Public Comments

Hello, I am commenting on the new "Congressional Redistricting" of Douglas County and my Community of Highlands Ranch. For the last 25-years, I have lived in Highlands Ranch from before there was a grocery store until now as we are quickly approaching the completion of my Community. Please note that Highlands Ranch is now the 1st largest Community Association in Colorado, 3rd largest Community Association in the United States, and if incorporated it would be the 7th largest City in Colorado. Also over the past several years it has become more apparent that Douglas County shares a common interest with other "Front Range" Counties included in the "Greater Metro Denver Area". Problem: Currently only Highlands Ranch is considered in the "Greater Metro Denver Area" as a divided "Front Range" County. Solution: All of Douglas County needs to be included in the "Greater Metro Denver Area" for accurate "Congressional Redistricting"! Please help Douglas County be accurately represented in the new "Congressional Redistricting". Thank you, Kurt Huffman

I’ve lived in Castle Rock in Douglas County since I was married. My husband, son, and I love living in this beautiful area. We have the opportunity to hike, swim, bike & play at wonderful parks. We love having store & restaurants so close. We absolutely love our neighbors. Just like Arapahoe and Jefferson County, we are unquestionably part of the Denver Metro area. Any proposed map that would put us in a Congressional District with agricultural, farming and ranching counties would not be fair to the community I love. We don’t share common interests with the Eastern Plains any more than Denver does. Please make sure Douglas County is represented as a metro county in the new maps. Thank you!

I am the founder of Project to End Partisan Gerrymandering. Earlier this month we mailed to 49 members of the US Congress - leaders of both parties and members of committees with responsibility for federal elections in both houses of Congress, a proposal for legislating criteria to end partisan gerrymandering. The essence of our proposal may be found on our website: endgerrymandering.us Our proposal requested that Congress accept the challenge to legislate "limited, precise, clear, manageable, and politically neutral" standards, as stated in the 2019 Supreme Court decision in Rucho et al. v. Common Cause et al. We believe our proposed method checks all those boxes, and hope the Colorado Independent Redistricting Commission will consider it as it fulfills its charter. Ed Fredenburg, founder Project to End Partisan Gerrymandering

When I moved to Douglas County some 20 years ago, it was not an Agricultural County and while it has changed considerable in that 20 years, it is even further from being an Agricultural County now than it was then. I moved here because I liked the thought that it wasn’t big city and it wasn’t country. Please when you are considering drawing lines, leave us in the type of community we are use to do not connect us with a big city community or an agricultural community. Don’t destroy the wonderful community that Douglas County is. Thank You.

All of Rural Colorado is a community interest - we share many things in our lifestyle that is not found in urban areas of our state. As such, I'm begging you to include at least two rural districts that have NO major metropolitan areas, or portions thereof. For many years, Fremont County has been a part of CD5 along with El Paso County, which meant our rural area was ignored in favor of the much, MUCH larger Colorado Springs. We have wide open spaces instead of urban jungles. We breathe fresh, clean air instead of exhaust. Our neighbors are five miles away instead of a wall away. We don't understand the urban lifestyle, and urbanites don't understand ours. We are agriculture. Please allow us this one thing, to be separated into like groups where we can have our own U.S. Representatives who truly do understand our way of life! Action 22 recently submitted a proposed map for redistricting. I am in favor of this particular map; please complete your due diligence and strongly consider this map. Thank you!

This is an image of the Geojson file I posted earlier this week. It seeks to address many comments made in the public comment section after reading through them and maximize communities of interests, including hispanics in both the Denver metro and southern Colorado.

I am a resident of unincorporated Routt County just outside the Steamboat Springs city limits. As you consider redistricting or creating a new congressional district, please keep in mind the unique nature of the rural western slope. Routt County while relatively large in geography, we only have a population of around 25,000 people. We are over 150 miles from the nearest front range metro area. Therefore, our needs and issues are unique. For example, agriculture continues to be an important part of our culture and economy. As such, water rights are critical to us. Water is critical to the front range too. However, the source and use of water is very different and needs to be recognized. After all, we are literally on the western side of the continental divide! As part of a small rural community, I feel strongly that if we were absorbed into another district that is part of Colorado’s front range, I and my community would be disenfranchised. Our wishes and views would be dwarfed by the metro areas needs and views. The key for me is being represented by people who truly understand the unique attributes of the western slope vs. the front range. Thanks, Rich Lowe

Dear Colorado Independent Redistricting Commission, I live in Clark, which is a small community in the northern part of Routt County. The area which I live in is very rural, with scattered residential, ranching and agriculture, and recreational lands. Approximately 20 miles south is the town of Steamboat Springs. Steamboat is comprised of residential, small businesses, light industrial, and a world class ski area. The next nearest town is Hayden, which depends a great deal on the coal mining industry. In my mind, what makes Routt County what it is, are these things: It's rural quality, western heritage, various recreational opportunities, and sense of community. The people of this area come together to help others and protect the abundant natural beauty. We are blessed to live in mountain valleys, with several lakes and rivers nearby. Right now, bringing the thriving economy back after the Covid-19 shutdowns is very important. Because a lot of the businesses depend upon tourism, they were hurt badly during the shutdowns. Also, over the past ten years, several companies that employed larger numbers of people left the valley. That left only three major employers and service industry businesses to provide a majority of jobs. When considering redistricting this area, Routt County should be in the same district as like-minded people in other counties. What works for the people on the Front Range does not work for us. They do not understand the challenges that we have here, which are unique to this area. There have been instances of where the people of the urban areas have voted for measures that are disastrous to people here. The "reintroduction of the wolf" that was passed at the last election comes to mind. Please take all of these things into consideration when looking to redistrict Routt County.

The City of Lone Tree is a lovely, diverse and functional community that is connected closely with the Denver metro area both in spirit and by interstate highways and light rail. Many of our residents work in the surrounding communities, and our daytime population swells with workers from across the metro area, attracted to vibrant businesses like Charles Schwab, SkyRidge Hospital, Cochlear Americas, Kiewit, Lockheed Martin and of course the shops and restaurants of the Park Meadows Retail Resort. Our residents and those from nearby communities are attracted to the adjacent open space of the Bluffs Regional Park and Lone Tree Golf Club for recreation, to the Lone Tree Arts Center for visual and performing arts, and to historic Schweiger Ranch as a salute to the past and the cornerstone of our new development east of I-25. Our bustling community should be served, as a whole, by congressional and legislative representatives. We are a small, engaged, common sense population that shares common interests and aspirations, which are sometimes different than the neighboring towns of Parker and Castle Rock and unincorporated area of Highlands Ranch.

Concerning redistricting of CD3, the purpose of redistricting should seek to combine communities with shared interests. In our communities we share concerns of rural, agricultural, industrial, and trade. We have common interests in tourism, mineral industries, education, employment, farming, ranching, environment, public health, transportation, water, ethnic and language minority groups, and issues of demonstrable regional significance. Our concern for redistricting in CD3 is, as the third largest district in Colorado, we are subject to a "carving out” of communities and counties, thereby creating a “checkerboard” or Salamander effect on CD3. Drawing district maps in this Salamander fashion reduces fair political competitiveness and representation. The commission should draw lines fairly, in an open and transparent process assuring accountability. CD3 is currently politically competitive and should remain that way. KH