OK. That’s an exaggeration.

Nobody is advocating the wholesale slaughter of deer as children watch.

But there is a growing number of people who want Colorado Springs’ resident herd of mule deer thinned. And I don’t mean put on a diet. Thinned as in killed and the meat donated to soup kitchens or animal sanctuaries that use venison to feed wolves, big cats and other animals.

It seems there are deer everywhere. My backyard is no exception. Here are some of the deer I’ve seen in recent weeks:

Like a lot of people, my family and I enjoy having them around and we feel spoiled when we get to watch them spar in the greenbelt behind our house. Sure they munch the landscaping. But it seems a small price.

It’s even more of a thrill to spot fox and bobcat. Or our neighborhood coyote on a morning hunt, like these:

We even get frequent visits from a mother bear and her cubs. Here’s a look at her:

However, when a friend spotted a mountain lion in the greenbelt creeping along the deer trail, we had second thoughts about having deer lounging around our house. Especially since we have kids and pets.

Now it’s troubling to see them just hanging around.

And the deer pose a traffic hazard, jumping wildly out in traffic. It’s happening everywhere. Check out this news release from State Farm Insurance Co. – the largest insurrae of cars and homes in America. Want to know your odds of hitting a deer while driving? Check out this map from State Farm which sets the odds in every state:

 A search of newspapers nationwide finds a growing number of cities and counties are dealing with the same problem of deer infestation.  Here’s a look at Colorado’s deer population from the Division of Wildlife dowdeerpopulation and the Colorado State Extension Service csuextensiondeer.

Some communities have tried trapping and moving deer. Others use dart guns to inject does with anti-fertility drugs.

But it seems the only real cost-effective means of reducing deer numbers is a lethal solution.

However, nobody wants high-powered rifles going off in any city. So many cities are turning to bow hunters to conduct controlled hunts inside city limits.

And Rapid City, S.D., sends professional sharpshooters at night, with silencers on their weapons, to quietly cull its herd of deer.

What do you think, if anything, should be done in Colorado Springs?

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Dana and Sheryl Glasgow have a long history of conflict with their neighbors on Chaparral Road and El Paso County because they moved their Turf Master Industries  landscaping and snow removal business to their home in defiance of zoning rules.

Here is a look at the neighborhood. In the center is the Glasgows’ 5-acre ranchette on Chaparral Road. They have a home, a horse barn, a long shed and another large building.

This is a close-up look at their property:

The fight has been going on more than 10 years. It has resulted in them being cited for contempt of court when they did not move their business from their home as ordered by the court. They appealed that contempt finding and lost again. 

Follow this link to read more about the Glasgows and their contempt citation in a 2007 story.

Here’s a link to a 2006 story with more detail about the battle between the Glasgows, El Paso County and their neighbors including Emerson Bowman, below in a 2006 file photo, on Chaparral Road.

Behind Bowman is the Glasgows’ home and a pink portable toilet they place in their front yard, illuminated by a spotlight at night, as a response to their neighbors’ complaints.

Here is a link to an appeal Glasgow filed trying to prevent another neighbor from being allowed to keep a barn where it was built 30 years ago even though it was too close to the property line.

Now, about the Barrett Road dispute between the LeVecks and the Hystads. Here is a look at the neighbors’ properties.

The LeVecks lost their bid to have Garth Hystad’s property declared a golf course, a recreational camp or an amusement center by El Paso County. A judge also tossed out the LeVecks’ request for a permanent restraining order. However, the judge called Hystad’s behavior “brutish” and admonished both sides for not working things out.

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Charles Libbey, 80, just wants to sit on the deck of his Woodbridge Townhome with his binoculars, watching wildlife and golfers and smoking his cigars.

Kim Acee, 52, says those stogies put of toxic fumes that drift into her townhome unit next door, making her so sick she can’t breathe and needs emergency medical treatment. She wants the homeowners association to enforce covenants that prohibit noxious or annoying behavior or odors by residents.

Here are a couple looks at Woodbridge from FlashEarth.com:

Residents of the townhomes, which were built in 1981, have complained in the past about odors seeping between the units – cigarette smoke, paint and varnish fumes, mold.

Here are a couple of the basic floorplans at Woodbridge, taken from the association’s Web site:

But this seems to be the first time a resident has demanded the HOA try to stop a resident from smoking inside his home because of the drifting smoke and fumes.

Acee is further upset at the reaction of the Woodbridge Townhomes Homeowners Association board. She says they have turned against her instead of helping her.

Besides complaining about Libbey’s cigars, Acee has accused him of using his binoculars to spy on her. He said he uses the glasses to see the golfers out on the course and to watch wildlife. He has offered to quit smoking to pacify Acee but he wants her to leave him alone.

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It’s a classic growth story: longtime residents of a rural neighborhood in El Paso County find themselves up against a newly annexed subdivision of Colorado Springs.

The old-timers live in farmhouses on large lots with wells and septic systems and dirt roads. The newcomers live in new homes on paved streets enjoying city water, sewer and other services.

Here is an overview of the area:

Here is how the neighborhood looked before construction in a photo taken by Larry Larsen, city planner:

Scenes like this were common. Ski Lane residents Bill and Maureen Marchant drove their 1947 Ford 9N tractor to maintain the road. This view of is looking north on Ski Lane.

It’s not quite as idyllic on Ski Lane anymore. Construction has brought dozens of new homes just over the hill. And the hill has disappeared. If the Marchants tried to drive their tractor north today, they’d plow into a guardrail and over a 12-foot cliff created by developers.

Here’s a look from FlashEarth.com: 

Neighbors are furious about the road being obliterated and say they are at risk because the new neighborhood configuration – and the loss of Ski Lane – makes it difficult for emergency services to reach them. They are served by Black Forest Fire Department from the north. Here is a look at the way things were:

Everything changed when Cumbre Vista developer Paul Howard’s crews started grading for the subdivision’s streets and sewers. Ski Hill was chopped in half, leaving a huge mess and a cliff where the road had been. Here’s a photo the Marchants took of construction:

Check it out from above in this view from FlashEarth.com: 

Suddenly, Ski Lane ended and neighbors had to work their way west along Sorpresa Lane on a narrow, twisting road deemed too dangerous for postal employees to negotiate to deliver the mail.

Gilpin Peak Drive replaced Ski Lane north of the neighborhood. Here is what neighbors saw when they approached on Gilpin from the north:

City Planner Larry Larsen intervened on the county residents’ behalf when no one else would listen. He negotiated a compromise that included installation of the guardrail and widening of the turn required for emergency vehicles, and the neighbors, to reach Ski Lane. Here is how it looks, looking west down Sorpresa Lane:

Not only did they lose their access, residents of Ski Lane found their road wiped off the map. Here is a page out of the 2007 MacVan The Map Company map book. Ski Lane is gone:

The neighbors are in a court fight to re-establish their historic northern access route, arguing they have a deeded right of way to Ski Lane. A judge will decide if the new access created by Cumbre Vista developers is adequate or if a replacement for Ski Lane north must be created.

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In 2002, residents of an unincorporated area east of Colorado Springs, north of the airport and south of Falcon, learned they were in the way of the proposed Jimmy Camp Creek Reservoir.

It would submerge 700 acres and hold water pumped from the Arkansas River at the Pueblo Reservoir. In addition, the city intended to create a 2,000-acre regional park adjacent to the reservoir.

The reservoir was a key to Utilities’ proposed $1 billion Southern Delivery System, or SDS, water pipeline. Here is an overview of the project.

Folks were shocked to learn Oct. 6 that Colorado Springs Utilities no longer viewed Jimmy Camp Creek Reservior as the preferred option for storage of SDS even though Utilities already spent $6.4 million buying 400 acres from 14 landowners. Many are still living in their homes, waiting for orders to move out.

Utilities now intends to store SDS water at a proposed Upper Williams Creek Reservoir about six miles southeast of the original Jimmy Camp location. Folks at the old location are wondering what happens next. Many have a first right of refusal clause in their buyout contracts, meaning they get the first opportunity to buy their homes back before Utilities can put them on the market for resale. They would pay fair-market value, not necessarily the premium Utilities paid in 2003-04.

 Here is a look at that site.

Here is a more precise look at the Upper Williams Creek Reservoir location:

It will be months before the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation issues its final environmental impact report, possibly clearing the way for actual construction to begin.

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Want to find out about your neighborhood? Or maybe you are thinking of moving (if you can possibly sell your house in this economy) and want to know more about your new neighborhood.

Then check out ZIPskinny.com:

It’s a pretty straight-forward search engine that simply needs a ZIP code to get started. Here’s an example of what you’ll find:

But there’s more than numbers available. ZIPskinny has some pretty cool graphics like these:

Another allows you to compare various ZIPs – a particularly helpful tool.

Then there is the widget-builder which lets you customize and embed it on your own blog or Web site. You can also find detailed like this on schools in

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The Council of Neighbors and Organizations, aka CONO,  has a new boss: Dave Munger.

Regular Side Streets readers recognize Munger as the president of the Old North End Neighborhood Association. That’s the group that has worked with Colorado College on its various issues. It has fought to preserve building standards in the historic preservation district. And it has tried to get traffic volumes reduced through the neighborhood.

Munger replaces Francine Hansen as president of CONO. He was elected at Tuesday’s board meeting.

Here’s a look at Munger and Hansen at the meeting in a photo taken by Richard Hansen:

Munger, 63, and his wife Paula relocated to Colorado Springs in 2004 to retire near their daughter. Munger said the couple fell in love the with city years ago on a vacation.

The relocated from Virginia where she ran a private school, Munger Academy, which they owned for 20 years or so. He ran an education consulting business, Strategic Education Services, which he still owns.

 Educated as a political scientist, Munger previously was a college administrator and taught classes at Americain University in Washington, D.C., and even created a Campaign Management workshop to help students understand the real world of politics. (I’m guessing John McCain’s team might want to take a refresher course.)

Munger wants to meet with the CONO board and set priorities for his two-year term.

Here’s a look at the new CONO Board:

from Left – Susanne Barr, treasurer; Tom Harold, 2nd vice president; Welling Clark, secretary; Dave Munger, president; Francine Hansen, past president and ex-officio board member; Larry Bagley, 1st vice president. Not pictured is Rick Hoover, director-at-large.

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Cherry Creek Springs should be a tranquil place to live. Instead, it’s 100 or so residents are locked in legal battles. Last week, Fourth Judicial District Judge Thomas Kane slapped down the homeowners association board.

Residents of Cherry Creek Springs hope the HOA lawsuits are over.

So do residents of nearby Cherry Creek Crossing. People have been confusing the two subdivisions on the edge of Black Forest. The Crossing hasn’t had any HOA problems, but it is getting smeared by the bad publicity generated by Cherry Creek Springs.

Here is the web page for Cherry Creek Crossing.

Here is a map of the two subdivisions.

Crossing residents say they don’t want their property values to suffer because of the bad reputation associated with “Cherry Creek” because of the Springs. I still think “Lawsuit Springs” is more appropriate.

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Werner Meinert doesn’t believe the same things as most everyone else in America. Calls himself an “individualist” and the rest of us “tax mules” who exist only to generate income for the “parent state” government.

“You pretend you are free,” Meinert said. “But there is nothing you can do without a license.”

He doesn’t drive (or “access the public way,” as he calls it) because he refuses to buy a license plate for his car. Won’t buy a license to fish. Hates his “Socialist Security” card. He says he follows common law.

 And he refused to get a permit to build his house.

That decision is haunting Meinert.

The city says his little house is illegal. When he refused to comply and get permits and adhere to building codes, a lien was placed against his property. Here are photos of Meinert’s house.

Meinert’s house on East San Rafael Street sits amid three others he built and sold around 1994 or so. He saved one lot in his mini-subdivision and erected this house. Unlike the other three, his doesn’t have city water or sewer or electrical power.

Meinert installed a 500-gallon cistern buried under the garden in the far left of the photo and a septic tank for his sewage. He uses solar panels — one is leaning on the garden timber — to generate the 12 volts of electricity he uses for his television and computer.

But Colorado Springs’ minimum housing standards require houses built within 300 feet of electrical power lines, water lines and sewers to be connected.

Here’s a look at the surrounding neighborhoods.

Officials from three city agencies — zoning/planning, regional building and code enforcement — agree Meinert’s house doesn’t meet codes and needs to be upgraded or removed. Meinert would have to put it on a foundation, wire it for 110 volt electrical service instead of 12 volts, connect it to water and sewer service, get variances for violating setback rules and any other deficiencies the city finds in its construction.

Werner just wants to be left alone.

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