Palizzi Farm lost a big battle at the beginning of the summer when a judge ruled a metropolitan district could run a stormwater pipe across the 95-year-old Brighton farm to support a planned housing development nearby.
But tucked into the final page of Adams County District Judge Sarah Stout’s 41-page eminent domain ruling was an “expectation” from the court “that the Palizzis will be able to continue to farm on the land at the conclusion of the Project.”
It’s that directive that Debora Palizzi, whose great-grandfather Antonio started the farm on East Bromley Lane in 1929, is counting on to keep the 57-acre operation running past this year. The current plans from Parkland Metropolitan District No. 1 for the outfall project, Palizzi said, don’t set the pipe deep enough underground in her field to be clear of her ripper and plow come planting time.
Debora Palizzi poses for a portrait at Palizzi Farm in Brighton on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. A stormwater pipe for a nearby future subdivision is planned to run through land that the Palizzi family has been farming for 95 years. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Her equipment needs a minimum of 5 feet below the surface to operate unimpeded, she said.
“Is this my final year of being able to do this?” asked Palizzi in an interview this week with The Denver Post. “I’m not going to know if it works or not until it is too late.”
She grows sweet corn, tomatoes, peppers, chili peppers, okra, beets, onions and cucumbers that she sells at the farm and at five area farmers markets.
Faye Hummel, a Brighton resident since 1987 but a customer at Palizzi Farm since the late 1970s, said she hopes the city takes a closer look at the plans for the pipe. She wants it to require whatever changes are needed to keep the farm in business before approving anything.
In the June 26 ruling, the judge wrote that access to Palizzi’s land by Parkland officials and work on the outfall project could begin as soon as Nov. 1. The ruling relied on Colorado’s eminent domain statute, which allows governments and quasi-governmental bodies to condemn land for public use.
“The fact they are still here — still persisting — is absolutely remarkable,” Hummel said of the farm, where she had recently purchased freshly harvested chili peppers. “Palizzi is a crown jewel of Brighton.”
Parkland’s condemnation action
Trouble at Palizzi Farm began a year ago, when the Brighton City Council approved a metro district service plan with Parkland that allowed it to use eminent domain to obtain easements for underground infrastructure. Parkland is the metro district building infrastructure for a future housing project called Bromley Farms, located just east of the farm.
In court filings earlier this year, Parkland said Bromley Farms required the construction of a “regional drainage outfall” — complete with pipelines, culverts, manholes and inlets — across Palizzi Farm. It tried to negotiate a price for access to Palizzi’s land, but the parties couldn’t reach an agreement.
In April, Parkland filed a “Petition in Condemnation” in Adams County District Court. To move ahead with building the new neighborhood in “a timely manner,” the petition argued, the metro district “requires and is entitled to immediate possession of the Subject Property” under state condemnation law.
The resulting hearing on May 14 drew hundreds of residents to the courthouse to support Palizzi in her fight against condemnation.
A month later, Stout granted “immediate possession of the Subject Property” — an easement across Palizzi Farm — to Parkland Metropolitan District No. 1 for its flood control project.
“It is clear to this Court that the taking meets the great needs of the City and residents of Brighton, that for the reasons stated above a benefit is bestowed upon the City who cannot otherwise finance this type of improvement, and that the Project is necessary for the long-term safety of the Brighton community as development continues,” Stout wrote.
A portion of the Palizzi Farm, front, in Brighton on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. A stormwater pipeline is planned to run through the farm as infrastructure for a future housing development. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Jack Hoagland, president of the Parkland Metro District, told The Post in an interview that Palizzi had previously said a 4-foot depth was sufficient, and his engineering team designed its pipe project accordingly.
“All the pipes going onto her property are all at least 4 feet deep,” Hoagland said. “No one had heard anything about 5 feet.”
The project will carry stormwater runoff for Bromley Farms, which will sit on 135 acres and feature 750 residential units in a mix of single-family and multi-family homes. Hoagland, who helped lead development of the sprawling Sterling Ranch community in Douglas County, said his team was making every effort to be as minimally disruptive as it could.
“We’re going onto her farm this fall so that we won’t interfere with her (growing) season,” he said.
No Brighton City Council hearing on the pipeline project has been scheduled at this point, Hoagland said.
Brighton Mayor Greg Mills said the “potential pipeline and related infrastructure improvements have not been finalized at this time so it would be inappropriate to speculate about the details.” But in a followup email to The Post, the mayor said the current depth — ranging from 4 feet to 6 feet — and off-season construction schedule meant Palizzi should be able to operate without any problems.
“I do not believe farming will be impacted,” Mills wrote.
The only plan Palizzi says she’s seen puts the pipe at a 3 1/2-foot depth at her eastern boundary, before reaching a depth of 5 1/2 feet at the west end, running across the northern portion of her property. She estimates that the eastern half of her farm, nearest to East Bromley Lane, will be put out of operation if the pipe isn’t buried deeper.
“If we lose the north end, we’re going to lose half our acreage,” said Palizzi, 62. “We’ll have to reduce everything.”
She would like to see Parkland avoid her land altogether and run its drainage pipe south of her field. But she said the district is using her land “because I’m the cheapest, most direct route.”
“I think it’s all about their damn money,” Palizzi said.
“Once it’s gone, it’s gone”
Palizzi Farm is at the northern edge of what has been dubbed Splendid Valley — a 5,000-acre expanse of mostly fertile farmland in Adams County south of Brighton that’s dedicated to preserving Colorado’s agricultural past.
But the farm’s reach goes beyond Denver’s northern suburbs — Palizzi sells its produce at farmers markets in Parker, Denver and Evergreen. Anne Davis, the food resource manager for Evergreen Christian Outreach, better known as EChO, said Palizzi Farm had proved indispensable for the nonprofit food pantry’s inventory.
Farmers harvest tomatoes in a portion of Palizzi Farm where a stormwater pipeline is planned to be built in Brighton, as seen on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
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EChO has been working with Palizzi Farm for four years, buying produce during the summer at a discounted price. The organization serves more than 300 households per week in the Jefferson County foothills.
“We probably average about 300 to 350 pounds a week (from Palizzi Farm),” Davis said. “If Debbie can’t farm, it will impact a lot of Coloradoans. I hope that will be taken into account in the decision-making process.”
Hummel, 73, remembers packing up her children in the car to make trips to Palizzi Farm during the Carter administration. Now she takes her grandchildren to the farm.
“To be in the presence of people who toil and work the land is humbling. To have this absolute gem in our midst — it’s irreplaceable,” she said. “Once it’s gone, it’s gone.”
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