RESIDENT / OCCUPANT PRSRT STD ECRWSS US POSTAGE PAID LYONS, CO PERMIT No 2053
VOLUME 25, NUMBER 7
LYONS, COLOR ADO
$.50
AUGUST 16 / SEPTEMBER 13, 2024
B •R •I •E •F •S Hometitle Brief assessment program from Boulder LYONS – text County
LYONS – From the Housing Brief title Services Commisand Human LYONS – text County Public sion. Boulder Health offers a free new service: Healthy Homes Program, offering free Home Assessments, focusing on households affected by respiratory illnesses and underserved communities. It provides comprehensive in-home assessments to identify and mitigate potential indoor health hazards and support for do-it-yourself (DIY) assessments, as well as offering written recommendations and directing individuals to resources to improve their indoor health and quality of life. Residents will also be offered CO/smoke detectors and fire extinguishers if needed. Community members can request a Healthy Home assessment by visiting boco.org/ HealthyHomeVisit. WellMind Connection: Free mental health resource in Boulder County
LYONS – WellMind Connection is a team of professionals, highly trained in knowledge of local resources to connect you with the right service at the right time. A team of bilingual professionals will receive your help request and work directly with you to determine your service needs. Access this resource by calling 303-441-1300 (Monday through Friday from 12 to 4 p.m.) or emailing hubreferrals@bouldercounty.gov. Plus, some other local, mental health resources can be found here: Community Mental Health Resources | City of Boulder (bouldercolorado.gov) Wildfire mitigation rebate program
BOULDER – Boulder County has a new rebate program encouraging residents to actively take steps to protect their homes and communities from wildfire. The rebate program is open to all residents who are actively improving home hardening and defensible space on their properties to reduce the potential for wildfire to spread. This program provides a rebate of up to $500 to county residents, including those who live Continue Briefs on Page 12
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I •N •D •E •X LYONS MAYOR’S CORNER OPTIONS CONTRAST OPPORTUNITY INSIGHT CONSENSUS ART & ENT NATURE CHOICES WHAT’S COOKIN’
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Brave hearts battling the blaze—our firefighters are the true guardians of Stone Canyon. PHOTO BY HUGH CAREY, COURTESY OF THE COLORADO SUN
Town board votes on ballot issue and 5-Acre Rule By Susan de Castro Redstone Review Editor LYONS – Mayor Hollie Rogin took a few moments to thank everyone who pitched in to help the town’s people: the fire fighters, emergency workers in several counties, residents near and far, town officials and all others who helped. She mentioned Victoria Simonsen, who she said never slept, and Trustee Paula Williams, who helped town’s people both evacuate and come back. During audience business, Lyons Community Foundation chairman Gil Sparks spoke to the town board and staff, thanking them and all the fire fighters, emergency workers and everyone else who worked to help out. Speaking for myself as the Redstone editor, it was a momentous effort on everyone’s part. One thing has become clear: the people in and around Lyons know how to handle just about any emergency. We have all, unfortunately, become experts at handling disasters. Whether it is a 500-year flood that wipes out the entire infrastructure of the town, evacuating to escape a raging fire bearing down on the town, 80-mile–per-hour winds, snow storms, or whatever, Lyons has become an expert at surviving natural disasters, helping people, delivering food, evacuating people, organizing whatever items that people need to survive. We know what items we have to keep in boxes or crates ready to load in the car at a moment’s notice. We keep the animal carriers handy. We have our neighbors on speed dial to make sure they are okay. We know how to organize relief efforts and gather supplies for workers. We listen to all the updates and alerts from the Sheriff’s Department. I don’t think very many places across the country live on the edge like we do or know the ravages of as many disasters as this town has been through. But we have gotten good at it, and that’s not a small thing. The town board discussed a number of issues, but the most important was a vote on
the second reading and public hearing on Ordinance 1166, to amend a section of the municipal code concerning the 5-Acre Rule. The board voted unanimously to approve the amendment to Ordinance 1166. The 5-Acre Rule was originally ratified by the citizens of Lyons in September of 2000. The initiative was passed by a 254 to 157 (62 percent) vote. The sitting BOT then implemented this initiative via ordinance (LMC 15-1-340). It became a part of the Lyons Comprehensive Plan. Lyons 5-Acre Rule states that all annexations to the Town of Lyons that are 5 acres or more, and not owned by the town, must go to a vote of the people. But some developers and others including some former mayors and board members disagreed with the 5-Acre Rule and felt that it was stopping all growth in Lyons. During a recent discussion on the Inter Governmental Agreement, (IGA) with Boulder County, several members of the public expressed concern over the possibility of landowners subdividing property within Boulder County and then bringing in a parcel that was less than 5 acres. This could be achieved through the County’s “Subdivision Exemption” process. If the county were to approve such a subdivision exemption, the owner of a property under 5 acres in size could then apply to be annexed into the town, and such an application would not be voted on by electors within the town. The proposed amendment seeks to prohibit this process and requires that all annexations of subdivided properties that were greater than 5 acres in size as of September 5, 2000, must be voted upon, regardless of the size of the subdivided parcel. The board also passed a resolution to direct staff to draft a ballot question on Ordinance 1166, the amendment to the 5 Acre Rule, to be included on the November election ballot. So residents can now vote on the issue even though the board passed it. The mayor made it clear at a meeting in August that regardless of the outcome of this
proposed text amendment, the prohibition against serial annexations remains in place. A draft Resolution (Resolution 2024-62) has been submitted to propose a ballot question for this amendment. A second draft Resolution (Resolution 2024-63) has been provided to implement a temporary moratorium on any “Annexation Applications Carved Out Under 5 Acres” to place a hold on all applicable annexations until the ballot measure passes or fails. The town board went on to pass Ordinance 1165 to update floodplain regulations and to change the language. The town engineer, Justin Doles, explained that new homes are going into the floodplain area and flood insurance is going to change. Doles said, anyone with government backed homeowners loan will have to have flood insurance. The board went on to approve on first reading Ordinance 1167, the Tebo Annexation application for 4602 Highland Dr. and 4545 – 4559 Ute Hwy. Senior Planner Andrew Bowen did the presentation for the board. Next the board heard a request and update from Neil Sullivan, one of the owners of Spirit Hound Distillers, 4196 Ute Hwy., who updated the board on the status of remodeling a storage building. The storage building is located in the right-of-way of a proposed trail that the town plans to create behind the two buildings owned by Spirit Hound, the distillery, and the former Clark’s Hardware store. It was originally an old railroad track. The proposal is to cut the storage building in half to make room for the trail. The town leases the land to the businesses along the proposed trail area and created an agreement with Spirit Hound to pay $20,000 towards the remodel of the storage building. Sullivan came to the board to ask for more money, saying that the bids came in higher than expected at $35,000, which is $15,000 higher than the money the town agreed to pay. The board discussed the matter and decided that they would stick to their original agreement of $20,000. Trustee Mark Browning said that the $20,000 was basically a grant anyway.