Dashboard
• El Rancho demolition / proposed QuikTrip truck stop (29240 & 29260 US Hwy 40)
• "Evergreen Gateway" or "Observatory" development (29259 & 29339 US Hwy 40)
Public Comment
• El Rancho Park-n-Ride (PnR) lot disposal (Rainbow Hill Road at US 40 & Hwy 74)
• Rezoning MR-1/A-2 to 'PD lite' to maintain residential use (29659 & 29799 US Hwy 40)
• CDOT Pegasus parking lot (29899 US Hwy 40)
• "Valley View Estates" high-density residential (1053 Red Moon Road & Hotel Way)
• Fairfield Inn & Suites (28656 Tepees Way)
go to Details & Links
QuikTrip sale
1948 Holdings LLC, comprised of Northstar Ventures Ltd LLC (Jack Buchanan) and PIII US 40 LLC (Travis McAfoos) sold the First Bank and El Rancho properties to QuikTrip Corporation of Tulsa, Oklahoma, on 2/19/2025.
Jefferson County Planning
SDP pre-application (#2024 121568 000 00 PA): INACTIVE
(8/7/2024) Owners Buchanan and McAfoos submitted a plan to re-develop the First Bank (29240 US Hwy 40) and El Rancho restaurant (29260 US Hwy 40) properties together to form a 5-acre QuikTrip convenience store/gas station/truck stop. (10/8/2024) The Case Manager response has been provided to the applicant.
Evergreen Metro/West Jefferson County Metropolitan District
No application has been submitted.
CDOT
No application has been submitted.
go to Details & Links
Open Letter (11/10/2024): Planning must come first
Jefferson County Planning
The 2021 rezoning application was withdrawn in April 2023. For the property at 29259-29339 US Hwy 40, active applications include grading permit and and metro district formation. Citations include work without a permit and code violations.
APPLICATIONS
Metropolitan District application (#2024 104434 000 00 SV): IN REVIEW
(2/27/2024) The owner has applied to establish a metro district through the creation of public debt that would finance infrastructure for the alleged development. (2/11/2025) The application was updated and is in the first referral stage of review. Public Comment
Grading Permit application (#2023 138444 000 00 GPA): IN REVIEW
The owner has proposed stockpiling 40,000 cubic yards of fill and disturbing more than 4 acres of land. The 1st Referral review concluded 6/6/2024. (9/30/2024) The applicant has submitted revised materials, proposing essentially the same extent of disturbance. The 2nd Referral process began 10/17/2024; comments were returned to the applicant on 10/31/2024. (4/28/2025) The applicant has provided a performance guaranty of $317,813.34 to Jefferson County related to the "Phase 1 Erosion Control" plan in the revised grading permit application.
Pre-application for plat/SDP (#2024 121378 000 00 PA): INACTIVE
(8/6/2024) The owner filed a pre-application for replatting the property to include six lots. (10/8/2024) The Case Manager response has been provided to the applicant.
CITATIONS
(8/9/2024) The owner was cited for several code violations related to fill dirt stockpiling (#2024 121813 000 00 CV). The violations were partly mitigated about 6 weeks later.
(1/10/2024) A Stop Work Order (#2024 100759 000 SW BP) was issued for "DEMO 2 Story Restaurant without permit." A permit was subsequently obtained.
(11/2/2023) A Corporate Violation - Grading Violation (#2023 133091 000 00 CV) was issued for "Land disturbance of property potentially without a permit and not meeting performance standards." The violation was subsequently corrected.
Evergreen Metro/West Jefferson County Metropolitan District
The properties north of US Hwy 40 are already included in the water/wastewater district, but there are currently no water taps or water/wastewater infrastructure associated with these properties. There is no will-serve letter associated with the alleged development.
Fire District
(2/18/2025) The owner petitioned to transfer the property from the Foothills Fire Protection District to the Evergreen Fire Protection District; EFPD approved contingent on the property being excluded from the FFPD and Highland Rescue District.
CDOT
The right-of-way adjacent to the private land along US 40 and I-70 was approved for disposal on 2/20/2025. The piece adjacent to Rainbow Hill Road and Alpine Rescue has been applied for but is not currently being reviewed.
Access to the alleged development at the proposed new locations from US Hwy 40 and Rainbow Hill Road has not been reviewed or approved.
RTD/Park-n-Ride
RTD withdrew its service at El Rancho in 2022 as a result of the developer's intransigence; it has not reinstated service. As a consequence, the Park-n-Ride lot is no longer being maintained by RTD. CDOT is evaluating the possibility of disposing of the lot (see below).
Community Use/Rainbow Hill Road
The Foothills Fire & Rescue Rainbow Hill station and Alpine Rescue Team headquarters will not be relocated. Jefferson County declined to reroute Rainbow Hill Road through the alleged development as initially proposed.
go to Details & Links
Open Petition (until 4/15/2025): Keep the El Rancho Park-n-Ride lot open
The 36-space El Rancho Park-n-Ride lot is centrally located at a major intersection and creates a public resource with low impact on local traffic. CDOT has said that they do not want to maintain the lot and in December 2024 began discussing disposing of this asset. The Transportation Commission will decide whether to follow CDOT's recommendation, and that hearing will be the only opportunity for public input.
go to Details & Links
Jefferson County Planning
This property by historical accident is split-zoned (MR-1 and A-2). Rather than simply resolving the split zoning, the County decided through the pre-application process (24-125390 PA) to require rezoning to "P-D lite" to accommodate existing buildings with non-code setbacks while remaining residential use. The utility will also require the existing overhead power line to be moved to provide their required right-of-way. The community meeting (24-133427 CMT) required by the County was held 1/21/2025. The formal application (25-104045 RZ) was filed 2/26/2025 and is in the first referral stage of review.
As part of the Floyd Hill/I-70 Project, the Colorado Department of Transportation has proposed a large parking lot to serve its Pegasus I-70 shuttle service to be located at I-70 exit 251 (29899 US Hwy 40). Contrary to Jefferson County planning that favors a multimodal transit option to be located within the El Rancho Activity Center, the proposed 84-space, single-purpose lot would be located 3/4 mile from El Rancho and any other pedestrian or public transportation route. The location nonetheless received approval from the County's Planning Commission (8/23/2023). See also New parking lot on I-70 at El Rancho (Canyon Courier, 9/7/2023), which notes subsequently that the lot may have just 50 spaces. CDOT currently provides few details on its Floyd Hill Early Projects site, but updates beginning July 21 indicate that construction will take place from July-Dec 2024, and it is reported that just 40 spaces are planned at a cost of $100,000 each. The existing, vegetated roadcut dating to the construction of I-70 will be torn down first while the rest of the facility is being designed.
go to Details & Links
UPDATE: (2/20/2025) The "Valley View Estates" and 1053 Red Moon Road properties are currently being marketed together "for development or a dream home." The description touts the "towering trees" but fails to note that the development as platted would eliminate all of the existing forest on 10 acres (see listing). Following the sale of the First Bank building and his interest in the El Rancho building, the same owner has listed all of his properties in Swede Gulch for sale.
Jefferson County Planning
The so-called "Valley View Estates" residential development is zoned P-D and platted for 18 single family homes. The developer envisions adding the adjacent parcel, 1053 Red Moon Road, to the development, which will require rezoning.
While the owner pursues rezoning, he has applied for a Short Term Rental permit for the house at 1053 Red Moon Road (#2024 121574 000 00 VC). That application was approved by the Board of Adjustment on 11/6/2024.
The 5-acre parcel known as 1053 Red Moon Rd is zoned A-2. The developer proposes 18 additional lots and the owner is seeking rezoning to MR-3, with several lots that could become duplexes or multi-family housing. A community meeting required by the County was held on 7/10/2024; it was incorrectly advertised and a second poorly-advertised meeting was held remotely on 9/5/2024 (#2024 122492 000 00 CMT).
Evergreen Metro/West Jefferson County Metropolitan District
The "Valley View Estates" property is included in the EMD/WJCMD, but does not have taps or infrastructure.
The Red Moon Road parcel is not included in the EMD/WJCMD, and will need to petition for inclusion.
A proposed 85-room hotel in Swede Gulch (28656 Tepees Way) has received full approval from the Board of County Commissioners (10/27/2022). The building permit application was filed 8/29/2023, final building plans have been approved, and a building permit was issued 6/26/2024. The property is being marketed as permit-ready. This would be the second hotel at the Evergreen Parkway Interchange.
Jefferson County Comprehensive Master Plan
Jeffco Document Center (for additional regulations and plans)
Planning & Zoning Active Permits Map
Jeffco Planning & Zoning Citizen Portal (enter address to find applications and link to documents)
• choose 'Planning & Zoning Search' tab
• enter address and click green 'Search' button
• select address from choice(s) that appear below the buttons
• scroll down to table of cases and permits, navigate to the last page to locate current cases
• for the case of interest, click the blue 'Detail' button at right in the table
• in the Record Details view, click the 'View Public Documents' link
Contain Commercial Zoning and Enshrine Community Use in the El Rancho Activity Center
(1/15/2024) This petition takes a broader view of the El Rancho Activity Center area and asks the County to update its mapping to exclude I-70 exit 251 from commercial planning and to recognize existing Community Use areas including emergency services and the park-n-ride facility. Read the full text and see maps here.
(2/13/2024) The petition with its 119 signatures and 88 comments from the Evergreen community was submitted to Jefferson County Planning & Zoning as a contribution to the ongoing Comprehensive Master Plan revision process. Thank you to all who took the time to learn about and support this proposed revision. The County's revised mapping and plans will be available for public comment in spring 2025.
Public Comment (1/31/2025): Jefferson County's DRAFT revised Comprehensive Plan and Transportation Plan are available for comment through the togetherjeffco.com website. The documents and maps are interactive and allow you to leave comments in specific locations. At this time, this is the only way to leave comments. Comments must be made by February 27. These are the areas on the Jeffco Interactive Land Use Map that are related to our 2024 petition, with notes added for reference:
In addition to the mapping of future commercial use and community use, the Draft Comprehensive Plan makes comments about "desired" residential densities. The County's vision includes areas of increased residential/mixed use density in Activity Centers, including El Rancho.
The 2024 Transit Oriented Communities bill (HB 24-1313) may influence future decisions, including increasing density in order to justify providing public transportation. The El Rancho Activity Center is identified as a mixed use area, a type of use that should be located near a transportation hub, yet the transportation facilities at El Rancho are currently being administratively dismantled (bus stops removed in 2022, Park-n-Ride lot possibly being disposed of in 2024). This use type is justification enough to argue for keeping and reinstating the transit facilities at El Rancho, if not for expanding multimodal connectivity as had been envisioned in the Evergreen Area Plan, but doing so should not be dependent on increasing residential density. Evergreen, which sends sales tax to RTD, should not have to become Wheat Ridge in order to enjoy worthwhile public transportation options.