Colorado’s congressional delegation isn’t giving up the fight to block a planned luxury community above the Eagle River.
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Joe Neguse, both Democrats, last week proposed legislation that would prevent the Forest Service from spending any money to build an approved road across public land from the Eagle River to a 680-acre ridgetop parcel where Florida developers are planning a 19-home community.
It is the second time this year that Bennet, a third-term senator who is running for Colorado governor, has sought to block White River National Forest staffing or funding for a controversial road leading to Berlaimont Estates above Edwards. His amendment to the Senate Interior Appropriations bill in January was not adopted.
The Forest Resources Accountability Act says the Forest Service should be working toward wildfire mitigation after an exceptionally dry winter, especially after the Trump administration’s reduction of 6,000 agency jobs last year. The proposed legislation would prevent the Forest Service from directing taxpayer dollars toward a road for a gated community of mansions.
“Heading into such a challenging summer, the Forest Service needs to be laser-focused on the public good,” Bennet said in a statement. “They simply do not have the capacity to divert staff time to projects that only benefit the very wealthy few.”
The developers of Berlaimont Estates — Florida investors Petr Lukes and Jana Sobotova — have spent 18 years trying to develop 19 35-acre homesites on an island of private land in Eagle County they bought in 2008. Although homes on 35-acre parcels do not need local approval, the developers spent 10 years pursuing a road across the White River National Forest to reach their inholding.
The Forest Service in 2023 granted road access after a decade of environmental review. That decision was based on the 1980 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, or ANILCA, that requires federal land managers to provide “adequate” access for “the reasonable use and enjoyment” of private property surrounded by public land.
That law has been challenged since its inception by groups in the Lower 48 arguing that access was meant only for Alaska. Last month a federal judge dismissed parts of a lawsuit by two Colorado environmental groups seeking to overturn the Forest Service’s approval of the 2.6-mile Berlaimont road. No lawsuit has ever persuaded a court to rule that ANILCA does not apply outside Alaska.
“The word ‘National’ suggests the provision applies, well, nationally,” Judge Jia M. Cobb of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia wrote in her partial ruling last month.
The legislation proposed by Bennet and Neguse would give the Forest Service more leeway by allowing “adequate” access to include unpaved and seasonal roads. There is an existing dirt road that is closed in winter that accesses the Berlaimont parcel, which opponents of the project have long argued is adequate access.
The White River National Forest approved year-round access and paving of Forest Service Road 780, a summer-only route above Edwards, to provide access to the proposed 19-home Berlaimont Estates project. (Jason Blevins, The Colorado Sun)Conservation groups Wilderness Workshop and Rocky Mountain Wild continue to pursue additional claims in the lawsuit, including the argument that the Forest Service did not follow the National Environmental Policy Act and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act when it approved the road.
“There are a lot of public land needs. There are a lot of things that local communities need the Forest Service to do,” said Peter Hart, the legal director for Wilderness Workshop. “The bottom line is that no one likes this project and this is the last thing the Forest Service should be spending any time on.”
The chorus of opposition to the project is loud and large, including Colorado state Sen. Dylan Roberts and Rep. Meghan Lukens, the town of Avon, the Edwards Metropolitan District, the town of Eagle, the Vail Valley Mountain Trails Alliance, the Eagle River Coalition and Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Opposition revolves around concerns about the road and community’s impact on wildlife and habitat.
The Forest Resources Accountability Act also urges the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the parent of the Forest Service, to work with the state of Colorado, Eagle County and local land trusts to acquire the parcel for protection.
“We standby ready to support this important legislation and are willing to work with the current landowners and other stakeholders on options to preserve this critical landscape,” Dan Gibbs, the executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, said in a statement that addressed potential impacts of 35-acre ranchettes in “critical range for deer and elk.”
The developers note that they are reimbursing the Forest Service for all costs of reviewing and permitting the road. The agency has already approved the road and granted special use permits for the road leading to a cluster of homes that will leave 85% of the 680-acre parcel as open space protected by an easement.
In a statement, the developers said they “remain baffled with all that is going on in our country and the world” that Bennet is “choosing to target private property rights” instead of working to increase Forest Service funding.
“And not asking them to come up with purchase funding for 700 acres in Colorado that we will protect with an open space easement … on our dime,” reads the statement. “Sen. Bennet is putting his thumb on the scales of justice, trying to change the outcome of the federal court’s review of the Forest Service decision by changing the very law they relied on.”
Hence then, the article about bennet neguse introduce legislation to block federal funding for road to luxury community in the eagle river valley was published today ( ) and is available on Colorado Sun ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Bennet, Neguse introduce legislation to block federal funding for road to luxury community in the Eagle River Valley )
Also on site :
- Rooster Runs Wild: Director Zach Braff Breaks Down Greg's Night Out In Episode 4 — And Working With John C. McGinley Across Two Shows
- Iranian academic describes US-Israeli attacks on Iran’s universities
- Meet the ex-Google CMO who quit with a seven-figure package by 28—he says getting promoted was easy because he just ‘disregarded all the rules’