DEVELOPMENT

caused tension for the Foothills Fire and Rescue board of directors, who have wrestled with whether to swap its Rainbow Hill re station property located next to the Alpine Rescue Team headquarters for a new station free of charge on property further down Highway 40.

e Foothills Fire board has not made a decision, though it has said it was open to further discussion.

Buchanan said he isn’t waiting any longer to move forward.

Residents in favor of the development say the Observatory building, which is an eyesore with a fence around it to keep people from trespassing, will be torn down with nicer buildings replacing the structure. Several buildings will be down a hill, so they won’t be seen from Evergreen Parkway.

Russ Clark, planning supervisor with Je co Planning & Zoning, conrmed that the rezoning application is being voided, and as of late April, the county had not received Northstar’s new proposal. However, since the property is zoned Commercial 1, the proposed uses such as a hotel, restaurants, o ces and other businesses are already allowed there.

Clark said without rezoning the property, and if Northstar Ventures provides development plans for businesses allowed under the current Commercial-1 zoning, then the county’s Zoning Department would not review the area’s comprehensive plan or Evergreen Area Plan as part that Abelard couldn’t arbitrarily boot her from the household. ey could, however, and did, remove her to the Big House for domestic assault.

Slim Jim

EVERGREEN – Heading out to the parking lot after a morning shift, Veronica observed a curiously columnar character getting hands-y with a co-worker’s Subaru. Veronica called JCSO, telling deputies it was her distinct impression that the skinny sneak was “using some kind of tool” to open one of the Subaru’s doors, and that when she’d started her engine he’d “scurried away” like a startled skeleton. She said the alleged thief could be easily identi ed by his extra-lean build, blue baseball cap and bright orange gloves. Arriving quickly, o cers easily identi ed Skinny Vinny by his distinguishing colors and eshless appearance, but could have just as easily identi ed him by the cloud of liquor fumes hanging over his slender person, or by aroma of marijuana clinging to him like a second tautly-stretched skin. Asked about his unusual interest in other peoples’ cars, Vinny of the approval process.

“If the zoning is not changing, the comprehensive plan is not evaluated for the site development plan,” Clark said, noting that the process is administrative, so the Planning Commission and the Je co commissioners would not conduct hearings.

The proposal Buchanan is working with Mike Artz and Frank Phillips, co-owners of e Public Works, to design and create the development, and e Public Works is developing concepts for the project to add more value, Buchanan said.

Artz explained that about a year ago, they learned of Buchanan’s initial plan for the Observatory property, and they met soon after.

“I told Jack that we have been looking at this property, dreaming about what it could be, and we had roughed out architectural ideas,” Artz said.

Phillips promised that the new development would be many steps up from the dilapidated Observatory building. Asbestos abatement work has begun in the building, so it can be torn down.

“We are deep into developing the site no matter what,” Buchanan said. “We want mountain architecture, so you feel you have arrived in the mountains. … We want amenities that will be better for the community.” explained that a friend’s cell phone had recently been stolen, and that its space-age GPS tracking app indicated it was somewhere in that very parking lot. He admitted looking into several car windows, but denied attempting to enter any of them, and a very personal pat-down failed to uncover any tell-tale tools of the car-theft trade. On the other hand, two cell phones were sitting out in plain sight in the targeted Subaru’s drink-holder. Lacking any solid evidence proving that Vinny actually got inside the vehicle, deputies were unable to arrest him for criminal trespass. So they arrested him on an outstanding warrant out of Lakewood, instead.

Buchanan said because of the sloping land toward Interstate 70, the site has been di cult to design, but he is happy with the latest plans.

Double trouble

EVERGREEN – Arriving at her Buffalo Park Road o ce shortly after 7 a.m. on April 13, she discovered the o ce door damaged and “a mess” inside. Deputies called to the scene observed that the door appeared to have been “kicked in.” Beyond it, drawers and cabinets had been left standing open and papers were strewn about. Taking a quick inven- tory, she informed them that the only thing missing was a quantity of “assorted bills” from her petty cash cache. O cers were still investigating that scene when a second o ce tenant within the same building called JCSO to report a similar situation. Moving down the hall, deputies saw the second o ce in identical disarray, as if, the second victim suggested, “somebody was looking for something.” Interestingly, “easily visible cash” in the second o ce remained untaken and in plain sight. Finding no useful clues in either ofce, nor any sign of forced entry on the building’s exterior doors, o cers contacted building management in hopes of obtaining surveillance footage. e cases remain open pending new information.

Sheri ’s Calls is intended as a humorous take on some of the incident call records of the Je erson County Sheri ’s O ce for the mountain communities. Names and identifying details have been changed. All individuals are innocent until proven guilty.