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Community Meetings

Buc-ee’s Resistance, Oct. 14 – Coalition comes together to stop Buc-ee’s

By James Howald

A crowd of 50 or more met at the Woodmoor Barn Oct. 14 to hear speeches and progress reports from a coalition of grassroots groups working to prevent the construction of a Buc-ee’s travel center at the southwestern intersection of I-25 and County Line Road. The audience heard from Sean Sawyer of Tri-Lakes Preservation Inc. (TPI), Palmer Lake residents Gene Kalesti and David Parks, Matt Beverly of TPI, Monument Town Council member Steve King, water expert Roy Martinez, attorney Kat Gayle representing Integrity Matters, and Eric Zeis.

Sawyer sums up recalls and ballot initiative

Sawyer pointed out that, as a nonprofit, TPI was not allowed to directly participate in the recent recalls of Palmer Lake Trustees Shana Ball and Kevin Dreher. He noted that the ballot initiative to put all annexation requests to the voters of Palmer Lake received more votes than the recalls did. Sawyer said he believed Palmer Lake Town Attorney Scott Krob “was pushing a pro-Buc-ee’s agenda” at the Oct. 9 meeting of the Palmer Lake Board of Trustees.

Sawyer gave the crowd a summary of the fundraising done by TPI to oppose the Buc-ee’s travel center. TPI received about $24,000 in donations and spent $18,000, leaving just over $6,000 in cash on hand. TPI owes Integrity Matters $5,000 for legal work, Sawyer said. TPI spent $7,700 on advertising and $3,000 on events, Sawyer said. He thanked Monument restaurant Jarrito Loco for hosting a fundraising event.

Above: At the Woodmoor Barn, Sean Sawyer, of Tri-Lakes Preservation Inc., updates attendees regarding efforts to oppose the Buc-ee’s travel center and to recall Palmer Lake Trustee Tim Caves. Photo by James Howald.

Kalesti launches new recall

Kalesti said forms to recall Palmer Lake Trustee Tim Caves had been filed, rejected by the Palmer Lake town clerk, corrected, and resubmitted. He said he was supporting the effort to recall Caves. He faulted Caves for his disparaging remarks to John Marble and Michael Beeson at the last Palmer Lake Board of Trustees meeting. Marble ran for a seat on the Palmer Lake board during the recall of Ball and Dreher. Beeson currently serves on the Palmer Lake Planning Commission and applied for a seat on the Palmer Lake board during the recent recalls.

Parks focuses on undecided voters

Parks said he believed many Palmer Lake voters have made up their minds regarding the travel center, but others “are just hiding.” He argued an “old boys club” was still in place on the Palmer Lake Board of Trustees (PLBOT) and asked opponents of Buc-ee’s to listen to the concerns of undecided voters “in a neighborly way” and try to persuade them of the negative impacts through respectful conversations. He suggested throwing a “funeral party for Palmer Lake” to get media attention.

Beverly faults Palmer Lake board

Beverly argued the PLBOT erred in their vote on Oct. 2 to follow the ordinance requiring annexations to be put before the voters because it was not in effect until the end of October. Palmer Lake Town Attorney Scott Krob gave the board advice that favored Buc-ee’s, Beverly said. By asking the PLBOT to hold the annexation election before its vote on the annexation, Buc-ee’s was delaying a final decision in hopes of gaining time to pressure board members, he said.

“Crazy”

King pointed out that Palmer Lake is a statutory town, which means its actions are bound by state law. He said state law requires a property to be annexed first and then zoned within 90 days. Applicants typically include zoning issues in an annexation agreement, King said, so that the applicant gets the zoning they prefer. Usually, annexation and zoning occur at the same meeting, according to King. But annexation and zoning are different processes, King said. Annexation begins in a quasi-judicial mode, in which decisions are based solely on evidence, and ends in a legislative mode, in which other, wider issues can be considered. Zoning is quasi-judicial, King said, and must be decided solely on the evidence presented. “Wrapping this up in one vote when it hasn’t gone through this process is crazy as far as I’m concerned,” King said.

Center expected to consume a large volume of water

Martinez said the Buc-ee’s travel center is projected to consume 13.6 million gallons of water per year, about 30% of Palmer Lake’s water supply. He noted that the aquifer the town relies on is declining by about 17 feet per year. One of the town’s wells produced 400 gallons per minute in 2001; it now produces 240 gallons per minute, a 40% decrease. Martinez pointed out three costs the Buc-ee’s proposal will require the town to pay as the aquifer the town relies on depletes:

  • Drilling costs for future wells.
  • Radium mitigation costs.
  • Costs to acquire renewable surface water rights which will be needed to replace decreasing groundwater supplies.

Lawsuit dismissed

Gayle told the crowd that the lawsuit Integrity Matters had filed against the town, alleging constitutional violations and open meetings violations, had been dismissed on a technicality, but Integrity Matters was working on a motion to reconsider. She counted as victories on the open meetings the fact that the town has improved its sound system and provided a monitor so those outside the Town Hall can see the presentations.

Tim Caves recall underway

Zeis said he and his wife, Angie were working to recall a third Palmer Lake trustee, Tim Caves. 203 signatures are required on a petition to recall Caves, according to Zeis.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other Perspective on Our Community articles

Remembering Jim Maguire

By Michael Weinfeld

To call Jim Maguire a collector would be an understatement.

A collector might fill a curio cabinet with a few dozen figurines. Maguire, who died last month at age 96, filled two barns covering 8,400 square feet with antiques he’d collected since the ‘80s. They include a couple of tuberculosis quarantine huts, a school outhouse, a hearse, a creepy talking prospector, and a sign that says, “Good Stuff.” Various antique farm equipment is also sprinkled about his 25-acre property.

He dubbed the barns Maguireville. He and Donna, his wife of 68 years who died in 2021, were the co-mayors. Asked in a 2019 interview which mayor made the decisions, Maguire told me, “depends on if it’s before supper or after.”

Maguire used to boast that Maguireville was crime-free thanks to the hangman’s noose and a working guillotine that are prominently displayed.

Maguire often teased about annexing the town of Monument into Maguireville, which he admitted made people “a little upset.”

Maguire’s passion for collecting didn’t start when he was a boy. His mother died when he was 5 and Maguire was raised by an aunt and uncle on a farm in northern Illinois where he became familiar with the farm equipment he would eventually display on his land in Monument (anyone driving east on 105 at Knollwood Road can spot some of the antiques).

Donna was the collector initially. When they were first married, living in Syracuse, N.Y. where he worked for the Overhead Door company, Maguire said there were “antiques coming out of your ears out there. We’d go for a ride on a Sunday, and she’d go ‘Oh, there’s an antique shop’ and I’d speed up. Over the years, I started to soften up.”

The first piece he bought was a 1901 wagon jack that was used to lift a wagon so the wheels could be greased. His collection now numbers in the thousands. How many items are there exactly? No one knows. There’s no accurate list of what’s in Maguireville. The Palmer Lake Historical Society spent five years cataloguing the inventory, but that project ended in 2009.

The piece of memorabilia he was most proud of is a money changing gadget that he says was used in department stores in the 1800s. He explained that a store would usually have only one cashier, so when customers would make a purchase, they’d give their money to a clerk who’d put it in a cup and pull a cord that would “shoot it up to the cashier” who’d catch the container, take out the money, and send any change back for the customer.

A lot of the memorabilia came from Waverly, Iowa. He said the town would have sales of farm-related antiques twice a year. He and Donna bought stuff there five or six times. Also, people would pass along their own possessions. They’d tell him, “I’ve got something downstairs in the basement nobody ever sees. It belonged to Uncle Charlie. Would you like that? And he’d say, “Yeah!”

Asked if there were any holes in his collection, Maguire said people would ask, “What are you looking for?” and he would tell them, “We won’t know ‘till we see it.”

Jim and Donna first arrived in Colorado Springs in 1969 to acquire the local Overhead Door distributorship. Maguire was former national sales manager for the Overhead Door Corp. headquartered in Dallas. He and his son, Kevin, became well known for their humorous TV ads.

In 1982, the Maguires moved to Monument. Their property was originally homesteaded for 160 acres in 1875. It was one of three original homesteads in the Monument area in the 1800s and came with the original certificate signed by Ulysses S. Grant. Kevin Maguire says preserving that piece of local history remains important to the family.

The land is populated with willow trees from Iowa, including a huge one in back of the house that came with a paper certifying it as a “Crack Willow.” “Nothing to do with marijuana,” Jim Maguire joked.

The Overhead Door truck became a staple in Monument’s Fourth of July parade. Maguire’s friend Joe Bohler would play the piano on the back of the truck. Maguire said he was able to convince Bohler to play in the hot sun because, “I had enough on him, so he had to say yes.”

As for the satisfaction he gets from collecting, Maguire said, “The thrill is when people come here and say, ‘Oh, my God, we didn’t know that this was out here!” Or “Oh, gosh! Look at that! I remember that at grandpa’s!” Or “We used one of these when I was a kid!”

Finally, I asked Maguire what would happen to his collection after he was gone. Maguire replied, “That’s a problem. We hope that this can be kept together and continue on.” It’s a problem yet to be solved. Kevin Maguire says it’s the “64-million-dollar question.” They have “several options,” including preserving “what we can.”

Michael Weinfeld can be contacted at michaelweinfeld@ocn.me.

Other Perspectives on Our Community

Buc-ee’s community meeting elicits strong response

By Jackie Burhans

On Dec. 3, Buc-ee’s hosted a public meeting at Palmer Lake Elementary School’s cafeteria to provide information about its development plan for a Buc-ee’s travel center at the southwest corner of I-25 and County Line Road. The meeting, moderated by Mark Waller, former El Paso County commissioner and current development consultant, was attended by over 250 people crowding into the small cafeteria and was covered by multiple print and TV news outlets. Attendees included outgoing Palmer Lake Trustee Nick Ehrhardt and Monument Mayor pro-tem Steve King.

Waller, who did not introduce himself, warned attendees that he would not allow shouting and interruptions, noting this would cut down on speaking time. Craig Dossey, former county planning director and now president of Vertex Consulting Services, presented information about the development process and current property zoning. Also in attendance was Stan Beard, Buc-ee’s head of development, who presented an overview of the store’s plans and operations. The presentations, which generated a lot of negative feedback, were followed by a question-and-answer period.

Dossey laid out the types of businesses allowed by the current zoning, noting that both Monument and Palmer Lake included the property in their respective three-mile plans as commercial zoning. He noted that Buc-ee’s is at the beginning of the process and had Senior Executive Consultant Nina Ruiz detail the steps remaining before development could begin.

Attendees were instructed to sign up to speak. Speakers expressed concern with the weather and traffic issues on Monument Hill, disagreement over the desirability of having freeway drivers stop in the area, the willingness of the community to fight this development, the impact of light pollution on nearby residents, the high density of wildlife migration, and the low level of preparation of presenters to address these issues.

One attendee asserted that this is a bedroom community with people making $100,000 a year whose kids are headed to college for whom working at Buc-ee’s would be beneath them. Buc-ee’s representatives attempted to address the issues by saying they would comply with every regulation imposed on any developer of this property, including funding improvements of the I-25 interchange if need be.

Attendees added that they didn’t understand why Buc-ee’s chose this location, that they had issues with people from Texas coming into the state and with suggestions that Buc-ee’s consider locating in Fountain or Pueblo. They also raised water availability issues, noted the increase in electric vehicles, and expressed concerns about groundwater pollution and human trafficking.

Some attendees appreciated Buc-ee’s coming to a hostile environment, thanked them for hosting the meeting but disapproved of the development. One local developer, Matt Dunston, who owns a vacation rental property in Palmer Lake, said people naturally feared change. He said he had asked many questions, was satisfied with Buc-ee’s answers, and expressed disappointment in being loudly heckled.

Beard noted that Buc-ee’s came to get feedback and tried to address everything they could. Waller directed people to visit www.buceespalmerlake.com for more information. Attendees asked that community members bring this level of energy to the annexation eligibility hearing scheduled for Dec. 12 in Palmer Lake.

Above: Buc-ee’s hosted a community meeting on Dec. 3 at the Palmer Lake Elementary School cafeteria. A crowd of over 250 attendees, including local town officials and print and TV press members, stretched the room’s capacity. Consultants Mark Waller of Waller Consulting Ltd., Craig Dossey and Nina Ruiz of Vertex Consulting Services, and Stan Beard from Buc-ee’s conducted the meeting. After brief presentations by the consultants on the development process and the property’s history, Beard gave an overview of Buc-ee’s business model. During the question-and-answer period, attendees brought up concerns about traffic, weather, lighting, pollution, and wildlife. Most speakers opposed the development, with very few bringing up positive points. Buc-ee’s directed the public to www.buceespalmerlake.com for more information while attendees asked the public to attend the annexation eligibility hearing on Dec. 12 at Palmer Lake Town Hall.
Above: Palmer Lake resident and federal biologist Dailee Fagnant pointed out Monument Hill’s unique geographical location and meteorological patterns. She noted there are major wildlife crossings in the area and an increase in animal strikes during the post-rut migration season. She expressed concerns that folks from out of state would be hitting wildlife they are not used to. She asked if Buc-ee’s had done its job of researching species movement and planning to mitigate the danger. Fagnant said that Buc-ee’s seemed ill-prepared, showing only a generic traffic slide and wasting time describing what it sells, and asked if Buc-ee’s had worked in an urban area with a high-density wildlife corridor. Stan Beard, head of Buc-ee’s development, responded that Buc-ee’s would follow every rule that is required by federal, state, and local government. From left, Fagnant addressing Beard, and Craig Dossey, president of Vertex Consulting Services. Photos by Jackie Burhans.

Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me.

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Palmer Lake Dollar General Community Meeting, Aug. 16 – Ehrhardt family addresses community concerns

By James Howald and Jackie Burhans

The Erhardt family held a community meeting on Aug. 16 in the Palmer Lake Town Hall to discuss the sale, announced by builder Kurt Ehrhardt at an earlier meeting of the Palmer Lake Board of Trustees (PLBOT), of the undeveloped lot north of the Tri-Lakes Arts Center for the Arts and west of Highway 105, to Dollar General for use as a retail store. The meeting was independent of the town’s administration or Board of Trustees. Nick Ehrhardt, son of Kurt Erhardt, moderated the meeting; he was elected to the town’s Board of Trustees in the last election and said he organized the meeting as a private citizen, not as a board member.

Kurt Erhardt’s announcement of the sale generated a firestorm on social media, with most posts opposed to the sale, some hostile and insulting. Mayor Glant Havenar wrote a post on the Nextdoor platform acknowledging that a Dollar General store “is not welcomed by many residents,” but the PLBOT does not have the authority to approve land sales, and the property is zoned correctly for the intended use. She applauded the Ehrhardt family for scheduling a meeting with the town, and said Kurt Ehrhardt “loves this community, is a wonderful member of our community and seeks to work with the community as he moves forward with this development.”

In his opening remarks, Nick Ehrhardt told the crowd of more than 100 attendees that his parents Marsha and Kurt own the property jointly and that he wanted them treated respectfully. He said rumors that he had used his seat on the board to influence events were “insulting and unfounded.” He turned the meeting over to Kurt Ehrhardt.

Kurt Ehrhardt told the attendees that Dollar General made an offer of $475,000 for half of the lot adjacent to Highway 105. The other half of the lot was worth about the same, he said. He recounted two other attempts he had made to develop the property. When Facinelli Motors lost its lease on County Line Road, Ehrhardt proposed it move to the property. Ehrhardt mentioned another effort to develop the property as a mix of commercial and residential uses. Both projects fell through, he said.

After his summary of past development efforts, Ehrhardt announced that he and his wife were trying to withdraw from their contract with Dollar General. This was met with applause from the audience.

Note: Several days after the meeting, Ehrhardt announced on social media that he had been successful in canceling his agreement with Dollar General.)

Ehrhardt said the land had been for sale for 10 years and he had been burdened with property taxes on it. He believed a Dollar General store would have generated between $150,000 and $200,000 in annual sales tax revenue for the town and that had been a consideration in their acceptance of Dollar General’s offer. He encouraged anyone to step up and make something happen on the property.

Following his remarks, Ehrhardt asked for comments from the audience. In the discussion that followed, several residents thanked Ehrhardt for his openness with the community and his decision to try to withdraw from his contract with Dollar General. There were offers to help Ehrhardt deal with any negative financial consequences of his decision.

Some of the residents described Dollar General as a predatory company that looked for cash-strapped, low-income communities and built stores with lax security and inadequate staffing that caused traffic problems.

Bill Fisher, an architect who currently serves on the Palmer Lake Planning Commission, said that, while he was not completely opposed to franchise stores in the town, he wanted to see an approach to main street development that uses on-street parking serving multiple store fronts, with pedestrian zones, not a big-box store with a large parking lot. He said the Colorado Department of Transportation had come to believe that their policies, which promote large parking lots dedicated to a single store, are contrary to what towns want and he hoped the PLBOT would support more enlightened guidelines for main street development. Other residents said they preferred a complete ban on franchise stores.

Above: On Aug. 16, the Ehrhardt family held a community meeting at the Palmer Lake Town Hall to address concerns over a pending sale to Dollar General of some land just north of the Tri-Lakes Center for the Arts building and just west of Highway 105 from Palmer Lake Regional Park. Over 100 attendees crowded into the hall, which was set up for a local theater production. Developer Kurt Ehrhardt explained the history of development efforts on the lot. He announced that he was withdrawing from his contract with Dollar General to the applause from the audience and offers of help with any financial costs of doing so. Photo by Jackie Burhans.

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No additional meetings are planned on this issue.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me. Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me.

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