County Commissioners approve plans for equestrian center on N. 73rd Street

On April 1, the Boulder County Commissioners, during a public land use hearing, approved plans for an equestrian center, an agricultural worker accessory dwelling unit, and a 5,352 square foot residence for the 68-acre parcel at 8130 North 73rd Street.

According to hearing documents, the parcel is east along 73rd Street and is less than a mile north of Nimbus Road with the Holland Ditch bisecting the parcel.

With Commissioner Claire Levy absent during the hearing, Commissioners Marta Loachamin and Ashley Stolzmann voted in agreement with the staff conditions for the proposal, along with adding a condition the site will have no competitive events, amplified sound, or lighted outdoor riding.

The commissioners decided to add the condition in keeping with provisions from the county's Land Use Code and maintaining the project's intent of no event disturbance.

Included in the proposal's building plans is a 30,077-square-foot stable and arena using parts of an existing building. Total floor area for all the parcel's structures is 56,726 square feet, with the proposal having most structures clustered in the parcel's northeast section. With regards to the residence, Senior Planner Pete L'Orange said the owners submitted their application prior to the county's moratorium on larger houses.

The land owner and applicant for the proposal is Starling CO, LLC. According to publicly available information, a private trust company connected to the family of Chicago billionaire and entrepreneur Samuel Zell, who died in 2023, formed the LLC.

Zell's daughter, Kellie Zell, and her husband Scott Peppet, spoke on behalf of the owners during the hearing.

Zell said she and her husband have partnered with Cody and Carrie Harrison, owners of the CH Equine horse training and riding school west of Brighton, to create the new equestrian center. "We've been cooking this up for a while," Zell said.

During the applicant presentation, Peppet said, "Our philosophy and sort of the purpose behind this, is really very horse centered, or sort of horse first, or horse forward." Peppet further commented that everything about the project is sized to breed and train the horses safely.

With county staff determining the footprint of the development being less than 10% of the total parcel, L'Orange said, "It's a lot of floor area, but given the size of the parcel, staff found it was not an over intensive use of the land."

L'Orange also said they found the proposal generally consistent with the character of the area and other equestrian centers in the county.

According to L'Orange, staff sent notices to 33 nearby property owners and in response, they received three comments from neighbors who generally expressed no opposition to the project, but had concerns related to traffic, outdoor lighting, and noise. L'Orange said they provided traffic related comments to the county engineer while also asserting that speeding unfortunately is a law enforcement issue, not a land use issue. The applicant also confirmed the operation would not produce amplified sound or lighting for an outdoor arena.

During his presentation, L'Orange said the operation would not be open to the public, rather private business would come in and out of the site. According to project documents, county staff agreed with the applicant's traffic analysis, determining the project will not cause adverse traffic volume.

One nearby property owner, Debbie Lane, provided public comment at the hearing and expressed concern about the safety risk of the property's driveway and requested that it be moved. " It's a little narrow driveway and it's blind between the hill and the trees," said Lane.

In consultation with the county engineer, L'Orange said the county's access and engineering team did not find the driveway's location would pose a safety concern. Because of land disturbance, L'Orange said moving the driveway was also not practical.