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EDSTONE R •E •V•I •E •W
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VOLUME 25, NUMBER 2
LYONS, COLORADO
RESIDENT / OCCUPANT PRSRT STD ECRWSS US POSTAGE PAID LYONS, CO PERMIT No 2053 $.50
MARCH 13 / APRIL 17, 2024
B •R •I •E •F •S Lyons creative outlets LYONS – The Lyons Arts & Humanities Commission (LAHC) is pleased to announce that six utility boxes throughout the town have been creatively painted by local artists, as part of the Lyons Creative Outlets program, with more to come. The Lyons Arts & Humanities Commission (LAHC) continues the Creative Outlets program to enhance the community through art in public places. The program goal is to bring beauty to unexpected places through painting utility boxes. Artists interested in being a part of this exciting program can visit Town of Lyons Creative Outlets application webpage. Applications for artists for Creative Outlets 2024 are being accepted now.
Candidate Forum will be held at Lyons Regional Library on March 13 LYONS – On Wednesday, March 13, 2024 the Lyons Recorder and the Redstone Review will be hosting a candidate forum, from 5:30 to 8 p.m., at the Lyons Regional Library. The public is welcome to ask candidates about any issues of importance to Lyons residents with respect to the April 2, 2024 municipal election. The event will be recorded if you are unable to attend.
TABOR notification for a notice of election to increase taxes on a referred measure LYONS – The Town recently mailed the required TABOR notification, informing residents that the local Lyons Municipal Election will include a referred ballot measure regarding local sales tax. This notification is required to be sent via mail and is NOT a ballot. Official ballots will be mailed the week of March 11, 2024 to all registered voters who live within the limits of the Town of Lyons. Ballots must be returned and received by the Town before 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 2, 2024. As a reminder, the Lyons Municipal Election will be a mail ballot only election. Voters may return their completed ballot to the ballot box in front of town hall. Continue Briefs on Page 6
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I •N •D •E •X LYONS
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This month’s page one photograph is courtesy of Charles Glatzer. In the photographer’s words: “An encounter I will never forget: Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. We had photographed this bachelor herd of bighorn sheep for the past two days...On the third day...we decided to take a break, sitting down in the field we took in the wonder of our surroundings...Now the amazing part: a few minutes later, as we sat there quietly relaxing the herd slowly made its way over to us, many laid down a short distance away putting their head in the grass to sleep (some even snored), others simply chilled and chewed their cud. We all just looked at each other in disbelief, it was as if we were part of the herd! Or, perhaps a just reward for a job well done...” Chas has been a world renowned, full time professional photographer and teacher / lecturer for more than 40 years. Chas owns and hosts Shoot the Light ® Instructional Photographic Workshops throughout the United States and abroad. You can reach him at www.shootthelight.com. We at Redstone are most grateful for the use of this stunning image.
IGA with Boulder County takes center stage at BOT meeting By Greg Lowell Redstone Review Editor’s Note: The author of this article is a candidate for the Lyons Board of Trustees in the coming election and is a party to the CORA open records request mentioned in the article. LYONS – The Town of Lyons’ negotiations with Boulder County on a pending intergovernmental agreement (IGA) was the highlight of the March 4 Board of Trustees meeting. The IGA with Boulder County is currently in draft stage with plans to complete it in early April. The IGA is a contract to plan for and regulate land issues within the town’s future planning area outside town limits. The IGA calls for cooperation between the two entities in part “to minimize the negative impacts on the surrounding areas and protect the environment.” The IGA under negotiation replaces the present 2012 agreement. Several residents spoke at the beginning of the meeting under “Audience Business.” All of them were critical of the town’s current IGA process. The residents’ cause for concern was the proposed change of some Boulder County properties abutting the Town of Lyons from a “rural preservation” designation to a “municipal interest area.” The county’s zoning on the properties remains “agricultural” but the new designation pinpoints them for possible annexation and development. Most of the speakers live nearby the largest parcel considered a candidate for annexation in the IGA – the 56-acre Boone property at the end of 5th Avenue. The property is being actively marketed and at least one developer has expressed an interest in purchasing it, or may have already purchased it – the transaction record is unclear at this time. Another
nearby property also to be redesignated as of interest to the town is the nearly 30-acre Conner property. The owners of these properties, their real estate agents and at least one developer have been in contact with town staff over the possible use of their properties for housing, both affordable and market-rate. These two properties and five others designated in the IGA, if annexed for development, must have some percentage of homes designated as “Affordable Residential” or qualified for those making 30 to 60 percent of Boulder County Area Median Income (AMI). Most of the speakers decried the lack of transparency in the IGA negotiations, questioning why the Board met in executive sessions to discuss the agreement. Others asked why the IGA was being rushed through without a public process before election of a new
town board in April. To address residents’ concerns and better explain the IGA process, the board later addressed the possibility of a future public information session. Mayor Hollie Rogin emphasized the IGA is voluntary and outlines land use in the town’s primary planning area for the next ten years. She said the IGA will provide “peace of mind to the community to know where and how changes will occur.” She also explained one reason executive sessions were used by the board to negotiate the IGA is “to prevent dissemination of information” taken out of context. The consensus of the board was to hold a March 5 public information session and one other session at a later date (see related article). Continue BOT on Page 15
Town Board steps back, slows down and proposes including citizens in annexation discussions of the IGA with BoCo By Susan de Castro Redstone Review Editor LYONS – After some citizen backlash at the Lyons Town Board meeting on March 4 and two subsequent follow up meetings, the town board suggested that they would like to slow down the discussions of eligibility for annexing county land designated in the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA). Typically Boulder County creates a buffer zone around all the municipalities in the county for a number of reasons. The buffer is supposed to protect open space, stop sprawling growth where it is inappropriate and allow cities and towns some room to grow. Boulder County tries to create a 3 mile buffer zone around municipalities in the county. At the last informational meeting on the
IGA on March 11, Lyons Town Planner Andrew Bowen did a presentation for the audience, using maps to show the locations and size of the parcels under discussion. Usually every year the county updates their IGAs and works with the towns and cities to see if they want to begin the process to annex some land and if it is eligible to meet the qualifications. Lyons has 6 land parcels that might qualify for annexation. The largest is the Boone property of 56 acres at the upper end of 5th Avenue. The second largest is the Conner property of 36 acres and the other smaller parcels are, Hawkins, Loukonen, Carpenter and Harkalis. Not all of these would necessarily meet the qualifications for annexation. Mayor Hollie Rogin said, “We are not currently talking about annexation. As far as I Continue IGA on Page 15