There’s plenty of empty land in the Sterling Ranch development in Douglas County. But there’s no shortage of people who live there, ready to argue about what deserves to be on it.

Before the Douglas County Land Commission, the developers behind Sterling Ranch successfully took back some of the land they had promised to Douglas County Schools to build future schools – in order to give it to the John Adams Academy charter school.

“How long has the district had the opportunity to put a district school in Sterling Ranch?” Commissioner Abe Laydon asked.

The school site was dedicated in 2015, about nine years before Tuesday’s pre-Thanksgiving meeting.

The Sterling Ranch development in Douglas County was approved 12 years ago, though. Part of that approval required the developer to set aside land for the Douglas County School District to build future schools.

But the developer sought approval for Amendment 13 from Douglas County’s Land Board. The amendment will allow a charter school to take some of the land and count it as fulfilling the obligation to build out the schools.

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