Help Us Preserve Hayden’s Small-Town Charm – Say No to the Development Threatening to Double The Size of our Town!

Hayden is known for its close-knit community, where kids play in the streets and neighbors know each other by name. Many families moved here for this small-town atmosphere, safety, and sense of community.

A new development proposal could disrupt this way of life. The Wember development group is proposing the 164-acre Deepe ranch land behind Lake Village to have a zoning change in order to construct high-density housing, with mostly townhomes, cottages, and multiplexes that lack private yards and instead have clustered parking lots.

Brown Ranch in Steamboat didn’t pass, so now the big developers are coming for Hayden — how many more cars can highway 40 handle?!

The development is proposed in a tucked away area which would require residents to drive through the entire town and existing residential roads in order to get out. The only access road would be Poplar Drive.

With only one way in and one way out – doubling the size of Hayden in this location will majorly impact traffic and safety across the entire town of Hayden.

Key Concerns for Our Community:

• Land Use Re-Zoning: The current agricultural land use of this area does not permit this development. The land is being proposed for re-zoning in order to cram as many people into units as possible. 
• Overburdened Town Services: Our emergency services, schools, and daycares are already at capacity. Doubling Hayden's population would overwhelm these resources.
• Traffic & Road Safety: The development area has very limited access, requiring traffic to go through existing neighborhood streets. Poplar Drive is already congested during peak hours and there is no pedestrian safety measures on roads like Harvest Drive or its intersection with Poplar. Children currently walk along unsafe road shoulders and the current roads are ill maintained showing significant damage. The town should construct an alternate roadway into the development outside of Poplar to avoid overloading residential streets and provide a solution to offset the traffic impacts of a major population increase. 
• Dangerous Highway 40: An increase in residents in the proposed product mix would add more commuter traffic to Highway 40, exacerbating congestion on an already dangerous road with a rising number of fatalities. How many more deaths do we need on our hands?
• Lack of Private Yards & Driveways: The proposed units lack yards and driveways, with most parking in unsightly parking lots. Street parking isn’t allowed in Hayden for snow removal purposes – winter maintenance will be an issue and lead to high HOA management costs which will offset the "affordability" allure of the product mix.
• Misleading “Public Open Space”: The developer has labeled drainage areas as “public open space,” yet these areas may not be suitable for children to play and could pose grassland fire hazards if unmaintained.
• Water Supply Issues: This area has no water, and will instead tap into town resources. This may lead to water bill increases, the need for water infrastructure improvements, and more water restrictions. The area should form their own metro water district. 
• Unfair Tax Impacts? The town must ensure that current residents aren’t forced to bear the financial burden of road upgrades and other infrastructure required for this development. Clear solutions have yet to be found or communicated that directly address these concerns.

Our Request: We’re calling for a denial of the land zoning change which will pause the high-density development portion of this plan in order to slow down a major population increase to our small town.

Hayden has already approved the Main Street Loft apartments and the Prairie Run affordable housing compound (totaling 240 units), meeting our housing goals based on the projected population size through 2027. We don’t need more units that will unnecessarily double the size of our town, cause resource strain, negatively impact residential streets, and erode our way of life.

Instead, let’s focus on slower, more sustainable growth that respects our community’s values and prioritizes Hayden’s small-town character. Let's maintain current land use zoning status that allows for no more than 6 homes/acre!

Support our cause – sign the petition to protect Hayden’s identity! We urge the developer to revise their plan and the town to listen to our community’s voice.