Matt Mayberry, director of the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, and Katharine Lee Bates, the poet and writer who authored “America the Beautiful” more than 130 years ago, have something in common.

Both can see Pikes Peak thanks to a controversy more than two decades ago over the then-proposed expansion of the El Paso County courthouse at Tejon Street and Vermijo Avenue and its potential impact on views from the museum grounds.

It became one of the more contentious disputes in recent years over views — underscoring the value that Colorado Springs residents place on mountain scenery.

At issue was a proposal in 2002 by El Paso County officials to build a seven-story addition to the courthouse that would have blocked the view of Pikes Peak from the west lawn of the Pioneers Museum.

That same year, a life-sized, bronze sculpture of Bates — looking west toward the mountain — had been dedicated on the museum’s west lawn. While teaching at Colorado College in summer 1893, Bates visited Pikes Peak and was so inspired by the scenic surroundings that she penned the words to “America the Beautiful.”

On the one hand, some residents objected to the cost of the courthouse expansion. But several residents also argued the expanded courthouse would obstruct the view of Pikes Peak from the museum and the Bates statue.

Eventually, the courthouse addition was redesigned, and the view of Pikes Peak from the museum was preserved.

“I like the design of the building just across the street from us now,” Mayberry, who was the museum’s director at the time, said of the courthouse’s eventual look. “And the way the glass front of the building reflects our building. I think it’s a nice design. I don’t know if we ever saw any sort of a formal design on the higher, taller (courthouse). I don’t know what that would have looked like. I’m certainly used to what we see now, and I do appreciate that I can see the mountain.”

Still, the courthouse expansion and its potential to block views triggered a fierce debate.

By September 2003, the City Council found itself considering a view-protection ordinance that would have barred any building from blocking the view of the top 7,300 feet of Pikes Peak as seen from the museum.

Supporters of the ordinance argued mountain views, including those from downtown, were part of the city’s identity and needed to be protected; opponents said museum views were not a right and preventing development because of concerns over sightlines would trample property rights.

The City Council, however, overwhelmingly rejected the ordinance.

While one councilman at the time argued that views were essential in Colorado Springs, another said the view-preservation proposal was an overreaction and amounted to an anti-building measure.

Though the City Council didn’t enact the ordinance, many residents greatly appreciated the courthouse redesign and preservation of the view from the museum to Pikes Peak, Mayberry said.

“There are people who, to this day, point out the fact that the view was preserved and they take pride in that effort because they were part of the campaign to try to stop that construction,” he said.