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A Colorado space engineer who is desperate to nix a construction project near his home has claiming that his property is built next to a Native American burial site. Richard Finney, a spacecraft engineer, lives on the western border of a plot in picturesque North Turkey Creek, Colorado, where developers are planning to build three new houses. Contractors Damien Davis and Ken Hoyt have proposed turning 30 undeveloped acres of woodland into the 10-acre home lots. But Finney, who is currently the lead designer at Moog Space and Defense Group and has previously worked at defense giant Lockheed Martin, has been making waves in his small town through his efforts to stop the construction. Last month, Finney lost a legal case against Davis and Hoyt that led a judge to order him to pay $88,000 in attorney fees. Finney followed that by suing the pair again one week later. In his second suit, Finney claimed that Colorado's state archaeologist Holly Norton ruled that there was 'support for an indigenous person’s burial site' when she researched the plot. The allegation is yet to be heard in court, but the filing was quickly slated by the developers and by Norton herself, who admitted her own work on the plot 'had been pretty minimal'. Dylan Woods, a lawyer for the prospective developers, told the Business Den that Finney's lawsuit 'is as meritless as Mr. Finney’s other actions taken against my client and this project'. 'We’re confident the district court will approve the Board of County Commissioners’ decision in due course,' he added. Finney reportedly fumed after county officials told him they could not pause the development without a judge's order, leading him to launch his latest lawsuit. 'Once development begins, environmental damage and loss of historical artifacts cannot be undone, property boundary markers may be permanently altered, and historical, archaeological and paleontological resources will be lost,' the filings state. Norton said that she had not visited the site in person and only investigated public records. She added that while her work trying to find the Native American burial plot was not extensive, she had heard several locals say it existed. 'I will tell you, honestly, we get a lot of folks who reach out and sometimes it feels like people are looking for an excuse to stop a development that they don’t like. In this case, the neighbors were actually concerned,' she said. 'Several families in this neighborhood have this oral history of there being a burial on this parcel and on this property.' Norton stressed that her role was only advisory and she did not take a position on the development of the homes, but that Finney's claims could have merit. 'Given the landform, I think that there could potentially be an archaeological site or a burial,' she said. 'That is information I conveyed back to the county for them to consider as they see appropriate in their deliberations. That is the extent of my involvement.' She added to the Den: 'You asked what me and my team found. We didn’t find anything. We just saw an area where there is the potential for archaeological sites.' The Ute, Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes historically ruled over the North Turkey Creek area of Colorado but it is not clear who the alleged burial site is thought to belong to. Finney's lawsuit is set to go before a judge, with a court previously ruling on October 30 that a hearing on the development would be held after he served the filing to the developers. Finney is also suing Jefferson County planners and commissioners for approving the development by his home. The Daily Mail has contacted Jefferson County and Finney for comment. It comes after a town in Long Island was exposed for fabricating a 'fake grandmother' in their objections to the expansion of a local mosque. The town of Oyster Bay initially objected to the plans for Masjid Al-Baqi mosque by claiming an elderly resident testified at a public meeting that she couldn't drive down her street due to heavy traffic from the existing mosque. However, the deception was uncovered and the proposals were recently given the greenlight.
