Majestic Retreat blends rural atmosphere, custom home sites

Built by custom home builder Kamas, this 6,000-square-foot home, offered at

Majestic Retreat, lists for $700,000.

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HYGIENE — Government and business more frequently are foes than friends, but a new housing development northwest of Longmont demonstrates the two can work together.

Ground has been broken on Majestic Retreat, a development featuring acre to acre-and-a-half lots, views of Mt. Meeker and Long’s Peak, and a decidedly rural atmosphere. The new subdivision, northwest of Longmont and on the south side of Vermillion Road, will consist of 35 homes, with average prices of $500,000.

Majestic Retreat represents the first project in Boulder County to go through the Transferred Development Rights, or TDR, program, according to planning consultant Rosie Koopman. County commissioners created the TDR process to preserve open space and transfer housing density to areas near cities or existing subdivisions, and, says Koopman, “to put development where you have services available.”

County officials, including Koopman, former planning manager for Boulder County Land Use, worked with Majestic’s developers, Colorado Landmark Realtors, for two years to get the final go-ahead for the project. Together, they surveyed the area of the Dirks’ Farm that became Majestic.

To ease the concerns of residents of Anhawa Manor, adjacent to Majestic Retreat, they even employed a surveyor to “survey in a view corridor” so a Manor resident “would be able to see Long’s Peak while she was gardening,” according to Koopman.

Koopman left the county during the approval process for Majestic Retreat, and eventually went to work for its developers. She helped guide the development through two years of hearings and approvals, a process she admits was a trying one.

“It would be nice if we could work out a better, more expedient way to get these through the review process,” she says. Four projects are currently in the TDR approval process, three near Niwot and one in Lafayette.

Developers of Majestic Retreat purchased rights to develop 20 lots from Yoakum’s Meadow Green Farms in Longmont, and along with 15 existing lots, carved Majestic from the Dirks’ family farm. Koopman expects the transfer and resulting conservation easements obtained by the county to preserve 350 acres of open space north of Terry Lake.

Majestic Retreat is designed for buyers “looking for a quality development, quality builders, and a quiet, rural atmosphere, yet close to town,” says Realtor Scott Franklund of Landmark.

The development of 35 homes is situated on 45 acres. The Dirks will continue to harvest corn, wheat and alfalfa on the remaining 215 acres of their property. Boulder County’s land use plans ensure that remaining farmland never will be developed; those who do purchase at Majestic can be rest assured their rural tranquility will “remain that way forever,” says Franklund.

It was that sort of setting that Boulder County employee Maritza Sneddon and her husband, Wally, were looking for when shopping for a new home. Sneddon also likes the large lots Majestic offers.

“It’s a good value for our dollar … the lots were relatively reasonably priced for county lots. It’s close to Longmont, where we prefer to live. The location suited us well.”

The Sneddons expect to move into their new home next summer.

The development itself is covenant controlled. Homes will average 3,500 square feet of finished space, and most will have three-car garages and porches. Buyers will select from a group of eight builders to bring their new homes to life. The builders were picked, according to Franklund, based on “past performance, quality, and reputation.”

“You won’t find art deco and contemporary styles at Majestic Retreat; homes will be country style,'” says Franklund. “Each house has a character; these are not homes that you have seen before. It’s probably the nicest development in and around Hygiene.”

Other features of the development include a six-acre central park area surrounded by the homes and a walking/biking trail that passes along a tree-lined canal. The park will be situated along a ridge with the homes built below.

Building below the park will maintain view corridors and keep intact the community’s visual ties to the land, planners say. Ground has broken on several homes at Majestic Retreat; a few lots remain available.