RTD busts Bronco fan’s big orange dream

By Kevin Flynn, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Monday, November 19, 2007

Steve Fesch bought a piece of land a few years ago between Invesco Field and RTD's future Federal Boulevard light rail station to pursue a Broncos fan's dream.

First, park his big orange converted Broncos bus there on game days, host monster tailgate parties and someday, when the FasTracks West Corridor light rail opens, build a sports bar to capitalize on the location.

Then, out of the orange and blue, the 33-year-old Steamboat Springs resident got a letter from RTD. It was taking his land. All of it. Even though RTD only needs the edges of the parcel for street and sidewalk widening and drainage improvements.

Fesch, who has a real estate company, didn't know his property was in the crosshairs of the West Corridor until that Sept. 24 letter. He thought he was across the street from all the construction.

"RTD put the screw to me," Fesch said as he set up Monday for the pre-Broncos tailgating party. "I call RTD 'Run Them Down.'"

It started because Fesch needed a place to park his gaudy orange-painted 1987 MCI intercity bus. He found it used in Commerce City, formerly owned by New Jersey Transit. He and some friends refurbished the interior into a Bronco fan's fantasy. Flat-screen TV, full bar, plush seating, and a bathroom where the urinal wall sports a Raiders bumper sticker and the toilet features the Chiefs.

A full propane grill glides out of the luggage compartment. Tents and folding chairs fill the grounds. Inside, the bus is festooned with autographs from Broncos and former Broncos, Colorado Crush players, former Gov. Bill Owens and Mayor John Hickenlooper, all of whom have visited his bus.

Pushed out by high fees in the official lots, Fesch bought the parcel on the northwest corner of Howard Place and Decatur Street.

"I bought a parking lot and now I can't even park here," he said.

Fesch is one of 16 property owners who got notices of RTD's intent to fully acquire their land for the West Corridor. RTD expects to make 130 acquisitions, although most will be only partial takings of pieces of property.

The letters touched off several protests so far.

Paul Forster, who is handling land acquisition for RTD, said the issue at Fesch's property is that RTD and Denver are doing significant drainage reconstruction there as part of the West Corridor project. This is the site where in May, 2-year-old Jose Matthew Jauregui was swept away from his mother's grip during a flash flood down Lakewood Gulch.

Forster said the plan calls for raising the intersection five feet and relocating the gulch channel. By the time the work slopes back down from the new street and sidewalk, there won't be much left of Fesch's lot.

"Under the system, we cannot leave an owner with an uneconomic remainder," Forster said. "We have to offer to buy the whole thing."

Fesch said he's trying to work with RTD and the city to become part of the planning, to look at raising all his property and keeping whatever remains for his own redevelopment.

"I'd like to know why RTD can deny me the right to my own land but later can sell it off to a developer," he said.

Fesch said he has met with Hickenlooper to plead his case, but hasn't yet heard back.

Denver is demolishing its huge public works garage across the street from him, where the gulch will be moved. Why can't the street be widened on that side instead of his? Why can't there be a land swap to save RTD money on the budget-tight project?

"I'm willing to work with them on what they need but it'll cost them a lot more to take the whole thing," Fesch said. "The bottom line is I have nowhere else to go."