Folks on Fox Run Circle on the far northern edge of Colorado Springs are upset about construction workers at a nearby project sneaking into their yards to get water. Here are maps of the area.

The area has undergone dramatic change in recent years. Below are aerial photos taken from www.GoogleEarth.com and www.FlashEarth.com showing the neighborhood when there was a horse farm adjacent to it and after it was purchased for development into the office park and more homes.

A closer look at the project shows houses sitting up against the construction site, which has been filled in with tons of dirt to elevate the site above the neighboring homes. At the bottom of the photo, it’s possible to see a ramp built to get vehicles to the top of the site.

Here is an artist rendering of how the six buildings will appear once construction is completed.

For a decade, Stephen and Wendy Beisel have been fighting with Manitou Springs in an effort to develop 70 acres they own on the southern boundary of town. In fact, Beisel and neighbor Tom McGee have tried, unsuccessfully, to get access to Manitou streets and utility service. Here is a map of the area.

Here is an aerial photo of Manitou Springs with the approximate location of the Beisel property.

Here is a 2006 Gazette file photo of Stephen and Wendy Beisel on their property.

Here is a file photo of McGee’s house on Iron Mountain above Beisel’s property.

To retaliate for being denied access to Manitou streets, Beisel blocked access to a popular trail that crosses his property. The move angered hiking enthusiasts in the town.

The fight between Beisel and Manitou turned physical in August 2005 when Beisel confronted City Councilman Marc Snyder near the trail. Beisel said Snyder provoked the incident by trespassing, standing on a rock above Beisel’s house and singing loudly. Snyder denies he trespassed and accused Beisel of shoving, beating him and throwing him to the ground. Beisel denied the allegation but was convicted in August 2006 of misdemeanor assault and harassment.

Here is a photo of Snyder from the 2006 Voters Guide.

That conviction may be overturned due to an error by the trial court judge, Sylvia Manzanares. She failed to advise Beisel of his right to an attorney, according to District Attorney John Newsome, who has “confessed” the error to an appellate judge. Here is a photo of Manzanares from a state judicial web site and a photo of Newsome.

Folks in the Village Seven neighborhood are upset that Centura Health plans to close Penrose Community Hospital in August when it opens its new $207 million St. Francis Medical Center at Woodmen Road and Powers Boulevard.

Here is a map of Colorado Springs and its hospitals.

Village Seven residents have enjoyed their proximity to Penrose Community and the business it attracted to the area, creating jobs for neighborhood residents. Here are maps of the neighborhood.

Leaders of the Village Seven Homeowners Association hope to attract another hospital to the 15-acre campus now occupied by Penrose Community.

———–

In 1958, builders showcased their talents by creating Eagle View Drive on Colorado Springs’ far northeastern edge and building 28 homes. Today, Eagle View is a modest neighborhood in the middle of the city and beloved by longtime residents including Bob and Charlotte Bundgaard, who are original owners.

Here is a view looking south from Palmer Park Boulevard down Eagle View. Notice the mature trees dwarfing the little ranch houses lining the winding, hilly street.

The next photo is looking north toward Palmer Park Boulevard. Again, massive trees tower over the houses, which featured such features as fireplaces, mahogany siding, telephone wiring for several plugs and built-in kitchen appliances 0f the era.

Having trouble imagining how small Colorado Springs was in 1958? Want to watch it grow? Go to the city’s map web site, www.gis.springsgov.com and check out its maps. Here’s a link directly to a program that shows the city’s boundaries grow from 1950 through a series of annexations until 2000 and their basic configuration today: http://www.springsgov.com/units/planning/Maps/index.html

You can slide a lever to show the various city limits or click “animate” and watch the city grow.

Marjorie Lee Smith got involved in her Park Hill neighborhood when crime began to rise and she feared the area was in decline. She became a neighborhood activist and a familiar face at City Hall. She served six years on her neighborhood board and attended countless meetings on behalf of Park Hill.

Here is Marjorie, in a photo taken by The Gazette’s Christian Murdock.

Her greatest success was convincing the Colorado Springs Fire Department to relocate Fire Station 8 at 3737 Airport Road, within the Park Hill neighborhood. The city celebrated the grand opening at 2:15 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 17.

A road that loops around the new station is named Marjorie Lee Drive in honor of Smith.

Here is a photo of the dilapidated firehouse, built in 1966, it replaces about a half-mile west on Airport.

Now, a few photos of the new firehouse. In the last, Marjorie Lee Drive is in the foreground:

Here is a map to the new firehouse:

The new firehouse was designed to evoke the historic qualities of Stations 1 and 2, pictured below:

Station 1 at 29 S. Weber St. and Station 2 at 314 E. San Miguel St.

For the grand opening ceremony, scheduled at 2:15 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 17, the city created a history of Fire Station 8 and issued press releases with background on the project. Read them here:

fire-station-8-history.pdf

station8invite.pdf

station-8-opening.pdf

—–

Residents of Hollow Road are angry at motorists racing up and down their once-quiet side street to avoid congestion on Austin Bluffs Parkway, Academy Boulevard and North Carefree Circle.

Here is a map of the neighborhood from www.FlashEarth.com:

Hollow Road residents did everything right in their effort to get help . . . they contacted all the right people at Colorado Springs City Hall and made their case. In fact, Hollow Road was declared the street most in need of “traffic calming” devices to discourage future short-cut artists.

Then they learned there is no money for the $60,000 project.

Here is the list of projects, ranked in the order of their priority: traffic-list.pdf

The city also has a brochure describing its traffic calming which you can read here: tchandbook.pdf

There also is a petition and an application form. See them here:

traffic-application-form-2008.pdf

and

traffic-petition-form-2008.pdf

The city traffic engineering department hopes to secure funding in 2009 for the project.

The Woodmen Pointe neighborhood coup claimed two victims this week with the resignation of two board members. One, Robert Brant, quit to help oust the remainder of the five-member board. The other, treasurer Mindi Upchurch, quit because she was tired of being “bullied” by renegade group leader Bruce Brian.

Here, and below under HOA Revolt, are some of the letters exchanged between the HOA board members, Brian and Brant.

One is a letter of apology sent by the board to its 130 or so homeowners after letters of complaints went out to 112 homeowners about their fences: fence-apology-120407.pdf

The other is a letter from the board to its members in response to complaints made by Brian’s committee to oust the board: woodmenpointeholidayletter.pdf

A map of the neighborhood and more letters are posted below.

Dozens of residents of Woodmen Pointe neighborhood on the north side of Colorado Springs are upset that members of the homeowners association board are aggressively enforcing neighborhood covenants, or rules all agree to live by.

Here is a map of the neighborhood taken from www.FlashEarth.com.

Some don’t like rules ordering them to keep their garages clean and park their cars inside. Others object to being told to mow their grass, pull weeds or stain their fences. Particularly objectionable to some is the HOA board’s practice of walking around photographing violations. They are feeling harassed and some are demanding the board resident.

Read the Woodmen-Pointe-covenants.pdf and see what some believe are draconian rules which should be rewritten.

Neighbors clearly are conflicted over the Woodmen Pointe HOA and its enforcement policies. Consider this letter to the board from resident Dottie-Pope.pdf

Here is a series of letters the board recently sent residents in response.pdf to residents Bruce Brian and others who are campaigning to oust the board and ease the covenant enforcement.

Folks in Falcon are wondering why the sign on U.S. Highway 24 and Judge Orr Road disappeared. Here is a map from www.FlashEarth.com showing the intersection. You can see a car buzzing through the intersection on Judge Orr, right in the middle of U.S. 24. The sign was on the signal tower on the east side of the road. It blew down in a storm a year ago.

This larger map shows the region. The new Woodmen Hills neighborhood is just west and north of the intersection.

Judge Orr Road is an east-west road running through central and eastern El Paso County.

The New Falcon Herald published a story in September 2005 identifying the road’s namesake as Judge James A. Orr, who was born in Scotland in 1863 and came to the United States with his parents when he was 4 years old, growing up in the southeast Kansas town of Independence.

Orr graduated from the University of Kansas law school and moved in 1863 to Gillette, a gold rush town near Cripple Creek in Teller County. Gillette, now a ghost town, was famous for the bullfight it hosted a century ago.

Orr’s law partner, the Herald story reported, was Charles L. McKesson, who later became mayor of Colorado Springs.

The Herald story quoted a book, “Before the Bar, a History of the El Paso County Bar Association,” which included a biography of Orr. The book said Orr, as an attorney and judge, “handled many celebrated cases with a long record of public service.”

It also quoted Orr’s obituary in The Gazette from Jan. 3, 1928. According to the obituary, Orr and McKesson had moved their practice to Colorado Springs and Orr was elected a county court judge in 1902, serving until 1905.

Orr reportedly spoke at the dedication of the new county courthouse in 1903 and presided over the first case heard in the courthouse, known today as the Pioneers Museum. The case earned national attention, the story said, because the jury included a black man, William Seymour. A statue of Seymour stands on the museum grounds commemorating his status as the county’s first black juror.

Orr lived on Prospect Street where he once held court on his front porch. He was quaranteened because his children had chicken pox. Attorneys and witnesses stood in the street and shouted to be heard by the judge, the story said. At the time of his death on Jan. 2, 1928, he lived on Cascade Avenue. There is no proof he ever lived in the Falcon area, although historians have cited him as a landowner in the area. Some Falcon residents commonly referred to a house near the Meadow Lake Airport as “Judge Orr’s home.”