To: Parks and Recreation Commission Members and Staff
From: Jeff Brauer, Director of Parks and Recreation
Title
Update on the Acceptance of a Donation of Real Property from the Estate of Robert F. Metzler
Body
________________________________________________________________________________
Executive Summary
The Town of Castle Rock has been presented with an opportunity of a historic donation from the Estate of Robert F. Metzler. The gift from the late Mr. Metzler would be the donation of approximately 60 acres of property, and former homestead house, generally along Founders Parkway and Crowfoot Valley Road. This gift to the Castle Rock community would be the largest recent land donation to the Town and among the largest gifts ever received by the community. As part of the donation to the Town, the property will be named the Metzler Family Open Space.
Robert Metzler (1923-2020) and his sister Rosemary (1928-2017) were both long time Douglas County residents and educators. An overview of the Metzler family history is attached (Attachment C). As part of the gift to the Town, the Town will install informative plaques on the property providing additional information and background on the Metzler property and Metzler family history.
The Castle Rock community is fortunate to have an award winning Parks and Recreation Department that has abundant open space and trail opportunities for residents and visitors alike. Our successful open space program reflects the area’s natural beauty. Our recent citizen survey and previous surveys have indicated that open space is a highly valued aspect of living in Castle Rock and an amenity that residents desire to see expanded. The donation from the Metzler estate will significantly add to our open space opportunities in the community on a permanent basis. After closing on the property, Town staff plans to initiate the process to rezone the tract to appropriate PL zoning category consistent with the requirements of the deeds and conservation easement.
As part of the transfer of the property to the Town, certain conditions are necessary to reflect the desires and intent of the donor. The Estate of Robert F. Metzler is donating a conservation easement on the property which limits the uses of the property going forward to reflect the preservation of the natural state of most of the property. The Douglas Land Conservancy, a local non-profit focused on land conservation in Douglas County, is the holder of the conservation easement and will have continuing enforcement powers to ensure that the terms of the conservation easement are followed.
The terms of the conservation easement generally limit the future uses of the property to passive trail and open space type uses. The Town will take this portion of the property subject to the conservation easement. The conservation easement governs 49 acres. A 4-acre tract generally containing the existing homestead and ranch buildings is also part of the donation to the Town and is also restricted by the conservation easement. The Town is committing to restoring or replacing the historic silo on the property, but is not otherwise committing to the long-term preservation or use of the ranch house or other property. The Town will need to decide in the future - after further evaluation and financial review - the long term viability and use of those structures.
A separate 11-acre tract is also being donated to the Town as an educational parcel that will contain a future parking lot and may contain an educational building to be built in the future, dependent upon Town finances. All of these tracts have limitations on future uses in either the conservation easement or the deed transferring the property to the Town. All of the limitations are consistent with current Town practices for the use of open space.
By acceptance of the donation, the Town is agreeing to follow the limitation on the uses for the property and is also committing toward the installation of the first phase of improvements on the property: trails, parking space, interpretative signs. The Town has allocated a budget of $1.6 million for these improvements. Additionally, the Town is purchasing the existing Single Family Equivalent (SFE) water credits for the property and is also accepting two remnant parcels owned by the Estate adjacent to existing Town right-of-way.
Background on the Property
In addition to the history of the Metzler family, staff has provided an additional accompanying memorandum explaining the current entitlements to the property (Attachment B), as well as the property’s baseline report (Attachment D), the Metzler Homestead Management Plan (Attachment E) and the Metzler Building Management Plan (Attachment F).
This 60-acre parcel is part of the original Metzler Ranch PUD area of 770 acres that was annexed and zoned into the Town in 1984. This original annexation area includes commercial parcels on both the east and west sides of I-25 in the Founder’s Parkway area. Example of current uses today on the west side of I-25 include the Hampton Inn to the Douglas County Justice Center, Castle Rock Water building, and the adjacent ministorage site on Kellogg Court. On the east side of I-25, this area includes the current Murdoch’s plaza and surrounding commercial, park and school areas south to the Black Feather Apartments, and it stretches east from Red Robin and Echo Ridge Apartments to the residential neighborhoods of Pinon Soleil and Timber Canyon.
This tract is the one remaining, undeveloped parcel from the original 1984 annexation area. In 1984, the zoning on this subject parcel was “Integrated business B”. Over time, other PD amendments occurred that changed the zoning on this parcel and several other areas. The current zoning on the parcel is from the1996 Metzler Ranch PD and it identifies this tract as having 3 different use areas.
Residential: 52.4 acres are zoned for 69 detached residential single family homes. This area is the central and eastern side of the Tract, and abuts Crowfoot Valley Road and the Timber Ridge community to the north.
Commercial - 3 acres on the northeast corner of East Allen Street and Founder’s Parkway is zoned to allow commercial uses. The Metzler Ranch PD zoning refers back to the Town of Castle Rock Business, B, zone. The B Zone allowed uses in CRMC 17.28.030 include typical commercial/retail and business uses such as alcoholic beverage sales, automobile service, fuel station, car wash, clinics, schools, gyms/health clubs, hotels, office, medial labs, recycling drop off centers, restaurants, retails and other services businesses.
An additional 6.8 acres on the east side of the parcel, adjacent to East Allen Street, is zoned for a neighborhood park.
Next Steps after final transfer of the property
On June 1, Town Council accepted the donation by resolution (Attachment A). After the final closing documents are in place, Town staff plans to proceed with the necessary planning and development of construction documents for the installation of a new parking lot and the installation of trails and signage - all as required by the donation and pursuant to the limitations in the documents. Staff would seek public input opportunities for these planned improvement prior to bidding, with contract documents for the improvements coming back to Town Council to review prior to proceeding.
Town staff notes the strong community support of open space and trail opportunities in Castle Rock. In reviewing the various documents associated with this acceptance, including the conservation easement and deeds limiting the uses on the property, staff has sought to preserve the open space values sought by Mr. Metzler and now his Estate, while providing some flexibility to the Town in the timing and use opportunities on the property. The open space restrictions on the property are in keeping with other open space limitations elsewhere in the community.
Attachments
Attachment A - Resolution
Attachment B - Staff Memo - Metzler Ranch Tract
Attachment C - Metzler History Summary
Attachment D - Metzler Baseline Report
Attachment E - Metzler Homestead Management Plan
Attachment F - Metzler Building Management Plan