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This Colorado woman is locked in a zoning war with the county over her ‘dream’ $150K greenhouse — but is the planning department guilty of ‘overreach’?

Virginia Loop is not giving up her 3,000 square-foot greenhouse without a fight.

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The Colorado-based Loop, who lives along Moss Rock Court on the northwest side of Divide, recently told KOAA News5 why she believes she doesn’t need a permit for the structure she has sunk more than $150,000 into.

‘I’m not giving up on my dream’

So, what happened?

In June 2024, Loop says a code enforcement officer showed up while she was excavating her property to install a greenhouse kit.

She says she told the officer she didn’t need a permit thanks to an exemption in the building code for agricultural structures. She sent him an email citing Colorado’s Farm Stand Act passed in 2019. She told Agweb the officer gave her a green light, "but said I’d need to get a permit for the electricity when I put in electricity."

Believing the matter was dealt with, she continued to construct the greenhouse and only got a permit for the electrical installations in May this year.

Unfortunately for Loop, soon after she was slapped with a stop-work order. It wasn’t for the electrical setup, but for constructing the greenhouse itself without a permit.

“I went to the planning and building department to file an appeal,” Loop told KOAA News5. “I brought the email from the code enforcement, and they said I needed to talk to the director. They pulled the first stop-work order so I could finish the electricity. We put $15,000 more electricity in the building. And then when that got inspected, they gave me another stop work order.”

Loop says she was building the greenhouse to grow produce for her neighbors and for her sons to sell at local farmers’ markets. She says the county is overstepping.

“I’m not giving up on my dream,” she said to KOAA News5. “It’s not just for my greenhouse. It’s for the rights of every person in Teller County. We have 27,000 residents in this county, and what I’ve experienced at your building and planning department is nothing but overreach and a bully.”

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What do the authorities say?

KOAA News5 obtained the official letter sent to Loop from the Teller County Administrator, which lays out the county’s position including the following:

  • The property is located in a residential zoning district; a commercial greenhouse is not allowed.
  • The greenhouse doesn’t qualify as a home occupation.
  • The property is classified as residential by the Teller County Assessor, which disqualifies it from the agricultural exemption from building permits.
  • The well is residential and may not be used for irrigation or commercial agriculture.

Had Loop sought a permit from the County Building Department, the county argues, “they would have learned that the size of their greenhouse far exceeds what might have been allowed and would have likely learned of the other problems/prohibitions on operating a commercial operation in her residential development in the R-1 zone.”

Loop says the Colorado Farm Stand Act supports her cause. According to the Act, a farm stand is defined as “a temporary or permanent structure used for the sale and display of agricultural products resulting from agricultural operations that are conducted on the principal use site on which the farm stand is located.”

Teller County officials disagree, writing to KOAA News5 that the Act “does not apply because her commercial greenhouse does not meet the definition of a ‘farm stand’ in CRS 29-[31]-102(2).”

But Loop isn’t budging. She told AgWeb, “my greenhouse is a dual farm stand — a place to sell and grow, and I’m protected by this very state law.”

The county’s letter laid out the next steps, instructing Loop to cease all commercial activity related to the greenhouse, remove the unpermitted structure and resolve water usage issues with the Colorado Division of Water Resources.

Loop says water isn’t an issue and that she trucks it in from a water fill station, not her residential well.

While no legal action has been taken yet, the county’s letter dated July 3 warns, “You should be aware that if you fail or refuse to correct the violations, the County could take formal legal action against you to correct the violations.”

Loop is gearing up for a legal and public battle.

Beyond zoning battles and legal gray areas lies a bigger issue: the sunk cost trap, and it could cost Loop everything.

Avoid the sunk cost trap

Loop’s situation is a textbook example of sunk cost, a financial principle where people continue to invest in a project simply because they’ve already sunk a big chunk of change into it.

Despite repeated county warnings and legal risk, Loop is holding her ground, but dreams typically can’t override local land use codes.

Demolishing the greenhouse would be costly. Combined with the initial investment and legal fees, the total loss could be in the hundreds of thousands.

Loop’s biggest mistake may not be building the greenhouse, but it could have been building before fully ensuring zoning and compliance.

If she’d applied through the proper channels for permits early on, her structure likely would’ve been denied.

If Loop wants to salvage her investment or prevent a total wipeout, she could consider quickly pivoting. She could sell her current property to fund relocation to an area with proper zoning.

If she wants to continue her dream of growing and selling food, she could figure out what is financially feasible for her and consider leasing greenhouse space or partnering with existing farms and agricultural cooperatives. This could offer lower capital risk, with direct access to existing markets.

Every month Loop spends fighting rather than selling is another month of sunk revenue. And if the county forces demolition, the entire $150,000 investment and anything else she’s poured into it may evaporate.

The best course of action if you’re in a similar situation is to get legal and zoning clarity before you invest. And if you hit a wall, run the numbers. Sometimes the smartest move is not to fight harder, but to pivot smarter.

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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.