It took three years, but the furor over the Great Wall of Cascade Avenue appears to be over and it has been lowered to comply with Colorado Springs building codes!
Disgruntled residents of homeowners associations, or HOAs, will soon have a state agency to turn to for help.
And the battle for control of the Crystal Park HOA rages on, even after a special meeting appeared to result in a recall vote ousting six board members.
First, the wall.
The wall around the Old North End home of Holger and Sally Christiansen has been lowered in response to a judge's order. The city granted the couple permission to let their decorative columns, called pilasters, exceed the maximum wall height of 6 feet. The chainlink gates appear to be temporary in this July 14, 2010, photo.
It’s been three years since a furor erupted in the Old North End Neighborhood, north of Colorado College, over Holger and Sally Christiansen‘s wall.
In July 2007, neighbors started complaining to the neighborhood association and the city. Public meetings were held. Hearings. Eventually, the dispute led to lawsuits filed by the city and the couple.
The Christiansens lost and were ordered to lower the wall to achieve compliance with city codes limiting it to a maximum 6 feet in height.
They complied. But they received one favor from the city. They were allowed to leave their decorative columns, called finials. They exceed the maximum by about a foot.
The three-year battle over the wall built by Holger and Sally Christiansen around their Old North End Neighborhood home seems to be over. The wall has been lowered, at a judge's order, to comply with city building codes which set a maximum height of 6 feet. This is a July 14, 2010, photo.
Here’s a link to an earlier story on the wall.
And this link will take you to prior blogs on the subject.
The HOA Information and Resource Center will open Jan. 1, 2011, thanks to action by the Colorado General Assembly.
Here’s a link to previous columns about the center.
And this link will take you to blog postings.
Lastly, Crystal Park remains in a furor over its HOA board of directors.
After months of campaining, dissidents in the private, gated community succeeded in gathering sufficient votes to oust the board.
They claimed 184 votes to recall the board. They needed 181 votes for a majority of the 360 members of the community above Manitou Springs.
Not so fast, said the existing board. It deemed the meeting and vote illegal.
I’m guessing this puppy ends up in court where only the attorneys will be the winners.
Here’s a link to an earlier column on Crystal Park.
Read my related blog post at this link.
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