The plan for the gigantic got a big boost this week when Douglas County commissioners approved several measures laying out how to finance construction of the facility, along with accompanying infrastructure, over the next few years.
Among the measures considered at was one that pledged a $2.7 million payment to KT Development for the first phase of construction. The also approved paying $12 million to SR Construction LLC for public infrastructure and grading improvements at the 46-acre site near Sterling Ranch in the northern part of the county.
But the biggest money measure on the agenda was the county’s stated intent to issue up to $100 million in certificates of participation to cover the project’s costs over 30 years.
A certificate of participation is a financing tool that allows municipalities and local governments to raise money from investors through a lease-financing agreement, instead of by issuing traditional bonds. Under the arrangement, the local government typically puts up property as collateral and makes regular payments over the contract, .
A decision on whether to do that will be made in the coming weeks, with a target date of mid-July to issue the certificates.
Commissioner Abe Laydon said the county would use no new taxes to build and run Zebulon, with expected revenues from user fees making it a self-sustaining operation. The sports complex is expected to be up and running by the end of 2028.
“Ten, 20, 30 years from now, we’ll look back at this very proudly,” Laydon said.
A number of parents and coaches addressed the commissioners at Tuesday’s meeting, saying a facility like Zebulon was long overdue and would save them endless hours on the road driving to practices and games in neighboring counties.
“It’s exhausting and our kids go to bed late,” said Emily Dreyer, of Castle Rock. “We’ll be able to host our own tournaments instead of always having to travel to them.”
The Zebulon Regional Sports Complex is slated to have three ice rinks and a practice rink, a 160,000-square-foot indoor turf field, four baseball fields, a 15,000-square-foot gym and an aquatics facility. Later phases of the buildout could bring as many as eight additional sports fields, along with restaurants, shops and a hotel.
Rob Howard, who lives in nearby Louviers, said Zebulon would be a welcome improvement to an area that's long been characterized by gritty industrial and storage facilities. Louviers, which sits between Sterling Ranch and Sedalia on U.S. 85, was once home to .
"We're ready to move away from our industrial past to something better," he said.
But not everyone in the packed hearing room was on board.
Douglas County resident Doug Chestnutt said it's not clear to him whether enough roads would be added or improved to make sure traffic to and from Zebulon doesn't cause gridlock. And he worried about the fiscal implications of the county's deep involvement in the project.
"I think private industry and capitalism should take it on," he said. "I'm afraid that the taxpayer is going to pay the bill for this."
Several residents said the project should be put to a vote of the people rather than leaving it to the commissioners' discretion.
The Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation last year estimated that development surrounding Zebulon would generate nearly $14 million in fiscal impact to Douglas County from sales and property taxes over a decade, while overall economic stimulus related to the project could amount to nearly $200 million annually.
Luke Taylor, a managing member of KT Development, said his firm has lots of experience building sports complexes like Zebulon. The Greenwood Village-based company is behind Wings Arena in Greenwich, Connecticut, and BluHawk Sports & Arena in Overland Park, Kansas, outside Kansas City.
In Colorado, KT built River City Sportsplex in Grand Junction and Blue Sport Stable in Superior, which opened nearly a decade ago.
"We've done this before -- we've done this multiple times," Taylor said.
John Melkonian, an assistant principal at Aces Sports Academy in Littleton, told the commissioners that there simply weren't enough youth sports facilities in the area. In metro Denver, an "ice shortage" forces people to secure time on available rinks at all hours of the day and night.
"Giving kids an opportunity to be involved in sports builds character," he said, speaking in favor of Zebulon. "We don't have enough space to give it to them."
