Protect Quincy Farm
Let’s preserve Cat Anderson’s vision
Everyone who knew Catherine “Cat” Anderson also knew of her passion for Colorado’s natural landscape.
Cat, who passed away in 2016, valued unspoiled expanses where wildlife could flourish and open spaces could remain undisturbed by urban sprawl. It was her mission to protect such places.
That’s what inspired Cat to buy historic Quincy Farm in 1964. Its nearly 18 idyllic acres had been a working farm since the 19th century and today serve as an undeveloped sanctuary for nature along the Highline Canal in the heart of Cherry Hills Village. Throughout her decades on the farm, Cat sought to keep it a place where time stood still as the Denver metro area continued to grow all around it.
She wanted it to remain a community treasure even after her passing, so she bequeathed the farm to Cherry Hills Village — with specific legal safeguards to maintain its integrity
Those legal safeguards are being ignored by Cherry Hills Village.
Cat Anderson’s vision for the farm is in jeopardy.
The village’s elected leadership is attempting to trample some of the key safeguards — violating its legal agreement with Cat. At the same time, Cherry Hills Village has not been properly taking care of Quincy Farm, and concerns over the condition of the farm and lack of maintenance and repairs are increasing.
Cat had granted the property to our community with a conservation easement that legally prevents most of the property from further development and preserves its natural and rural heritage. This easement runs with the land in perpetuity and cannot be terminated. Specifically, the easement bars the portion of the farm that lies west of the Highline Canal from precisely the kinds of development the city now aims to carry out.
In flagrant disregard for Cat’s wishes, Cherry Hills’ 2024 plan for Quincy Farm opens the west side of the farm to unlimited public access. The plan states, “Beginning in 2024, public access to the west side will be open to pedestrians on the nature trail, the lawn, and the gardens — daily, from dawn to dusk…”
Colorado Open Lands, the organization that holds the conservation easement has already indicated to the village that this type of unlimited public access would not be consistent with the conservation easement.
Cherry Hills Village has already bulldozed a winding path through the pastures on the West Side of the property and is preparing to put down crusher fines material to make a trail that will permanently scar the West Side of Quincy Farm.
Cat loved this community and appreciated and understood the need to balance the community’s enjoyment of the property with the need to preserve its natural ecology and wildlife. . That’s why her conservation easement to Cherry Hills Village in fact does permit public access to the farm — east of the Highline Canal.
Protecting Cat’s Wishes on the West Side of Quincy Farm
On the west side, she envisioned something different — a nature preserve. Cat worked with the Audubon Society each year to identify and promote a multitude of species of birds, and she wanted to ensure that the west side, which is critical habitat for nesting owls, would always be a place where these birds and other wildlife could have habitat — and be observed in limited ways.
The west side, in Cat’s vision, was to be insulated from the heavy foot traffic, motor vehicle congestion, parking issues, litter and other woes experienced by so many Denver-area parks and trails, especially on weekends. Her hope was that the protections she included for the farm’s west side could let it serve the whole community as an asset in its own right — a safe haven for the sights and sounds of nature.
The 2024 plan deceptively claims that opening the farm west of the Highline Canal to public recreational use is “an essential element” of the “conservation values” inherent in preserving the farm. In reality, that central feature of the city’s plan could not be further from what she intended.
As the conservation easement clearly states: "The West Area may (only) be used for Preservation Uses . . . and for Agricultural Uses. . . and managed primarily as a natural area with limited public access.” The West Area was intended by Cat to serve as a sanctuary for hawks, nesting owls, and other wildlife. Permitting unsupervised public recreation from dawn to dusk is likely to imperil that same wildlife.
The village is breaking its word to Cat and her family — and to the entire Cherry Hills Village community.
In an area that already has abundant parks, trails and other public recreational amenities — including the east side of the farm itself — elected leaders inexplicably seem determined to exploit the entire property as a magnet for visitors.
Their plans show disrespect for Cat’s legacy; they violate her express wishes, to which the city once agreed, and they risk degrading a parcel she cherished — and wanted to share with the community in its pristine state for generations to come.
Time to Take Action!
It is urgent for the Cherry Hills Village community to speak out. Please sign our petition to let Mayor Brown and City Council know that you support Cat Anderson’s vision for our beloved Quincy Farm, and you want to see the agreement with her honored.