Photo by Ashley Low
Since a state board denied Peak Materials’ application for a gravel mining permit at the Hillyard property in April, neighbors have been left with many questions about what the property’s future might hold.
Jonathan Knopf, president of Friends of the Lower Blue River and a neighbor to the property, said he and other neighbors have expressed interest in purchasing the property from Peak Materials both before and after the permit was denied.
“They know what we’d like to accomplish,” Knopf said. “We more or less need to see what they do.”
Initially, a group of neighbors made a counteroffer to Julie Hillyard when she was selling the property an initiative led by neighbor Ken Brown, Knopf said.
Lisa and Craig Robelen stand Jan. 21 inside the barn at the Equine Center on Tiger Road in Breckenridge. Craig Robelen is a board member of the Blue River Horse Center, a local nonprofit organization that is looking for a new home.
Photo by Liz Copan / Studio Copan
In a move that surprised the county’s elected officials, the Blue River Horse Center on Tuesday withdrew its proposal to use the county fairgrounds as a home for its nonprofit horse rehabilitation and educational programming.
Blue River Horse Center Executive Director and Founder John Longhill shared that change of heart with county commissioners and officials at Tuesday’s county work session. Longhill said the analysis of the proposal conducted by several county departments analysis that did not support the organization’s wishes to use a 5- to 6-acre parcel for programming influenced him to withdraw the request.
Craig Robelen leads Edgar, a 16-year-old Shetland pony, into his barn on Thursday, Jan. 21, at the Breckenridge Equine Center on Tiger Road. Robelen is a board member for the Blue River Horse Center nonprofit, which is currently looking for a new home.
Photo by Liz Copan / Studio Copan
The Blue River Horse Center has raised the $30,000 executive director John Longhill said is necessary to improve the fairgrounds to house the nonprofit’s horses and equine rehabilitation operation and educational programming at the old county fairgrounds. Still, as the county is set to consider whether or not to permit the organization to use the grounds this month, concerns have come in from members of the local community.
Craig Robelen leads Edgar, a 16-year-old Shetland pony, into the barn Thursday, Jan. 21, at the Breckenridge Equine Center on Tiger Road. He and his wife, Lisa, have relocated a number of rescue and therapy horses to the equine center while the nonprofit Blue River Horse Center looks for a new home.
Photo by Liz Copan / Studio Copan
The Blue River Horse Center nonprofit is looking for a new home and has its sights set on the old Summit County fairgrounds near the base of the Dillon dam.
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Longhill said the center has outgrown its home at a private ranch along the Blue River north of Silverthorne. Last year, he said demand for the center’s activities doubled, with classes ballooning up to 185 from 90 the year prior. Longhill said the organization looked into 15 locations before settling on the old fairgrounds, which have not been used regularly for nearly a decade.