Commission nixes ASPIRE youth camp

Commission nixes ASPIRE youth camp

Oct. 30, 2001

By Jim Mimiaga
Journal Staff Writer

After an emotional public hearing before a packed room, the Montezuma County commissioners turned down a permit for a proposed wilderness youth camp near Mesa Verde National Park, saying it threatened the "health and safety" of neighbors and lacked adequate access.

In a 3-0 vote, the commission rejected the high-impact commercial permit application by Adaptive Student Programming in Reality Education (ASPIRE). After hearing from foes and supporters in the third public hearing on the matter, Commissioner Gene Story recommended denial.

"It’s a significant adverse impact based on health and safety," Story said, "and I’m not convinced those issues were addressed."

Those neighbors again expressed concerns about road impacts, possible escapes, potential criminality of clients, availability of water, water pressure and general safety of the neighborhood.

A 40-foot road easement to the ASPIRE property is owned by Ted Neergaard, but is not wide enough comply with county standards, which call for a 60-foot easement. Neergaard said his road easement was only intended for residential use, and he is not willing to expand it.

County road engineer Bud Roach testified that "it was not physically possible" to improve the road, as it is, up to county specifications.

If improved by ASPIRE with ditch-drainage and shoulders, the private road would have had an 18-foot drivable surface, with turnouts. But Commissioner Kent Lindsay was not willing to give a variance on the county’s 24-foot road-surface regulation due to emergency-vehicle-access concerns.

"Mirror-to-mirror, one fire truck spans 10 feet, and with a fire there are multiple trucks going back and forth hauling water," he said. "You need more than 18 feet."

A lack of support for the project by Montezuma County Sheriff Joey Chavez and the Colorado Department of Transportation also factored into the decision to reject the proposal, Lindsay said.

But ASPIRE attorney Erin Johnson said that the Mancos Fire Department told her they did not have a problem with the access to the facility. She questioned the commission’s reasoning, and said the road was adequate based on the land-use code.

"The application was made based on threshold standards in the code," Johnson said. Johnson was skeptical whether the "health and safety" standard outlined in planning documents constituted a threshold standard specifically under the commercial code.

Story cited research by the planning department about similar youth facilities that showed escapes, albeit few, did occur.

"What we are dealing with is fear from neighbors, whether it is a real or perceived threat," he said. "It is a known thing that some will try and run away and what will that potentially lead to."

ASPIRE Director Scot Davis again emphasized that students are carefully screened to avoid criminals or those with violent behavior. He said court-ordered clients are not accepted and kids always have the option to go home or to contact family members by phone.

"We do not hold them against their will," Davis said. "It is very important to us to pick kids that fit our program; we get verbal contracts from our students that say, ‘I’m not doing good at where I am and this is a good alternative."

Concerns by neighbors that the wilderness camp would have too big an impact on the rural area are exaggerated, organizers say.

"Most of the time we will be on the adventure trips with students, which last up to three weeks," Davis said during a previous interview. "Then we return for two weeks, plan another one, and set out again, so we are at the main base only 50 percent of the time."

At the meeting, students from the Southwest Open High spoke in support of the alternative education ASPIRE offers.

"We can’t turn our back on kids with problems," said one student named Michael. "I had trouble in traditional schools but my self-esteem improved when I came to an alternative school."

SWOS student Marco Yazzie was especially supportive of the proposed ropes course on the ASPIRE property.

"They said that would be available to us," Yazzie said. "That team experience relates to real life."

But neighbors said the program would not attract good kids like those at SWOS, and they worried about inviting too many groups onto the property, thereby increasing traffic in and out.

Johnson said that too much emphasis is put on road use, noting that only three residents utilize that easement.

"The rest have separate driveways," she said.

But in the end, the commissioners said poor planning and incompatibility ruled the youth camp out.

"Where is the proper place for this? I’m not sure, but I’ll bet wherever you go, there will be some resistance," Story said. "It is a grand idea and I hope you find a suitable place. But you need to do the research on (a site) before going forward (by purchasing it)."

Another minimum-security youth program in Lost Canyon was denied by the commission in 1999. Since then the Department of Justice filed suit against the county for allegedly violating the Fair Housing Act. The case is pending.