History

 
The following is a brief history of the Buffalo Highlands Metropolitan District:
 
September 2002 The City of Commerce City approves the creation of the Buffalo Highlands Metropolitan District
December 2016 Commerce City approves the Buffalo Highlands Filing No. 1 subdivision development plan - a 165-home neighborhood - submitted by the land owner and developer, Stratus Buffalo Highlands, LLC (the Developer).

The Developer begins selling individual home lots to two builders - Lennar and Meritage Homes.

January 2018 The Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions for Buffalo Highlands (i.e. CC&Rs) is filed and the lots in the neighborhood become subject to the CC&Rs.

February 2018 The first house constructed within the District is sold to a homeowner.
March 2018 Commerce City approves the Buffalo Highlands Filing No. 2 subdivision development plan - a 184-home neighborhood - submitted by the land owner and developer, Stratus Buffalo Highlands, LLC (the Developer).

July 2018 The District issues $20.6 million in bond debt. Approximately 14% ($2.9 million) of the bond proceeds is used to fund the cost of issuing the bonds and 85% of the bond proceeds is used to fund public infrastructure costs.
June 2019 Commerce City approves the Buffalo Highlands Filing No. 3 subdivision development plan - a 164-unit townhome neighborhood - submitted by the land owner and developer, Stratus Buffalo Highlands, LLC (the Developer).

 March 2019 Two homeowner meetings were called and held by residents to discuss the status of the District and concerns regarding the 5-member district board. One director was an employee of Lennar, three directors were close family members and owners of the land development company and one director was an attorney for the Developer. Thus, no homeowner representation existed on the Board even though 100% of the District's property tax revenue was funded by homeowners. Three of these directors also served on the board of the Amber Creek Metro District (a residential neighborhood located in Thornton) in 2017 and approved borrowing $1.7 million from Lennar at a net effective interest rate of 40%.

Three homeowners formed a recall committee for the purpose of allowing homeowners an opportunity to elect individuals to represent the homeowners on the District's board. The recall petition was filed in District court.

June 2019 The Recall Committee collected petition signatures from over 40% of the registered voters in the neighborhood to support the recall effort. The petitions were submitted to Adams County election officials and election officials called an election to fill all five director positions on the District's board.

The District board submitted a petition to Commerce City requesting indicating it was in the best interests of the homeowners that all land outside of Buffalo Highlands Filing No. 1 (which was owned by the Developer and the builders) be excluded from the District's public service area. (The land would still be subject to paying property taxes to the District to fund its bond debt.) City Council unanimously consented to the proposed exclusion requested by the District. 

July 2019 The District Board held a special meeting and ratified a resolution to exclude all land located outside of Buffalo Highlands Filing No. 1 from the District. 19 homeowners attended the meeting.
 
August 2019 All five directors resign from the District's board.
 
September 2019 Commerce City Council appoints four homeowners to serve on the District's board until the District's May 2020 regular election.
  
 December 2019 142 of the 165 homes in Buffalo Highlands Filing No. 1 have been constructed and sold to homeowners.

A Denver Post investigative article on metropolitan districts recognizes Buffalo Highlands as one of several neighborhoods where homeowners have decided to take control of their property tax district.
 

General NEIGHBORHOOD Statistics


Single-Family Homes
High Low Average
Lot size 0.31 acres 0.16 acres 0.12 acres
Living space (Note A) 3,229 sqft 2,314 sqft 1,738 sqft
Garage size 898 sqft 555 sqft 400 sqft
Basement size 1,828 sqft 1,078 sqft 620 sqft
Bedrooms 5.0 rooms 3.5 rooms 2.0 rooms
Bathrooms 4.5 bathrooms 2.5 bathrooms 2.0 bathrooms
Other Data
# of homes with no basements 0
Homes were constructed between 2018 and 2020
# of developed lots 153
# of undeveloped lots 12

Note A -- Living space data excludes the garage and basement.