U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard has waded into the impasse over the 83-year-old widow facing eviction from her home in Rocky Mountain National Park, suggesting that the Park Service simply sign her to a lease.
In a letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton released Tuesday, the Colorado Republican suggested that the National Park Service could offer Betty Dick a lease that would allow her to stay in her Kawauneeche Valley summer home.
“I know that the park cannot extend the arrangement in its current form. However, it is my understanding that a lease could be arranged if the property is leased at fair-market value,” Allard wrote.
Dick had been staying in the house under the terms of a 1980 settlement agreement that her deceased husband, Fred, had negotiated with the agency after his first wife sold the property to the park without allowing him the right of first refusal.
The 25-year agreement was set to expire July 16, but last week Dick won a reprieve from the superintendent of the park to stay through the rest of the summer while Congress considers a legislative remedy.
U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, a Democrat from Eldorado Springs, won passage of a bill in the House that would allow Dick to stay in the home for the rest of her life, and U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., has introduced a similar measure in the Senate.
Doug Young, district policy director for Udall, said that the lease arrangement could have its drawbacks: Among them, the Park Service would be required to open the process and lease the property to the highest bidder – even if it’s not Dick – and the price might be prohibitive.
The agency has estimated the fair-market value of a lease on the 23-acre property would be about $6,300 annually, as compared with the $300 annually that Dick would be charged under the Udall bill.
Allard spokeswoman Angela de Rocha said he would prefer an administrative solution rather than passing a personal law that might set a precedent for other cases. Allard did not consult with Dick or Udall before sending the letter.
Udall’s camp said the bill was narrowly tailored to help only Dick, and they hoped the unanimous approval in the House would carry over to swift passage in the Senate.
“If it bears fruit, then great,” Young said of the Allard suggestion. “We have a lot of momentum behind the legislation, which, obviously, we feel is a better fix. So we’re just hoping his efforts here do not slow down the efforts in the Senate.”
Staff writer Steve Lipsher can be reached at 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com.
