WELCOME TO SUBURBIA SOUTH FORK-STYLE.

• Author: TITUS, STEPHEN
• Position: Brief Article

A thought keeps coming to mind A during the drive to see a major new housing development in South Fork, Colo.: "Wow, this place is far away."

Lying about halfway between Durango and Walsenburg along U.S. Highway 160, and about three hours from a major airport, in Colorado Springs, South Fork is Colorado's middle of nowhere. But that hasn't stopped Colorado Springs-based Land Properties Inc. from turning 4,000 rural acres into a $6 million golf course, plus 900 home sites and miniranches. While projects like it are not unusual, it is the first of its kind in this lightly populated valley best known for ranching, farming and some spectacular natural beauty.

"That's what people want," said Land Properties spokeswoman Kimberly Fletcher of the area's isolation. "We end up with people from Vail that wanted seclusion. They don't want to reach out and touch their neighbors." The locals don't want to touch their neighbors, either, and some say they are concerned the town's funky outback appeal will disappear when the population triples.

Incorporated in 1992, South Fork could be a metaphor for seclusion. The town has one grocery store that also supports an impressive inventory of hunting and fishing gear. There are three restaurants, one open just six months, and one gas station, which also is the grocery store. A few signs hint that Wolf Creek Ski Resort is just a few minutes south, and a welcome sign says South Fork is Colorado's best-kept secret.

The town snuggles against the mountains and the Rio Grande National Forest. Travel just a few miles east and the landscape opens to a wide valley shedding the cozy alpine feel. In 1996, Land Properties purchased virtually all of the buildable land in the mountains around South Fork. In the past three years it has turned the town of 1,200 hunters, fishermen, ranchers and small-business owners into a vacation mecca for part-time residents and retirees.

"I just see South Fork exploding," said Thressia Philbern, owner of the Blue Creek Lodge, just outside South Fork. "One part of you (likes it), one part of you doesn't. I just don't know if South Fork is ready for it."

For 24 years Philburn has watched more and more homes grow out of the banks of the Rio Grande River, replacing the elk she used to feed. But county commissioners and several other business owners think the town is ready, Vern Rominger, chairman of the Rio Grande County Commissioners, said a development of this kind has been on the horizon for...