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Volume 10 Issue 45
In This Issue:
November 20, 2019
* Page 2 * Page 4
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Pioneer Village Annexation Information Pioneer Village Annexation Information
Pioneer Village Annexation for Proposed 3,500 Home Development Approved by Keenesburg Planning Commission this Past Week
development will possibly be. It is up to the Mayor and Town Trustees by Bob Grand The Developer of Pioneer Village, Joel Farkas, Pioneer HOLDco, and to communicate the facts to the citizens. Town staff has invested a lot of his staff presented their annexation plan to the Keenesburg Planning time and effort on this annexation.Cont. on Page 2, See Pioneer Village
News Alert
Commission this past week. For the Pioneer Village annexation. Following is a high light review of the Pioneer Village – Annexation Narrative document submitted to the Keenesburg Town Manager on July 10, 2019. Copies of the document and the associated visuals were provided by the Town to the Lost Creek Guide after being requested by the paper. The information was not on the Keenesburg Town website as of Friday, November 15th, 2019. The paper has been told that the information will be available on the Town of Keenesburg website. The intent of the following overview is to provide a look of what the plan entails. The author strongly suggests that you attend town meetings or read the information on the project when it is online as its impact on Keenesburg will be significant. Residents need to understand what the impact of this
by Bob Grand The Keenesburg Board of Trustees on Monday, November 18th, unanimously voted on approving 13 Ordinances and Resolutions, basically approving the annexation of the Pioneer Village Phase 1, representing 2,151 acres along the east side of CR 49 between CR 22 and 24. This item was recommended at the Planning Commission last week. It seems this was well on its way to approval before the Planning Commission met. The attorney for the Town of Keenesburg said that the notice requirements were met. These included 4 publications in the Greeley Tribune, a sign posted on the property and a letter to property owners within 200 feet of the annexation. I pointed out that the Town received the Pioneer Village information package on July 10th and was not posted on the Town website until November 15th and the notice of the Town meeting agenda was not posted at the post office and Town Hall until Friday afternoon prior to the Monday Town Board Meeting. When asked about the general Keenesburg population the Mayor stated that citizens could come to the schedule meetings to get information and that a general information meeting was not required. I noted that I believed that was totally inadequate given the size and potential impact of this annexation. The work on the development plan for the annexation has been significant and town staff has spent a lot of time reviewing. Mechanically you have to say that a lot of good work has been accomplished. What you cannot say is that the Board of Trustees led by the Mayor have been very good about letting the citizen’s of Keenesburg know what is going on. That is the Board’s ultimate responsibility. The annexation is the first step in the process and much work needs to be done on the actual details, but make no mistake, the path is locked in. It would have been nice to have had citizen input. I recognize that takes work and effort. When built out the first phase will have over 8,000 dwelling units. That translates into about 24,000 people about twenty (20) times the current population of Keenesburg. Where do you think the future of Keenesburg will be decided? The Mayor said if citizens had any questions they could call the Town Hall: 303-732-4281 Going to Town meetings is a time consideration but if you want to send a message to the Trustees and staff that you are interested that is what you need to do, as that is how they seem to measure citizen interest. Besides by going you find things out. Along with the Pioneer Village annexation I found out the Town is closing on the purchase of the RE3J administration building by the end of the year for new office space. I also heard that we will be looking at a water rate increase effective February of next year. I remind you it is our town, if you want to have a say you have to participate. If you do not, others will decide what happens to you.
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T H E T R I B U TA R Y
Pioneer Village Annexation for Proposed 3,500 Home Development Approved by Keenesburg Planning Commission this Past Week
Cont. from Page 1 The citizens of the Town should be offered several opportunities to hear and ask questions about the impacts of this annexation. It is the responsibility of elected officials to see that happens. This project should not be the results of staff and the developer providing all the input. his project should not be the results of staff and the developer providing all the input.
November 13, 2019
TRIVIA What baseball manager is Alexis Arguello looking for in a Miller Lite commercial? BILLY MARTIN What sea do you enter if you sail south from the Adriatic through the Strait of Otranto? THE IONIAN What goes on, in a 1967 Sonny and Cher hit? THE BEAT What Asian leader noted: “Give me a fish and I’ll eat today. Tech me to fish and I’ll eat every day.”? MAHATMA GANDHI What cartoon character rules Bongo Congo? KING LEONARDO What February forecaster is properly called Marmota momax? THE GROUNDHOG What sports spectacle nipped TV’s Mickey Mouse Club in the 1956 Neilsen ratings? THE WORLD SERIES
The citizens of the Town of Keenesburg deserve the opportunity to be heard and provide input. Following is a recap of some of the content of the Annexation Statement. I strongly advise you to view the online document on the Town website. “Pioneer Village is a master plan community consisting of 3,397 acres currently within Weld County, Colorado. The first annexation consists of approximately 2,151 acres of the master plan, which is for this annexation submittal (Annexation 1), and the remaining 1,246 acres will be part of a subsequent, annexation application (Annexation 2). Project Purpose & Community Necessities The purpose of the Pioneer Annexation is to provide Keenesburg the opportunity for smart, community and economic growth through the infrastructure, housing, commercial, industrial, open space and public areas. Keenesburg’s ability to control growth for a project of this scale via The Town’s zoning and community development process will allow for a cohesive community expansion. Pioneer’s core values are: Pioneer Village will retain the idyllic life … not replace it. Pioneer Village is not intended to be a “magnet” … Pioneer will be a community that participates in what is already a successful in the region. Pioneer is at the center of the largest energy producing area in the state of Colorado Pioneer will be the center for industrial development. Pioneer will keep water within the community and Northern Colorado Pioneer’s community principles are to compliment the historical Keenesburg downtown; provide quality of living through parks, education, cultural and civic facilities; provide local and regional connectivity; ec0nomic and environmental sustainability and embrace the agrarian culture and regional industries. Pioneer will have a strong connection via County Road 49, which has become a major arterial corridor for the region from Greeley to Denver International Airport. Annexation Process: The property will be annexed via a flagpole along County Road 49 from the recent, Cook Annexation parcel: A flagpole connection between the Town of Keenesburg and the Pioneer parcel will be established by annexing multiple parcels in a series within the existing County Road right-of-way, simultaneously with each parcel conforming to the requisite one-sixth continuity. Cont. on Page 4. See Pioneer Village
What language are Luxembourg’s laws written in? FRENCH What Mickey Mouse Club song opens: Today is a day that is filled with surproises nobody knows what’s gonna happen.”? ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN DAY What kind of fish do Geppetto and Figaro catch in the whale’s stomach? TUNA How many zeros are there in a U.S. nonillion - 10, 20, or 30? THIRTY What sport features a lucrative contest called the Skins Game? GOLF What’s the only Latin American country crossed by the Tropic of Cancer? MEXICO What’s Air Supply making love out of? NOTHING AT ALL Who became a Mouseketeer after Roy Williams gushed: “Oh, let’s get that girl. She is out of this world.”? ANNETTE FUNICELLO
November 13, 2019
Also on This Day
GREAT BRITAIN 1947 In a lavish wedding ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London, Princess Elizabeth marries her distant cousin, Philip Mountbatten, a dashing former prince of Greece and Denmark who renounced his titles in order to marry the English princess. 19TH CENTURY 1820 The American whaler Essex, which hailed from Nantucket, Massachusetts, is attacked by an 80-ton sperm whale 2,000 miles from the western coast of South America. The 238-ton Essex was in pursuit of sperm whales, specifically the precious oil and bone that could be derived from them. SPORTS 1982 The UC Berkeley football team, referred to as Cal, wins an improbable last-second victory over Stanford when they complete five lateral passes around members of the Cardinals’ marching band, who had wandered onto the field a bit early to celebrate the upset. CRIME 1903 The infamous hired killer Tom Horn is hanged for having allegedly murdered Willie Nickell, the 14-year-old son of a southern Wyoming sheep rancher. ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY 2003 Phil Spector, the influential, eccentric music producer who worked with a long list of performers including The Righteous Brothers, The Ronettes, Ike and Tina Turner, John Lennon and the Ramones, is indicted in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson. INVENTIONS & SCIENCE 1923 The U.S. Patent Office grants Patent No. 1,475,074 to 46-year-old inventor and newspaperman Garrett Morgan for his threeposition traffic signal. Though Morgan’s was not the first traffic signal (that one had been installed in London in 1868).
T H E T R I B U TA R Y
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This Day in History - November 20, 1945 Nuremberg Trials Begin
Twenty-four high-ranking Nazis go on trial in Nuremberg, Germany, for atrocities committed
during World War II. The Nuremberg Trials were conducted by an international tribunal made up of representatives from the United States, the Soviet Union, France and Great Britain. It was the first trial of its kind in history, and the defendants faced charges ranging from crimes against peace, to crimes of war, to crimes against humanity. Lord Justice Geoffrey Lawrence, the British member, presided over the proceedings, which lasted 10 months and consisted of 216 court sessions. On October 1, 1946, 12 architects of Nazi policy were sentenced to death. Seven others were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 years to life, and three were acquitted. Of the original 24 defendants, one, Robert Ley, committed suicide while in prison, and another, Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, was deemed mentally and physically incompetent to stand trial. Among those condemned to death by hanging were Joachim von Ribbentrop, Nazi minister of foreign affairs; Hermann Goering, leader of the Gestapo and the Luftwaffe; Alfred Jodl, head of the German armed forces staff; and Wilhelm Frick, minister of the interior. On October 16, 10 of the architects of Nazi policy were hanged. Goering, who at sentencing was called the “leading war aggressor and creator of the oppressive program against the Jews,” committed suicide by poison on the eve of his scheduled execution. Nazi Party leader Martin Bormann was condemned to death in absentia (but is now believed to have died in May 1945). Trials of lesser German and Axis war criminals continued in Germany into the 1950s and resulted in the conviction of 5,025 other defendants and the execution of 806.
SUDOKU
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T H E T R I B U TA R Y
November 13, 2019
Pioneer Village Annexation for Proposed 3,500 Home Development Approved by Keenesburg Planning Commission this Past Week
Cont. from Page 2 See separate, Service Plans and Metro District information to be included as exhibits to the annexation Agreement. Master Plan: Zoning & Land Use The property will be zoned PUD, R1, R2, R3, CBD, L1, H1, and PZ. Keenesburg agrees to consider the request for approval of the Zoning Application in accordance with this Agreement
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and all applicable ordinances and regulations of Keenesburg. The Zoning defines the primary uses and accessory uses and accessory uses for the property, the density and the intensity of use, and the development standards for the property, which include, without limitation, a maximum of 8,311 residential dwelling units, for the first annexation to include single-family homes, patio homes, townhomes, condominiums units, manufactured homes, apartments or other dwelling units, together with nonresidential units described in the Zoning Application and establishes a minimum lot size of 2,600 square feet in the PUD zone district. The second annexation will include a total of 2,810 units with the proposed zone areas outlined above. Growth and Annexation Case Studies See original document Benefits to Keenesburg: - Successful growth of a Town takes decades: smart growth is established by proving the appropriate platform for infrastructure and development phasing that coincides with market conditions, maintenance, economic, social and financial impacts. The Town leadership and Town residents will be responsible for political aspects of expanding the community. Opportunities such as providing new trustee members(s) representatives or a special committee established by the voters will be vital to politically establish and incorporate Pioneer Village into the Keenesburg, Post Annexation : See original document Oil & Gas see original document Fiscal Impacts: See original documents Water: Water Rights Supply & Delivery Raw water will be supplied to Pioneer Village three existing water sources outlined in the Water Rights Available Section below. It is anticipated that Pioneer Village will plan, design, permit and construct their own water gathering, treatment, and potable distribution system, Initially, Pioneer Village Intends to blend 50 parts Lost Creek Alluvium Water and 50 parts Laramie- Fox Hills water to achieve a balanced raw water source meeting CDHE Chapter 11’s drinking water standards. Assuming this approach is successful, only disinfection would be required. More information is available in the Lost Creek Guide or the Town of Keenesburg website