Often, when I’m interviewing people about their homeowners association, I ask them why they don’t move to the country to escape tyrannical HOA officers and strict neighborhood covenants.
My column on Thursday is evidence that sometimes you just can’t escape folks who want to tell you what to do with your land. Garth and Gail Hystad left the Valley and Erindale neighborhood in Colorado Springs and moved to a 35-acre spread south of town because they didn’t like the rules or getting fined $1,500 for parking their boat and RV on the street overnight.
Garth Hystad founded Colorado Custom Decks and he is a passionate golfer. He intended to turn his 35 acres into a home and private golf retreat. Just one problem, his next-door neighbors, Robert and Lana LeVeck, don’t like golf and tried to stop Hystad.
This has been going on four years.
Here are maps of the area:
The LeVecks have tried to control what the Hystads do on their boot-shaped property. The have campaigned against the Hystads the way some fight child porn or sex offenders. They have lodged one complaint after another with the county.
All Hystad has done is transform acres of hilly, rocky junipers and brush into sculpted green golf holes with a small pond and gazebo using his own brand of artificial turf and water he trucked to the site. They also built their dream home.
Here is his home from the El Paso County Assessor’s Web site.
Here is a 2007 Gazette photo of Garth Hystad on his private seven-hole golf course.
Here is his pond and gazebo, looking north toward his new home.
Here are a few looks from GoogleEarth.com and FlashEarth.com of the property, starting at the north end and working south.
Here’s the south end of the golf complex.
The LeVecks say Hystad hits golf balls onto their property. Hystad admits that early on, he accidentally sliced some balls onto their land, at the far north end behind their home. So he closed that tee box to avoid future errant drives.
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I must admit that Lana comes off sounding like a real Loona, especially in your article. The “golf course” isn’t to my taste either, preferring a more naturalistic setting as most folks in that area do. It just seems somewhat in poor taste to plop man-made artifice like that into this country environment. The pond seems particularly unsustainable in that water-restricted area. It’s just somebody’s egotistical I-have-bucks-so-I-can-do-it kingdom. But, on the bright side… at least it’s golf, not someone’s private rifle range. Or a huge puppy mill. Or any of a number of other more horrible scenarios that could have been plopped there. Private rock concerts anyone? My solution? One neighbor needs to learn to play golf, the other needs to give free lessons. Make friends. Set a good example for the rest of the world.
I have had the opportunity to visit Garth’s ranch and personally hit some golf balls on arguably one of the most unique personal golf ranches in the entire country. I only wish we lived next door to Garth and Gail. My wife and I attended a barbeque in the evening and listened to some live music presented by some friends of Garth and Gail’s. For me, Colorado does not get any better than this. I know the improvements were very expensive, however, Garth, is a humble spirited, gifted man, who is expressing the vision given to him by God for this property. He would like nothing better than to have the LeVecks come over and bring their friends, and take advantage of his facilities any time they wanted. He didn’t build this facility for himself, he built it to share with others. Thanks Garth and Gail