On December 9, the Erie Town Council is tentatively scheduled to discuss a proposed settlement with Stratus Red Tail that would resolve ongoing litigation over the stalled Redtail Ranch development.
The conflict began in 2022, when Stratus sued the town after Erie denied its plan to build Redtail Ranch, a 290-acre residential community first introduced in 2020. The project attracted resistance from the start, largely because the development would wrap around three oil and gas facilities and sit adjacent to an environmental contamination site.
The council again rejected a preliminary development plan on June 25 of this year, citing ongoing public-health concerns. A closed-door executive session followed on October 7, where council members received legal advice from the town attorney.
At the center of the dispute is a stretch of land known locally as the Pratt property. In the late 1960s, the property became an informal dumping ground for waste trucked out of a newly opened IBM facility. Records show that at least 1,000 55-gallon drums of hazardous material were brought onto the site. That history remained largely unknown until 2015, when Stratus first uncovered evidence of buried waste while preparing the property for potential development.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment ordered Stratus to investigate the contamination in 2016. The company has said it spent more than $4 million on cleanup. CDPHE approved the company’s monitoring and maintenance plan in 2020.
Despite the efforts, the land remains hazardous. A subsequent independent study by Pinyon Environmental found traces of torpedo propellant, car-wash chemicals, and grease-trap waste. These findings reignited concerns among residents who already viewed the area’s 32 surrounding oil and gas wells as an “eyesore” and a threat to public safety.
Land-use questions have also complicated the proposal. The Pratt property, roughly 411 acres, was annexed into Erie in 2007 and split into two parcels. One was designated for low-density residential development; the other was set aside as landfill-related public land. Redtail Ranch was originally pitched at 898 units but later reduced to 587 to conform with existing zoning. Of the total acreage, 110 acres were set aside as private open space, including approximately 16 acres covering the contamination zone.
Several residents have also pointed to the town’s evolving oil-and-gas setback rules. When Stratus first proposed Redtail Ranch in 2020, residential development needed only a 350-foot buffer from oil and gas wells. The town expanded the setback to 500 feet in 2021.
Public conversations about the project have been limited. Between its 2020 introduction and Stratus’s lawsuit, only one neighborhood meeting, held in April 2021, took place.
The council is tentatively scheduled to take up the proposed settlement and new preliminary plat on December 9, with time planned for public comment before any action.