• The El Rancho Building is an historical structure, although without historic status. Built in 1948, it was a community meeting place for decades when US 40 was the main route west from Denver to the mountains. US 40 was completed through this area in 1937.
• When this portion of Interstate 70 was completed in 1972, it followed the topography of an existing valley and was described as "peeking through the pines." The interchange was split into two halves (originally exits 55A and 55B, now 251 and 252) to avoid harming Genesee Mountain Park land. The I-70 foothills corridor remains bordered by native vegetation.
• More than twenty years before US 40 was built, the Lariat Loop was routed through what was then a mosaic of forests and natural hay meadows, connecting the Denver Mountain Parks together between Genesee and Bear Creek Canyon. The Lariat Loop Scenic and Historic Byway, which today follows Interstate 70 and Highway 74, was designated in 2002. El Rancho is within the scenic corridor recognized in the Lariat Loop Corridor Management Plan, and the 30-mile view to the Continental Divide remains unobstructed today.
• The topography surrounding El Rancho has remained largely unaltered, as well: from every perspective and vantagepoint, the horizon is defined by hilltops, natural hillslopes are maintained, and the foreground and vistas are dominated by pine forest. Protecting these values is a priority of the Evergreen Area Plan. Today, development proposals directly threaten not only the historical El Rancho building, but the surrounding topography and native vegetation in full view of I-70 and the Scenic Byway.
• Community Use is a land use recognized and encouraged by the Jefferson County Comprehensive Master Plan. At El Rancho, the area of Community Use where we have built the Foothills Fire Station, Alpine Rescue Team headquarters, Park-n-Ride lot, and Genesee Bike Path access on publicly-owned land has been identified as appropriate for commercial development, IF the existing community uses were to go away.
• Our Community Use resources have been sited strategically at El Rancho for decades, supported by both public investment and private philanthropy. They are well maintained, well used, serve essential functions, and could not be duplicated in this vicinity.
• The developer of the proposed, so-called "Evergreen Gateway" development engaged in efforts to make these facilities leave this site, to be replaced with a large hotel and gas station aimed at non-resident interstate travelers. The community successfully defended its built assets, but the developer's efforts drove RTD away, and to date the bus stops at El Rancho have not been reinstated. It is a net loss for the community and area planning for public transportation.
• The built landscape at El Rancho reflects a history of decisions. West of Highway 74, structures are widely-spaced, visually buffered by stands of forest and separated from main roads by low berms. Buildings are one- or two-story, with topographically sensitive siting and rooflines (the three-story hotel is sited with topography and surrounded by mature forest, effectively hiding all but the upper story). Outdoor lighting is minimized (a 14×48-foot LED billboard facing Interstate 70 at El Rancho was proposed but defeated by the community in 2015).
• These choices are consistent with the guidelines of the Evergreen Area Plan, including those specific to the El Rancho Activity Center, and reflect the priorities of the Lariat Loop Corridor Management Plan. These outcomes preserve the aesthetic and functional priorities of a mountain residential community.
• The proposed, so-called "Evergreen Gateway" development would feature high-density siting and high-profile buildings. It would eliminate about five acres of forest in the immediate field of view and drastically alter natural topography and drainage. A proposed truck stop on the El Rancho building property would remove a hillside of native forest and nearly double the paved area. These outsized proposals serve I-70, not Evergreen.
• El Rancho is a nexus of several travel routes. Interstate 70, State Highway 74, and US 40 intersect here. It is on the Lariat Loop Scenic and Historic Byway, and the Genesee Bike Path connects three regional bike routes.
• For 48 years until August 2022, El Rancho was a stop on the RTD EV bus route, with pedestrian islands conveniently located near the Park-n-Ride lot at this intersection; although maintaining a transit option at El Rancho is a priority of the Evergreen Area Plan, RTD service at El Rancho has already been lost as a direct consequence of the intransigence of the would-be developer of the so-called "Evergreen Gateway" development.
• El Rancho is principally a residential community, with a major commercial area across the highway. The proposed re-routing of residential Rainbow Hill Road through the so-called "Evergreen Gateway" commercial development was always untenable and was defeated in part by community opposition.
• Proposals for additional commercial development west of Highway 74 aim to attract Interstate 70 traffic, including large trucks, all of which would pass through the intersection of 40 & 74 and add to the congestion experienced by residents. Although the data have since been rescinded, a developer-commissioned traffic study in 2021 estimated that the proposed, so-called "Evergreen Gateway" development on US 40 would at least double from present levels the daily number of trips on that road. No traffic study has yet been done to estimate the additional traffic that would result from the proposed truck stop.
• El Rancho is at the farthest end of the Evergreen and West Jefferson County Metropolitan Districts, which provide water and sewer service to the surrounding commercial area. (Municipal water travels about 8 miles from Bear Creek.) The water board has indicated that there are enough "taps" available and water to serve new development, yet it acknowledges that restrictions must be imposed on the existing system throughout Evergreen during drought conditions (read more here).
• At the same time, the water system is not capable of providing "fire flow" (a measure of the rate of delivery over a required period of time at a required pressure) to the El Rancho area, even for existing development.
• The original proposal for the so-called "Evergreen Gateway" development on less than 10 acres north of US 40 projected water use at 5.5 million gallons of water a year, including for what would be a third hotel at this same interchange. The density of existing development in the surrounding area presents particular challenges for fire safety now, and in this area may require the installation of large cisterns to ensure public safety where flow to hydrants is already inadequate (read more here).
• Additionally, because Highway 74 is a bottleneck for emergency evacuation from the Evergreen area, increasing commercial density around the already high-risk vicinity of El Rancho poses a very real concern for resident safety in a wildland fire scenario (read more here and here).