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30 The News-Press
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indoor turf fields, offices, meeting rooms and other uses, as well as a lighted outdoor athletic field, parkwide utility lines and electrical infrastructure, roads and some landscaping. The council, to stay within budget, on Oct. 1 approved a maximum of $12.5 million for the final contract package for that
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“He was a shining star for a lot of people,” Cardenas said. Now suddenly he’s gone. He didn’t smoke, didn’t drink — even when he went with his Dad regularly into the Spur, a town pub and café, it was to buy a soda pop and candy out of the machine, said Pam Ramsour, 53, waitress and bartender. But his good heart wore out, anyway. He reportedly went into a local hospital because of breathing problems, had complications, and in the middle of the night on Sept. 29 died of a heart attack. Now, a town says it’s heartbroken. “He never hurt anyone,” said Jana Medina, a clerk at the Larkspur Country Store. “Why did it have to be him?” “It was quite a shocker to the whole community,” said Larkspur Town Manager Matt Krimmer. Been encouraged anyone who wanted to, to put their flags at half-staff for Boardman that week. So Larkspur’s flag in the town park was
October 10, 2013 pared-down Phase 1 completion. With that, the total cost of Phase 1, including two previous contract packages that totaled $8.3 million, is $20.8 million. Past numbers had the entire park — with additional phases that would add ball fields and other amenities — costing about $30 million. It’s hoped that Castle Rock Parks and Trails Foundation will be able to raise some private funds to help with that. Jeff Smullen, the town’s superintendent of parks, planning and construction, told the News-Press that with “the current con-
halfway down to honor kindness, as were private flags on either end of town. “I was on many (fire) scenes with him,” said Charles Walden, division chief for the Larkspur Fire Protection District. “I’ve never heard him raise his voice … never complained.” He remembers seeing Rob, who never married, always helping his parents. His dad used an oxygen tank and he’d help him get around. It was pretty much expected everyone would be there for Rob — on Oct. 7 at the 10 a.m. funeral service and burial and then at a reception at the fire department. “It’s going to be really big,” Been said prior to the funeral. The antique fire truck that Boardman was in the process of restoring for parades and such might not be there. But the rest of a major fire department procession planned to be there. Boardman’s gone, and he was the “right arm, left arm, both legs,” for his elderly parents, Cardenas said. But Larkspur knows where his parents live. And the elderly couple has been getting a lot of visits. “I’ve been over there four or five times today,” said one resident.
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struction climate, we can’t predict what future costs will be. We also don’t know what future councils will want to pursue in terms of future phases. Remember, this is a legacy project that will evolve over time.” He also told the News-Press that the infrastructure being created in the first phase “… creates a solid foundation to facilitate future development, and the amenities meet immediate community needs of additional indoor and recreation space.” Keeping within the budget will also cost money. In areas that were being reshaped
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acreages in Happy Canyon subdivision were OK with it — because of an agreement, attorney and Happy Canyon resident John Goutell said recently. Goutell said that in 2000, Alpert agreed to leave 500 acres as open space from Castle Pines Parkway to Happy Canyon Road along I-25 and call it “The Preserve.” And on the remainder, there was to be a limit of 25 acres of commercial area and about 1,500 homes as well as a golf course and other amenities. And Happy Canyon wouldn’t have to worry about its water wells because the developer was going to help with water issues. It was considered a “reasonable use” of land, Goutell said about the agreement. But as of Sept. 27, the 2000 agreement is no more, Goutell said. He said the developer used two law firms working full-time, spending more than $600,000 in legal costs, to plead their case to an arbitrator about why the agreement should be terminated. The Happy Canyon homeowners association — with about a $10,000 legal budget and no legal help at first until Goutell moved into Happy Canyon and heard about the already underway arbitration — lost. Everything. “It was the big developer against the little HOA,” Goutell said. “(Happy Canyon) doesn’t get anything. … It’s such a tragedy.” Goutell said Happy Canyon, a development of about 500 acres, made up mainly of two-acre lots but some as large as 35 acres, is now entitled to nothing — no control over densities, no help with water, traffic or other impacts. He was told Alpert would be a good neighbor, but when he asked for that assurance on paper, he was refused. And now a much bigger project is in the works. With arbitration behind the developer, there now can be an even bigger development — with 10 times the commercial area allowed in the Happy Canyon agreement now about 250 acres instead of 25 acres — and up to 2,500 homes. The developer can now have those higher densities because in 2009 Castle Pines annexed the property into the city and OK’d that heavier zoning to be allowed if and when the Happy Canyon agreement was ever terminated, Goutell said. There is no plan for a golf course now — and no 500 acres of open space. About 100 acres along I-25, just south of Castle Pines Parkway exit, is designated for mixed uses. The rest, 400 acres, south of the 100 mixed-
and graded for facilities that won’t be built as expected in this phase, the town will need to reseed that bare ground, about 30 acres — which is expected to cost with labor and materials about $180,000. “It’s important to stabilize the area for a few reasons: Colorado’s climate, erosion control,” Smullen told Colorado Community Media in an email. “And it still provides usable recreation areas for our residents.” Smullen said the total re-seeding cost “includes re-seeding, soil amendments, mulch and erosion control measures.”
use acres, is no longer open space, but is being called “farm zoning,” which allows for barns, storage and other things. But that farm zoning isn’t necessarily permanent. “Situations can change,” Nickless said. But he said the intention is to “develop the plan within the confines of our current zoning.” “I don’t have the impression that the developer is going to reach out to us,” said Michael Anderson, president of the Happy Canyon Homeowners Association, who saw the situation as a David and Goliath scenario, with the giant winning. “I certainly welcome that contact.” Goutell said both sides won’t ever know the reasons for why the arbitrator, a former dean of the University of Denver’s law school, ruled the way he did because the homeowners association could only afford to pay for the cheaper “yes or no” decision and not the more expensive “reasoned decision,” which would have given a written explanation about the decision. Goutell said the developer’s legal team somehow successfully argued at the arbitration hearing that because 146 acres of The Canyons had been condemned during the past development of the Rueter-Hess Reservoir, the 2000 agreement could be terminated. Goutell said their position was that a section in the agreement addressed allowing termination of the agreement if a court invalidated the property’s zoning. And they said the taking of land for the dam created “a domino effect that effectively invalidated their zoning,” Goutell said. Goutell said courts have invalidated zoning at times, but his position in this case is that the eminent-domain condemnation of a “tiny percentage” of land didn’t constitute an invalidation of The Canyons’ zoning. Also, he said the Alpert family received $5 million in compensation for that condemned land, more than they could have made from the dozen housing lots. Nickless commented that the arbitration “was a private matter, agreed upon. We want to respect it was a private matter.” Castle Pines Councilmember James Einolf told the News-Press he thinks “this is a sad day for homeowners in Colorado. Apparently, covenants that `run with the land in perpetuity’ actually last only until someone with enough time and money comes along and takes you to court. “I’m ashamed that the City of Castle Pines ever entered into this pact with The Canyons, and that we now stand to profit — or at least, to appear to profit — from the misfortune of the homeowners of Happy Canyon,” he said, referring to the million dollars the city is to receive from the developer to lessen the city’s impacts as it has to maintain the development’s streets, among other responsibilities.
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