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Home Place Ranch plan approved; Jackson Creek Land Co. threatens de-annexation

Click here or on the drawing to zoom in and download the site plan

Despite Jackson Creek Land Company’s last-minute objections and threats to de-annex its residential and Monument Marketplace properties, the Monument Board of Trustees on April 2 approved the final plat and final Planned Development (PD) site plan for the Home Place Ranch Development.

Jackson Creek’s objections stem from 20-year-old and still-unresolved inconsistencies between town land use ordinances and the Regency Park Annexation Agreement of 1987.

Trustee Travis Easton, who works for engineering consultant firm Nolte & Associates, the major engineering consultant for Home Place Ranch landowner and developer HPR, LLC, recused himself before the plat and site plan hearings began and left the room for their duration. Trustees Dave Mertz and Tommie Plank were absent.

Principal Planner Karen Griffith presented the staff report on the plat and site plan proposals, suggesting the same conditions that were approved by the Planning Commission. Land planner Linda Sweetman-King, founder and managing partner of TerraVisions LLC, gave the same developer’s presentation as well.

See the article on page 18 for the details of these presentations on the Home Place Ranch proposal on March 14, and the staff’s recommended conditions of approval which remained unchanged for this BOT hearing.

Homestead at Jackson Creek Home Owners Association President Robert Fisher spoke in favor of the proposal, thanking HPR for preserving all the agreements reached with his association during sketch plan development a year ago.

Cheryl Wangeman, chief financial officer of Lewis-Palmer School District 38, said she reached an agreement in principle with the developer to change the shape of the 10-acre dedication for the elementary school to a more usable rectangle, all of which is outside of Preble’s mouse habitat. There will now be an additional cash dedication to D-38 when final plans for the remaining four residential clusters with 292 single-family units are approved.

Jackson Creek’s attorney Bruce Wright listed four concerns about the west side of the Home Place Ranch development in a letter to Town Attorney Gary Shupp that was hand-delivered to Town Hall in the late afternoon of Friday, March 30. Shupp does not work at Town Hall so he was unable to review the letter until April 2.

Jackson Creek Land Co. spokesman Rick Blevins said it is not opposed to the Home Place Ranch project. "I like the project," he said. "I think it’s great for the area." Though Blevins said that HPR had not provided information, Wright’s letter noted that Blevins had met with HPR President Dale Turner and CEO Dale Beggs in June 2006. The following are Wright’s concerns printed in italics, followed by responses from HPR consultants:

1. Jackson Creek had not been consulted by HPR on selling or donating land for right-of-way for an eastbound deceleration lane to the western Higby Road access on the northwest corner of Home Place Ranch.

Response: HPR engineering consultant Lance Malburg of Nolte & Associates said the deceleration lane could be built within the 100-foot right-of-way to be built by HPR. The deceleration lane would also fit within the existing 70 feet of right-of-way along the frontage of the adjacent Jackson Creek parcel, implying that Jackson Creek did not need to donate right-of-way.

Mayor Byron Glenn later said the town would require right-turn lanes for all Triview widening improvements, regardless of initial traffic counts.

A traffic study conducted by Scott Barnhart of engineering consultant PBS&J showed that a deceleration lane is not required by the traffic that will be generated by Home Place Ranch.

Malburg added that HPR’s new, wider Higby lanes must taper back to the narrower existing two-lane road along the Jackson Creek frontage, unless Blevins’ company donates property for the eastbound deceleration lane. The Triview Metropolitan District is responsible for all widening of Higby Road west of the Home Place Ranch frontage. Neither the town nor Triview has initiated any plans for widening the existing portion of Higby Road from the northwest corner of Home Place Ranch to Jackson Creek Parkway.

The previously approved PD sketch plan showed a shared access that would also serve the northeast corner of the adjacent Jackson Creek property. However, the Beck Place intersection was moved about 30 feet east when Jackson Creek elected not to share the access with Home Place Ranch.

2. Jackson Creek does not want the additional traffic from the two proposed "residential collector streets," designated as "future roadway connections" on the Home Place site plan, that would extend west from Haysled Drive into the Jackson Creek development. "That part of (the) Regency Park (Annexation) has never been planned for development," Blevins said. Wright wrote, "There are no collector roads planned that will connect with the planned Home Place access points."

Response: Sweetman-King said the two cross-access connections between the parcels were required by town staff for emergency vehicle access and traffic circulation.

3. The Home Place Ranch sanitary sewer system connection through Jackson Creek open space area has not been discussed with Jackson Creek. The proposed connection could cause problems for Jackson Creek because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has already approved its plans and issued 404 permits. Jackson Creek does not want negotiations to be re-opened.

Response: Malburg said HPR was directed to use the proposed Jackson Creek sanitary sewer outfall collection lines by Triview District Manager Larry Bishop. Triview will be responsible for obtaining the 404 permits, not Jackson Creek Land Co.

4. Home Place Ranch has PRD-4 (Planned Residential Development) quarter-acre lots "up against" Jackson Creek’s planned PRD-2 half-acre lots on the east side of its parcel, "with no separation at all." Blevins suggested that Home Place Ranch rezone its cluster to "PRD-2 or provide a landscape separation."

Response: Sweetman-King said the PRD-4 zoning and density along the common boundary are unchanged from the PD sketch plan that the trustees approved on May 15, 2006. There were never any requests by town staff to HPR for landscape buffering.

Glenn said Jackson Creek Land never wrote a formal comment to town staff on any HPR proposal before its attorney wrote his letter of concern to Town Attorney Shupp, even though Blevins and Jackson Creek had been notified of all HPR hearings by certified letters, which he or his staff signed for.

The town never required the Jackson Creek development to provide landscape buffering on lots adjacent to Home Place Ranch. There are no Jackson Creek lot lines for Home Place Ranch to align with because there is no Jackson Creek site plan.

Also, the town has never required nor has Jackson Creek Land proposed landscape buffering between its own adjacent developments. The most recent example is the lack of buffering between the new houses in the PRD-4 section of Remington Hills under construction and the approved Copper Heights development at the intersection of Leather Chaps Drive and Bowstring Road. .

Blevins surprised the staff by saying that a preliminary lot layout was presented to staff about three years ago for the adjacent parcel, before any of the current town department heads were hired. However, there was no formal application from the land company that accompanied the sketch, nor was a case number assigned to that sketch by former planning staff. There is no town record of the sketch plan nor are there any lot lines on the original Regency Park master development plan or the four subsequent amendments.

After numerous questions, the board added the following conditions of approval to those proposed by staff and approved by the Planning Commission for the final plat and final PD site plan:

The plat and site plans were approved (3-1-1) with Glenn, Trustees Gail Drumm and Steve Samuels in favor, Trustee Tim Miller opposed, and Trustee Easton recused. Miller did not say why he voted no on both proposals. Easton returned for the rest of the meeting.

Glenn said he wanted to "interrupt the agenda" to discuss with Blevins the last two paragraphs in attorney Wright’s March 30 letter to Shupp. In those paragraphs, Wright complained about Jackson Creek Land having to submit sketch plans for its undeveloped parcels in the future and threatened to initiate de-annexation. Wright’s letter claimed the town’s sketch plan requirement was a substantial alteration to the annexation agreement, and section 16.2 allows the land company to "disconnect" from the town.

"We anticipate the other property owners in the Monument Marketplace would join in this petition, as may numerous other property owners with the original Regency Park annexation," Wright wrote.

Shupp said de-annexation by Jackson Creek, Monument Marketplace, and any other property owners who join the petition is a statutory function that is normally determined by the Board of Trustees, based on whether it would be in the best interest of the town. The 20-year-old Regency Park annexation agreement provides for de-annexation without objection by the board if certain conditions have been violated, which a court would have to decide. Miller noted that a public discussion of how to respond to Wright’s letter was inappropriate until Shupp drafts a letter of response.

Blevins said Jackson Creek Land owners, Tim and Tom Phelan, Western National Bank, and Pinetree-Phoenix Bell bailed Triview Metropolitan District out of bankruptcy in 1994 by buying all the Regency Park land.

Trustee Steve Samuels said the Wright letter that gave only one business day’s notice was "petty," "absolutely ridiculous, and childish," and "not necessary." He said he was frustrated by the lack of direct discussion between the parties and the board. The board’s job is to fairly resolve differences between Home Place Ranch’s and Jackson Creek Land’s "biases based on money."

Glenn said the de-annexation is not justified, that the town had bent over backward to put Jackson Creek proposals "on the top of the pile for staff reviews."

Blevins said Wright "has always been the one on de-annexation." He added, "We absolutely disagree with the requirement for a sketch plan."

Town Manager Cathy Green objected to Blevins’ claim that the town had not responded to his inquiries, saying the annexation agreement would not pass today, that changes need to be made to follow town ordinances and that Jackson Creek needs to reciprocate.

The wording of many important aspects of the Regency Park Annexation Agreement of 1987 is inconsistent with definitions in town ordinances. The staff has been trying to reconcile the differences over the past year. For example, none of the residential, commercial, or industrial zone designators in the Regency Park regulations were similar to those listed in town ordinances. The town recently converted its zones to the Regency Park zones. Green said "Jackson Creek has not reciprocated" and the town’s laws have always required a sketch plan.

Tom Kassawara, Monument’s director of Development Services, said the only differences that would be treated in the Jackson Creek sketch plan that the staff asked for are the changes between the approved fourth and fifth amendment to the Regency Park Plan recently proposed by Blevins. Kassawara said the town would accept all previous documentation as "grandfathered." Those changes must conform to town code, regardless of whether former staff ever enforced the code requirements on the original plan or the first four amendments.

The board agreed to schedule a work session with Blevins to discuss unresolved issues on the process of plan approvals.

In other matters, the board approved:

As the meeting adjourned at 9:40 p.m., developer Dale Turner said he and Beggs had met twice with Jackson Creek Land Co. owners, Tim and Tom Phelan, before the June meeting with Blevins. Turner and Beggs said the Phelans encouraged Home Place Ranch to place the PRD-4 cluster on the border with the Phelans’ PRD-2 property so that Jackson Creek Land could justify increasing its density to PRD-4 to town staff when it develops that property in the future.

Monument Board of Trustees, March 5: Interchange improvements inch toward start date; YMCA and Promontory Pointe site plans approved

Recent progress made by some utilities in moving their buried equipment out of the way of ongoing roadbuiding may help expedite the Baptist Road widening and Interstate 25 interchange renovation projects, Monument Mayor Byron Glenn said at the March 5 Monument Board of Trustees meeting . In other matters, the board approved:

Trustee Dave Mertz was absent.

Glenn said he would meet with the "potential buyers" of the Timbers at Monument vacant commercial parcel and property owner Mike Watt to discuss right-of-way donations for road construction. Watt owns the Foxworth-Galbraith property (formerly Brookhart’s) on the northeast corner of the I-25 Baptist Road interchange.

The large vacant Timbers at Monument parcel wraps around Watt’s hardware store property on the east and north sides. The two parcels extend north from Baptist Road to the Monument Marketplace, between Jackson Creek Parkway and I-25.

Watt and the current Timbers landowners had been expected to have already donated a substantial amount of right-of-way along the north side of Baptist Road for the I-25 Baptist Road interchange expansion, as well as the Baptist Road widening east to the Jackson Creek Parkway intersection.

Struthers Road north of Baptist Road will be closed once this right-of-way is donated and interchange construction begins. Struthers Road south of Baptist Road is closed and the two-lane frontage road portion is being demolished. Both of the new dual-lane northbound I-25 ramps will be constructed in the abandoned Struthers Road right-of-way. (See Baptist Road Rural Transportation Authority (BRRTA) article on page 33 for related details.)

"Everything seems to be falling into place for a May 1 start-up, so keep your fingers crossed," Glenn said.

Engineering consultant Ayers and Associates is redesigning the drainage along the east side of Jackson Creek Parkway from the Village Center at Woodmoor development, said Tom Kassawara, director of Development Services. The modifications are based on Ayers’ calculations of percentage of flow for each of the contributing sub-basins.

The town asked W.E.D. LLC, the landowner, to increase the size of the Village Center detention ponds due to higher-than-predicted storm water flows causing substantial erosion along the eastern shoulder of Jackson Creek Parkway north of Higby Road. Kassawara said the drainage ditch would require adding a culvert under the proposed intersection to be built for the new YMCA. The project will be going out for bid soon.

Glenn said the town has closed on its land donation – a lot on the south side of Highway 105 at the east end of the Village Center at Woodmoor – for a senior residential center. The developer of the senior center, TIGER, Inc., will provide discounts in perpetuity on some of the apartments for low-income seniors in return for the land donation by the town.

Site plan proposal: The YMCA of the Pikes Peak Region’s 12-acre lot is located between I-25 and Lewis-Palmer High School on the west side of Jackson Creek Parkway, about a quarter-mile north of the Higby Road intersection. There will be two accesses onto Jackson Creek Parkway. The main access will be in the center of the property, opposite a new access planned for the north parking lot of the high school. The other access, to the north, will be right-in/right-out-only on the northeast corner of the YMCA property.

The main access will include a common signalized intersection to be installed by a joint venture of the YMCA and the Lewis-Palmer School District 38 with an "on demand" traffic signal, said Kassawara. He said 55 percent of the students who drive to school come south on Jackson Creek parkway. They would be able to enter the north parking lot via a new dedicated left-turn lane and light. The new access will relieve student congestion to the south at the Higby Road traffic signal during morning and afternoon rush hours.

There will also be a dedicated left-turn lane and on-demand left-turn light for northbound vehicles on Jackson Creek Parkway entering the main YMCA access, as well as a dedicated right-turn lane into the north high school lot.

The new traffic signal will also be on demand for vehicles exiting the main YMCA access and the north high school parking lot, which would eliminate needless delays for through traffic on Jackson Creek Parkway during off-peak hours. The proposed signal might be operational by the start of the next school year.

Principal Planner Karen Griffith noted that a preliminary/final replat of the property was also submitted with the site plan but is being revised and will be submitted for review by the commission and Board of Trustees at a later date. This 12-acre property is one of three properties created by a subdivision of the larger undeveloped Woodmoor Placer A plat. The re-plat will not be reviewed until July or August, said Kassawara.

Griffith described the first of two phases of construction. The 45,000-square-foot contemporary masonry, stucco, and aluminum building will feature a large light spine (a big semicircular skylight that spans the width of the building) for sunlight and views, as well as a community room, recreational aquatics center, exercise room, gymnasium, locker room facilities, and a child-care room. There are 231 parking spaces (214 required), an outdoor artificial turf soccer field, and a half-mile walking trail around the perimeter of the property. .

The second phase would include three building additions totaling 21,095 square feet and a second synthetic soccer field. The additions would be built in roughly four to 10 years. When completed, the additions would house an eight-lane competition swimming pool, an additional strength-and-conditioning room, racquetball courts, an auxiliary gym, and more rest rooms. The timing of the second phase depends on the nonprofit’s fund raising and membership growth, and would require approval by the Planning Commission and Board of Trustees.

Griffith also described in detail how the proposal meets the town’s 10 review and approval criteria for a PD site plan.

Some of the items she discussed regarding compliance were:

No referral agencies had submitted major comments or concerns about the proposal, Griffith said. The Woodmoor Improvement Association had also approved the YMCA’s plans as had the town’s Planning Commission. Griffith noted that the developer submitted a lengthy document describing in detail how the proposal met the numerous goals in the town’s comprehensive plan.

Griffith proposed five conditions of approval:

Ground-breaking in April: Architect and land planner Rhonda Boger-Linder of LKA Partners, Inc., gave the applicant’s presentation, including a digital animated tour of the property for both phases of construction. She said groundbreaking would be 10 a.m. on April 12. The traffic signal will be built between May 29 and Aug. 16, in time for the start of the new school year. The first phase of construction will take about one year.

Boger-Linder described the architectural theme and features of the building as attractive additions to the view corridors for I-25 and Jackson Creek Parkway. There are no issues with Preble’s mouse habitat, wetlands, flood plains, or site drainage. The light spine and roof of the aquatics center will screen all heating, ventilation, and air conditioning equipment on the roof from view in any direction.

Swim programs described: Boger-Linder provided several answers to trustees’ questions about immediate and long-term swimming programs:

There were no comments from citizens during the open public hearing.

Responding to a half-hour of board members’ questions, Kassawara discussed the requirements for Jackson Creek Parkway turn lanes and future expansion to four lanes from Higby Road to Monument Marketplace to Highway 105.

This portion of Jackson Creek Parkway is not in Triview Metropolitan District, which only extends to the south side of Higby Road. Triview Metropolitan District paid for construction of Jackson Creek Parkway between Baptist Road and Higby Road. Triview will not contribute to parkway improvements north of Higby Road now that the Baptist Road Rural Transportation Authority’s temporary one-cent sales tax has been approved and the expansion of the Baptist Road interchange will result in less traffic growth on the northern portion of the parkway.

Some of Kassawara’s observations on the parkway were:

Glenn said the roadway should not be shifted to the east just to make room for the deceleration lane within the town’s right-of-way. He asked Kassawara to "get with SEH on the decel lane because if we need to acquire right-of-way, we need some meetings to start working on a way to get it."

Several board members questioned the measured and predicted parkway traffic counts in the YMCA traffic study as well as the concurrence on the study by SEH.

Jackson Creek Parkway traffic would not be high enough to exceed county requirements for a deceleration lane through 2030 if widened to a minor arterial, according to engineer Chris Sheffer of Felsburg, Holt & Ullevig. If the "more stringent" Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) criteria were applied, the threshold would be a count of 50 turns per hour, he said.

Kassawara said, "Sometime in the future, if you base it on CDOT criteria, you might need a turn lane, but it’s not a CDOT roadway. We don’t follow CDOT criteria."

"I understand," said Glenn. "So you’re saying let’s be substandard to CDOT. I’m saying let’s not." Kassawara said, "We’d be equal to county criteria." Glenn replied, "Like I said, I don’t trust the county" standards for left-turn lane lengths.

Glenn added, "We’ve got a traffic engineer. I’d like them to look at the turn lane into the school during peak hours of traffic. I don’t think 150 feet is adequate to handle the students coming in at that time."

Glenn said the town could close the YMCA’s northern right-in/right-out-only access if an emergency occurs and a deceleration lane is needed. Glenn asked Blevins if the Jackson Creek Land Co. would be willing to dedicate the land needed to build a "decal" lane.

Blevins said that the existing 120-foot parkway right-of-way is already wide enough for all four through-lanes and all right- and left-turn lanes and that there is no need for his company to donate land. He added that Jackson Creek Land Company may have to negotiate a common entrance with the landowner of the next commercial property to the north, Phoenix Bell.

"The right-of-way required for a CDOT-level right-turn lane was going to infringe on Mr. Blevins ability to put a meaningful access point on that 10 acres," said Kassawara. The study showed no turn lane is required at this time. The board can review actual traffic counts five to 10 years from now when the YMCA makes an application for approval of Phase II.

The board unanimously approved the site plan with one additional two-part condition:

Below: Doug Fullen of Way Architects represented the Trails End land owner, Five Y Eyes Guys, LLC, in seeking approval of a second major amendment to the development’s design guidelines to add three new models of single-family homes being sold by Richmond Homes. Photo by Jim Kendrick

Doug Fullen of Way Architects represented the Trails End land owner, Five Y Eyes Guys, LLC, in seeking approval of a second major amendment to the development’s design guidelines to add three new models of single-family homes being sold by Richmond Homes. The Trails End development is at the south end of Monument between Old Denver Highway and the railroad tracks. The entrance is at the Wagon Gap Trail intersection.

Five new models were previously approved by the Planning Commission on Aug. 9 and the board on Sept. 5, bringing the total available at that time to eight.

This request would increase the number of approved models to 11 and was approved by the Planning Commission on Feb. 21. All are two stories and some have walkout basements.

Fullen said the three new models are equal to or larger in size than the eight currently approved models. Kassawara said the proposed models would provide broader variety, consistent with the town’s comprehensive plan. Each of the new models is consistent with the previously approved PD design guidelines. All of the new models fit within the setbacks for the PD master plan.

Trustee Gail Drumm said that he did not want "larger footprint houses" in Trails End because "a lot of these lots are really small to start with," that there is not much space between them, that the setbacks are "very minimum," and that the area "will just look more congested than it does already."

Fullen replied that the size of the houses would only increase by a maximum of 20 square feet and the minimum side-by-side spacing is 15 feet.

Trustee Steve Samuels responded to Fullen by saying this spacing was between foundations rather than rooflines or bay windows, which are much closer to each other. Kassawara said the minimum possible spacing for adjacent bay windows would be at least 10 feet. There were no citizen comments.

The second amendment to the design guidelines was approved by a minimum majority (4-2) with Drumm and Samuels opposed.

The board unanimously approved the preliminary/final plat for filing 15 of the Monument Marketplace. The vacant property is 6.06 acres, is located on the northeast corner of the center-east of Wal-Mart, and will contain three mid-size retail stores.

Below: Karen Griffith discusses Promontory Pointe. On the right are town clerk Scott Meszaros and town manager Cathy Green. Photo by Jim Kendrick

Before the Promontory Pointe hearing began, Mayor Glenn recused himself, stating that he has a business relationship with applicant John Laing Homes. Glenn left the meeting room. Trustee Tommie Plank presided as acting mayor pro tem since Mayor Pro Tem Mertz was absent.

John Laing Homes purchased most of the 284 lots from Landco, the development landowner, after Landco’s final plat and final PD site plan had been approved by the Planning Commission on Aug. 9 and the Board of Trustees on Sept. 5. Landco retained ownership of 19 large lots located primarily along the common boundary with the Kingswood development to the east.

John Laing Homes determined that the models it planned to sell did not fit the lots it had purchased very well and requested a modification of the previously approved plat and site plan. The development services staff determined that the changes were too extensive for them to approve administratively. No changes to the 19 Landco lots were proposed.

Some of the revisions Kassawara and Griffith discussed were:

Gleneagle Drive traffic light added back to Baptist Road improvements

The Planning Commission unanimously approved the revised plat on Sept. 21 (4-0) but did not approve the revised site plan (2-2). The vote was split on the site plan because of safety concerns resulting from the Baptist Road Rural Transportation Authority (BRRTA) dropping the installation of a traffic signal at the intersection of Baptist Road and Gleneagle Drive, the main entrance to Promontory Pointe.

Kassawara said he had held a meeting with representatives of Triview Metropolitan District and the landowners of Promontory Pointe, Home Place Ranch, and Sanctuary Pointe. As a condition of annexation, each of the three landowners had agreed to create a separate road improvement special district and have different mill levies to pay off their road construction bonds due to different products and densities.

The road improvement special districts will be administered by Triview. The districts will pay for the main collector roads through each of the three developments as well as widening of the county’s Higby Road between Gleneagle Drive and the town’s Jackson Creek Parkway between Higby Road and Monument Marketplace. All new homes within these three annexations are also subject to Baptist Road Rural Transportation Authority road use fees that are collected when the homes are purchased.

Kassawara said the landowners’ representatives had agreed that their individual special road districts would contribute half the cost of the signal if BRRTA would pay the other half of the cost. The three landowners will pay pro rata shares of their half of the signal costs based on the predicted traffic each generates.

Previous studies show that about half of the traffic at this intersection will be from the county. Kassawara noted that BRRTA’s contribution to the signal would be voted on at the March 9 BRRTA meeting. The BRRTA board approved payment for half the signal costs on March 9.

Kassawara suggested that the board add a sixth condition: that the new signal at Gleneagle Drive and Baptist Road must be installed and operational before the first certificate of occupancy is issued by the town for any of these developments, even if the measured traffic at the intersection does not meet minimum traffic signal warrant requirements.

The originally approved Landco plat and site plan included a 30-foot-wide public trail and utility easement that ran the full length of the western boundary of Promontory Pointe through the backyards of all the western-most perimeter residential lots.

The future landowners of these lots would have had to pay private property taxes on this easement even though the public trail would have been isolated from the rest of their backyards by a split-rail fence on both sides of the easement.

Landco had to install the fences on both sides of the gravel trail and all the landscaping and irrigation before the first building permit could be issued. The trail, fences, landscaping, and irrigation systems on this private, taxable property were to be maintained by Triview Metropolitan District.

After the Landco plat and site plan were approved, Triview purchased the vacant 50-foot-wide strip that extends north from Baptist Road to Walters Creek Drive, between the western boundary of Promontory Pointe and the eastern boundary of Jackson Creek. The public trail and utility easements that were to have been in the backyards of the adjacent Promontory Pointe residential lots were shifted west into this 50-foot Triview strip. Triview will still maintain the gravel trail, fences on both sides of the trail, landscaping, and irrigation systems.

The western-perimeter residential lots north of the 50-foot-wide strip, between Walters Creek Drive and the northwest corner of Promontory Pointe, would still have had the privately taxed 30-foot-wide trail easement through their backyards. However, John Laing Homes, Triview, town staff, and the county agreed to relocate this backyard public trail segment to an easement on the west side of Gleneagle Drive, with a side-by-side gravel trail and sidewalk.

Instead of the 30-foot trail easement, there will now be a 30-foot-wide "no-build" easement at the rear of all the western perimeter lots from Baptist Road to the northwest corner for a landscape buffer for all adjacent Jackson Creek houses to the west. The landscape buffer will be maintained by the individual homeowners, rather than Triview. The homeowners will still pay property taxes on the 30-foot-wide no-build easement.

The new trail alignment extends from the northeast corner of the 50-foot-wide Triview property, then east through a dedicated open space tract, then north along the west side of Gleneagle Drive to the common boundary with the Home Place Ranch development to the north. Triview will maintain this portion of the trail as well. The wider corridor includes bike lanes on both sides of the road next to the trail easement, and both have better views of the mountains than the backyard trail.

When completed, this side-by-side concrete and gravel trail will be extended farther north along Gleneagle Drive to Higby Road, then west to Jackson Creek Parkway on the south side of Higby.

The proposed John Laing Homes revisions to the plat and site plan met all town land use regulations and the requirements of the town’s comprehensive plan.

Architect Lee Martin of Land Architects reviewed in detail all of John Laing Homes’ proposed changes.

During public comment, Robert Fisher, president of the Homestead at Jackson Creek HOA, objected eliminating the 30-foot-wide trail easement. He said that Triview had committed to building and maintaining the easement in the backyards of the perimeter homes between Walters Creek Drive and the northwest corner of the development before the board’s approval of Landco’s final plat and site plan.

Triview background: OCN reported that at the Aug. 23 Triview board meeting to which Fisher referred, former District Manager Ron Simpson said he had some discussions with the Heights Homeowner’s Association about the northern portion of the 30-foot-wide trail easement strip. Fisher said that if this northern segment of the 30-foot-wide trail easement was deleted from the plat and PD site plan, area residents would forever lose the opportunity for a continuous trail connection. He strongly urged the board not to abandon this one-time opportunity.

After the Triview directors discussed the issue, their attorney Peter Susemihl suggested the board could accept the strip into the district but not commit to a purpose for it. The board voted to accept the 50-foot-wide and the 30-foot-wide strips of land.

Fisher said that the town staff had subsequently given permission to John Laing Homes to nullify the 30-foot-wide trail easement in its proposed revision of the final plat and site plan that had been recorded after a negotiated agreement among the Jackson Creek HOA, Landco, Triview, and the Town of Monument. He expressed concern that the staff would allow similar trail dissolution along the southern boundary of Home Place Ranch.

Fisher also said the dissolution of the trail easement allows John Laing Homes to include the no-build landscape easement in the "comparable" lot size calculation, effectively reducing the overall rear house separations and size of the eight affected lots that border Homestead to less than the previously agreed upon "comparable size" on the original plat and site plan. Fisher concluded that the board should honor its previous written agreements with the Monument residents who live in Homestead. He did not object to the additional 50-foot-wide trail easement along Gleneagle Drive as long as it was not considered a substitute for the 30-foot-wide easement.

Kassawara and Griffith told Fisher that moving the trail east to the 50-foot right-of-way on the west side of Gleneagle Drive was a reasonable compromise because:

Griffith said the county Parks Department met with town staff, Triview staff, and the Promontory Pointe and Home Place Ranch developers, and an agreement was reached to realign the trail. It now turns eastward from the north end of Triview’s easement, along the Triview utility road, then turns northward along the west side of Gleneagle Drive to meet the trail proposed in Home Place Ranch, also on the west side of Gleneagle Drive. Griffith said it would be a better location and trail experience for most users. However, several Homestead residents in the audience later protested eliminating the trail segment through the backyards of the adjacent perimeter houses.

Griffith said the plat revision still conforms to all the town’s subdivision regulations, land dedication requirements, and design principles. She recommended approval of the revised final plat with the following conditions:

1. Right-of-way for Baptist Road will be dedicated to the county prior to recording of the plat.
2. All referral comments will be addressed to the satisfaction of town staff prior to recording.
3. Technical corrections will be made to the satisfaction of town staff prior to recording.
4. Cash-in-lieu of land to satisfy school land dedication requirements shall be paid prior to issuance of a Monument Land Use Permit for each home.
5. A subdivision improvement agreement (SIA) will be approved by town staff for content and executed between the applicant and Triview Metropolitan District prior to recording of the final plat. This will include the applicant’s pro rata participation in the future traffic signal at Gleneagle Drive and Baptist Road, if no other funding becomes available.

Trustee Steve Samuels, a Colorado Springs landscape company general manager, suggested another condition in the landscaping portion of the site plan to require mixing of "gorilla hair cedar mulch" in the open space plant beds to be maintained by Triview with the proposed river rock.

The five voting members of the board for this hearing unanimously approved the John Laing Home revisions to the final plat with the proposed conditions.

Griffith said the site plan met all 10 general review and approval criteria except those required revisions that were noted by Kassawara. She recommended approval of the revised final site plan with the following conditions:

1. All referral comments will be addressed to the satisfaction of town staff.
2. Approval is subject to final approval of engineering plans by staff, including finalization of the drainage, traffic and grading plans. Minor changes to the plans may be approved by staff.
3. Approval is subject to technical corrections to the satisfaction of staff.
4. The installation of completed asphalt pavement for Gleneagle Drive from the north end of Phase I to the north property line will be required when and if the construction of Gleneagle Drive from Higby Road south through the Home Place Ranch property is commenced. Otherwise, the road right-of-way will be prepared to final grade with proper compaction, without asphalt paving, for construction traffic.
5. A subdivision improvement agreement (SIA) will be approved by town staff for content and executed between the applicant and Triview Metropolitan District prior to recording of the final plat. This will include the applicant’s pro rata participation in the future traffic signal at Gleneagle Drive and Baptist Road, if no other funding becomes available.

The five voting members of the board for this hearing unanimously approved the John Laing Home revisions to the final site plan with these five proposed conditions, plus the traffic signal and mulch conditions added for the plat.

Mayor Glenn returned to the meeting room and presided over the remainder of the meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m.

Chuck Roberts, director of the Tri-Lakes Senior Alliance and board member of the Tri-Lakes Health Advocacy Partnership, asked the Monument Board of Trustees to commit to making large annual donations for a new Tri-Lakes senior center at its March 19 meeting.

Roberts said he needs to raise pledges of about $500,000 from regional organizations to make it financially feasible for Tony Garvin of Flying Buffalo, LLC, to buy the closed Palmer Lake Bowling Alley on Highway 105 and then lease it to Roberts’ organization.

All trustees were present.

In other matters, Palmer Lake Fireworks Committee spokesman Jeff Hulsmann requested cash support for the regional fireworks display and Monument Police Department support for an improved traffic-flow plan to help motorists exit the town more quickly after the display. Hulsmann asked Police Chief Jake Shirk to assist in planning to allow outbound traffic in both lanes on Highway 105, County Line Road, and Spruce Mountain Road for a short period to expedite flows in a manner similar to traffic flows at the Air Force Academy after a football game.

Trustee Steve Samuels suggested increasing the annual donation from the board’s discretionary contingency fund from $5,000 to $6,000 after Hulsmann noted that expenses will be about $3,000 higher for 2007 than 2006. Costs are expected to increase from $19,000 to $22,000 due mostly to insurance price rises.

Anyone wishing to donate money for the show or volunteer for one of the committee positions can contact committee chair Carol DeBlois at (719) 481-6218.

Chuck Roberts, director of the Tri-Lakes Senior Alliance and board member of the Tri-Lakes Health Advocacy Partnership, asked the board for financial support to convert the former Palmer Lake Bowling Alley into a new Tri-Lakes Senior Center. The two Tri-Lakes groups are negotiating with Flying Buffalo, LLC, and need pledges of support from several public and private entities to make the purchase feasible, Roberts said. Other potential buyers are also interested in the bowling alley.

He asked the board to:

Garvin supported Roberts’ request as the potential buyer of the building. Garvin said he is willing to do whatever he can to get the project started. He added he would make the external changes to the building and incorporate their cost into the lease.

Major points discussed by Roberts included:

Major points discussed by board members and staff included:

Ken Trombley and Patricia McClelland were granted a new beer and wine liquor license to open Bayou Barbq, a Cajun and barbecue specialty restaurant at 481 Highway 105, Suite G. Liquor revenue for drinks with meals is expected to be about 10 percent of sales. There will be no bar. Trombley said there are no other Cajun or barbecue specialty restaurants in northern El Paso County. The restaurant is scheduled to open April 10.

Building owner Steve Marks spoke in favor of the application and noted that he is also helping Trombley and McClelland expand their Bella Panini restaurant on Highway 105 in Palmer Lake to keep up with customer demand.

Mayor Byron Glenn reported that the Baptist Road Rural Transportation Authority had voted to pay for half the cost of a traffic signal at Gleneagle Drive and Baptist Road ($50,000 to $65,000.) This payment will be matched by a payment from the landowners of Promontory Pointe, Home Place Ranch, and Sanctuary Pointe based on their pro rata shares of traffic they will contribute to that intersection.

On March 5, the board added a condition of approval for the revision of the Promontory Pointe final plat and final Planned Development site plan that the signal must be installed and operational before the town will issue any certificates of occupancy for the development.

The long-abandoned concrete single-lane road that used to run between Colorado Springs and Denver is now being considered "historic," and the county may have to seek Federal Highway Administration approval to remove some of the disintegrating concrete to widen Baptist Road between Interstate 25 and Old Denver Highway, Glenn said.

The Leather Chaps intersection on Baptist Road should be paved and reopened in two to four months, once Mountain View Electric Association finishes relocating its buried power lines.

The board unanimously approved a request from the Tri-Lakes Cruisers for its annual one-day car show on June 10. Front, Washington, and Second streets will be closed from 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. All proceeds raised by the Tri-Lakes Cruisers will be donated to Tri-Lakes Cares; the total raised over the past five years is $10,000. The sponsor will pay overtime for an on-duty police officer to handle traffic-control issues.

Five payments over $5,000 approved:

The board also unanimously approved the treasurer’s January and February financial statements.

Glenn discussed a commentary on the board’s March 5 approval of a revision to the final plat and Planned Development site plans by Homestead at Jackson Creek resident Steve Meyer on his Web site www.monumentmatters.org. Meyer is vice president of the subdivision’s home owners association and represents the town on county road-use committees. Meyer and Homestead HOA president Robert Fisher had objected to what they said was the town’s and Triview’s failure to retain a previously approved 30-foot-wide trail easement through the backyards of eight lots along the northwest boundary of Promontory Pointe.

Glenn said Meyer’s comments stimulated "pretty flagrant e-mails" to the trustees. Glenn had recused himself from the hearing because he works as a civil engineering consultant for John Laing Homes on projects in Colorado Springs, but none within Tri-Lakes. These were his first official comments on the John Laing Homes request to revise the Landco plat and site plan previously approved on Sept. 5. (See article on page 8 for details of the March 5 BOT meeting and disputed trail location decision.)

Some of the points Glenn discussed were:

The affected homeowners would have had to pay property taxes on the strips through their backyards but would not have had any say on the use of their land.

The board’s job is "to listen to both sides and look at what’s best for the town and be fair about it," said Trustee Steve Samuels. "It’s not to take care of developers and not to take advantage of the homeowners" who want the use of "land that they don’t own."

Meyer, who attended the March 19 board meeting, did not respond to the board members’ statements in reply to his Web site editorial and the e-mails of several other residents.

Glenn encouraged residents to volunteer for the Planning Commission and run for trustee in the next election.

On another matter, Trustee Tim Miller thanked Meyer for his discussions with CDOT to have the department lengthen the timing of the right-turn signal at the Baptist Road I-25 off-ramp to 70 seconds to help prevent backups extending all the way down the northbound off-ramp into the right-hand through lane.

Town Attorney Gary Shupp reported that Kalima Masse, owner of the previously abandoned Rockwell Ready Mix Concrete batch plant at Highway 105 and North Washington Street, had filed a motion to amend one of her previous complaints and to add to it the existing complaint filed in District Court. Masse’s latest action does not preclude the chance to resolve the case through mediation in April before going to trial. (See article at http://www.ourcommunitynews.org/v7n3.htm#bot0220 for the history of this long-running legal dispute.)

Director of Development Services Tom Kassawara noted that McDonald’s had asked for information regarding opening a restaurant in the Monument Ridge development on the southeast corner of the intersection of Baptist Road and Jackson Creek Parkway during a pre-application meeting with town staff.

Director of Public Works Rich Landreth stated that the required accounting for the Substitute Water Supply Plan has been completed and the town has started to store its own water in Monument Lake. Landreth has not purchased additional water yet from other available sources due to much higher than expected costs for other entities to account for their water credits. Glenn suggested that the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments and the Colorado Springs City Council said they may have excess reservoir water they might "give to the town" to fill Monument Lake. Currently high flows may help fill the lake faster, said Landreth.

Chief Shirk said his department is teaming with Tri-Lakes Monument Fire Rescue Authority for cross-training for the Senior Citizen Safety Program, which combines fire and security inspections for seniors’ homes. The Colorado Law Enforcement Assistance Fund has approved a grant of $6,000 that will pay for training and for overtime to perform specific DUI checks during peak periods.

The board had a lengthy preliminary discussion to begin prioritizing the projects included in the town’s long-term capital improvement program and to begin preparing a new ballot que