In November 2007, Dan Gamache replaced his wood shake roof with asphalt shingles, violating the covenants in his Valley at Erindale neighborhood. Here is a map of the neighborhood:

The homeowners assocation board tried to stop him before he finished it. But he pushed ahead anyway. For the next nine months or so, the board tried to get Gamache to replace it. He was fined every day for non-compliance and the board eventually threatened a lawsuit that resulted in mediation.

Here is a look at Gamache’s roof before it was replaced and after, with asphalt shingles.

Unfortunately, Gamache died Aug. 31, before the deal was completed.

His death shocked members of the HOA board. They wish they had known about his failing health.

Some feel badly his final months were spent in a stressful struggle with the neighborhood over his roof.

And they are upset his family’s time of grief must include worrying about the roof. But the covenants are clear and the neighborhood united in its belief the roof must be replaced. At a special meeting in July, the neighobrhood voted 42-5 to reject efforts to change the covenants and allow asphalt shingles.

Here are the meeting minutes: erindaleminutes

The estate is working to replace the roof. It expects to have the $8,000 asphalt roof stripped off and a new $15,000 stone-coated metal roof installed by Nov. 9 to meet an agreed deadline with the HOA, according to his friend, Peter Landsman.

Here are photos of some of the other roofs in the neighborhood:

Residents of Security, the unicorporated area south of Colorado Springs, are saying thanks to Fran Smith for 18 months of work that resulted in officials declaring the area a quiet zone, allowing trains to roll through without blasting their horns.

Smith teamed with El Paso County Commissioner Dennis Hisey to get the designation.

An afternoon picnic/party is planned Oct. 5 in Security to celebrate.

WE GAVE THE “TOOT” THE “BOOT”

and

NOW WE’RE GOING TO CELEBRATE!!!!

The area between Main and Fontaine is now a “Quiet Zone”

WHEN:             October 5, 2008

                     1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

WHERE:    Faith Lutheran Church

(in the “Quiet Zone”)

                     315 Security Blvd.

                     Security, CO  80911

WHAT YOU CAN BRING:

This is a pot-luck event; bring a dish or 

 some appetizer(s) that can be shared with others. 

Bring lawn chairs or blankets to sit on

What you can expect:

12:00                    Setting Up (we can use help!)

12:30           Music (mostly train-themed songs)

1:00            Fran Smith Welcome/thank you, and introductions of key people

1:10                      Speakers: Fran Smith / Keith Smith

                                                Dennis Hisey

                                                Mary Ellen Epps 

1:30            Presentation of  Flowers and “trophy” to Dennis Hisey with poem/song written by Fran Smith

1:40            Silence in honor of the train passing through

(there is likely to be one, but we can’t be sure)      

 Smith and Hisey hope to meet, finally, for the first time at the picnic. All their work was done by phone and e-mail.

Some Security residents couldn’t wait to say thanks. Heather Ullman circulated a “thank you” card and took photos to give Smith for her efforts. The card was waiting when Smith and her husband, Keith Smith, returned from a cruise.

The quiet zone had taken effect Sept. 4, while the Smiths were away. Neighbors and businesses up and down U.S. Highway 85/87 were thrilled as these photos Ullman took prove:

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The Gazette finally is removing asphalt it laid in 2006 when it built a parking lot without necessary plans and permits from the city. Making matters worse, the company paved into the public right-of-way and encroached on the protected streamside of Shooks Run.

Here is a look at the property from FlashEarth.com:

It took months for the city and the company to agree on a proper site plan and decide how to fix the problem. Now, work has begun. City planner Steve Tuck said the company will remove a 20-foot strip along Colorado Avenue that encroaches on public right-of-way and another chunk that violates the streamside overlay zone. The chunk, in the southwest corner, will create an overflow detention pond to filter runoff.

Then the company will barricade the vacant lot so it cannot be used as a parking lot, as was originally intended, Tuck said.

Next, the company will remove a similar strip of asphalt in a lot along Prospect Street at Pike Peak Avenue.

The missing sidewalk will be replaced along with landscaping. As a result, the company will lose about 10 parking places.

Cherry Creek Springs neighborhood in Black Forest, north of Colorado Springs, ought to be one of those idyllic spots where people enjoy the good life, riding horses and relaxing on their five-acre ranchettes. Here is a view of Pikes Peak taken from a neighborhood Web site.

Instead, it has been a place of conflict between a handful of residents and the homeowners association board.

Here is a map and aerial photo from www.FlashEarth.com of the area?

The HOA board has been locked in a battle with several residents over covenant violations and disputes over dues among other issues. An example is Dave and Lori Holly. The HOA is foreclosing on their house for repeated covenant violations, unpaid dues and fines amounting to thousands of dollars.

The HOA board is suing four homeowners. If they lose, they could face the prospect of paying upwards of $20,000 in legal expenses.

View the neighborhood website here: http://cherrycreeksprings.com/index.html

Some neighbors who are not involved in the covenant disputes or dues protests are worried about the amount of money the HOA board is spending on the lawsuits and they fear their property values are being damaged by the strife. Some say houses have sat on the market for months while similar houses in neighboring subdivisions have sold. They fear potential buyers are scared off by the controversy.

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The title “community organizer” has become a punch line used by Republicans to mock Democrat Barack Obama. The presidential nominee describes his early career as a “community organizer” in the South Chicago neighborhood devastated by a steel plant closing.

It struck me that “community organizer” is a title to be proud of, regardless of your political affiliation.

So I asked a few of Colorado Springs’ most famous community organizers their thoughts. Their comments in my Monday column do not represent an endorsement of any candidate. But they offer an interesting perspective on the debate.

Here are a few of Colorado Springs’ finest community organizers:

Francine Hansen and Jan Doran – Council of Neighbors & Organizations

Marjorie Lee Smith, Park Hill neighborhood

The Rev. Promise Lee, Relevant Word Ministries, Hillside neighborhood

Sallie Clark, El Paso County Commissioner, ex Colorado Springs City Council, Organization of Westside Neighbors

Margaret Radford, Colorado Springs City Council, Rock Island Trail group

Eric Peterson, Pride in the Park

Often, when I’m interviewing people about their homeowners association, I ask them why they don’t move to the country to escape tyrannical HOA officers and strict neighborhood covenants.

My column on Thursday is evidence that sometimes you just can’t escape folks who want to tell you what to do with your land. Garth and Gail Hystad left the Valley and Erindale neighborhood in Colorado Springs and moved to a 35-acre spread south of town because they didn’t like the rules or getting fined $1,500 for parking their boat and RV on the street overnight.

Garth Hystad founded Colorado Custom Decks and he is a passionate golfer. He intended to turn his 35 acres into a home and private golf retreat. Just one problem, his next-door neighbors, Robert and Lana LeVeck, don’t like golf and tried to stop Hystad.

This has been going on four years.

Here are maps of the area:

The LeVecks have tried to control what the Hystads do on their boot-shaped property. The have campaigned against the Hystads the way some fight child porn or sex offenders. They have lodged one complaint after another with the county.

All Hystad has done is transform acres of hilly, rocky junipers and brush into sculpted green golf holes with a small pond and gazebo using his own brand of artificial turf and water he trucked to the site. They also built their dream home.

Here is his home from the El Paso County Assessor’s Web site.

Here is a 2007 Gazette photo of Garth Hystad on his private seven-hole golf course.

Here is his pond and gazebo, looking north toward his new home.

Here are a few looks from GoogleEarth.com and FlashEarth.com of the property, starting at the north end and working south.

Here’s the south end of the golf complex.

The LeVecks say Hystad hits golf balls onto their property. Hystad admits that early on,  he accidentally sliced some balls onto their land, at the far north end behind their home. So he closed that tee box to avoid future errant drives.

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Randy and Anna Kyzar were thrilled when they bought a cast aluminum statue of an elk and mounted him in the wooded, hilly yard outside their Rockrimmon home.

 Anna is a big elk fan and enjoys going to Rocky Mountain National Park to see them and hear them bugle during the fall rut.

But their joy turned to sadness when vandals stole the antlers off their elk. Here is a photo of the naked elk they call Rocky, courtesy of neighbor Karin Agee.

Police say vandalism is common at the end of summer as teens contemplate going back to school. In Rockrimmon, houses have been hit with paintballs. Street signs stolen. Cars hit with eggs. A playground damaged and assorted other incidents.

Luckily for Anna and Randy they were able to locate a new pair of antlers and had them reattached. This time, the antlers are welded on, so vandals will have to work to get them. To further protect the antlers, the Kyzars attached a motion sensor and alarm to Rocky.

Here is Anna with her newly repaired Rocky.

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Train horns aren’t as sexy a topic as, say, brick walls. But they are important to thousands of people in the unincorporated neighborhoods of Security and Widefield south of Colorado Springs.

In recent years, more and more people have complained about the number and volume of train horns echoing through the Fountain Valley. Upwards of three dozen trains a day, mostly coal trains, rumble back and forth.

And engineers laid on the horns when they approach crossings at Main Street and Fontaine Boulevard in Security and Widefield. At night, they kept more people awake than a free porn movie on cable TV.

Until midnight, Wednesday, that is.

Now, the BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad trains that use the tracks and roll through silently — or as silently as massive 270 ton locomotives can be pulling 50 or 60 cars with steel wheels grinding across steel rails and click-clacking over crossings, trestles and wooden ties.

Credit for the quiet zone goes to Security resident Fran Smith and El Paso County Commissioner Dennis Hisey. They worked for 18 months to secure the quiet zone.

 Security-Widefield residents are lucky. The quiet zone probably would not have been possible if the Colorado Department of Transportation hadn’t rebuilt U.S. Highway 85-87 a few years ago. In the process, CDOT upgraded the crossings at Main Street and Fontaine Boulevard, installing expensive new gates, medians and sensors necessary to meet quiet zone standards.

One key to Smith and Hisey’s success was Colorado Springs Utilities’ agreement to reroute an access road to an electric power substation at Main Street. CSU agreed to close a driveway that led to the tracks and use an east entrance.

Hisey is tickled to get the quiet zone designation. But he says it will not be easy with other communities, like Fountain to the south, where tracks cross streets and horns still blast. Those crossings have not been upgraded and it’s not feasible to do it.

 For example, a complete set of four new sophisticated crossing gates, with flashing lights, medians to block anyone from driving around the barricades and sensors, cost upwards of $250,000 per intersection. 
 Another option is installing automated train horns mounted to existing gates and lights. They blast 100 decibels of precisely timed noise directly down on the intersection. Experts say the result is a 98 percent reduction in horn noise. But they cost $80,000 or more.
 Another option, called a remote sensor system, carries a price tag over $100,000.

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