Suburban Eden Becoming Wall-to-Wall Jumble of Homes, Cars : Colorado: Affluent fugitives from the city beset by problems they wanted to escape--along with a few new ones, such as dry wells and substandard roads.

Twenty bumper-to-bumper miles south of Denver’s urban jumble lies a suburban Eden.

Where the towering snowcapped Rockies bow to the rolling prairie lies Douglas County, one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States.

It’s a dreamland for disenchanted city folks who delight in foothills thick with pine and expanses of ranchland interrupted by jutting mesas.

The new settlers are redefining rural life, whether it is on a small ranch or in a neatly packaged home in a massive housing development.

“It’s nice. You get to know your neighbors,” said Brenda Mason, who lives near Parker. “I can let my kids go for a bike ride and not worry about them every minute of the day.”

Mason and her family are among 64,000 people who have moved to Douglas County since 1980, nearly quadrupling its population to 89,393 by January.

The immigrants, mostly well educated, affluent career professionals, believe they are safer than in crime-ridden cities, and have a stronger say in how they live, not only through government, but in their neighborhoods.

By virtue of the growth, they also find themselves straining to protect their lifestyles from the very problems they fled--traffic, crowds and eroding natural resources.

“It definitely feels like we’re very close to the fringe of the city,” said Janice Rattray, a Parker-area resident.

“We’re seeing such rapid growth that maybe we’re a little concerned that the issues of quality of life are not having a chance to be seriously considered,” she said.

About halfway between Denver and Colorado Springs, the 842-square-mile county was a sparsely populated agricultural region 15 years ago.

State Rep. Jeanne Adkins of Parker once joked that she had more votes from horses than people.

Developers set the stage for growth in the late 1970s by winning approval for several master-planned communities, which typically consist of thousands of homes in different subdivisions built in a consistent pattern.

The developments were mostly idle until Colorado emerged from an economic downturn in the late 1980s. About the same time, employment began shifting toward southern metropolitan Denver.

Since then, not much has stood in Douglas County’s way.

The signs of growth are everywhere. Trucks pulling horse trailers share two-lane country roads with vans and sport utility vehicles. Interstate 25, once an easy jaunt into Denver, typically fills with bumper-to-bumper traffic during rush hour.

In the county’s northern region, where most of the growth has occurred, wave after wave of rooftops flow east from the Rockies in massive developments, such as the 36,000-plus unit, unincorporated Highlands Ranch.

Uniform, two-story, wooden-planked homes line a dizzying maze of winding streets and cul de sacs. Outside colors and landscaping are mandated by homeowners’ associations.

Mailboxes are mounted in inconspicuous one-leg metal stands here and there, and strips of grass dotted with trees and recreational paths act as buffers between housing sections.

Along major streets, permanent directories point the way to home builders in neighborhoods designed for every taste, from families to empty nesters, whose children are grown. Schools, drugstores and small retail centers are confined to major intersections.

Home prices reflect the growth, increasing to an average of $193,000 countywide from $128,000 just five years ago, according to Dave Ellis & Associates Inc.

“Douglas County is really unique . . . in that rather than a county of subdivisions, it’s really a county of large, master-planned communities,” said Steve Wilson of the Home Builders Assn. of Metropolitan Denver.

“It’s a nationwide phenomenon. Consumers, as they become more sophisticated over the years, want a firmer understanding and a greater certainty of what the pattern of development is going to be in a community.”

In the southern region, Douglas County mostly is carved into ranches, 100-acre-plus “ranchettes” and controversial 35-acre lots.

Colorado law specifically exempts 35-acre lots from local control, which allows developers to set standards for roads, and water and sewer services. The law was passed in 1972 when personal property rights were a major concern.

The 35-acre trend is “causing some concern on our part,” said Douglas County Manager Mike Maag.

“We prefer not to see houses on ridgelines and we’d prefer not to see substandard roads being built to access these properties,” he said.

Today, 61% of Douglas County’s property tax base is residential, 18% is commercial and the rest is vacant and agricultural land.

The settlers have created an authoritative voice through homeowners’ associations, which mirrors a nationwide trend, Wilson said.

“Throughout the country, local government has been replaced in a lot of ways by local homeowners’ associations, community associations and special districts,” he said.

Each entity has a narrow interest, which almost creates government block by block, he said.

One reason could be the population’s affluence and education. About 40% of the adult population has at least a bachelor’s degree, and the median household income is $51,718, according to the 1990 Census.

Douglas County’s homeowners’ groups are organized and powerful, particularly in the unincorporated areas. “The homeowners’ associations are probably every bit as active as a local government,” Adkins said.

Rattray helped form the Country Lifestyle Coalition, a group of 15 homeowners’ associations that monitors government actions. It distributes a newsletter and is setting up an electronic bulletin board to keep members informed.

“We enable affected communities to get on top of things more quickly than if they wait until there is a public notice,” Rattray said.

“By banding together, we have more people to make them listen to us,” Mason said. “A lot more people are beginning to say, ‘Hey, I bought this and for this reason and I don’t want you to take that away from me.’ ”

The groups are tackling growth-related issues, such as traffic, zoning and dry-well problems created in some areas by heavy demand on aquifers.

Adkins has heard several stories from homeowners who have been forced either to sink new wells or pay the expenses to hook up to an area water-sewer system.

“We’ve had wells going dry all over Douglas County,” said Rattray, who has heard complaints about a 15-foot to 100-foot drop in water tables.

The growth also has affected the schools.

“The schools are really getting very crowded. They have had to bring in obviously temporary buildings,” she said.

Mason said the growth is frustrating since she moved to the area for its rural charm.

“I was hoping it would stay more rural than it is. . . . I’m ready to move somewhere and buy my 10 acres,” she said.