
The Douglas County shareback funds from the .17 percent sales tax are approximately $150,000 according to
Mark Lewis, Parker's representative to the county's open space program, the Douglas County Open Space Commission.
Lewis wonders if there is a teacup in an ocean approach to open space.
"There is so much to preserve with so little money," he said.
At a public meeting held at the Parker Senior Center in February, the Cherry Creek Corridor and the High Central Plateau and Bluffs were identified as the two most important open space designations for the Parker area. Other areas of concern included Castlewood Canyon and the Betts ranch property near the Pinery.
According to Lewis, Parker residents are deeply concerned about the open space issue. He said Parker had the largest turnout of concerned citizens from the public presentations by the Douglas County Open Space Commission.
"The town doesn't own the open space people see," Aldridge said. "In some situations it is sitting waiting to be developed."
Aldridge said it is essential to identify certain pieces of land as critical to building and creating Parker's image.
"We need to start to budget for acquisitions," he said. "We need to advocate open space while there is still somewhat of an open feeling."
Town Administrator Aden Hogan who moved to Parker from Oklahoma City, said Parker has excellent policies in place as solid foundation with its subdivision requirements.
He went on to say open space dedications exist as well as trail dedications.
"In Oklahoma City, developers went from property line to property line," Hogan said. "There were no dedicated parks or streets. I was pleased when I came to Parker and saw the subdivision requirements."
Alan White, director of the planning department, cited recent open space dedications through the master plan zoning and subdivision process in Challenger Estates (35 acres) as well as Canterberry Farm next to the Sulphur Gulch.
Parker's major open space endeavor is exemplified in the work along the Cherry Creek corridor in a multi-faceted effort including the Colorado Open Space Advisory Committee, Douglas County, the town of Parker, numerous private citizens and the development community.
Lewis summarizes his view by saying he is proud of the open space effort from the county perspective but he is eager to see the Parker program get under way.
Well, not entirely, but a homesite on a lush, green fairway bordering one of the county's nine private golf courses has transformed the homebuilding and home-selling industries from Highlands Ranch south to Larkspur.
In fact, except for one private 18-hole spread below Daniels Park, every golf course in the county incorporates homesites. Even the two courses now on the drawing board -- a public layout near Castle Rock and a third 18 holes near exclusive Castle Pines -- will continue the trend.
Douglas County now boasts Perry Park Country Club near Larkspur, Plum Creek Golf and Country Club in Castle Rock, Canterberry Golf Course in Parker, Lone Tree Golf and Country Club in the northern suburban, the Links at Highlands Ranch, a nine-hole executive course near Lone Tree, Arrowhead Golf Course near Roxborough State Park, Castle Pines Golf Club, site of the International and Castle Pines Country Club.
As long as homebuyers are willing to pay significant premiums for lots and properties abutting a well-kept course, the trend likely will continue.
To many, living on a golf course is the spoonful of sugar that makes open space as attractive as possible. Planners and developers love it because it makes the density problem almost disappear.
"It's easier politically to develop 100 homes next to a 125-acre golf course than 100 on 75 acres," said one builder now developing a residential development alongside the 11th fairway.
Residents owning fairway homesites enjoy the exclusive location. As one resident of Plum Creek, whose home is on the first fairway of the Pete Dye-designed championship course, said, "It's like having an army of workmen laboring all day to make sure my back yard is green and mowed."
According to one Realtor, at Perry Park Country Club near Larkspur, vacant lots not contiguous with the golf course sell for about $40,000. But the same one-acre site adjoining a fairway can go for as much as $100,000.
There are about 1,400 acres of irrigated golf course land in Douglas County, and approximately the same acreage adjoining the courses as homesites or potential homesites. At today's going prices, the fairway-frontage lots alone could be worth as much as $7 million. And if homes ranging from $350,000 to more than $1 million are built on these sites, it's obvious some Douglas County living has become very upscale.
Fairway frontage as a development amenity in Douglas County began with the Pinery in Parker. Then in the late 1960s, homes began sprouting up around Perry Park. However, development around Arrowhead Golf Course in western Douglas County -- arguably the most beautiful layout in the county -- didn't run smoothly. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, residential development around Arrowhead moved in fits and starts. It wasn't until the late 1980s, when the metro area population began moving south, that homesites around Arrowhead became viable and more valuable.
The Plum Creek community also had its early problems before evolving into one of the most desirable residential neighborhoods in the county.
Originally Plum Creek, with its typical Pete Dye design flair, was designated as a Tournament Players Club course. It overcame financial woes in the mid-1980s and after a decade of surviving as a quasi-public golf course, is becoming private again in the county's booming growth and upscale economy.
The past 18 months has seen an orgy of building in Plum Creek. Exclusive homes and condominiums have been built -- and continue to be built -- throughout the community.
Lots along Plum Creek's fairways are filling fast. Homeowners who bought in the early 1990s have seen their property values leap as much as 15 to 20 percent in the past two years alone.
"There is no conscious premium on fairway sites," said a local Re/Max real estate broker. "It's a supply-and-demand thing. People are willing to pay a lot of money to be on the golf course. But anyone who thinks real estate people and developers somehow arbitrarily affixed premium price tags on golf course lots are way out of line," he said.
But it's no secret property values climb when it fronts a fairway or green, he said.
Douglas County's quintessential golf community is in Castle Pines, with two major golf courses operational and a third ready to be designed and built.
The jewel in the Castle Pines golf crown is the trendy International tournament played each August on the Castle Pines Golf Club, oilman Jack Vickers' enterprise. The course itself was designed by the immortal Jack Nicklaus.
The International, the only regular Colorado stop on the PGA pro tour, has put the national golf spotlight on Douglas County.
To many residents, it's difficult to think of the Castle Pines golf courses as open space. Inside exclusive security-gated communities sit multimillion-dollar homes fronting two astonishingly beautiful, emerald-green, meticulously manicured golf courses. And if two courses aren't enough, a third soon will be built, opening up yet more exclusive homesites.
To many Douglas County oldtimers, Castle Pines is somewhat of an anomaly, as foreign to the county's traditional ranching lifestyle as the Space Shuttle is to a Piper Club.
But what Castle Pines -- and the other fashionable golf clubs teach Douglas County residents -- is that open space not only is valuable, but also can be very beautiful.
And that's the way many people think of her -- that rather distant, somewhat intimidating woman who lives in the castle that's barely visible from U.S. 85 near Sedalia.
But Tweet Kimball is so much more than the lady of the castle. Innovative and influential cattle breeder, conservationist, patron of the arts, protector of animals, concerned and active citizen -- these are but a few of the titles that can and have been applied to Kimball.
How did a daughter of the early 20th century genteel South come to be a power to be reckoned with in the predominantly male world of cattle breeding and a wielder of influence in Douglas County and the state? The story is as multi-faceted as the land on which she lives.
Raised on the family farm in Tennessee, she is the daughter of a career soldier. Her father was a member of West Point's class of 1907, a cavalryman who had retired and was running his father's businesses when World War II broke out.
"He wanted to go back and 'kill the Germans,' " Kimball said. "It was 1938 and the Army made him the commandant of Fort Oglethorpe." Before long the Pentagon beckoned, asking him to join a group of senior commanders who would study the sticky issue of command over conquered countries, a task for which Col. Kimball, with his many years of command experience, was well qualified and which he was eager to take on.
Before he could leave for the nation's capitol, however, he was felled by a heart attack. He left behind a devastated family, but his legacy lives on in his daughter and in the childhood nickname he gave her -- Tweet.
There were to be other men in Kimball's life, four of them whom she married and subsequently divorced. Although she resumed the use of her maiden name, she still uses the title Mrs. "After being married four times, I am Mrs.," she said decisively.
In an interesting twist of fate, it was her first husband, the father of her two sons, who was at least partly responsible for Kimball settling in Colorado.
"When I divorced him, he said I'd probably go back to Tennessee and talk about him. He said 'if you'll buy property west of the Mississippi, I'll help you.' And that's what I did."
Kimball said she looked at several western states before deciding on Colorado, but even then it took some doing to find just the right place to live. "I contacted Van Schaack in Denver and a very nice agent showed me places all over the state." She did not care to live on the eastern plains -- "There weren't enough trees" -- and some of the places he showed her on the western slope "got too much snow for a Southerner." Eventually the agent mentioned a place in Sedalia where the owner wouldn't sell to prospective buyers who wanted to create a bed and breakfast or resort.
And so it was that Tweet Kimball came to own the property known then as Charlford, but renamed the Cherokee Ranch by its new mistress, a name brought with her from Tennessee, home of the Cherokee Indian tribe.
Cherokee Ranch appealed to Kimball for a number of reasons, she said. First it had the enough land -- 4,000 acres -- for the cattle she was to raise. Second it had a 24-room residence modeled after a 15th century Scottish castle, particularly appealing to a graduate of Bryn Mawr who studied the history of art and architecture and whose veins course with the blood of Scottish ancestors. The ranch also was close enough to Denver to afford the benefits of the city.
Kimball then attacked her next project -- importing Santa Gertrudis cattle from Texas. She first encountered resistance from Texas ranchers who said the huge, part Brahman, part Shorthorn animals would not survive in cold-weather climates. Eventually she found a cooperative rancher who agreed to sell her top-quality animals.
More resistance was to greet Kimball when she brought the animals to Colorado. Not only were local ranchers opposed to the introduction of "those damned red Bremmers," her own foreman wanted nothing to do with them and refused to help unload them. Kimball fired him on the spot, but because he was a family man, she allowed him to stay on for two weeks "but he was to have nothing to do with the cattle." But the foreman really hated those red cattle and deliberately left the gate open.
When Kimball found her prized bulls wandering on the road, she ordered the foreman, who lived in a house on the ranch, off the property, but he refused to leave.
"Things were different then," she said. "I called the sheriff and he came out and got the man off the ranch. Today, you'd have to give the man 30 days notice and probably take him to court, and all the while he'd be wreaking havoc on the ranch."
Kimball undertook a public relations campaign to show folks the value of the Santa Gertrudis cattle. She sponsored an essay contest, offering a first-class bull to the winner. "People changed their minds when they saw what that bull could produce."
Still there were other hurdles to overcome. There was no class for the breed at the National Western Stock Show. "They were very narrow-minded," Kimball observed. "They claimed the cattle weren't purebred."
Kimball's approach to cattle breeding raised eyebrows as well, She introduced the concept of single-sire herds, which has since become common practice. At the time standard procedure was to turn several bulls out in a pasture with a hundred or more cows. Kimball said the only way to study the breed and improve it was to know which bulls sired which calves, and that's what she's been doing for 40 years.
She has always maintained her breeding records by hand, although she's recently added computerized record keeping. She won't give up the hand-written records though, saying she knows that floppy disks can be "wiped out too easily."
The prize-winning cattle that "couldn't survive in cold-weather climes" are now sold all over the world, including Canada, Russia, Tasmania, South Africa and Taiwan. Kimball's breeding program provides for calving all year, so that youngsters are shipped to their new homes during the best season. Calves going to Canada are shipped in June and July; those going to Texas are shipped in December.
When she's not overseeing her prized herds, Kimball is looking after the welfare of many other species. The 4,000 acres of Cherokee Ranch are a natural wildlife preserve, providing a home to mountain lions, bears, white-tailed deer, coyotes, raccoons and a herd of 170 elk. She also is in the process of having a dam built for a duck and goose sanctuary on the ranch.
Kimball professes a love of all creatures and has inadvertently caused herself some problems as a result. Not long ago she found a bear outside her door. When the Division of Wildlife officer came around, it didn't take him long to figure out why the bears were coming to call at the castle. They were attracted by the food Kimball was leaving out for her raccoons.
When she asked him what she should do about the bears, he told her to quit feeding the raccoons until the bears went to sleep for the winter. "It was so pathetic," she said "to see those raccoons scratching at the door. I told them they'd have to wait until the bears went to sleep."
Kimball is taking steps to make sure that the animals will always have a home on Cherokee Ranch. She plans to preserve the ranch as open space, in effect creating a buffer between the sprawling growth of Denver and Castle Rock.
Her love of all things wild has led her to chair the Birds of Prey Foundation which has a facility in Boulder County that provides extensive rehabilitation services for raptors. Owls, hawks, eagles and falcons which have been injured or are otherwise in need of help can find a home there. Those that can be returned to the wild are brought to Cherokee Ranch to be released. Those that cannot fly again or hunt their own prey are maintained at the center and are used in educational programs for school children.
Kimball is seldom idle. She was once quoted as saying, "I have more to do than I'll have time to do." Her favorite form of recreation has always been riding ("I love it best"), but she is no longer able to ride. Still she hosts an annual Calcutta where guests can bet on each rider, horse and hound. A self-described "inveterate reader," she keeps up with the latest books, often reading late into the night.
One might think that, at almost 82 years of age, she'd give herself license to sleep a little later the next day, but no, this morning she was up having breakfast with a buyer from Georgia who was returning home with the bull he'd just bought.
One huge task still faces this woman with the seemingly endless energy. Kimball says she must catalog all the works of art and artifacts in the house and library, and she hopes to get started this summer.
"Everything in this house has a story, and it all must be recorded." As an example she tells of her extensive collection of drawings by Sir Christopher Wren, the noted 17th century English architect of such remarkable edifices as St. Paul's Cathedral in London and the Trinity College library in Cambridge. She said it is the only collection in this country.
Documenting the rooms full of 16th, 17th and 18th century furniture, all the paintings, prints and sculpture and the bookshelves crowded with first editions is a daunting but important job. Kimball hopes the castle will someday become a museum and she and others are working on a framework for that now.
Kimball has been and remains very active in the community. She served on the Douglas County Planning Commission and the commissioners' Water Advisory Board, as well as the board of the Douglas County Educational Foundation. She also spent 14 years on the board of the Denver Art Museum as accessions chairman. She is actively involved in local Republican party politics and regularly hosts the Republican caucus in her district.
So what is it that gives a 40-year-old woman with two small children the strength to move to a new part of the country, purchase a ranch complete with castle, and brave the ridicule of western ranchers to import a new breed of cattle? "I'm an optimist and a planner," Kimball said, "and I was always really interested in animals."
When asked what she considers to be her most significant contribution to Colorado or Douglas County, she becomes uncharacteristically modest. "Oh, I just mess with things."
About 50 people ranging in age from 13 to 81 from Colorado will run, walk, and wheel the Olympic Flame through Denver to Parker and Franktown en route to Colorado Springs. The torch will be passed at East Iliff Avenue and Syracuse Street to Parker Road and enter Aurora at Havana Street 1:24 p.m.
At 2:38 p.m. the torch will enter Douglas County and the Parker City limits on Colorado 83 where it will be passed to a bicyclist who will carry it through Parker to Franktown and on to milemarker 47 at Russellville and on down Colorado 83 over the bridge past the entrance to Castlewood Park. The torchbearer then will go past milemarker 44 and bear left at Lake Gulch Road, crossing west of Cantelope Creek, past the Cherry Valley Substation No. 3, to the El Paso County line and proceed to Colorado Springs.
The public is invited to be on this route to view this torch that will light the opening of the Olympics in Atlanta.
The citizens of metro Denver and surrounding communities are invited to attend a community celebration at 10:40 a.m. Sunday on May 12 welcoming the arrival of the Flame at 10:40 a.m. at the Union station in downtown Denver.
The Olympic flame will enter Denver by train at 10 a.m. at the Union Station, where torchbearers will hand-carry the lame through the streets of metro Denver. The Olympic flame will be passed to cyclists in Parker and then cycled to Colorado Springs.
Nearly half of the torchbearers will be "community heroes" from metro Denver and the Front Range. They were selected by Mile High United Way as part of a national search for the most outstanding individuals in the United States.
Judges chose individuals whose lives mirrored the spirit of the Olympic Games and principles of United Way: respect for human dignity, the joy found in effort, the value of good example and service to others -- all qualities of a hero.
Douglas County has Shara Castle of Highlands Ranch and Jon Hanson of Parker, chosen as part of the Olympic torch relay.
Castle has been involved in voluntarism all her life. While attending Colorado State, she was honored as Colorado's first congressional award recipient donating 2,500 hours to her community. She now serves as co-president of Colorado's Congressional Award Council and encourages teen-agers to contribute to their community.
Hanson, who is autistic, has overcome the disorder and his parents founded Praying Hands Ranch to offer equine and horticultural therapy to people with special needs.
Starting in Los Angeles on April 27, the Olympic Torch Relay, presented by Coca-Cola, will blaze a trail through thousands of communities on its way to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Atlanta on July 19. This summer's relay is the largest, longest and most inclusive in Olympic history. For 84 days, 10,000 torchbearers will pass the sacred flame from torch to torch through 42 states and 29 state capitals. Sharing the spirit of the Olympic games with more people than ever before, the flame will pass within a two-hour drive of more than 90 percent of the U.S. population.
In addition to the torchbearers who will carry the flame by foot, the relay will travel by other modes of transportation includes a bicycle, rowing shell, Union Pacific 19-car passenger train, ferry, cable car, horseback, canoe, biplane, street car, steamboat, Great Lakes Laker, horse-drawn packet boat, sailboat, seaplane, and tall ship.
An average day takes the flame the 150 miles in 15 hours.
If the contract isn't approved, a strike looms. The present contract expires at midnight Saturday. In deference to Mother's Day on Sunday, the vote was delayed until Monday.
All employees of the Castle Rock and Parker Safeway stores are represented by United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 7, in Wheat Ridge. Only the meat, seafood and delicatessen employees of the King Soopers store in Parker are represented by the union.
The Albertson's supermarkets in Douglas County are non-union stores.
Negotiations continue in an effort to come up with a multi-employer bargaining agreement in time for Monday's vote.
According to Tony Gehring, a spokesman for Local 7, there are three major issues in dispute, all equally important. He listed them as pension resolution, more choices in health care and job security.
"We're asking for a 4 percent increase in the pension for our retired employees," Gehring said, adding Monday King Soopers and Safeway management "backed off" their position in health care responsibility.
Earlier Local 7 had asked that health care choice be broadened to allow employees to choose a health maintenance organization in addition to the present personal physician plan.
"In their most recent proposal, management wants to increase the deductible that must be paid by employees," he said. Gehring said both companies also are trying to reduce the number of full-time employees to cut fringe-benefit costs.
"As it stands now, the contract won't give us any kind of choice in health insurance," he said.
Pete Webb, speaking for the two major food companies, said that if a strike is called against one, the other probably will lock out union employees. Webb said the issues most important to King Soopers and Safeway -- and the Albertson's and other food stores involved -- are work rules, flexibility and the right to adjust work schedules, and wages and benefits.
"We remain focused on the economic issues that affect our employees, our customers and the companies involved," Webb said.
The last major strike, Webb said, was against King Soopers in 1986. He said both King Soopers and Safeway are hopeful an agreement will be reached and employees will approve of the new three-year pact.
To make certain all stores will remain staffed in the event of a walkout, as part of their multi-employer bargaining arrangement, radio and print advertisements are asking for persons interested in being "temporary" employees to apply in person at Safeway and King Soopers stores from Fort Collins to Pueblo.
According to Michael Gillette, manager of the Safeway store in Castle Rock, there has been "some" response to the ads. Gillette said the Castle Rock store on South Wilcox Street has 97 employees. Safeway's store manager in Parker, Les Palmer, said his store has 139 employees.
Don Bergh, manage of King Soopers in Parker, said a strike only would affect the employees of his meat and seafood department and delicatessen.
Butterfield homeowners expressed ongoing concern about tree removal at Pulte Homes Hidden River development.
Steve Cain, president of the Butterfield Homeowners Association, said he was worried about the complete destruction of trees in the floodplain. He went on to say the 500 homes planned would generate 1,000 automobile trips per day. He recommended the support of some type of tree ordinance.
Councilman Dale Brinker shared the concern about trees being cut. Brinker went on to say that Pulte Homes has the platted property along with a grading permit.
"No more trees will be cut until town council is notified," Brinker said. "Maybe we've learned something from this."
Councilmember Debbie Lewis echoed a similar view. She said Pulte Homes is within compliance.
"We want to get a tree ordinance passed as soon as possible," Lewis said. "We're doing everything we can."
Councilman Rob Tinnes said the council was working on a tree ordinance so the same type of situation won't happen again.
Butterfield resident Gayle Graves also expressed concern over the destruction of trees and grasslands. She said she was troubled over safety and roads, particularly Hilltop, as well as pollution and wildlife.
Councilman Chip Stern said the council would move as rapidly as possible.
"Ninety percent (of Hilltop Road traffic) is county traffic from Douglas and Elbert Counties," Stern said. He encouraged residents to address the Hilltop issue with local county commissioners.
Pinery resident, Jerry Minor, offered to share with the town of Parker the comprehensive tree preservation plan put together.
Elaine Kane of Butterfield asked about overlot grading and raising the floodplain and moving dirt. She said the dust and dirt erosion was severe. Kane also brought up the issue of high density homes next to five-acre developments.
She asked about the gradation from high density to five acres.
A proclamation for Archaeology and Historic Preservation Week was read by Mayor Gary Lasater. The week of May 12-18 will focus on celebration of events related to the preservation of sites, buildings and objects of historical or cultural significance.
In conjunction with the historic week, the Tallman/Newlin cabin will be relocated on Tuesday, May 14. The original homestead was settled by John M. Tallman, rancher and early clerk/recorder of Douglas County. His wife Elizabeth was a storyteller about life in the Parker area in the 1860s. The Newlin family who later owned the homestead, were ranchers and breeders of shorthorn cattle.
The remaining log cabin core is preserved. The Parker Area Historical society received a grant from the Colorado Historical Society to design a restoration plan for the house after it is moved.
A resolution accepting the Vision Commission's work to date along with 27 specific goals was passed by a unanimous vote. Many in the audience applauded the move.
"This allows us to get into the master plan itself," Stern said. "It gives the town staff a head start and we can begin to incorporate this work into the town process."
Councilman Rob Tinnes said the vision commission's work represented a foundation. He reminded those present that the vision commission's work thus far is a foundation that will take shape through the public hearing process.