Courier View Pikes Peak
Pikes Peak 4/18/13
Teller County, Colorado • Volume 52, Issue 16
April 17, 2013
75 cents
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourtellercountynews.com
Brown named clerk & recorder By Pat Hill
phill@ourcoloradonews.com Krystal Brown it is. Appointed to the position of Teller County Clerk & Recorder, Krystal Brown’s position is now official. Chief Deputy Clerk for the past two years, Brown has been the acting clerk since the resignation of J.J. Jamison earlier in the year. Before announcing Brown’s appointment April 11, Teller County commissioners Marc Dettenrieder, Dave Paul and Norm Steen let the suspense drag on. “We had three qualified candidates,” Steen said. “It was a challenging decision.” If anybody in the audience was in suspense, commission chair Paul made them wait a bit longer. “We had three different candidates, as far as their skills and experience,” he said. “It was an arduous process.” The room erupted in applause when Paul finally named Brown. As an appointee, she will be eligible to run for the officein November 2014. A resident of southern Teller
County for 20 years, Brown has been part of the clerk & recorder’s office for the past nine years. Overseeing a staff of 8, two of them in Woodland Park, Brown has been a stabilizing force in the clerk’s office, taking the lead in the wake of turmoil generated by her predecessor who resigned under pressure. As a result, the commissioners recognized her, along with Stephanie Fisher, senior elections clerk, with the county’s leadership award. Among the new duties of the clerk’s offices is the processing of civil-union licenses, a result of a legislative decision, effective May 1. “We have a lot of hard work ahead of us,” she said. Along with the paperwork and interacting with the public, Brown has a softer goal. “We just want to stay under the radar and do our jobs,” she said. Brown and her husband, Cripple Creek Mayor Bruce Brown, have four children, 19, 17, 14 and 13. Before making the appointment, the commissioners re-
Krsystal Brown reacts to the commissioners’ announcement April 11 that she has been appointed to the position of Teller County Clerk & Recorder. Brown has been the acting clerk since the resignation earlier in the year of J.J. Jamison. Photo by Pat Hill ported on their flurry of activities. From meetings with regional fire officials, Dettenrieder offered up startling statistics. In the last 13 years, the number of fires has decreased in Colorado, he said, but they are larger and burn more acres. “By 2030 there will be a 40 per-
cent increase in people moving into the wildland urban interface area,” he said. Steen, on the other hand, is monitoring transportation issues. On the recent news that the I-25/Cimarron interchange project lacks $1 million in matching funds, Steen predicted success. “I
want to reassure you that nothing will come from Teller County. But my sense is that they’re coming very close, with construction starting in 2014 and concluding in 2017.” As well, Steen is keeping track of SB48 which would allow money collected through highway-users’ fund be used for transit projects. “The reasoning is that by putting more people on buses, it reduces the load of trucks and cars on the highways,” Steen said. Paul has been occupied in advocating for the county in the revival of the lawsuit by Gilpin County over the distribution of gaming impact funds. As well, he has been elected chairman of the executive board of Pikes Peak Workforce Center. To a proposal to open Rampart Range Road if U.S. 24 is closed due to flooding, Paul gave measured approval. “We’re not going to put trucks and buses on that road but it would be nice to have that road open again,” he said. “I don’t see that as a real winner when it comes to commuting to the Springs.”
Fountain Creek to go underground in WP Work will begin on creek’s East Fork; main stem starts later By Norma Engelberg
nengelberg@ourcoloradonews. com
Chris Briggs-Hale, principal of Ute Pass Elementary School, and Lorrie Worthey, mayor of Green Mountain Falls, discuss flood plans before a meeting April 8 at the school. Representatives from various agencies offered updates on weather patterns and escape plans in the event of fire or flood. Photo by Pat Hill
GMF residents prepare for weather By Pat Hill
phill@ourcoloradonews.com Faced with impending doom due to the severe drought of 2013 and denuded trees on the hillside over Ute Pass, 90 residents of Green Mountain Falls turned out to hear about preparing for the worst. Mayor Lorrie Worthey and El Paso County commissioner Sallie Clark offered a preview of the forum April 8 at Ute Pass Elementary School. “We’re united and we’re going to get through this,” Worthey said. The risk of flooding is imminent. “Looking at last year’s devastating storm on July 30 that closed Ute Pass, the rainfall was only one-half inch, said Patty Baxter, who represents El Paso
County’s emergency-management office. If disaster strikes, it won’t be for lack of planning by various agencies. By the end of April, the agencies will have a map of the inundation area, including an assessment of the watershed and calculation of the debris expected to flow through the burn-scar area, Baxter said. The map includes predictions on the results of various amounts of rainfall, from one-half inch to two inches an hour. At risk are Sand Gulch, Wellington Gulch, the Lone Duck Campground and the Waldo Canyon area. “Generally speaking, it takes about 30 minutes for water in the upper areas of these watersheds to reach the bottom of the canyons,” Baxter said.
With the potential for flooding that will potentially close U.S. 24, Baxter urged the audience to have an escape plan. “Whether it’s the second floor of your home or leaving your home and going to Woodland Park,” she said. “Understand where `safe’ is.” With the drought more severe this year than in 2012, both fire and flood threaten the area. Along with the public notification systems, Baxter offered sage advice. “Don’t wait to be told to evacuate,” she said. “Use common sense.” For private landowners who need financial help with mitigation projects, a representative from Natural Resources Conservation District announced the initiation of program to address
When it comes to Flood Hazard Development Permits, the buck stops at the Woodland Park Planning Commission. In most cases, the commission is a recommending body. The commissioners look at the technical details of a project and make a recommendation to city council. However, according to the city charter, the commissioners have the final say on Flood Hazard Development Permits. On April 11, the planning commission approved a permit request from the city of Woodland Park to send the East Fork of Fountain Creek, off Sheridan Avenue, underground through a 72-inch reinforced pipe. The plan is designed to capture water from a 100-yearstorm and eliminate the flood plain surrounding the East Fork. This means that once the work is done and a new flood-plain map is sent to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, neighboring resi-
dents and businesses will no longer need flood insurance. “Putting water in pipes is not my first choice for erosion control,” said Bill Alspach, Woodland Park director of public works. “We just don’t have any room in that area of the creek to do something else with it.” Included with the permit was a grading/landscaping plan. The pipe will be buried and the land over it will be landscaped as open space and will eventually become part of the American Discovery Trail. The work on the east fork will cost between $600,000 and $700,000, Alspach said, adding that the Colorado Department of Transportation will be paying about $250,000 into the work. “As soon as CDOT cuts loose with the money, we’ll start advertising for construction bids,” he said. “Next month or the month after, I will be coming in with the start of the Fountain Creek main-stem, erosion-control project. There are critical infrastructures within these projects that were working to protect from erosion.” After its regular meeting, the commissioners continued its series of work sessions on revamping the city’s zoning codes.
Weather continues on Page 5
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Fountain Creek through Woodland Park will be going underground to control erosion, starting with the creek’s East Fork. Woodland Park will be seeking contractor bids soon. Photo by Norma Engelberg