Blue River – Just a couple of miles south of the galleries and bars of Breckenridge, life is a lot slower in this collection of vacation cabins and A-frames scattered throughout the woods.
But in a town so small that it doesn’t even have a post office, the pace in Blue River literally may be increasing as residents face pressures for upgrades with every new trophy home.
Now, town officials are forcing the issue by asking voters whether they want to pave Blue River’s dirt roads, creating a controversy over what is viewed as either an effort to steal the town’s pastoral way of life – and a good chunk of change from every property owner’s pockets – or a way to improve real estate values for everyone overnight.
“We’ve had people asking us this question for years,” said Darcy Lystlund, who as mayor was behind the push to settle the long-running debate. “No one has ever dealt with this issue. Somebody had to have the guts to come forward and say: ‘Do we want this or not?’ We’re telling them: ‘Make your choice.”‘
The issue, which will be on the Nov. 7 ballot, would require every homeowner to pay as much as $18,538, with an option to finance the costs through town bonds paid over 15 years.
The debate already has proved so emotional in the community of about 750 that Lystlund abruptly resigned after a town board meeting last week in which she was shouted down and later bumped by a belligerent property owner.
“I gave 10 years to that town, and to be abused by these people who have never attended a meeting before, I don’t need to do that,” she said Tuesday.
Critics contend that residents overwhelmingly oppose paving the roads and that the matter, which they view as being pushed by real estate speculators and agents like Lystlund, shouldn’t be on the ballot at all.
“You don’t have to have a vote. Why don’t you just ask people if they want this?” angry homeowner Roger Kessler recently asked trustees, as dozens of his neighbors packing the one- room town hall applauded.
In recent years, a handful of neighborhoods with high-end homes and paved roads have been built in Blue River, distinguishing them from the town’s older areas that still boast rustic fishing cabins and dirt roads.
Some paving opponents say additional payments of $165 a month could force them to move, while others noted that paved roads inevitably would lead to higher speeds in their neighborhoods.
“I think some of the rural aesthetic would be lost,” said Ken Robertson. “I bought my home up there because the dirt roads were part of it. … I just like the way it looks, and I like the feel.”
Pete Turner, the town’s roads manager, said the maintenance costs of paved roads probably won’t be any less than for grading dirt roads each spring.
“My personal opinion is that any reduction we have is going to be temporary. We’ll have a free ride for about five years, and then we’re going to have to start maintaining them,” he said.
Although he supports putting the matter before voters, he said he would oppose it on the ballot.
“I moved here from the city, where there were curbs and gutters and paved roads. I don’t want that anymore. I like it rustic,” Turner said.
He believes most Blue River residents want to retain their dirt roads but acknowledged that there are other viewpoints.
“There are the people from Dallas and Chicago,” he said, “and they had their paved roads, and, by God, they want them here, too. And then there’s the group in the middle that might want paved roads until they find out they have to pay for them.”
Staff writer Steve Lipsher can be reached at 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com.
