Washington – On the eve of a U.S. Senate hearing considering an 83-year-old Colorado widow’s plea to remain in her Rocky Mountain National Park summer home, the National Park Service offered Wednesday to endorse her permanent stay with three stringent conditions.
In testimony today, the Park Service will support legislation allowing Betty Dick’s permanent residence within the park’s boundaries, but only if Congress adds three amendments: that Dick’s land is pared to 5 acres from 23; that she pay rent estimated at $1,000 a year instead of the $300 she now pays; and that the land revert to the Park Service when Dick no longer can use it.
Those are the same conditions negotiated by Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., two weeks ago, his chief of staff, Sean Conway, said Wednesday. The agreement at the time would have been in effect for only two years, however, until a final agreement could be drafted. Dick rejected that offer.
Dick, who is to be a witness at today’s hearing, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But her attorney, John Head, said the new deal was not acceptable because additional rent would violate the spirit of Dick’s agreement to use the site.
“She’s already paid once. They want her to pay again?” he said. “I don’t think that’s something she’d be interested in.”
Dick had been staying in the house under the terms of a 1980 agreement that her late husband, Fred, negotiated with the Park Service after his first wife sold the property to the park without allowing him the right of first refusal.
The deal let the Dicks use the 23-acre site within the park for 25 years. That deal expired July 16 but was temporarily extended through September.
The amendments that the Park Service wants balance “the merits of Mrs. Dick’s situation with the public’s interest in this property, which was purchased and is owned for the benefit of the American people,” Stephen P. Martin, Park Service deputy director, says in testimony prepared for today’s hearing.
Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, and Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., offered legislation extending the terms of Dick’s current lease. Udall’s bill passed the House. Salazar’s bill is pending.
Udall and Salazar oppose any amendments to the bill.
Interior Department Secretary Gale Norton, who oversees the Park Service, told Allard on Wednesday that the agency would support legislation for Dick only with the three conditions.
