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Tri-Lakes enjoys pushing and pulling!

Below: Jane and Greg Jznik and their kids enjoy a beautiful day at the Gleneagle Spirit 5K Run/Walk for Fun May 19. Photo by Jim Kendrick

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Below: Jim Marion’s 1937 John Deere A at the antique tractor pull at Monument Lake May 20. Photo by JoAnn McNabb

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Triview Manager leaving

Below: Triview Manager Ron Simpson. Photo by Elizabeth Hacker

Triview Metropolitan District manager Ron Simpson announced at the May board meeting that he would be leaving the district at the end of August. He submitted his 90-day notice and said he had been offered an opportunity too good to pass up. He told the board that while he had enjoyed his 25 years at Triview, he was looking forward to his role as a consultant/project manager on small- to medium-scale projects that will offer him an equity-share of the action.

Simpson has worked as a certified planner, designer, and manager in Colorado for more than 35 years and in northern El Paso County for 30 years. After graduating with a degree in landscape architecture from Iowa State University in 1972, Simpson and his wife Suzanne moved to Pueblo where Simpson worked for the Pueblo Regional Planning Commission. He then moved to Colorado Springs to work in the El Paso County Planning Department, where he worked his way up to assistant director. It was here that he met Vernon Walters and became a consulting partner for the developer most responsible for establishing Triview, which, according to Simpson, was originally called Trilands.

Triview Metropolitan District, established in 1985, provides water, wastewater and drainage services, roads, traffic control, lighting, signage, parks and recreation, and landscaping within Jackson Creek. Simpson remembers the rough times of establishing the service district in the early 1980s when interest rates hovered around 20 percent, and the difficulty in securing financing and developers to commit after the savings-and-loan debacle of the early ‘90s. Through it all, Simpson persevered and is proud of his role in establishing and managing Triview.

Currently, Triview is a rapidly growing district of 1,660 acres, with planned expansion of 60 percent. It serves approximately 1,000 residential units and 200,000 square feet of commercial uses, with an additional 300,000 square feet of commercial currently under construction.

Simpson told OCN there is never a good time to leave a job like his and that he wished he could have accomplished more during his tenure with Triview, noting the need for securing a bigger commercial tax base and identifying and purchasing alternative sources of water. Simpson acknowledged the complexities of these issues and noted that it may take many years to address them in a way that will best serve the community. He stated that while he will not be at Triview’s helm to address these issues, he felt confident that the board would find the right person to succeed him and continue its mission.

Simpson said he had planned to resign two years ago if Wal-Mart had been approved at the original Baptist Road location, but because of the delay due to the store’s location change, he felt compelled to see it through until construction was under way. He said Triview would immediately begin to advertise his position so he could spend a few weeks training his successor.

Simpson noted that his new duties will require him to travel to projects in the central Western states and that he hopes this will give him an opportunity to visit his son and his two grandchildren in Utah.

Monument approves Home Place Ranch annexation

On May 15, the Monument Board of Trustees (BOT) approved annexation of the 431-acre Home Place Ranch parcel on the south side of Higby Road, between the Remington Hills and Higby Estates developments, as well as a request to rezone the annexed parcel to planned development (PD) and a proposed PD sketch plan that defined the maximum density allowed as 990 dwelling units.

Approvals of the 15-lot Meadows at Monument Lake development on Monument Lake Road, east of the Raspberry Point townhouses, included: rezoning from R-3 to PD, preliminary plat, and final PD site plan.

The board also approved the third amended final PD site plan for Monument Marketplace.

Michael and Joshua Nielson of Boy Scout Troop 524 led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Mayor Byron Glenn announced that the BOT meeting on June 19 would be held at Creekside Middle School and will include a community meeting on three separate but integrated road improvement projects to improve access to town and adjacent county areas on the east side of I-25. County Commissioner Wayne Williams, who is also the current chair of the Baptist Road Rural Transportation Authority (BRRTA), will attend this "town hall" meeting to join BRRTA members Glenn and Monument Trustee Dave Mertz in presenting information and answering questions about an ambitious program of integrated road construction. Funding for the initial phase of improvements will come from BRRTA, Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority (PPRTA), and, now, from the county’s Department of Transportation.

The current proposals are:

Baptist and Struthers Road improvement: Baptist Road is a county road that will be widened, regraded, and repaved from the eastern edge of the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) I-25 property at the Baptist Road interchange eastward to Desiree Drive. Widening of Baptist between Desiree and Tari Drive is not part of this construction project but may be part of a future BRRTA-PPRTA improvement project. The existing four-lane portion of Struthers Road that begins at the intersection with Northgate Road will be extended northward to connect with the intersection of Baptist Road and Jackson Creek Parkway. The existing two-lane Struthers frontage road south of Baptist Road will be abandoned. Both are also county roads. While Glenn and Mertz are on the BRRTA board, the BOT voted not to participate in PPRTA and Monument is not a participant in this joint construction contract.

Monument road improvements: The town of Monument is coordinating three other road improvements that will be administered by Triview Metropolitan District:

Funding for these three improvements is planned to come from road construction bonds that will be issued by three separate new road improvement special districts for each of the new proposed Home Place Ranch, Promontory Pointe, and Sanctuary Pointe developments. Sanctuary Pointe, formerly the Baptist Church Camp, has not been annexed yet, but the application was referred to the Planning Commission later in this meeting.

Each of these three separate special districts will sign intergovernmental agreements with Triview and the town. The road districts will give Triview the tax revenue raised by a mill levy on each home to pay for the expansions of these roads. The three independent mill levies as well as the specific funding percentages provided by each new special district for each of these three town road improvement projects have not been determined.

Baptist Road Interchange expansion: Also to be discussed is BRRTA’s plan for early improvement of the CDOT Baptist Road I-25 interchange by issuing privately financed road construction bonds that will be paid off by CDOT sometime in the future. Interest payments will be made until then by a public improvement fee (PIF) or a BRRTA sales tax. The PIF would be a voluntary fee collected by some BRRTA retail stores, though Home Depot, Wal-Mart, and Kohl’s have already refused to participate. The sales tax, which could be no more than 1 percent, would have to be initiated by a BRRTA ballot question.

If the Exit 158 interchange was improved by this private financing method at the same time Baptist Road is widened west of the Jackson Creek Parkway intersection using PPRTA funds, at least $1 million in temporary road construction costs could be avoided. The grade of the new bridge over I-25 will be 7.5 feet higher than the existing two-lane bridge. If not replaced this coming year, the new temporary Baptist Road paving to the existing bridge and northbound ramps would have to be demolished to raise the road to the new bridge and ramps when the interchange is expanded using CDOT funds sometime between 2012 and 2019. (See BRRTA article on page 10 for related news.)

Glenn also said the Public Works Department plans to complete several town park projects by July 4. Town staff will be working on obtaining renewed Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments funding for senior transportation from Silver Key.

Glenn announced that the board had established the following top budget priorities for the next 18 months at its retreat on May 6:

1. Baptist Road and the I-25 interchange improvements

2. Upgrade of the town’s water system

3. Construction of a new Town Hall facility

4. Third Street improvements from Beacon Lite to Front Street.

Trustee Tommie Plank announced this year’s Art Hop would begin on the evening of May 18 and continue on the third Thursday of the month through Oct. 19, with downtown stores staying open until about 8 p.m. She also reported that the summer concert series at Limbach Park will start this year on July 5 and be held each Wednesday night until Aug. 2.

Town Manager Cathy Green discussed her proposed referral of three annexation petitions to the Planning Commission that were submitted to the town by Douglas Stimple of Classic Homes for this project east of Home Place Ranch and north of Fox Run. Classic Homes has created a company called Baptist Road Investments for this project.

Very little of the Sanctuary Pointe parcel is contiguous with the town of Monument, far less than the state’s statutory requirement that one-sixth of the perimeter of the property to be annexed must be contiguous with the town’s boundary. The Sanctuary Pointe property will be split into three pieces called "additions" to avoid this otherwise disqualifying prohibition. Each of the three additions will be annexed in turn so that each can meet the "one-sixth contiguity" requirement for legal annexation.

Addition 1, the westernmost portion, is the smallest of the three and the only addition that is actually contiguous with the new eastern town boundary just created by the recent annexations of the Home Place Ranch and Promontory Pointe properties. The Addition 1 perimeter is small enough so that the common boundary with the eastern boundaries of Home Place Ranch and Promontory Pointe is more than one-sixth of its tiny perimeter.

Addition 2, which is not contiguous with the town, is configured to have at least one-sixth of its boundary contiguous with Addition 1. Once Addition 1 is annexed, Addition 2 to the east will be considered for annexation because it will have become contiguous with the just-created new eastern town boundary on the east side of Addition 1.

Addition 3, which is also not contiguous with the town, is configured to have at least one-sixth of its boundary contiguous with Addition 2. Once Addition 2 is annexed, Addition 3 to the east will be considered for annexation.

Each of the three Sanctuary Pointe addition annexation requests will be separate agenda items requiring separate annexation applications and separate artificially constructed votes by the Planning Commission and then the Board of Trustees to avoid the contiguity constraint.

The board unanimously approved referring each of the three annexation requests to the Planning Commission for hearings on June 14.

The board held a public hearing on a resolution that stated that the Home Place Ranch annexation request had been found to be in "substantial compliance with State Statutes for Annexation" that require:

Green reported that the financial impact on the town was slight because the town would only have to provide police and administrative review services to Home Place Ranch. There is no other financial impact to the town because Triview will provide all other municipal services to this annexation. "The ability to control the development and collect road improvement fees will be of greater benefit to the Town," she said.

The board unanimously approved the resolution.

Director of Development Services Tom Kassawara reported that the developer of Santa Fe Trails, Front Range Interests, Inc., had not performed all the tasks required of him as a condition of town approval for this subdivision prior to getting a release form signed by the former town planner. The cost for the remaining required improvements—installation of a street light at the entrance of the subdivision, raising the berm another 6 inches at the edge of the detention pond on the southwest corner of the development, and cleaning out the bottom of the pond—was negotiated at $18,950. This developer has agreed to pay the town to have the work done by a contractor rather than do it himself. After payment, the developer would be released from any further obligations by the town per an "Agreement and Release" of May 4. In response to a question by Trustee Travis Easton, Kassawara said he will have an engineering consultant verify that the proposed changes to the existing pond installation are correct and appropriate to solving the problems. Kassawara said the development’s HOA could not maintain the detention ponds as required by the agreements. Glenn asked about the financial responsibility of the developer’s professional engineer of record who had incorrectly signed off the work as being completed. He also asked Kassawara to file a complaint with the State Board of Engineers.

Trustee Gail Drumm said that the detention pond at the north end of Santa Fe Trails should be inspected again because when filled to the 100-year flood level, it had flooded basements of nearby homes. He added that the engineering analysis performed on the ponds by former Town Engineer Tony Hurst should be reviewed and assessed by another engineer at the developer’s expense.

Kassawara replied that the developer’s engineer of record on the project was "a guy who worked out of his car." When contacted about the discrepancies, the engineer had refused to accept any responsibility and he said, "Sue me, I don’t have anything anyway. I have a computer and a car and I don’t have anything else." Town Attorney Gary Shupp said the settlement amount was all the town would get because the developer had built the installed detention pond to his engineer’s specifications. He added that if the professional engineer’s license number could be found, then the town could report the discrepancies to state licensing officials.

Trustee Steve Samuels said that Kassawara had negotiated the best possible voluntary settlement from the developer and learned a valuable lesson about the inability of an HOA to maintain critical drainage and storm-water infrastructure. The resolution to accept the settlement passed unanimously.

Kassawara presented his three separate reports on the request for rezoning from R-3 to PD, the preliminary plat, and the final PD site plan for the development before the three separate public hearings. Justin Tabone of Delford, Inc. was seeking approval of all three proposals for his 15-unit 3.9 acre townhome development.

The average lot size is about 3,200 square feet and the smallest proposed lot is 2,855 square feet. The minimum lot size for R-3 is 3,630 square feet. Tabone asked for PD zoning with a minimum lot size of 2,800 square feet and offered considerable compensating open space behind all 15 lots. Each house will have its own lot to make financing more straightforward.

While the rear setbacks on the lots would only be 5 feet, the actual distances between the rear of each house and the development’s east and west boundaries would more than meet the 25-foot R-3 rear setback requirement. The dedicated open space behind many of the houses is steeply sloped and cannot be used for park space, which also requires a specific PD waiver. A portion of the open space is in floodplain, which also requires a waiver from the Board of Trustees. The board has to approve this waiver because the town will receive no cash or useful park space; the assessed value of the dedicated open space for calculating a cash-in-lieu fee would be nil. Kassawara said this dedicated open space will require little if any maintenance and it would be better to let the HOA maintain it than the town’s Public Works Department.

Side setbacks were requested to be only 5 feet instead of the R-3 requirement for 10 feet, because a few houses would be closer than 20 feet to each other at angles that would produce an average side separation of more than 20 feet.

Front setbacks were requested to be only 20 feet instead of the R-3 requirement for 25 feet to allow for more open space to the rear. Driveways to the private cul-de-sac street would still provide for two parking places in addition to those in the two-car garages. On-street parking would be prohibited to ensure the ability to clear snow and provide emergency vehicle access.

During the public hearing Raspberry Point resident Judith Novak asked about drainage and preserving trees on the property. Kassawara said he would personally review and approve the drainage plans and Tabone would preserve as many trees as possible. He added that Tabone would also have to get a variety of permits from several agencies before he could begin construction.

In response to trustee questions Tabone and Kassawara noted that:

Drumm said he was opposed to any future construction on lots 11-13, even if Regional Building issues a LOMR to Tabone prior to issuing him the three building permits. He also said the town should never be under any potential obligation to have to maintain the open space, particularly in the floodplains.

Easton and Glenn asked that two conditions be added to the preliminary plat ordinance. They were a requirement that town staff review and approve all future drainage and water quality detention pond plans prior to construction and that a LOMR for each of the three lots has been issued by regional building prior to final staff administrative approval of the final plat.

The ordinances to authorize the rezoning of the property from R-3 to PD and the preliminary plat with the two conditions noted above both passed 6-1, with Drumm opposed to each.

The ordinance to authorize the final PD site plan, with four conditions, also passed 6-1, with Drumm opposed. The conditions for the final PD site plan were:

This amendment updated the plan with the most current information on final configurations of lots not yet built upon. It also allowed paint colors from alternative paint manufacturers to the few brands currently allowed in the shopping center’s PD design guidelines. A few subdued trademark colors for national chains that have recently purchased land—Village Inn and Kohl’s, for example—were also added to the permitted palette.

There are 49 more available parking spaces. Retail space has decreased from the 658,000 square feet originally approved in 2003 to 654,681 square feet.

Kassawara said this particular amendment was also an opportunity for the new town staff to "improve" some aspects of the design guidelines. He noted that Monument Marketplace Inc. project manager Rick Blevins had agreed to many of the recommended changes. Kassawara said that those he thought the BOT should consider adding, even though Blevins opposed them, were listed as proposed conditions to the amendment.

The staff’s list of proposed conditions was modified after the Planning Commission hearing on April 12. The new list included seven of the previous nine conditions:

Kassawara said that Shupp had suggested that the town adopt a town-wide ordinance that eliminates "overnight parking of trailers and recreational vehicles of all types" in all commercial parking lots rather than the condition previously proposed to the Planning Commission intended to prohibit it in the Wal-Mart parking lot of the Marketplace.

Shupp noted that there was no exception to the new public address system restrictions. Blevins noted that Wells Fargo Bank’s drive-through intercom wouldn’t be affected because it is an existing system. He added that no other bank is allowed in the Marketplace due to its agreement with Wells Fargo, so it shouldn’t be a problem.

Shupp also said there was no condition limiting the number of fast-food restaurants within the Marketplace.

Planning Commissioner Lowell Morgan said a book for RV owners lists all the Wal-Marts that are not allowed to permit overnight camping in their parking lots and that Monument could specifically prohibit overnight parking in the Wal-Mart lot if the board didn’t want to pass a townwide ordinance against parking.

Drumm said there was no problem with overnight RV parking at Wal-Mart because they couldn’t be seen from any nearby residences or the highway. They bring business to town when they stay over. Kassawara replied that they take up more than one parking space and when parked in groups they use up many spaces and are not being in character with the intent of the town’s design guidelines for the Marketplace.

Police Chief Jacob Shirk said that overnight sleeping at a highway rest stop or a Wal-Mart was a somewhat dangerous choice.

Plank, who initiated the board complaints about the choice of the spelling of the name "Rowdao," asked why the proposed condition put the financial burden on the town. Kassawara said the name had already been approved by the county enumerations and recorded. Blevins said that it is hard to get a street name approved for use within the county now that it is becoming more developed. The spelling "Rodeo" was no longer available from the enumerations office. Name changes are also more complicated than they might initially appear because they require changes in many government databases, particularly those for dispatch of emergency vehicles by 911 operators.

Plank was not satisfied and said that Rowdao is not a word. "Spelling Rowdao like that looks juvenile at best or uneducated and insulting and I don’t think the town of Monument should bear the expense of whoever made such a mistake. I will not approve the amendment."

Blevins suggested changing the name when the alignment of the new joint access is negotiated with the Timbers developer and becomes a public right-of-way. Currently Rowdao Drive is only an access easement owned by the developer. Blevins reiterated that he lacks the authority to agree to a name change for something he does not own. Plank suggested the name "Blevins-Rowdao Drive" for the future negotiations with the Timbers.

The proposed third amendment to the final PD site plan with the seven conditions proposed by Kassawara passed unanimously without any change to the seventh condition regarding changing the street name to something other than "Rowdao."

Trustee Easton, a civil engineer who works for Nolte and Associates, recused himself from the hearing because he is the engineer of record for developer HPR LLC on this project. The other six members of the board unanimously approved the annexation and PD zoning.

Green reported that the board had previously determined that the 431-acre development was in "substantial compliance with state statutes" regarding annexation. Her proposed ordinance would authorize the annexation and assign PD zoning to the parcel. "While police service and (land use) review services have an expense associated with them, the ability to control the development and collect road improvement fees will be of greater benefit to the Town." The Planning Commission unanimously approved the proposed annexation and PD zoning March 8. The annexation agreement has not been completed.

Home Place Ranch lies within "Priority Area #1: The Monument Urban Growth Area" of the town’s comprehensive plan. The Tri-Lakes Comprehensive Plan "acknowledges Monument’s expanding planning sphere of influence" and the likelihood that adjacent areas will become suburban rather than remain rural with municipal services provided by Triview. The Tri-Lakes plan also calls for a major north-south transportation corridor through this particular parcel as well as an east-west regional trail.

The single condition for the annexation and zoning ordinance was that "an Annexation Agreement is finalized and signed by all required parties."

PD sketch plan also approved: Easton remained recused for this hearing as well. The other six members of the board unanimously approved the sketch plan.

Green distributed an updated collection of written citizen comments on the proposed annexation and PD sketch plan. She also noted that a representative of the Woodmoor Improvement Association had visited Town Hall earlier in the day and asked that Fairplay Drive not be extended south of Higby into Home Place Ranch.

Green also noted that the sketch plan called for a gross density of not more than 2.3 dwelling units per acre. Most of the 990 proposed homes would be built in higher-density clusters with large open areas between them. The proposed gross density is lower than that of most adjacent and nearby residential developments. An elementary school will be built on 10 acres of land in the center of the parcel that have been dedicated to District 38. There are 4.3 miles of trails and 16 acres of parks proposed.

Land planners Linda Sweetman-King and Josh Rowland gave essentially the same comprehensive presentation on the project that they had presented to the Planning Commission in March. (This presentation has been reported in detail in previous editions of OCN. See page 23 of the April 1 edition or http://www.ourcommunitynews.org.)

Public comment: Robert Fisher spoke in favor of the proposals for the Homestead HOA. Homestead is the established Jackson Creek development adjacent to Home Place Ranch along the west side of its southern border. Fisher said that HPR LLC President Dale Turner had worked with his HOA to satisfy concerns about the proposed development regarding views, grading, adjacent lot sizes, variety of models, and drainage.

Higby Estates resident Pat Levarnick said he was representing the land use committee for NEPCO, a coalition of northern county HOAs. He said his group does not oppose the project but still has concerns with the density, water, schools, lowered adjacent property values, and the lack of any proposed road or traffic improvements on any of the county portions of Higby Road east to Roller Coaster Road.

Homestead resident Bonnie Cove asked the board to consider the collective impact on limited groundwater of all the town’s recent annexations and the thousands of new houses they were approving.

Colonial Park resident Erick Nelson expressed concerns about the doubling of traffic in both directions on Higby, which will likely overwhelm the currently proposed widening of Higby and Jackson Creek Parkway.

Triview District Manager Ron Simpson said that there would be no water problems for the annexations due to the construction of a new storage tank and treatment facility in Sanctuary Pointe. He said the Triview wells would tap the deeper Denver Basin aquifers and not contribute to the problems of county well owners who use the upper aquifers. He also said the Denver Basin is not in "dire straits."

Drumm disagreed with Simpson, saying Triview had never tapped the lowest Laramie-Fox Hills aquifer and may not have as much water as he thinks. Simpson countered that the district owns all the water in that aquifer and can use it later.

Simpson also suggested a condition of approval for annexation regarding the 35 percent of the parcel that is restricted as potential Preble’s mouse habitat. He said that if the mouse were de-listed, HPR LLC could not come back to the town and propose additional home construction in the areas that are currently restricted.

Board comment: Mertz, a strong advocate for small and regional parks within Triview, asked who would outfit the parks proposed for Home Place Ranch. Simpson said Triview outfits them when they can but has not supported pocket parks in recently approved Jackson Creek developments. Classic Homes donated the playground equipment opposite Creekside Middle School.

Later in the meeting, Turner agreed to the proposed restriction on future plat or site plan amendments if the mouse were de-listed. He also noted that the developer would provide playground equipment for Home Place Ranch pocket parks. The initially proposed neighborhood commercial area within the project had been abandoned when no interest could be developed through initial marketing and neighboring HOAs and residents raised complaints. A few small retail stores could be reviewed again prior to final site plan approval but they are difficult to market with Monument Marketplace so close by. Green said that the typical 7-Eleven store had a disproportionately high volume of traffic and need for parking. Night lighting was usually objectionable as well.

The board unanimously approved all seven expenditures over $5,000 and the new format for the quarterly financial summary for January through March. Treasurer Pamela Smith reported good progress on the 2005 audit.

Shupp reported that the District Court had thrown out the Transit Mix lawsuit against the town. There has been no word on appeal of that decision.

Kassawara gave a presentation on the five phases of the BRRTA improvements that will take about 19 months to complete. The details are given on page 12.

Public Works Director Rich Landreth reported that Forest Lakes Metropolitan District had begun re-drilling its well in the horse pasture on the south side of Baptist Road by the Old Denver Highway intersection.

The meeting adjourned at 9:42 p.m. The next meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. on June 5 at Town Hall, 166 Second St. Meetings are normally held on the first and third Monday of the month.

The Monument Planning Commission approved ordinances for 10 plats, though seven were retroactive ordinances for previously approved plats. The commissioners also approved three town replies to county referrals that each adjacent development proposal had no effect on the town. Commissioner Kathy Spence was absent. Alternate Commissioner Lowell Morgan took her place.

Filings 1-6: Director of Development Services Tom Kassawara reported that the application for the first six filings of Monument Marketplace was to correct a "procedural oversight" by former town staff "which allowed for administrative approval of plats." Monument Marketplace is located east of I-25 and north of Baptist Road, at the intersection of Leather Chaps and Jackson Creek Parkway.

The application was initiated by current staff, rather than developer Vision Development, Inc., "to retroactively process filings 1-6 through the Planning Commission and the Board of Trustees. In response to an inquiry from Town Staff, the Town Attorney has recently determined that the administrative approval of plats is not permitted under State statutes." In this particular case, filings 1-6 were administratively approved and the plat was recorded in 2003. "All future Marketplace plat applications will be heard by the Planning Commission and Board of Trustees." The six plats were unanimously approved without public comment, discussion, or conditions.

Filings 7 and 8: A new 1.42-acre filing on the northeast corner of the Marketplace for a new Village Inn Restaurant and a new 1.02-acre filing on the southeast corner of the Marketplace for a new 10,000-square-foot retail building were separately approved with the same condition: "Applicant must provide an analysis of water availability vs. demand prior to the Board of Trustees meeting." Kassawara noted that the site plans for the filings will be administratively reviewed and approved for compliance with the previously approved design guidelines and overall Marketplace Planned Development (PD) master plan. Vision Development Project Manager Rick Blevins reported that "infrastructure improvements internal to the Marketplace for Filing No. 7 are being constructed at this time in conjunction with site work development for Marketplace Filing No. 3, Wal-Mart Store." Both were approved unanimously, bringing the total gross retail space up to 654,681 square feet.

The commissioners also unanimously approved the plat for Filing 1 retroactively. The application was initiated by current staff rather than developer WED, LLC. The plat had been administratively approved and recorded in 2004. Kassawara noted that "all future Village Center plat applications will be heard by the Planning Commission and Board of Trustees." The Village Center development is located on the southeast corner of State Highway 105 and Knollwood Drive. Filing 1 is located at the south end of Knollwood and home construction in this portion of the development is nearing completion.

Villani Industrial Park replat approved: Villani Partnership, LLC submitted a plat replat request that subdivides its vacant 8.2-acre parcel at 730 Synthes Avenue into seven lots, ranging from 1.09 to 1.4 acres. The parcel is between Monument Rock office park to the north and the Ashton Industrial Park to the south on the east side of Synthes.

The application also requests that an existing 60-foot right-of-way be vacated for a planned street. There is an existing east-west dirt road between Synthes Avenue and the railroad tracks within this right-of-way. Kassawara noted that the town’s platted street right-of-way assumed that a bridge would be built over the railroad tracks. He also said that the town staff did not want open space in this parcel.

Kassawara proposed two conditions of approval:

Commissioner Tom Martin asked if there would be fences around the lots. Kassawara said no, but the railroad’s existing barbed-wire fence between the rear of the parcel and the tracks must remain in place. The property owner will move and replant trees on the lot.

The Villani plat was unanimously approved with the two conditions noted above.

Mitchell Avenue resident Steve Werth asked where Villani would place excess dirt during construction. He said the town had never required former Mayor Betty Konarski to "rehabilitate" the berm or plant the two rows of light-screening trees behind the Monument Rock office park that she had agreed to as a voluntary condition of approval for her development. He said that the berm was leveled and trees were taken from the town’s property between Synthes and Trumbull Lane and transplanted onto the Monument Rock property. All the excess dirt from the leveled berm had been dumped on the town’s adjacent property to the north of her project continues to create a serious blowing dust problem for Trumbull Lane homeowners to the north of the town’s land and for Santa Fe Trails homeowners to the east. He said he "didn’t have a problem" with the buildings or other landscaping.

Commissioner John Kortgardner noted that he had discussed this issue at previous Planning Commission meetings and that nothing had been done by the staff. Kortgardner also said Konarski had agreed to build the berm and plant the trees. Kortgardner noted that the other two Monument Rock buildings have not been built yet, giving the town potential leverage in the future. The purpose of the berm and trees was to screen the garage doors along the back of the buildings and eliminate glare from delivery truck headlights when backed up to these doors.

Kassawara said again that there were no town inspection programs before he initiated them within the past year. Once the certificate of occupancy has been issued, he said, there is little the town can do about it. However, no certificate of occupancy will be issued for any new construction unless dust and dirt are controlled and the berm is built in accordance with the plans. He asked Werth and Kortgardner to report any additional Monument Rock or other erosion control plan violations to him. "This is the best I can offer."

Morgan said that Konarski had claimed that the berm and the land that belonged to the town weren’t her problem and that Public Works should deal with the blowing dirt. Kassawara said he would talk with Public Works Director Rich Landreth to get the town property seeded.

The three referrals were approved by consensus. Kassawara said they were all "plain Jane" referrals without "significant implications to the town."

Donala Water District had asked the county for a subdivision exemption for its expansion of the Upper Monument Creek Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility. The land for the facility is owned by the Forest Lakes Metropolitan District. Triview Metropolitan District is the third co-owner of the facility. The specific exemption requested is to not have to replat the 7.1-acre parcel into specific lots as required by Senate Bill 35 for parcels smaller than 35 acres. The county and state have already approved the expansion of the plant that was created before the subdivision requirement was enacted.

Developer Alexandria Corp. had asked the county for approval of an Administrative Plot Plan to build 42 single-family patio homes on the 15.97-acre Lot 27 of the Misty Acres development. This lot is located just east of I-25 and south of County Line road. The primary access to this county development, zoned Planned Unit Development, will be Doewood Drive to the east. Water and sewer service will be provided by Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District, instead of the town.

Michael and Catherine Bullock had asked the county to subdivide their 5.06-acre Chaparral Hills Lot 4 at the northeast corner of Leather Chaps Drive and Lariat Lane into two lots. Their home is on the southern proposed lot 4B and is not connected to Donala for water or sewer. The proposed northern lot 4A is currently vacant, and the Bullocks propose a separate well and septic tank and leach field for that single-family residential lot.

The meeting adjourned at 7:10 p.m. The next meeting is at 6:30 p.m. June 14 at Town Hall, 166 Second St. Meetings are normally held the second Wednesday of the month.

At a special meeting of the Baptist Road Rural Transportation Authority, BRRTA attorney Jim Hunsaker of Grimshaw and Harring, P.C., clarified the method of handling funding shortfalls for the county’s contract to improve Baptist and Struthers Road that were identified to the board at the regular April 14 BRRTA meeting by county Department of Transportation project manager Andre Brackin. BRRTA manager Denise Denslow of R.S. Wells LLC also updated the board on the election schedule that must be followed if BRRTA moves forward with its proposed temporary 1-cent sales tax to pay for construction bond interest for privately financed improvements to the Baptist Road I-25 interchange. The Colorado Department of Transportation will not have funds available until sometime between 2012 and 2019 at the earliest.

At the April 14 BRRTA meeting, Brackin had pointed out that the combined available BRRTA and Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority (PPRTA) funding for the joint county contract to widen and re-grade Baptist Road from I-25 to Desiree Drive and complete construction of the four-lane Struthers Road to the intersection of Baptist and Jackson Creek Parkway was short about $2.5 million. Brackin said the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority (PPRTA) had approved the combined Baptist/Struthers Road construction contract with Rocky Mountain Materials and Asphalt, Inc. (RMMA) for $10,173,996 on April12.

Brackin also noted that the agreed-upon cost for an extension of the existing construction management contract with design/engineering consultant firm PBS&J for managing the RMMA contract was $380,000. Voting to approve the PBS&J contract extension was also scheduled for the Board of County Commissioners meeting on April 17 and the PPRTA meeting on May 10.

Brackin said the budgeted amount for a separate contract for system utility and easement agreements with Mountain View Electric Association (MVEA) was $150,000. MVEA will install the new cable for its power line relocations along Baptist Road and coordinate its work with RMMA through PBS&J. Brackin said that the cost of MVEA’s first proposed contract was $500,000, though negotiations may lower that figure before signing. The contracts and documentation for the relocated utilities and easements would be voted on by the BOCC on May 25 and PPRTA on June 14. The Notice to Proceed for Baptist Road was to be issued to RMMA on June 16. Construction will take 12 to 19 months.

Brackin distributed copies of his March 29 memorandum to El Paso County Department of Transportation Director John McCarty on the RMMA contract. The total cost listed in the memo for the project is $10,703,996. The five schedules in the contract are:

Funds available for widening Baptist Road (Schedules 1, 2, 3, and 5) are:

The total funding available for Schedules 1, 2, 3, and 5 is $6,690,536. However, these four schedules cost $7,134,435, a shortfall of $443,899.

Funds available for Struthers Road are:

The remaining PPRTA funds available for Struthers Road are $1,510,225, a shortfall of $1,529,336 for the schedule 4 cost of $3,039,561.

The total available funds for the $10,703,996 project are $8,200,761, a shortfall of $2,503,235. Brackin noted that this shortfall figure did not reflect the higher-than-expected utility system cost from MVEA. Brackin said this additional $350,000 in costs had increased the total project to just over $11 million, making the shortfall in available funding about $2.85 million.

On April 14, BRRTA unanimously approved sole payment of the PBS&J contract extension, the sixth amendment to the contract, without discussion. The costs for Task Order 27 and Task Order 28 were actually $5,000 and $389,017 respectively, for a sixth amendment total of $394,017. The total cost of the PBS&J contract to date is now $1,331,968.

After that BRRTA meeting, Hunsaker and Brackin exchanged e-mails that indicated there was still some confusion over how BRRTA would contribute to the RMMA construction contract shortfall. BRRTA is not a party to the construction contract between RMMA, PPRTA, and the county. Hunsaker asked for the special meeting to formally document a formal agreement between BRRTA and county DOT for payment of future RMMA construction invoices in this order:

Hunsaker said the meeting should also clarify what the minimum amount of funding to be retained by BRRTA for its other requirements would be before Brackin gave a notice to proceed to RMMA.

Hunsaker listed BRRTA’s cash reserve as of March 31 as $442,421. The sixth amendment to the PBS&J engineering and design contract calls for the $394,017 payment to be made by PRRTA and requires an additional amendment for BRRTA to pay it, as requested by Brackin after the April 14 meeting. Some other short-term projected BRRTA expenses in 2006 are:

Hunsaker estimated that the remaining BRRTA balance would be under $10,000 after these are paid.

Hunsaker said that "because governmental entities are not allowed to sign contracts for which they don’t have funds appropriated, El Paso County stepped in and said ‘We will, if necessary, free up money from other El Paso County DOT contracts that haven’t been committed to but are planned and make that (RMMA) contract whole if it is necessary.’ " He said that Brackin had assumed that BRRTA may be able to contribute up to "about $750,000" to the PPRTA funding shortfall for the RMMA contract, but no official BRRTA decision had been made for that $750,000. Brackin wanted that BRRTA commitment formalized prior to the county’s notice to proceed being given to RMMA. Hunsaker noted that BRRTA does not actually have enough money to pay for the sixth amendment to the PBS&J contract and cannot commit to that amount because its revenue stream is widely variable. It is administratively difficult for BRRTA to pay for portions of it and keep the accounting straight.

Brackin said that reducing the scope of the RMMA contract was the last option that his office would wish to use. Contingency options from RMMA, called a value engineering change proposal, have been prepared if additional BRRTA funding is not obtained. There are potential PPRTA savings that could be applied to the RMMA contract. Brackin said that the Akers project, for example, was about $1.5 million under the PPRTA budget projection.

Brackin said he would prepare a list of specific savings for potential temporary deletions such as the noise wall, patterned concrete in the median, the top two inches of asphalt, and a box culvert in the drainage under Jessie Drive. Brackin noted that all of these items are mandatory construction items that should be completed as soon as possible.

Monument Mayor Byron Glenn noted that BRRTA doesn’t specifically know when funds from future traffic impact fees would be available to pay for part of the RMMA contract, but should pay whatever it can toward the construction funding shortfall that the county had agreed to attempt to make up. Glenn said that Monument may be able to redirect a contribution of $250,000 to $500,000 to Baptist Road improvements from its 2006 budget later in the year after a formal mid-year budget year.

County Commissioner Wayne Williams noted that no government entity can promise or make a binding agreement to pay back another entity in future years without "a vote of the people." Moving PPRTA money from another project to Baptist Road would require a revision of intergovernmental agreements.

Brackin noted that there is a $1.4 million funding shortfall for the Baptist Road extension east from the Roller Coaster Road intersection to the Hodgen and Highway 83 intersection. That need would be competing for savings from other PPRTA projects. Brackin asked if Monument and BRRTA could set up escrow accounts with the county or PPRTA for funds donated to the RMMA contract. Williams said that a PPRTA escrow account is preferable because PPRTA is de-TABORed while the county is not.

Brackin said that the notice to proceed would have to be limited to available funds until an arrangement could be made between the BRRTA and PPRTA attorneys. He suggested deferring the Jessie Drive box culvert and sidewalk expenses to the end of the project. He also noted that there needed to be a list of specific construction items that would be deferred until the next year or be moved to the county’s routine road maintenance budget. Williams said that there should be no delays for actual roadway construction.

After lengthy further discussion about how the county’s Transportation Department would decide what parts of the contract it might eliminate without full funding and future revenue that BRRTA was certain to be receiving in 2006, the BRRTA board unanimously approved a motion to pay the $394,017 cost of the sixth amendment of the PBS&J contract with PPRTA and the county. The board also authorized drafting and signing of amendments to all pertinent contracts and intergovernmental agreements by BRRTA officials.

After a lengthy discussion, there was consensus for seeking a temporary 1-cent sales tax within BRRTA with a November ballot initiative. The revenue would be used to pay the interest and principal on private construction bonds for improvements to I-25 Exit 158. This initiative is expected to accelerate construction and save at least $1 million in construction costs by coordinating the widening of Baptist Road between Jackson Creek Parkway and construction of the new bridge over I-25. The cost of administering the election will be $5,000 or less.

Denslow asked if the public improvement fee financing option was still in play. Williams said that BRRTA should firmly commit to the sales tax initiative and drop the voluntary fee proposal. "I think we run the risk of being perceived as not definite in what we’re going to do."

A "town hall meeting" on the privately funded interchange project and the available financing options will be held at Creekside Middle School on June 19 at 6:30 p.m. in conjunction with the regular Monument Board of Trustees meeting. The position of the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments and PPRTA on the BRRTA contribution proposals will be clarified by then. Williams noted that a June public meeting would give BRRTA time to learn of public concerns and write a better ballot proposal after that exchange of views.

The special meeting adjourned at 4:15 p.m. The next BRRTA meeting is at 3:00 p.m. June 16 at Monument Town Hall, 166 2nd Street.

Baptist Road improvement schedule announced

At the May 15 Board of Trustees meeting, Director of Development Services Tom Kassawara described the five phases of road construction announced by the El Paso County Department of Transportation for widening Baptist Road east of I-25. Baptist Road construction will last 13-19 months. Major road construction for connecting the four-lane portion of Struthers Road to the intersection of Baptist Road and Jackson Creek Parkway under the same county construction contract will not begin until Nov. 1 due to restrictions for adjacent protected Preble’s mouse habitat.

Future BRRTA/PRRTA construction projects on Baptist Road between Desiree Drive and Tari Drive and west of I-25 to the railroad tracks are not part of this contract. Baptist Road is a county road.

Proposed improvements for the I-25 Baptist Road interchange (exit 158) are not included in the list of planned BRRTA/PRRTA projects because the interchange belongs to the state rather than to the county.

The new Palmer Lake Town Council (PLTC) continued to deny Al Fritts’ request to subdivide the 27.2-acre lot of the Inn at Palmer Divide into two halves as requested by the Small Business Administration and Fritts’ bank to help ensure financial viability. Trustee Gary Coleman, who owns property in the four-lot Rancho IRACEMA subdivision, continued to call for reviews of the neighboring Mission Training International and Inn properties that are unprecedented.

The council approved a business license for the new pet-grooming products mail-order business proposed by Barry Peterson and Lori Megginson.

Background: At the Monument Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting May 1, Monument Police Chief Jacob Shirk received the board’s endorsement to extend his discussion with Palmer Lake Police Chief Dale Smith on options for various levels of increased cooperation between the towns’ police departments. Shirk told the BOT that several trustee candidates had suggested a feasibility study during a pre-election Candidates’ Night. He said dual police powers would be an advantage for both departments by curbing criminal activity that now eludes police by moving between the two towns. Shirk suggested that one option Palmer Lake could consider is merging the two departments, eliminating the need for a new Palmer Lake chief to replace the retiring Smith, then using the freed funds to pay for another Palmer Lake officer and management fees to Monument.

Shirk also told the board some other possible advantages of various levels of consolidation are:

However, Mayor Max Parker told the PLTC that he had cancelled Shirk’s scheduled presentation on "a closer manner of cooperation" and to form a feasibility committee. "As we are in the process of searching for a candidate to replace Chief Dale Smith here, we felt that it would be extremely premature to entertain this presentation at this time." He added that Shirk "had politely accommodated us."

Parker noted that it was customary for new business license applicants to come first to the workshop for more casual conversations about their proposal. He said that if there are no trustee or staff concerns, it is also customary to make the formal approval of the new license a consent item at the regular council meeting a week later, without requiring the applicant to attend that second meeting.

While there will be a showroom for walk-in customers within the new location at 730 Highway 105, Peterson said his 18-year-old business would primarily be a shipping operation that sends pet-grooming products to professional groomers and veterinarians. There should be no noise or obstruction issues for neighboring property owners because there will be little walk-in traffic to the small showroom. He currently has 10 employees and all will be moving from the current Colorado Springs location to Palmer Lake. They agreed to make the license a consensus item at the regular meeting on May 11. Parker told Peterson he need not attend that meeting.

Owner Jeff Hulsmann received preliminary approval to begin construction to make the Pub’s front porch larger in response to the new smoking ban inside restaurants. Hulsmann noted his request is similar to those for projects at other restaurants in the area. The porch will be 8 feet deeper in the front and 10 feet deeper on the south side. Smoking on the porch will be continued, but farther away from the entrance doorway as required by the new law. Final approval of Hulsmann’s request for a town liquor license for "modification of the premises" to resume liquor service on the porch after expansion is completed was scheduled to take place in a Palmer Lake Liquor License Authority meeting on June 1, after the 30-day public notice requirement is fulfilled.

The larger porch will have no impact on setbacks or the number of available parking on the property. Hulsmann noted that a representative of the Colorado Department of Transportation had met with him and Palmer Lake Roads Supervisor Bob Radosevich at the Pub and had approved the proposed changes to the existing "perpendicular head-in parking slot configuration" along Highway 105. The town is also creating a new parking lot on the east side of Highway 105, between the Pub and the Depot Restaurant, for safer expanded visitor parking prior to the summer peak season. The new town lot will help relieve continuing CDOT concerns about compliance with the state’s often-ignored requirement for parallel parking only on Highway 105 opposite O’Malley’s.

Hulsmann also said the number of restaurants in Palmer Lake is increasing from seve