View of the Bookcliffs from Loma, CO
They are a long way from being built, but a rezoning approval for a small housing project in the Loma area has residents there concerned that their way of life is about to take a turn for the worst.
To some, the reason why they moved to that area in the first place was to be out of the city, and live a life surrounded by open vistas and few neighbors.
Many there, however, are seeing that change, and they don’t like it.
“I’ve seen a lot of things change over the years,” said Steven Bittle at a Mesa County Land-Use meeting Wednesday that changed the zoning for a 14-acre lot at 1301 M Road south of the intersection of U.S. 6&50 and Colorado Highway 139 from agriculture to housing, one that could allow for up to two homes per acre.
While that may not seem like much, consider that the current zoning in much of the area is one home per 5 acres.
“We all live in Loma because we have elbow room, and if this thing goes through like it is, we ain’t gonna have that no more,” said Bittle, adding that he’s watched as Fruita grew into a sea of new homes. “I don’t want to live that way. Nobody in Loma wants to live that way. The rest of the country and Colorado is going to hell in a hand basket, and we all know it. I don’t want that to happen to Loma. This isn’t my America.”
The neighbors’ concerns are so focused that one landowner, who currently lives in Pennsylvania, flew all the way here to object to that rezoning.
Patricia Reid said that she and her husband purchased their land, 11.93 acres that sit just south of the rezoned property, as a place to eventually retire, saying they currently live “on a postage stamp” and want to spend their remaining days living in the wide open spaces of the American West.
“We bought this property for the reason that, during retirement, we could come out here and enjoy some space and air,” said Reid, who currently lives in Glenside, Pennsylvania.
“This development is absolutely going to ruin my idea of what this property was going to look like,” she added. I don’t believe anyone is asking that it’s not developed, but to keep it with the standard of the 5 acres per one house. It’s going to ruin the beauty of it. This is going to affect everyone (in Loma).”
This particular plan calls for rezoning an area north of Loma from AFT (agriculture, forestry, transitional), which allows for one home per 5 acres, to RSF-2 (residential single family), which allows up to 2 homes per acre.
Loma Community Church as seen in November 2019.
The owners who want to develop the land opted for the lowest residential density, even though the county’s future land-use plan allows for up to 12 units per acre.
Several properties located just to the north are already zoned for about one home per acre or less.
Commissioner Janet Rowland told the neighbors that because of the lack of city sewer connections and county rules governing septic systems and leach fields, it’s likely that only one home could be built per acre.
Regardless, to some homeowners that’s too dense.
“We do not want, the people of Loma, to have this kind of growth, especially where your density is down to two homes per acre,” said Jerry McKay, who lives nearby. “We are not opposed to somebody buying this piece of property and building a home on it ... but we’re opposed to this multiple thing on one acre. If you folks want this thing really acknowledged by people who live in Loma, let’s set up a ... big meeting and let’s see what the people really want.”
Commissioner Cody Davis, a housing developer by trade, repeatedly said that the action the commissioners took Wednesday is only the first step in a long process of building new homes. The applicants still will have to comply with numerous more regulations before any plans are approved, a process that could take months or years.
