Lynn Parker defends his business move to farm west of Wellington

In a friendly style meeting with Larimer County Commissioner Tom Donnelly at the T-Bar Inn on Oct. 2, the conversation quickly turned to the topic of Lynn Parker, who has been moving structures and equipment to a leased property west of Wellington. Parker owns Parker Construction and his company repairs and maintains irrigation equipment and structures for several Northern Colorado irrigation companies.

Complaints to Larimer County about the number and types of unsightly structures being moved to the site have prompted the county to review whether or not Parker’s business use is compatible with the agriculture use designated for the property.

The topic of his property seems to be a recurring one at Wellington town meetings, but the tone at Donnelly’s meeting (he was substituting for Commissioner Lew Gaiter III) was much different than it was at the Sept. 23 Wellington Town Board meeting.

Parker was in attendance at the Oct. 2 meeting at the T-Bar, as well as his neighbor Kimberly Schug, who was the first to bring up the property for discussion. She said she wanted to make sure the conversations going on about Parker were not one sided and that there was a more balanced view out there.

Parker said that before he made the final decision to move himself and his business to the leased 160 acre farm off Highway 1 west of Wellington, he met with several officials in the town to explain what he would be doing and said that he was welcomed.

“I was not looking to come in unwelcome or uninvited,” Parker said.

Donnelly reminded the small crowd that there are rules and that everyone has to follow the same rules, which Parker is trying to do.

“There is no nice guy exception, but I believe that he is a nice guy and he will keep his word,” Donnelly said.

Parker is in the process of filing all the required paperwork with the county, and said that he has no complaints about the process.

Schug felt as though some prominent people could have spoken more professionally about the issue and that other people that spoke about it most likely don’t even know Parker.

“Behind every issue there are people just like us — they want to sleep well at night,” she said.

Schug encouraged people to come together and talk so it is a win-win situation for everyone.

“If anyone has a problem with what I’m doing, call me. You are more than welcome to come out and look around, but people driving in and out is scaring my wife,” Parker said. “I want to be a good neighbor.”