The Council of Neighbors & Organizations, or CONO, is hosting its annual Neighborhood Information Forum from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 3, at the Regional Development Center, 2880 International Circle.

Here are a couple maps of the area:

Parking is free. Concessions will be sold.

CONO has been hosting neighborhood forums for 10 years. This is the first since October 2006. Here are photos , courtesy of CONO president Francine Hansen, from that event, which was held at the City Auditorium.

For more information about CONO, go to its Web site at www.cscono.org.

Here is the formal announcement of the forum:

CONO NEIGHBORHOOD FORUM
Saturday May 3^rd – 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the
Regional Development Center
2880 International Circle

Please attend and bring your neighbors!
Visit a wide array of information booths
Chat with experts on important community issues

Speakers:
9:00 am - Attorney Lenard Rioth Legislation Affecting HOA’s

Health and Safety Issues Facing Colorado Springs and El Paso County
10:00 am – Police Chief Richard Myers
11:00 am – Sheriff Terry Maketa
12:30 pm - Panel Discussion

John Suits, president of the Board of Public Health
Mike Kazmierski, President and CEO Economic Development Corp.
Colorado Springs Vice Mayor Larry Small
El Paso County Commissioner Chair Dennis Hisey

Information Booths:
CONO
Colorado Springs Fire Department
Citizens Academy
Fire Wise
Office of Emergency Management
Colorado Springs Police Department
Colorado Springs Code Enforcement
Land Development Review
Comprehensive Planning
City Engineering
Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services
Colorado Springs Airport
Stormwater Enterprise
Mountain Metropolitan Transit
City Parking Administration
Citizens for Effective Government
El Paso County Development Services
El Paso County Health Department
Environmental Services
El Paso County Department of Transportation
Colorado Springs Utilities
Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority
PPACG Area Agency on Aging
Peak Vista Community Health Centers
Historic Preservation Board
Phoenix Strategy, Inc.
Trails and Open Space Coalition
And more!

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Time to update past Side Streets columns.

Josh Higham is happy that he no longer has to listen to idling semi-trucks unloading Pepsi and other things in the middle of the night at Penrose Hospital. Last Monday’s column told of Higham’s plight: he lives in a bungalow across from hospital loading docks and was awaken by trucks that would sit, engines idling for hours, during deliveries.

The story delivered immediate relief. And free Pepsi. Actually, Diet Pepsi Max, a high-caffeine drink which the bottler delivered to Higham and his neighbors as a peace offering.

Another recent column told of manure cascading down a hillside and into Ruxton Creek in Manitou Springs. Neighbors wanted the manure pile removed. And they wanted to block owner David Jenkins from using his barn and 14.5 acres for a therapeutic riding center and boarding up to nine horses in its four stalls.

Here is a map of the neighborhood.

After the story, Jenkins sent in crews to remove the manure pile, terrace the ravine, built a catch-basin to collect and slow runoff and re-seed the area. Here are photos Dan Folke, Manitou Springs planning direcotr, took on April 1 after the clean-up.

But the move did not appease neighbors. Some remain upset Jenkins installed fences to prevent hikers from trespassing to reach a popular trail. Others simply oppose the idea of nine horses living in the barn.

As tensions escalated, the riding center’s founders, Debra Rose and Deb Steddom, had to deal with vandalism at the barn that threatened their horses.

The issue climaxed April 9 at a Planning Commission hearing on Rose and Steddom’s request for a permit to open the Leg Up Therapeutic Riding Center. Manitou Planning Director Dan Folke supported the request. Here is a link to his overview of the project ruxton-project-overview.pdf as well as his report on the ruxton-stable-meeting-minutes-aprcpc.pdf of the commission hearing.

But the permit request was rejected by the Planning Commission, with 70 people in attendance.

Now, Jenkins has told the city he will proceed with plans for the center without seeking a permit. He said his property’s historic use as a horse barn makes a permit unnecessary. Neighbors are furious. This story will require a future update.

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Many folks in Stetson Hills feel insulated from the rest of Colorado Springs, its crime and other issues. After all, Stetson Hills is closer to the unincorporated town of Falcon than to downtown Colorado Springs.

Here’s a look at the area from www.FlashEarth.com:

Some residents of Weaver Drive in Stetson Hills were shocked, recently, when a late-night vandalism spree that included a spray of gunfire didn’t merit a story in The Gazette because such incidents are routine. They expected a story explaining the shooting.

Here is a look at Weaver Drive.

But consider this: the Colorado Springs Police Department has a substation in Stetson Hills that covers 64 square miles and 118,843 people. That’s equivalent to a city larger than Pueblo and just smaller than Fort Collins, the fifth largest city in Colorado.

Below is a list of the biggest cities in Colorado, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, using its 2003 estimates:

Denver — 557,448
Colorado Springs — 370,448
Aurora — 290,418
Lakewood — 142,474
Fort Collins — 125,000
Pueblo — 103,648
Westminster — 103,391
Arvada — 101,972
Thornton — 96,584
Boulder — 93,051
Greeley — 83,414
Longmont — 79,556

To learn more population projections and facts about Colorado from the U.S. Census Bureau, follow this link.

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Some residents of East Madison Street across from Penrose Hospital on the north end of downtown Colorado Springs are upset about idling semi-trucks making deliveries in the pre-dawn hours.

One neighbor is especially upset at the Pepsi truck, which sits and idles for an hour or more with each delivery — every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 5 a.m.

Here is a look at the hospital and surrounding neighborhood from www.FlashEarth.com and a closeup of the loading dock area off Madison.

Penrose has promised to contact its vendors to see if deliveries can be rescheduled for later in the day when most people are up. If not, they will ask drivers to shut their rigs down so they don’t idle and rattle the windows and walls of nearby houses.

Penrose says it is commited to being a good neighbor, pointing to its construction of the new John Zay Guest House, a few doors down on Madison, where extended stay patients and their families will reside. Instead of just building a motel-like structure, the hospital had the guest house designed to match the character and architecture of the old North End Neighobrhood homes surrounding it. Here is an architect’s drawing of the house:

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For several years, Colorado lawmakers have worked to reform the covenants, or rules, that govern thousands of neighborhoods, townhomes and condominium complexes in Colorado.

The 2008 General Assembly is no different. It has produced two bills that would have a big impact on so-called covenant-protected neighborhoods. Both bills are awaiting action by Gov. Bill Ritter.

The first bill, House Bill 1135, was sponsored by Rep. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora. It changes the hearing process required before a homeowners association can fine a homeowner for a covenant violation. It encourages mediation and orders HOAs to use “impartial decision makers” in resolving disputes.

Here is a link to the bill.

The second bill, House Bill 1270, was sponsored by Rep. Andy Kerr, D-Littleton, and Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, and addresses use of energy efficiency devices in covenant-protected neighborhoods.

Besides allowing continued use of solar energy panels, it expands the list of approved devices to include wind-powered electric generators, so-called swamp coolers, awnings, shutters, attic fans and retractable clotheslines.

Here is a link to the bill.

An analysis of the bill is available at the Web site fo the HindmanSanchez law firm of Arvada, which specializes in representing homeowners associations. It can be found here.

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The Heart of Jerusalem Cafe seemed like a hit in Manitou Springs.

 Folks were seeking out the little 300-square-foot store in the Manitou Lofts and Shops building, 906 Manitou Avenue, for authentic deep-fried falafel, a fast-food in the Middle East made of fava beans or chickpeas and served in a pita bread. Here’s a photo from the www.About.com . . .

Even several of the residents of the seven upstairs lofts were customers, along with the building’s architect, Chuck Englund.  Here’s a look at the building.

 But as the store was about to start it’s second year, it found itself facing eviction. The homeowners association of the loft building was tossing Heart of Jerusalem out because the smell of frying falafel is awful, loft owners say. They don’t like the odor of cooking lamb, beef or chicken in the gyros on the menu, either.

Heart of Jerusalem hopes to move across the street among neighbors who raise a stink about the cooking.

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The Victoria Village townhome complex is trying to recover after a property manager stole $100,000 from its bank accounts a few years ago. A new homeowners association board believes it has the complex headed in the right direction.

It has a professional property management company in place to run the business side of operations and professional money managers safeguarding its finances.

But one resident, Marcia Fields, is adamant that the board is inept and needs new leadership. Specifically, it needs her back on the board.

She has sued the HOA twice alleging mismanagement and is passionate in her belief things are amok. Her latest lawsuit wants board members to “face personal liability” if they don’t govern properly. Some see that as an effort to target individual board members she doesn’t like.

HOA board members say she should listen to the will of residents, who have twice rejected her re-election bids, and let the board do its work.

Learn more about Victoria Village on its Website at www.victoriavillageca.com

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Vicki Caldwell loved living on Chetwood Drive in Briargate. Here is a map of the neighborhood and a view of it from www.FlashEarth.com.

Caldwell loved Chetwood Drive so much she bragged in an essay she wrote for a national contest sponsored by Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream. To her surprise, she won an ice cream party. They sent everything, including 15 cartons of ice cream.

Here are photos from the party, held last Sept. 15.

Everyone had a great time, except for Caldwell. For her, the ice cream party was bittersweet because her beloved house was for sale. Her family was forced to move from the neighborhood she loved because her 7-year-old daughter, Kennedy, suffers a spinal disorder that makes stairs difficult. Here is Kennedy at the party.

The family needed a ranch home and there are none on Chetwood. So they moved a mile away to Pine Creek.

But Caldwell still visits her friends on Chetwood regularly. And she hopes to organize a block party in Pine Creek neighborhood this summer.

Anyone interested in nominating their own neighborhood for an ice cream party can follow this link to Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream Web site where it promotes its “Slow Churned Neighborhood Salute” contest. The address is www.SlowChurned.com

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Folks in Widefield, an unincorporated area south of Colorado Springs, were shocked to learn that 5.4-acre Sertoma Park is actually private property and slated for development.

The land has been vacant since the neighborhood was built in 1969-70 and some, like Joe Berkhoff, grew up playing on the property. Here are a couple views of the property, taken from www.GoogleEarth.com.

Over the years, ownership of the property passed from the original neighborhood developer, Widefield Homes, to El Paso County to the Sertoma Club and eventually ended up with Widefield School District 3. The district sold it as surplus in July 2006 for $50,000.

Neighbors are upset at the low price and the way it was sold, without a formal bidding process.

And they are really upset that developer Ronald Hall wants to build a 72-unit senior living center on the land. For the past decade, Hall has been dedicated to creating affordable housing in the Colorado Springs area and has worked with the Rocky Mountain Community Land Trust. He is committed to using the land to helping the less fortunate either by building the senior housing or by creating a low-income housing neighborhood.

Hall believes the neighborhood setting is perfect for seniors — surrounded by a quiet neighborhood where older people can spend their final years before making the transition to a nursing home.. He intends to retain ownership of the facility.

Here is a look at his plans. Essentially, it would be a long “V” shaped building. The first floor would be 42 assisted-living units and the bottom floor would be 30 one- and two-bedroom units to be sold for independent living. Each would have a garage. He plans to offer four different floorplans.

The project requires approval from the El Paso County Planning Commission. If it is rejected, Hall already has plans drawn for a 25-house subdivision. He would partner with the Rocky Mountain Community Land Trust to ensure the homes were sold to low-income buyers. Here is how the neighborhood might look.