Longmont – Weld County commissioners will decide next week whether to pursue a controversial plan to extend a county road through a state park, a move that could spark a legal fight with a nearby town.
Officials from several communities reacted harshly to the idea of extending Weld County Road 7 over the St. Vrain River and through a portion of St. Vrain State Park.
County officials said the road was needed to serve a rapidly growing area of the county.
But officials from nearby towns said the road would ruin the park, which draws thousands of people every year. State parks officials also threatened to withdraw $12 million in funding to upgrade the facility if the 1-mile extension is built.
After hearing the concerns of town officials in June, the commissioners said they would shelve the County Road 7 proposal.
But mayors were stunned to see the road extension still on Weld County planning maps at a meeting this week.
“I was completely blindsided by this,” said Firestone Mayor Mike Simone. “It was upsetting to all of us.”
Weld County Commissioner Mike Geile said the proposal is still on the table. The five-person commission will vote officially on the road’s future Wednesday.
Geile said the road should probably remain as is, at least for now.
“I think we ought to just shelve it,” Geile said. “But sometime down the road, it may be built.”
Firestone may try to annex that portion of Weld County Road 7 and give it to Colorado State Parks for safekeeping, Simone said.
The commissioners would be ignoring the wishes of nearly every resident of southwest Weld County if they went ahead with the extension, he said.
“At least 50,000 people are saying no to this,” he said. “What are they (the commissioners) thinking?”
Weld County officials say the road and the wildlife in the park could co-exist. But concerns about how the road could affect homeowners is enough to put the proposal on hold, Geile said.
The county, however, will not vacate the road to the state or anyone else.
“You don’t vacate easements where a future arterial could be,” he said.
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.
