Proposed rail district map drops Castle Rock, Lone Tree, Monument

Castle Rock, Lone Tree and Monument would be carved out of the Front Range Passenger Rail District under a new map that would narrow the tax base to communities most directly served by the line. The change would spare those towns from helping pay for a possible sales tax while also leaving their residents without a seat in the vote that could finance rail service from Fort Collins to Pueblo.

The district was created in 2021 under SB21-238 to plan, design, finance, construct, operate and maintain an interconnected passenger rail system along the Interstate 25 corridor. Its current footprint has been described as the largest special taxing district in Colorado, stretching across all or part of 13 counties between Wyoming and New Mexico. The district’s website says the initial service vision runs from Fort Collins through Denver and south to Pueblo, with long-term connections toward Wyoming and New Mexico, and says the first train could be operational within the decade.

Senate Bill 26-172, introduced April 20, 2026, would sharply redraw that footprint. The bill would align the district with municipalities and metro districts most directly served by the route, let local governments opt in, require board members appointed on or after July 1, 2026 to live inside the district, and allow the board to create subdistricts. It would also require district elections to be held alongside statewide general or coordinated elections and put ballot notices in the Colorado Blue Book. A fiscal note dated April 24 projected $44,593 in state revenue and expenditures in fiscal 2026-27 for Blue Book publication costs.

District general manager Sal Pace told lawmakers the narrower map would keep a relatively low tax rate while preserving a strong enough tax base to fund the service. Colorado Newsline reported the redrawn district would fall from 4.4 million residents to 2.6 million, a drop of about 40 percent, and would leave voters in 30 municipalities eligible for a sales-tax vote later this year.

That distinction matters in Douglas County, where the county’s own July 29, 2025 transit study said Castle Pines, Castle Rock, Highlands Ranch, Lone Tree and Parker are the urban and suburban areas most studied for transit. The county also said many communities are underserved by RTD and lack dedicated, reliable connections to RTD rail and bus service, while more rural parts of the county may not support the same level of transit in the near term.

If Castle Rock and Lone Tree stay out, their residents avoid the new tax and the obligations of a regional rail district, but they also lose direct influence over a project that could shape station placement, schedules and future access for decades. If they were included, they would help pay for the system and could share in the benefits. Colorado Springs, for example, is projected to receive about $80 million for transportation, street and station-area improvements, with a station area near America the Beautiful Park and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum before 2031.