(MONUMENT, Colo.) — Colorado Kids Ranch opened up the Colorado Pumpkin Patch in Monument to bring fall attractions of all sorts to families across Southern Colorado.

“My wife and I had been wanting to do something like this for a while,” Owner of Colorado Pumpkin Patch, JD Chapman said. “So, we actually rented land in the beginning and started and that was in 2008. Actually, so this is our 15th year.”

The pumpkin patch on Thursday morning was filled with children and families who were roaming the property and enjoying tractor rides.

“It’s actually the best part of the job. I mean, getting to get the opportunity to see kids and families have fun and enjoy each other, it’s like melodious to my ears,” said Chapman.

Children run up to greet the many animals on the farm.

To access the pumpkin patch, visitors must go through a neighborhood that is off Highway 105. Several homeowners in the area, have voiced their concerns about how this fall feature is changing the landscape.

“We don’t have the infrastructure to handle some sort of a commercial endeavor in the neighborhood at all,” Homeowner Lisa Austin said. “So, it’s not that we don’t like the pumpkin patch and the idea of it, it’s a wonderful thing for our community. We don’t just want to argue that with the Chapmans at all, but it is just either in the wrong place or the infrastructure is not there for it to be safe.”

A line of cars wait to pull onto Highway 105 after leaving the pumpkin patch.

Austin moved to the area 27 years ago and expressed why her family moved into the neighborhood.

“It was very quiet and private,” Austin said. “We had lots of space and freedom for our children and I just love being able to walk through the neighborhood is a three-mile walk. The loop is and it’s all on dirt roads for the most part, and it’s just really pleasant.”

However, Austin now sits inside along with many other neighbors as they no longer feel safe being outside while the pumpkin patch is operating.

“We’ve had cigarettes thrown in our yards,” Austin said. “We’re in a high fire zone. We pay extra money for our insurance because of the fire danger. We’ve had dirty diapers. We’ve had kids almost hit in their driveways because people are coming to the pumpkin patch and they’re just unaware of where they’re at. They’re following their GPS or their maps on their phone and they just aren’t looking around for children. So, for about two months, we pretty much just stay off the roads during the hours of the pumpkin patch.”

Back in 2018, the Colorado Pumpkin Patch obtained an agritainment permit which allowed 50 cars to be parked on the property.

Neighbors in the area say hundreds of cars flooded their streets which was not in compliance with the permit.

“The pumpkin patch is a lovely thing to have nearby, but unfortunately when they were given the agritainment permit in the neighborhood, it was for 50 cars and we see upwards of 300 over and over and over again,” Austin said. “The sad part is people think we’re just disgruntled neighbors and it is not at all. We are frustrated and concerned about the safety issues.”

A homeowner in the area provided FOX21 with this photograph of visitors at The Pumpkin Patch.

The El Paso County Planning Review Manager, Justin Kilgore, outlined how the pumpkin patch was brought to the County’s attention.

“The first code enforcement complaint that the department received was September 30th of 2019, and it was the traffic volume, noise, speeding, safety, kind of thing,” Kilgore said. “However, some of these complaints, they happened and then they go out and take a look and then the patch was only open for the fall, so they would close it down there was no need to address the code enforcement action or take further enforcement action there.”

In response to the uptick in traffic, Chapman shared how the farm was flourishing each season and he would apply for a special use permit.

“We had worked with the county on getting agritainment approval beforehand,” Chapman said. “There’s a couple of those details that got kind of misunderstood and so going forward, the county provides a way for you to fix those things through a special use.”

According to Kilgore, the farm was informed of this notice of violation on September 16, 2022.

“They met the agritainment to start off with, but once they started growing, they went over their 50,” Kilgore said. “So they needed a special use because it was a proposed agritainment use which does not comply with the provisions of the section shall require special use approval so that that’s the portion they didn’t meet.”

The Colorado Pumpkin Patch requested a special use permit which would allow 325 cars on the property, previously it was 50 cars.

On September 14, the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners heard from community members regarding the special use permit.

“The special use permit got approved by the board action on September 14th, this last board,” Kilgore said. “That gave them the allowance for the 325 cars. So that’s what the actual request was for, the violation. So there was a lot of people on both sides that were talking about, you know, this is great for the children and stuff like that. So, we actually work to get applicants through the process and to get them to a package where they can get approved.”

The Pumpkin Patch can continue to run its business this fall now permitted with more cars on the property.

“We were approved to get the special use, so we’re approved up to 325 cars,” Chapman said. “So this kind of property in those 40 acres, we’re not in an HOA that’s important to note.”

The pumpkin patch has several improvements underway to accommodate the needs of the neighborhood.

“Some of that’s on-site and some of its offsite,” Chapman said. The offsite part is the expensive part that’s tabled right now while they are looking into the 105 option. The onsite is the dust mitigation with the gravel and also we’re going to be doing some fencing for some sound protection with the neighbors. So, it’s kids playing, not a lot, not really loud, but anyway, it’ll soften some of that noise going to the neighbors’ yards.”

Chapman is hopeful of another option for improvements which would be an entrance to the farm directly off Highway 105.

“We are also trying to get access to 105, we’re still pushing for that,” Chapman said. “We’re asking for that and that really takes all of the traffic out of the community, which is what we prefer.”

Austin shared her thoughts in response to the farm gaining an entrance from Highway 105.

“I think would be a really nice middle ground,” Austin said. “It still leaves it in the middle of our neighborhood. So, people that line it on the back side unfortunately are still surrounded by a lot of people there but that would be a reasonable place to be.

Kilgore expressed he thinks this measure will be addressed in the future.

“I think they’ll probably resubmit for a deviation, based on the information that they received and input that they received at the Planning Commission in the board meeting,” said Kilgore.