A Bit Too Late for Concerns, Innit?

From Somebody Should Do Something

JeffCo’s Common Clay of the New West prides themselves on yapping about “equity, diversity and affordable housing.’’ Seeing how they are so well versed in the cultures of the world, they should be able to translate the Russian saying of “Когда жареный петух клюнет” – for the rest of us, mere mortals, it says, “When a fried rooster pecks you” or, for those in JeffCo, “once your house (almost, maybe) burns down, then you’ll care.”

In early September of 2025, yet another community in JeffCo got to experience an evacuation notice, in part, due to the development they live in being placed in an area with known fire risk. To add some spice to the situation, in a manner too common to most of Colorado, the roads in and out of the neighborhood are not sufficient to provide viable evacuation routes.

Dear Members of the Jury of the Public Opinion, we submit the following to you:

For years (decades), Jefferson County government, along with the governments of Lakewood, Morrison and Arvada have enabled development practices whereby:

1. Any sort of meaningful, localized, well-paying employment has been decimated.

2. The primary goal of any development has been to enrich politically connected real estate interests.

3. A number of residents were, knowingly, placed in to areas of heightened fire danger.

4. Point 3 was enabled through the deliberate actions of the city councils, county commissioner and the respective planning department employees of the respective government entities.

5. The fair share of improving the infrastructure (i.e. water supply, sewer evacuation, the roads, the schools, the parks, etc.) were not paid for by real estate interests up to the true cost of the improvements or were hoisted on to the residents in the form of metro district fees.

Any number of citizens have tried to engage the government representatives, who might try to claim “governmental immunity or having taken actions under the guise of performing their fiduciary duties.” Specifically, in the case of fiduciary responsibility, it is, indeed part of an elected official’s fiduciary responsibility to avoid exposing the constituents to a known harm. Approving a real estate development in an area of known high fire risk would be an example of an exposure to harm.

The residents of Solterra (enabled by Lakewood/JeffCo officials), the residents of the Red Rocks Ranch (enabled by the Morrison/Lakewood/JeffCo), and now, the residents of the Leyden Rock community in Arvada have now gotten a preview of the results of such enablement. At the forefront of the resident in the Leyden Rock community concerns this time was the lack of sufficient evacuation routes. Well… If one was to look at the fire danger map for the area and at the routes map…