1-Color
May 7, 2014
75 cents Teller County, Colorado | Volume 53, Issue 18 A publication of
pikespeakcourier.net
Arby’s gets a go from council Road work in city planned for summer By Norma Engelberg Contributing writer
A few homeowners came to the May 1 Woodland Park City Council meeting to express their concerns about an Arby’s Restaurant moving into their neighborhood. US Beef Corp. is buying the building at 407 E. U.S. 24, where the Tabeguache Steakhouse is now located, and plans to turn it into an Arby’s with the help of local architect David Langley. There weren’t quite as many people speaking out against the project as there were at the April 10 planning commission meeting but they were just as vocal. Concerns included traffic, parking, pedestrian safety at U.S. 24 and in the Arby’s parking lot, noise and light pollution. Sit-down restaurants are permitted in Community Commercial zones, such as this one, but a conditional use permit is necessary to open a drive-through restaurant. The city planning staff determined that the proj-
This intersection at Sheridan Avenue and U.S. 24 in Woodland Park will soon be sporting a new deceleration lane, a retaining wall and a guard rail. Traffic generated by Peoples National Bank, an office building and the new 168-apartments that are being built by Woodland Park Associates has triggered the need for intersection improvements that will cost about $241,000. Improvements to Sheridan will cost another $86,000. Photo by Norma Engelberg ect meets all the conditions for a conditional use permit and council agreed by a vote of 5-1. Councilmember Ken Matthews cast the nay and Councilmember Bob Carlsen was absent. Ken Garlin, whose property
is behind and kitty-corner from the Arby’s site, said the 4-foot-tall fence Arby’s will install behind the building might be a solution to the glare from headlights but he’d have to wait and see. When City Planner Lisa Parnell said the
neighbors were “accustomed” to having a restaurant in their midst he disagreed. In the 10 years he lived in his home there hadn’t been a drive-through restaurant in his neighborhood and the previous Cruisers and Sonic restau-
rants were smaller. Another neighbor Jim White, a 19-year resident, agreed with Garlin on all points and added a few of his own. He said the Chester Street entrance to the Arby’s will be inadequate and that when the Trail Ridge Apartments off Sheridan Avenue are completed he and his neighbors will be “trapped in our neighborhood” by traffic. When neighbor Eric Running expressed concerns about the Arby’s franchise owner living in Tulsa, Okla., instead of Woodland Park. “He (the franchise owner) won’t be spending his profits here in Woodland Park,” he said. At that point Mayor Dave Turley stopped Running because, as he said, council can only base its decision on whether or not the project meets the criteria for the conditional use permit and not on the owner’s business plans. “It’s not council’s purpose to keep people in or out,” he said. “Property owners decide that — it’s called free enterprise.” On the U.S. 24 pedestrian crossing at Chester Avenue, Public Works Director Bill Alspach Council continues on Page 11
Ute Pass flood mitigation project nears completion Most of work finished, box culvert 10 times bigger By Rob Carrigan
rcarrigan@colorado communitymedia.com A Colorado Department of Transportation project designed to improve water flow under U.S. 24 is nearly complete, allowing traffic to return to its original, fourlane configuration at Waldo Canyon, about one mile west of Manitou Springs. Traffic was expected to revert back to two lanes in each direction sometime (Saturday) morning. Although the majority of the work is complete, some finishing operations still may take place, requiring temporary lane or shoulder closures over the next two to three weeks. The extra-large concrete box culvert is designed to carry excessive amounts of water. Measuring 24 feet wide and 10 feet high, the culvert is ten times larger than the 72 inch metal pipe it replaced. Work began in February. “This was another one of the steps we took to help mitigate the flooding that’s been occurring on Ute Pass during rain storms,” said CDOT Resident Engineer Dave Watt. “The oversized culvert now will allow heavy water flow, debris and mud to pass under the highway, not over it, removing one more hazard to the traveling public.” Wildcat Construction Co. of Colorado Springs was the prime contractor for the $1.4 million project. POSTAL ADDRESS
A Teller County man was the victim of floods last summer on Aug. 9, in the lower Ute Pass area on U.S. Highway 24. The victim who died along Highway 24 near mile marker 297, during the flash flood on August 9, 2013 was identified as 53-year-old John Collins of Teller County. Mr. Collins’ body was recovered from a large amount of debris which covered the westbound lanes of Highway 24. His vehicle was in the same general area but further west on Highway 24; it is unknown if Mr. Collins exited his vehicle by choice or if the rapidly rushing water and debris forced him from his vehicle, reports from El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said. The body was not inside a vehicle and much of the body was buried beneath significant amounts of debris on the westbound lanes of Highway 24, reports said. Nearly 1.5 inches of rain fell in 30 minutes on Friday night, Aug. 9, 2013, in an area devastated by a wildfire a year previous, causing a creek to overflow its banks and cascade across a state highway and into the town of Manitou Springs. Crews removed more than 2,000 cubic yards of material from the inundation area. On the following Saturday, about 40 vehicles swept away in the torrent had been towed out of the debris, while six buildings had been deemed unsafe to enter and another 11 structures sustained damage from the flood and mud flow. Another serious flood event occurred on Sept. 12, 2013, destroying structures and roadways, hitting the Manitou Springs area very hard causing manhole covers to erupt in geysers in city streets and extensive damage all through that town.
The extra-large concrete box culvert is designed to carry excessive amounts of water. Measuring 24 feet wide and 10 feet high, the culvert is ten times larger than the 72 inch metal pipe it replaced. Work began in February 2014. Photo by Rob Carrigan
PIKES PEAK COURIER (USPS 654-460) OFFICE: 1200 E. Highway 24, Woodland Park, CO 80863 | PHONE: 719-687-3006 MAILING ADDRESS: PO Box 340, Woodland Park, CO 80866 A legal newspaper of general circulation in Teller County, Colorado, the Pikes Peak Courier is published weekly on Wednesday by Colorado Community Media, 1200 E. Highway 24, Woodland Park, CO 80863. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT WOODLAND PARK, COLORADO. POSTMASTER: Send address change to: 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 DEADLINES: Display: Thurs.11 a.m. | Legal: Thurs. 11 a.m. | Classified: Mon. 12 p.m.
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