Douglas County billionaire and real estate exec team up to fund ad campaign against Buc-ee’s | Business
“Developers and billionaire outsiders” are accused of interference in flyers that have found their way into mailboxes in Palmer Lake, where an explosive disagreement over whether to approve a location of the Texas travel chain Buc-ee’s has boiled over into lawsuits, resignations and a special election.
Ian Griffis acknowledges the barb is probably aimed at himself and media magnate billionaire John Malone, respectively. The pair have been putting words and capital towards opposing the development.
“Money’s being spent more on informing the public,” said Griffis.
While Liberty Media founder Malone is indisputably a billionaire — the second-richest person in Colorado, according to Forbes — Griffis disputes the “developer” moniker. A Colorado College graduate, Griffis has an extensive real estate investment portfolio through his company Griffis Residential. He split with the billion-dollar real estate company Griffis/Blessing he founded with his college roommate in the late ’90s.
“I don’t know how you can call us outsiders,” he said.
John Malone, chairman of Liberty Media and CEO of Discovery Holding Company, arrives at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, on July 11, 2012.
What unites the two businessmen is personal investment in a conservation corridor that has kept much of the scenery along Interstate 25 from Palmer Lake to Castle Rock barren of development.
The agreements were hashed out in the early 2000s among private landowners, Douglas County and conservation organizations. Both Griffis and Malone, one of the most prolific landowners in the United States, own ranchland in the corridor.
They have said that the Buc-ee’s location — with 120 gas station pumps — across the street from the start of easements would encroach on the wildlife habitat and scenery that makes the area special.
They are also part of the financial backing behind Protect Greenland Ranch, LLC, a group that has disseminated ads in Douglas County newspapers calling on county commissioners to publicly oppose the annexation necessary for the Buc-ee’s deal.
Rye Austin, executive director of the Malone Family Land Preservation Foundation, confirmed that the Malone family spent money on the ads and endorsed the creation of a change.org petition opposing the annexation. Neither Griffis nor Austin would confirm how much money was spent on the effort, which also includes privately commissioned impact reports on how Buc-ee’s will impact the proposed location.
Austin said that Malone himself was not taking interviews. Protect Greenland Ranch, LLC, is registered in Delaware and was formed in July, public records show.
Can Douglas County stop Buc-ee’s?
The ads and online petition call on Douglas County to oppose the small sliver of land under the county’s jurisdiction that would connect the Buc-ee’s site to the town of Palmer Lake. The town itself is in El Paso County.
The chain’s proposed 74,000 square foot location would rely on the town for access to water, and thus cannot be built on its currently unincorporated lot next to the interstate without the town’s approval. Annexations generally have to connect to municipalities, so Buc-ee’s developers want to use County Line Road as a thin property bridge.
Half of County Line Road is technically Douglas County’s jurisdiction, prompting Protect Greenland Ranch to call on Douglas County commissioners to “fight to protect the country’s wildlands by opposing the annexation” in its advertised petition.
“Douglas County does have a role in this to play, and it may be symbolic, it may be legal,” said Griffis.
Ian Griffis is back in the crowd shortly after sharing his public comments at a Palmer Lake Planning Commission meeting on the Buc-ee’s annexation proposal on Aug. 20.
It’s not a simple problem, said Douglas County Commissioner George Teal, whose district includes the annexation proposal. He said the county has learned the hard way not to directly involve itself in annexations after an unsuccessful fight against the city of Aurora over a decade ago.
“We can’t do anything more than we already have,” he said, referring to comments submitted to the town of Palmer Lake from Douglas County landowners.
Christopher Pratt, an attorney with Douglas County, said that the county, along with other stakeholders, attended a meeting to hear about the Buc-ee’s plan early in the process.
He said that while any encroachment on the conservancy could land developers in a protracted legal process, the county had already exhausted its interest in stopping annexations when a court rejected its efforts against Aurora.
“It cost a lot of money to ultimately little effect,” he said.
Teal has personal concerns about Buc-ee’s being next to the Greenland Ranch conservation easement, which he said might “end up being the last unpaved piece of land between Denver and Colorado Springs.” The average person in Douglas County, however, is likely not up on the controversy about Buc-ee’s, in his opinion.
The change.org petition created by Malone and Griffis has about 2,800 verified signatures.
Teal said he’d like to pitch some alternate Douglas County locations to the Texas company: how about the Dawson Ridge development in Castle Rock, or even Larkspur?
“We’re more than happy to work with Buc-ee’s,” he said.
Buc-ee’s representatives declined to comment on public discourse around the proposed annexation.
Other players
Griffis and Malone are far from the only people spending money on Palmer Lake in an attempt to influence the Buc-ee’s decision.
Four committees have filed with the town in connection with the Sept. 9 special election, where two town trustees are up for recall and voters will decide on a measure that would require all annexations to appear as ballot questions.
The flyer calling out “billionaire outsiders” in Palmer Lake is connected with Keep Palmer Lake Independent. The committee’s registered agent has not responded to a request for comment, but filings with the town say the group’s purpose is to oppose the recall of trustees.
Another group, Protect Palmer Lake, says its purpose is to “vote ‘no’” on the measure that would push all annexation questions to the ballot. Kyle Blakely, a marketing and public relations professional who serves as the registered agent for the group, said it was formed by Palmer Lake residents who support Buc-ee’s.
“The goal is to be able to get the messages out about why it’s a good thing for the community,” he said.
Blakely said that the committee was working on a website, mailing fliers and handouts. The group also has an active social media presence with recorded interviews with town residents.
The other registered agent for Protect Palmer Lake is Sarah Brittain Jack, a fellow public relations consultant and a current member of the El Paso County Planning Commission. Jack did not respond to a request for comment.
The major opposition group with campaign filings is Integrity Matters, a Colorado Springs-based political group that has been involved in other local issues. The group has been an outsized presence in the fight against Buc-ee’s, taking the town to court in a lawsuit over its handling of the developers’ proposal.
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Organizer Dana Duggan said that the group was not planning to spend “that much” on the special election, preferring to call any advertisements “education.”
“Obviously, we support the citizens’ right to oppose leadership they feel is failing them,” she said.
Calling Malone “a really spectacular human,” Duggan said Integrity Matters was nonetheless not focusing much energy on Douglas County or coordinating efforts.
The first financial filings on the special election are due on Aug. 25 and 26.
