April 23, 2015 VOLU M E 1 3 | I S SUE 3 | F R E E
CastleRockNewsPress.net D O U G L A S C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O
A publication of
WHAT’S INSIDE
Making a difference: Castle View students help 130 African girls attend school. See Page 2
Town leads way in
WATER CONSERVATION Castle Rock’s usage is already below state goals for 2050
A landmark piece: Colorado native Cindy Welch to debut new artwork. See Page 15
By Mike DiFerdinando | mdiferdinando@coloradocommunitymedia.com
R
on Claussen landscapes his Castle Rock yard with native plants such as wild plums, wild roses, currants, prairie smoke and blue grama — Colorado’s state grass.
Baseball brothers: Matt and Chris Givin team up for Rock Canyon. See Page 21
P O W E R E D
“My logic is if it grows in Castlewood Canyon State Park, I would like it to grow here,” Claussen said. “The park doesn’t water their plants.” At Linda Van Nostrand’s home, the family turns its sprinkler system completely off when there’s moisture or rain. “I would like to see more people turn their systems off when we get rain,” she said. Such efforts by residents to conserve water, coupled with the town’s innovative financial incentives and water-monitoring programs, have positioned Castle Rock as a state leader
B Y
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HOW CASTLE ROCK ENCOURAGES CONSERVATION Education through programs like Water Wiser and Slow the Flow. Rebates and incentives for the use of water-conserving fixtures in homes and landscaping. Incentives for commercial developments that utilize waterconserving designs.
Water continues on Page 10
BY THE NUMBERS 5.9 million —
Amount of water in gallons the town of Castle Rock uses in a day, or enough water to fill 18 Castle Rock recreation Center pools
108
— Castle Rock’s gallons per capita per day water consumption in 2014
155
— Goal for the Denver Metro area in the State Water Plan of 155 gallons per capita per day.
129 — The average
gallons goal for the Denver Metro area in State Water Plan for the year 2050 is 129 gallons per capita per day
Property values rise across Douglas County Notices to be mailed; first round of appeals due June 1 By Mike DiFerdinando
P LE ASE RECYCLE T HI S COPY
in water conservation. In fact, Castle Rock has created a culture of water conservation that: • Lowered per-person, per-day water use to 108 gallons, already below the goal set for the Denver metro area in the State Water Plan for the year 2050. • Created building guidelines for new homes that could save up to nearly half of the amount of water used by existing single-family homes. • On average, saved 33,000 gallons of water per person in the summer of 2014. “Castle Rock’s climate is considered a semiarid high desert,” town water conservation specialist Rick Schultz said. “Additionally, Castle Rock has historically been dependent on groundwater. Promoting water conservation and water efficiency has always made sense.”
mdiferdinando@colorado communitymedia.com Home values in Douglas County are on the rise across the board, which will mean higher property taxes for many. The county will be mailing out newly calculated notices of property value May 1. The largest percentage of homes in the county falls into the $300,000-$450,000 range. Those homes, on average, have seen an 18.5 percent increase in value since the last valuation period two
years ago, according to the county. Home in the $150,000-300,000 range show an average increase in value of 22 percent and homes under $150,000 have shown an average increase of 28 percent. “Condominiums and townhouses have seen the greatest increases,” said Lisa Frizell, county assessor. “That makes sense because they saw the greatest decreases during the recession, so they had the furthest to come back up.” According to recent data by the Douglas Elbert Realtor Association, the median price of a singlefamily home in Douglas County in 2014 was $375,000 and the median sale price of a townhouse or condo was $224,000. Colorado state law requires that each county reappraise property
values every two years, and 2015 is a reappraisal year. The state requires that appraisals by the county examine data from a specific two-year period from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2014. According to Frizell, the biggest drivers of value are square footage, location and the construction quality of the house. “I encourage all property owners to review the sales in their area,” Frizell said. “When they get their notice of value, I would want them to double-check their property characteristics. We have a number of tools on our website for them to look at the sales in their area and make sure that their value makes sense. We want it to be right. That’s the most important thing.” Values continues on Page 31
HOW INCREASES STACK UP, BY VALUE LESS THAN $150,000: 28 percent increase $150,000-$300,000: 22 percent increase $300,000-$450,000: 18.5 percent increase $450,000-$600,000: 15 percent increase $600,000-$1 MILLION: 14 percent increase OVER $1 MILLION: 11 percent increase Source: Douglas County Assessor’s Office