Board approves Pine Ridge Metropolitan District service plan; commissioners and developers discuss debt limits, O&M and road maintenance

The Elbert County Board of County Commissioners voted June 25, 2025, to approve the Pine Ridge Metropolitan District service plan, which formally sets parameters for a proposed special district west of the Town of Elizabeth.

Graham Anderson of Anderson Analytics gave the county an overview of the draft service plan and the numerical plan used to model a hypothetical financing scenario. Anderson summarized the district footprint at roughly 420 acres and said the applicant’s numerical plan illustrated a hypothetical build-out of 186 single-family homes with an average market value of $1,050,000 and an estimated district population of about 650 at build-out. The plan’s Exhibit D estimated approximately $44,400,000 in public improvement costs (roads, domestic water, sanitary sewer, storm drainage, parks and open space) and proposed a total district debt authorization limit of up to $70,000,000 in general obligation bonds.

Anderson said the service plan authorizes a maximum debt levy modeled at 65 mills (illustrated at a 7.15% residential assessment baseline) and noted an uncapped operations-and-maintenance mill levy in the plan. “The proposed debt levy is authorized … and the operations and maintenance levy is uncapped,” Anderson said in presenting the examples used in the numerical plan. The numerical plan also included a hypothetical one-time tap and facility fee example of $35,000 per house to be applied toward debt service in the model.

Petitioner counsel Suzanne Minster (McGee Becker Cortez Williams) explained to commissioners that metropolitan districts are statutory, quasi-governmental financing entities established under Colorado law (Title 32) and that a service plan defines the district’s powers and limits. “A service plan tells us what we can do, what type of infrastructure we can install, and what types of things we cannot do or our limitations,” Minster said.

Jim Marshall, representing the developer team, and other witnesses explained common financing practices for special districts: phased bond issuances tied to development, the use of reserve funds for long-term maintenance, and routine refunding of initial nonrated debt once the district has valuation and constructed homes. Marshall said districts commonly plan for road and water reserves and that historically O&M mill levies for similar Elbert County districts often have not exceeded roughly 10–12 mills, though no hard O&M cap is included in the service plan.

Public comment focused on long-term road maintenance and costs. A resident asked whether the district would build roads and then convey them to the county or instead retain maintenance responsibility. County staff and petitioner representatives said the plan contemplates the district potentially building and maintaining public infrastructure, that the district may establish reserve accounts for road and water maintenance, and that details on long-term O&M and HOA fees are determined later in budget and rate studies.

Commissioners asked detailed questions about assumptions in the numerical plan — interest-rate assumptions, number and timing of bond series, market-value inflation and Gallagher-type assessment adjustments. Commissioner Buck asked about household-occupancy assumptions; presenters said the 650-person estimate was a modeling input based on the size and type of homes in the numerical plan. Commissioners also discussed the openness of future homeowner control as seats on the district board will eventually be filled by residents.

After deliberation the board approved the Pine Ridge Metropolitan District service plan. Approval of the service plan does not by itself create the district (a separate district-court petition and court order are required) and does not authorize any subdivision or development — those steps require separate approvals and permits.