Golden – A longstanding road dispute between Denver and Jefferson was settled today, although several residents believe the agreement was reached by cutting the public out of the process.
At issue is a 600-yard-long paved portion of Little Cub Creek road inside Denver’s Bell Mountain Park near Evergreen.
Denver claims ownership of the road, although Jefferson County has maintained it for decades and gave permission last year for the developer to pave it.
The agreement approved unanimously today by Jefferson County commissioners leaves the pavement in place, allows access to residential properties that David Graham is developing and makes the county responsible for maintenance.
The developer will pay a total of $280,000, including fire mitigation, creation of public parking in the park, giving Denver cash for its mountain parks system and contributing money to the Clear Creek Land Conservancy.
“It would have been nice to have this out for public discussion,” said resident Jim Peterson, who added the agreement was a “convenient way” to get rid of the “problem.”
Margaret Cross of the Bear Mountain Vista homeowners association said the agreement fails to address road ownership.
Instead, the “ambiguous” pact benefits the developer, Denver and the land conservancy, Cross said, but not “the people who suffer the damage.”
“We have a clear lack of open process in this county,” Cross said.
Commissioner Kevin McCasky responded that the county had three public meetings on the issue and that “nothing was slid through, nothing was under the table.”
The agreement, McCasky said, “formalized what has been going on for at least 70 plus years.”
Commissioner Kathy Hartman, who urged fellow board members to allow comment Tuesday, said the hearing was not to reconsider zoning or platting.
“This is a solution to a problem,” Hartman said, “that perhaps didn’t need to occur.”
Staff writer Ann Schrader can be reached at 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
