Elbert County Planning Commission recommends 200-acre, 20-lot Freedom Valley Ranch project
The unanimous recommendation covers a rezone and preliminary/final plat, but the Board of County Commissioners has not decided whether the project or its conditions will be approved.
The Elbert County Planning Commission voted 7-0 July 7 to recommend approval of the Freedom Valley Ranch rezone and preliminary/final plat. The Board of County Commissioners has not taken final action, so the project and any conditions remain unresolved.
The proposal would rezone 200.28 acres near Winners Circle and County Road 174 from Agriculture to Residential Agriculture and create 20 lots of about 10 acres each. It includes 40.27 acres of open-space easements, which the county’s Planning Commission packet describes as 106 feet wide and intended for equestrian use around the lots.
The recommendations cover rezone RZ-2025-0008 and Freedom Valley Ranch Subdivision Filing 3, FP-2025-0005. The motions called for approval “with the conditions presented by staff,” but the Planning Commission record does not list those conditions or show that the BOCC adopted them. The July 7 minutes record the votes and the staff-condition language.
Opponents raised concerns about wildlife, compatibility with surrounding properties, changes from earlier concepts involving larger lots, property values and the pace and pattern of county growth, according to the packet. Those are arguments made during the hearing, not findings that the project would cause the cited impacts.
Water-supply materials estimate applicant-owned capacity from the not-nontributary 4% Denver Basin aquifer at 79.66 acre-feet per year under a 100-year calculation, or 26.55 acre-feet under the county’s 300-year basis. Projected demand is 20 acre-feet per year for the 20 lots. The materials say small-capacity wells will not be available for the subdivision and that large-capacity well permits will be needed. The county’s water-referral record says the Ground Water Commission retains jurisdiction over the final amount available.
Those figures are planning and permitting assumptions, not a guarantee of uniform well performance over 300 years. Colorado’s Division of Water Resources explains that Denver Basin groundwater is nonrenewable on a human timescale. Project referral materials warn that water-level declines could shorten wells’ economic life and recommend that the county consider requiring renewable supplies. The available record does not show that renewable or replacement water became a final condition.
The Planning Commission packet lists an Aug. 12 BOCC hearing. The board will decide whether the rezone and plat move forward and whether the project’s footprint, lot count or conditions change; the available record does not establish a BOCC vote or final approval.