The Fairway Club Owners Association’s (FCOA) “Articles of Incorporation and Declaration” were written in 1971 by Fred Steffens, Keith Willoughby, and Sam Lowe. The property is bounded on the east by the Estes Park Golf Course, the west by Highway 7 (South St. Vrain Avenue), on the north by Golf Course Road, and on the south by what used to be the Miles Cottages.
The first two buildings constructed were Buildings A and B (renamed Ash and Bristlecone Pine in 1991). Building C (Cypress) was added in 1973. PHIL-COL, Inc., owned by Fred Steffens and family, controlled and operated FCOA from 1971 – 1975. PHIL-COL, Inc. owned all courtyard furniture, picnic tables, and outside maintenance equipment and leased these to FCOA for $300.00 a year in the early years.
The Town of Estes Park and the Public Service Company supplied the utilities for FCOA. Like many developments in their early years, Fairway Club faced some logistical and structural challenges. One of these struggles involved sewage disposal. The nearest sewer line ran along Highway 7 but did not extend into the golf club area or into Fairway Club. A pumping station was installed on the northeast side of Fairway Club (approximately where Aspen Building [1130 Fairway Club Circle] is located) to pump the sewage to the main line on Highway 7. PHIL-COL, Inc. owned the pumping station and all sewer lines, but FCOA paid for the pumping station’s operation and maintenance. The conflict between the ownership of the pumping station and its maintenance by FCOA led to multiple problems in the first years of the Fairway Club neighborhood.
FCOA added Buildings D and G (Douglas Fir [1120 Fairway Club Circle] and Gambrel Oak [1111 Fairway Club Circle]) in 1977. Like the previous units, these buildings’ sewage drained into the pumping station which then propelled the sewage to the sewer line along Highway 7. Frequent pump failures led to sewage backups and mounting costs for Fairway Club. A final pump failure in 1977 resulted in raw sewage spilling out onto the Estes Park Golf Course. This led to the FCOA Board’s vote to connect Fairway Club sewage lines to the newly installed Upper Thompson Sewer District mainline running along the west side of the Golf Course.
PHIL-COL, Inc. refused to provide the Board a layout of underground utility lines, prompting FCOA to begin an excavating exploration project to find the location of utility lines along and near the property. PHIL-COL, Inc. sued Fairway Club for trespassing. The court initially found FCOA guilty of trespassing and fined Fairway Club $1.00 plus court costs. Upon appeal, the verdict was overturned, and Fairway Club pursued and completed the sewer hook-ups to the Upper Thompson Sewer District mainline. Fairway Club owners paid for the legal costs, excavation costs, and sewer hook-ups through a special assessment; all costs were paid in full by 1982.
Fairway Club’s relationship with PHIL-COL, Inc. continued to be tense in the following few years. An additional point of conflict arose when Fred Steffens placed a four-apartment prefabricated housing unit on the northwest corner of the upper Fairway Club Circle. The unit was originally destined for a lot near Estes Park Hospital, but Town zoning laws prohibited the placement of the apartment building in the hospital neighborhood. When the building arrived in Estes Park, PHIL-COL, Inc. placed the unit on a hastily built foundation without the consent of the FCOA Board of Directors or members. This unit became the G Building of Fairway Club.
After a contentious annual meeting in August 1977, Fred Steffens sold the undeveloped parts of Fairway Club to the B and L Corporation (Brown and Lord Corporation). FCOA purchased the lawn furniture, hoses, tools, ladders, and other materials that the neighborhood had been leasing from PHIL-COL, Inc., and cut all ties with PHIL-COL, Inc. and Fred Steffens.