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ON SECOND THOUGHT . . . maybe new houses, road could SAVE the neighborhood

November 4th, 2009, 6:34 pm by Bill Vogrin

For years, residents of Mesa Springs neighborhood fought to prevent Colorado Springs from extending Centennial Boulevard south from Fillmore Street to connect with Interstate 25 at Fontanero Street.

They feared their 50-year-old neighborhood of modest homes would be wrecked by Centennial. They saw it creating a Bermuda Traffic Triangle between Centennial, Fillmore and I-25.

Here is a look at the area from FlashEarth:

mesaspringscentennial

 But now a developer has contacted the city about building upwards of 500 homes — either single-family, townhomes, condos or apartments — on 47 acres on the west edge of the neighborhood.

The property owner is MVS Development of Albuquerque, N.M. They hired NES Inc., a land planning and landscsape architecture company in the Springs, to get the land rezoned.

Ron Bevans, an NES project manager, said the owners want the city to approve a broad rezoning plan. Part of the project would include consolidating a 17-acre landfill on the site into an 8-acre open space that would be capped.

Here’s another look from FlashEarth:

mesaspringsflash

The project, which Bevans described as in its infancy stage, would include building a big chunk of the Centennial extension.

Curb and gutter exist for a half mile or so south of Fillmore, said James Mayerl, a city planner who is reviewing the MVS project. And Mayerl said the new project might be the impetus for actually completing Centennial.

In fact, the city is studying the transportation plan for the corridor, looking for ways to take pressure off the intersection of Fillmore and I-25. The long-planned Centennial extension would be a  key piece of any plan.

Bevans said his clients do not have blueprints or a builder for the project. They simply are preparing the site for eventual development and alerting neighbors that the process is underway.

Many neighbors are apprehensive about the proposal. They already suffered the loss of 127 neighborhood homes when I-25 was realligned a decade ago and the sound wall erected. And they recently suffered the closure of their neighborhood school, Zebulon Pike Elementary.

But some neighbors, like Carol Gravenstein, view the project and the extension of Centennial as a way to resurrect the school if enough new families move into Mesa Springs.

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LIFE’S A VACATION, unless you live near a rental

November 1st, 2009, 4:26 pm by Bill Vogrin

Colorado Springs has appointed a task force to determine whether it should license, regulate and tax vacation rental homes.

Turns out there are 60-80 homes sprinkled around the city that are advertised around the world in Web sites as vacation rental properties.

vacationrentalwebsite

They are favored by parents of Air Force Academy cadets when they come for parents’ weekend or graduation.

Many families looking for a reunion site prefer vacation homes over hotels or bed-and-breakfast inns.

Folks with special needs, like sterilized kitchens or quiet places for elderly or children, often choose vacation rental homes over hotels.vacationrentalwebpage1

 

Problem is, they bring a parade of strangers into neighborhoods. Strangers who soak up parking spaces and sometimes hold late parties. A few people living near vacation rental houses have begun complaining to the city about the situation.

So Dick Anderwald, the city’s land use and planning chief, created the Vacation Home Rental Task Force Committee to study the issue. He appointed neighborhood activists, vacation rental home owners and city planning staff to the task force.

Here’s the agenda for the initial meeting in September:  vacationrentals. Please note that the roster of task force members changed after this was printed. Michael Clark and Autumn Hyser dropped out.

One of the task force members, Jackie Ayers, owns the “Old Colorado Springs” 1902 Downtown House W/ Private Hot Tub - Colorado Springs  Here’s a look at her house from the Web site:

1902downtownhouse

She also manages a vacation rental for another owner. Ayers said the task force is an over-reaction to the complaints of a few people, including two task force members who live near vacation rental homes — one on the Westside and one in the Broadmoor.

Anderwald apparently agreees. He said the issue appears to be confined to a small area of the city and the task force likely won’t produce new rules and regulations.

However, owners of vacation rental homes likely will start getting tax bills from the city for sales taxes they have not been paying.

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BOO isn’t always scary; it can be fun!

October 28th, 2009, 1:01 pm by Bill Vogrin

I’m used to getting booed by “fans” of Side Streets. Some say I’m biased. Or I sensationalize things. Or my subjects aren’t worthy of a story.

On Sunday, my family and I were BOOed. This was different. It was fun.

In fact, the next night, my 10-year-old son, Ben, went out and BOOed a few neighbors. He rang doorbells, dropped a bag on each porch and ran before they answered the door.

But he wasn’t pulling a prank.

Ben was delivering BOO Bags and taking part in the new Halloween tradition called: BOO your Neighbor.

It’s a new way to celebrate Halloween. The contents of most BOO Bags include toys, candy and a brief description that looks something like this:

halloweenboo1

The basic idea is simple: perform a random act of kindness for a couple your neighbors and watch it spread.

You can tell when it’s spreading because each time a house is BOOed, the “victim” is instructed ot put a BOO slip in the window. The idea is to keep people from being BOOed over and over so more people get involved.

On the Internet, various sites offer BOO Your Neighbor guides. Most include this list of Things You’ll Need:

–A plastic Halloween treat holder, such as a pumpkin or a paper lunch bag to be decorated
–Halloween candy
–Halloween crafts or toys
–Small decorations or candles
–A sheet of paper printed with the word, “BOO! You have just been boo’ed!” and a Halloween poem.

There are several variations of the poem. Here is the one that came to our house:

The air is cool, the season fall
Soon Halloween will come to all.

Ghosts and goblins, spooks galore
Tricky witches at your door.

The spooks are after things to do,
In fact, a spook brought this BOO to you!

The excitement comes when friends like you,
Copy this note and make it two.

We’ll all have smiles upon our faces,
No One will know who BOOed who’s places!

Just two short days to work your spell.
Keep it secret, hide it well.

Please join the fun, the season’s here
So spread the Boo’s and Halloween cheer.

Here’s another common poem . . .

To our good friends on our street.
Our homes’ locations made us meet,

You now have been boo’d, but who could we be?
We’ll never tell, it’s a secret you see!

We placed these goodies for you and yours,
Then we ran fast after ringing the door!

Happy Halloween!

Place this boo! on your front door
And be sure you boo! 2 neighbors of yours!

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WHAT’S A BROKEN PROMISE WORTH?

October 25th, 2009, 4:54 pm by Bill Vogrin

In 2005, developers began building Saddleback Ridge Condominiums in northwest Colorado Springs along Centennial Boulevard in Pinon Valley. 

 As they were promoting their project to prospective buyers in 2005-06, their plans showed a swimming pool and clubhouse to be shared with Canyon Reserve Townhomes, to be built adjacent to the west.

In fact, several of the investors in the condos also were investors in the townhome project. So it made sense to them to build one pool/clubhouse to serve both complexes.

Here is a look at the two complexes from FlashEarth:

saddlebackridgecityview

The Saddleback Ridge group had paid $1.6 million for 26 acres and then sold nine acres to Canyon Reserve or $1.2 million.

They were ambitious projects. Saddleback would have a dozen buildings with 96 condos while Canyon Reserve planned 18 buildings, mostly four-plexes, with 70 townhomes.

 Unfortunately, the projects were launched just as the housing market was collapsing.

 Soon, the developers found themselves struggling to sell their units. Money started getting tight, management of the projects changed repeatedly and somewhere along the way, the pool and clubhouse was dropped.

 Here’s a look at Saddleback Ridge as its appears looking south along Centennial:

saddlebackridgefenceview

This  is the view looking north. Canyon Reserve is off camera to the left: saddlebackridgewideview

 

 As you might imagine, folks in Saddleback Ridge who wanted a pool and clubhouse were not happy when the pool never materialized. Some recalled one of the project managers, Charles Schoninger, promising the pool would be built. Even if he had to pay for it himself.

 So the owners are trying to hold him to his promise. The Saddleback Ridge Homeowners Association is suing the developers over the missing pool and clubhouse. They want over $500,000 in compensation. They feel they were cheated and their property values have suffered due to the lack of the promised amenities.

 But the HOA isn’t just going after the developers’ companies. The HOA is suing them individually, trying to hold them personally responsible.

 That’s because they claim Schoninger made personal guarantees that the pool and clubhouse would be built. The HOA has sworn depositions from real estate agents and owners making that claim.

 Schoninger said he is broke and resents being singled out from the group of developers. He blames his partners for mismanaging the project, forcing him to step in and try to salvage it.

 He said partners involved in Canyon Reserve are particularly to blame.

 The townhouse project ended up in foreclosure and now is being operated by the Santerra Financial Group, which bought it out. Only six four-plexes have been built although the group intends to complete the project as the economy improves.

 Here’s a look at the plan for Canyon Reserve from its Web site. The plan does not include a pool or clubhouse, which Santerra managing partner Bob Elliott said would be a mistake to build. He said his townhome owners don’t want the amenities or the expense of maintaining them. The pool would have been built across from Building 4.

canyonreserve

Below is an artist’s rendering of the finished Canyon Reserve:

canyonreserve2

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NO PARKING ZONE - Flying Horse residents demand their neighborhood park now

October 21st, 2009, 5:42 pm by Bill Vogrin

A big reason Maureen and Jeff Storch bought a home in the new Flying Horse neighborhood of Saratoga back in 2007 was because plans called for a near six-acre park across the street from them on Crane Canyon Loop.

paradeflyinghorsebanner

Here’s a look at an architect’s blueprint of Saratoga from the Flying Horse Web site:

saratogadrawing

So-called  “Frogs Leap Park” would have something for all four of their children, ages 3, 8, 10 and 11. There was to be a playground, basketball court, baseball diamond and walking trails.

saratogadrawingcloseup

“We bought a house right on the park,” Maureen Storch said.

Except for one problem. Two years later, there is still no park. Just weeds.

Here’s a look at the field after the developer, Classic Homes, rolled out some artifical grass in an effort to appease neighbors upset that the park had not been built yet:

saratogaastroturf

Storch and other neighbors say they were promised a park in 2007 and can’t understand why Classic is building parks in adjoining Flying Horse neighborhoods but not in Saratoga.

saratogamap1

Doug Stimple, chief executive officer of Classic, explained that Saratoga was conceived as a commercial development. Not residential.

When the developer decided to convert it to new homes in 2006, it didn’t have financing for a neighborhood park, which cost about $400,000.

 Before the company could complete a refinancing package, commercial credit markets froze solid. He said the parks being built in Syrah, Solera and Calistoga neighborhoods of Flying Horse all were designed and financed with the original package and those funds cannot be transfered to Saratoga.

Want to see how Saratoga has progressed? Here’s an early look from GoogleEarth:

saratogagoogle

This is later from FlashEarth:  saratogaflash1

 

Storch also is upset that Classic has not landscaped a detention pond behind her home. Here’s how it looks today in a patched-together panorama:

saratogadetentionpond1

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‘I’M SORRY, THE NUMBER YOU REACHED IS NO LONGER IN SERVICE’ . . . at Holiday Village

October 18th, 2009, 4:00 pm by Bill Vogrin

Normally, life in Holiday Village Mobile Home Park is pretty quiet.

holidayvillage1

It’s 185 manufactured homes sit under mature trees in the 39-acre park where roads wind past tidy yards.

Here’s a look at the park from FlashEarth:

holidayvillageflash

Its mostly elderly residents enjoy their twilight years playing community-coordinated bingo, brdige, line dancing, potluck dinners and more at the clubhouse and around the pool and spa.

holidayvillage2

Until now.

A couple weeks ago, the park’s corporate owner, Equity LifeStyle Properties or ELS notified the residents that existing phone, cable TV and internet service providers were being evicted. Read the letter here:

holidayvillageletter

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Instead of Qwest Communications or Comcast, residents will now be served by Primecast. ELS signed an exclusive agreement with Primecast to allow the Florida-based company to be the sole provider.

ELS vice president Lance Beatch said individual phone numbers will remain the same. But any e-mail addresses tied to Qwest or Comcast will have to be changed.

Of course the residents can keep the addressed if they want to pay a premium. ELS has offered to pay the fee for a few months. But beyond that, it will up to the residents to pay or change e-mails.

Many are outraged at the change and are rallying the community to oppose it. They scheduled a “town hall meeting” to discuss strategies. Here’s a flier announcing the meeting:

holidayvillage3

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Some are upset because they’ve heard bad things about Primecast. Here’s what the South Florida Better Business Bureau rates the company:

holidayvillagebbbYes, that’s a D+.

Beatch was unable to say whether other services will translate to Primecast, such as Qwest’s Telehealth equipment which transmits vital health statistics of some Holiday Village residents to their doctors on a daily basis.

Nor did he know if Lifeline panic buttons will operate on Primecast. Lifeline buttons are worn around the neck. Should someone fall or become incapacitated, they can press the button to call for help.

But Beatch defended the switch to Primecast saying it will lower everyone’s bills for phones, cable TV and internet serivce and the residents will appreciate it in the long run.

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IF I CAN’T SEE THE PEAK, NOBODY CAN!

October 14th, 2009, 5:17 pm by Bill Vogrin

 Folks in the Carriages at Charleston Place are feuding over their mountain views.

carriageswebflag

When Classic Homes developed the 80-unit townhome complex 10 years ago, they offered “view lots” for a premium of $10,000. Here is a look at the area from FlashEarth:

carriagesflashwide1

 Chuck and Ilse Young paid because they valued their spectacular view of Pikes Peak and the Front Range.

 Jim and Evelyn Mills also paid and ever since have cherished their views of the mountains. 

 But when Classic landscaped the development, pine trees were planted in the yards around the townhomes, built as 40 duplexes.

 Ilse Young said she soon realized the pines were going to grow too large and obscure her views. Here is a look at her home taken shortly before she moved in.  

carriagestreesbefore

 So Young said she contacted the developer and the homeowners association, or HOA, and was given permission to replace the pines with ornamental crabapple tress that can be more easily pruned. Permission was needed because the trees and yard are common areas to the HOA.

 Mills recalls the request because he was the HOA’s first board president. In fact, he is on the board today.

Over the years, the Youngs and the Mills routinely hired an arborist to keep their trees pruned and shaped up.

But this year, when they asked for permission, the HOA board denied their request. The HOA board didn’t want to spend the money to prune every tree. And the board didn’t want to let the Mills and Youngs do it themselves.

Mills said Betty DeJong, vice president of the board, led the opposition. Mills said DeJong told him that her views were being blocked by one of those pine trees. Unlike the ornamentals, the pines can’t be as easily pruned without destroying their appearance.

Here is a look at the bushy trees from FlashEarth:

carriagesflash1

 Mills recalls his conversation with DeJong like this: “She told me: ‘If I can’t prune mine, you shouldn’t be a able to prune yours.’ I was shocked.”

 DeJong said she was simply making a point that it would set a bad precedent to let one or two homeowners prune their trees. Then all 80 homeowners would start pruning and things would be a mess.

Here’s a look at the trees today:

carriagessigntrees2

Mills and Young say they simply want to shape the trees and take off the new growth, just as they always have.

The Youngs have a special urgency to their request. They are trying to sell their home and being able to advertise it as having “mountain views” would enhance the value.

But the HOA board has ruled.

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PARK AT YOUR OWN RISK

October 11th, 2009, 4:33 pm by Bill Vogrin

In older neighborhoods around Colorado Springs where streets are narrow and garages are not universal, parking can be a hot issue.

It can even be a problem in newer California-style subdivisions where greed-obsessed developers squeezed big houses onto postage stamp-sized lots with driveways so short you can’t park without blocking the sidewalk. Here’s an example as seen from FlashEarth:

columbiastetson

In older neighborhoods, some houses don’t have driveways and folks are forced to park on the street, between curb cuts for their neighbors’ driveways.

That’s the case on Columbia Street in the Patty Jewett Neighborhood. Not only do folks with no driveways have problems, it’s dangerous for folks who do. Try backing out of a driveways onto a crowded, narrow and busy street.

Here’s another look from FlashEarth at Columbia Street.

columbiaflash

So Jason Weyant called the city and asked for help. Weyant lives in the hous eon the northeast corner of Columbia and Wahsatch Avenue, above. He worries he will hit a partked car or someone snaking their way down the street trying to back out.

 Here’s a look at Columbia, facing east.

columbiast2

Weyant asked the city to simply designate one side of Columbia as a no-parking zone. He figured that would make it safer for motorists and folks like him trying to come and go.

Notice the cars parked up against driveways? According to Springs codes, it is illegal to park within 5 feet of a driveway. For all practical purposes, it would be illegal to park along most of Columbia and a lot of streets in the city because there isn’t enough room between driveways.

columbiast3

  The city’s response to his request for no parking? No way!

 Traffic engineers say the city would never abolish parking on an entire block, one side or the other, without written agreement from everyone on the block. Fat chance of that ever happening.

Part of the problem is the goofy way streets were designed a century ago. Check the image below from FlashEarth. It shows how some streets, like Corona, were built about 55 feet wide while side streets like Columbia were just 28 feet. Wonder where they parked their horse-and-buggies and kept their jet skis?

columbiaflash1

But the city didn’t just blow Weyant off. They tried to help by putting up a couple “No Parking” signs on either side of his driveway to remind people of the law.

columbiastcloseup

Weyand said he’s grateful for the signs and may circulate a petition to ban parking on one side of the street. It will be interesting to see how that turns out.

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PLANETARY DEFENSE — greenies to the rescue!

October 7th, 2009, 1:24 pm by Bill Vogrin

 A recent flag-raising on a mountainside above Green Mountain Falls revealed the existence of a previously unknown group in the Colorado Springs region: the Planetary Defense Command.

Is Green Mountain Falls being invaded?

Here’s a look at its Web site:

 gmfflagplanetarydefweb

 

We’re not talking anything close to NORAD — the North American Aerospace Defense Command that, for decades, occupied a small city within the hollowed granite walls of Cheyenne Mountain.

We’re talking a gr0up of old greenies who have been fighting for the environment since 1979 or earlier.

We’re talking Mike Grabon, of Divide, who calls himself the Planetary Defense commander, and his buddies like Rick Truesdell and Kim Wart of Green Mountain Falls.

Grabon, Truesdell and Wart are pictured, below, in a photo by The Gazette’s Mariah Tauger taken Monday as they prepared for a second expedition to raise the group’s flag on Table Rock above the mountain hamlet up Ute Pass.

planetarydefenserock

Below is another look at the Planetary Defense group by Mariah Tauger.

planetarydefense2

Here’s a look at the town of Green Mountain Falls and the surrounding area from GoogleEarth. A reservoir is visible to the west along the Pikes Peak Highway. It is on a mesa high above the town and Ute Pass.

greenmtfallsgoogle

Grabon and Company created a bit of stir in Green Mountain Falls a couple weeks ago when they hiked up to the cliffs of Table Rock and planted their flag.

Folks were wondering what, exactly, the Planetary Defense was and why it had conquered Table Rock. The cliffs are a regular target of younger residents who, accoridng to local tradition, climb Table Rock and plant a flag in a coming-of-age ritual.

greenmtfallsgoogle2

 Grabon insists there is nothing sinister about the group. They come in peace. They are not invading. They are out to conquer anything.

 All they want is to save the planet by encouraging the use of renewable energy such as solar and wind. Right on, Planetary Defense!

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TRAFFIC CONCERNS in Rockrimmon and Wagon Trails

October 4th, 2009, 4:00 pm by Bill Vogrin

============ UPDATE   BELOW –  UPDATE BELOW ============

Remember the smashing fences in Rockrimmon? You know, the folks who live at the bottom of the hill where Vindicator Drive meets Rockrimmon Boulevard? They’ve lived with cars crashing into their yards for years.

Below is a map from FlashEarth.com of the area:

fenceflash

Two families - Mitch Logue and Donald and Colleen Kunecke, wanted the city to install guardrails to prevent future incidents like this one below:

fencewreck2

I’ve written about it a couple times. Here is a link to a previous blog about the problem.

Well the Colorado Springs traffic engineer, Dave Krauth, said the intersection won’t accomodate guard rails. But he’s interested in testing sophisticated new traffic sensors to see if he can stop some of the carnage.

The sensors track cars entering an intersection as the traffic signal is about to change. Traffic engineers call this moment the “dilemma zone.”

 The sensors can delay the change to allow the cars to clear without stomping on their gas and plowing over the curb and into a fence and yard.

There’s also news on another bottleneck in the city. This one is a two-lane stretch of Dublin Boulevard between Bridle Pass Drive and Powers Boulevard. Here’s a look from FlashEarth:

dublinflashoverview

Readers like Tim Little want to know why Dublin suddenly shrinks from four lanes to two and a stretch of pavement sits unfinished.

It’s a twisted tale of land that is annexed vs. unincorporated land stuck in El Paso County.

dublincitylimits

It is further complicated by rules about when a develop must build infrastructure like roads, curbs and sidewalks.

Krauth said the road will be widened as land is developed along the stretch. Already a short piece was widened but never attached to the intersection at Bridle Pass due to a property line issue.

dublinflashcloseup

The rest of the road won’t be widened until county land on the north side is developed and annexed into the city.

As a result, motorists are stuck with roads that look like this view to the east:

dublinroadclosed1

And this view looking west:

dublincurvewestb

================ NOW THE UPDATE ================

 

I now have an answer to the mysterious disappearing pavement.

dublinflashcloseup1

The new black pavement was installed by the developer of a townhome project adjacent to Dublin Boulevard. However, it ends about 400 feet from the intersection to the west.

Why didn’t the developer just finish the job?

Tim Mitros of city engineering tells me the pavement ends at a property line. Developers are required to install infrastructure — sidewalks, curbs, gutters even roadway – adjacent to their projects. But not for a neighbor’s land.

In the case above, the pavement ends at the property line of the next parcel and the remaining 400 feet will be installed if and when the adjacent land is developed.

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