The on-site managers of Venetucci Farm have in order to remove belongings they have accumulated over more than a decade of living on the historic property.
“The terms were unacceptable, given our 11 years of service to the foundation and the community,” Susan Gordon said in an email, adding that their employment ends Dec. 31, and her family will vacate “as soon as possible.”
Gordon and her husband, Patrick Hamilton, had asked for time to transition off the land.
The couple and their two children have run the educational farm since 2006, after the late Bambi Venetucci donated the Security property to the foundation. Her husband, Nick Venetucci, had died in 2004.
Gordon said she and her family were notified Dec. 5 that the foundation was eliminating the staff. and a subsequent loss of revenue from leasing water rights from four of its wells to the Security and Widefield water districts.
The farm is not being sold, though, said Sam Clark, the foundation’s special projects manager. The property also can’t be developed, he said, as a conservation easement with Colorado Open Lands protects the farm.
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