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Community Meetings

Buc-ee’s Resistance Community Meeting, March 19 – “It’s not over”

Highlights

  • The latest update confirms Buc-ee's plans a 74,000-square-foot travel center on the west side of I-25 and County Line Road with a 25–35 acre parking area and about 120 fueling spots, projecting around 11,000 weekday vehicle exits and entrances and up to more traffic on weekends and holidays.
  • Recent developments include Monument Ridge West (MRW) withdrawing its annexation application to Palmer Lake, an administrative Boundary Line Adjustment adding 10 acres south of the MRW property, stockpiled fill dirt, two well permits filed, with no county travel center permit filed yet.
  • Zoning and land-use context show surrounding areas zoned for residential and rural uses, with a small CC zone on part of the travel center site; officials anticipate Buc-ee's may argue the project fits within a limited retail/service allowance of the master plan.
  • Water supply planning centers on competing rules: the state's 100-year rule for aquifer sustainability versus the county's stricter 300-year rule for subdivisions, with MRW consultant Vertex arguing the travel center should fall under the 100-year rule.
  • Public services would shift to county Sheriff's Office, Monument Police, Monument Fire District, and Monument Sanitation District if the project proceeds, and a number of permits and approvals remain unresolved at the county level.
  • In short, Buc-ee's plans face ongoing zoning and regulatory hurdles with potential significant impacts on traffic, water use, and public services, and community action remains active as opposition pursues further legal review.

By James Howald

A standing-room-only crowd of 300 or more gathered at the Tri-Lakes YMCA on March 19 to hear the latest news about the proposed Buc-ee’s travel center from Matthew Beverly of Tri-Lakes Preservation Inc. (TPI), a nonprofit committed to supporting responsible growth in the Tri-Lakes area, and from Kat Gayle, a lawyer with Integrity Matters (IM), a nonprofit government watchdog group.

Beverly gave an overview of the travel center design, discussed recent developments, zoning issues, water supply, public services, and property values, ending with a call to action. “It’s not over,” he said. Gayle argued that El Paso County has ignored the law to allow the project to go forward and presented IM’s next steps.

Scale and scope

Beverly said Buc-ee’s planned to build a 74,000-square-foot building on the west side of the intersection of I-25 and County Line Road with 25 to 35 acres of concrete parking lot. The travel center would have 120 fueling spots, nearly doubling the number currently in the Tri-Lakes community. Eleven thousand cars would exit and re-enter the freeway on the average weekday after stopping at the center, Beverly said. He expected more traffic on weekends and holidays. Buc-ee’s plan calls for 320 light fixtures and a 100-foot sign. The light pollution would be visible for miles. The center is estimated to use around 1.3 million gallons of water a month, Beverly said.

Recent developments

Beverly said that Monument Ridge West LLC (MRW), the company that owns the land, recently withdrew its application for annexation into the Town of Palmer Lake. Palmer Lake’s Board of Trustees had not accepted the withdrawal at the time of the meeting at the YMCA. He argued that a small group of Palmer Lake town leaders wanted to get the project approved as quickly as possible.

Vertex Consulting Services, the company advising Buc-ee’s and MRW, submitted a Boundary Line Adjustment to the El Paso County Planning Department, adding 10 acres south of the MRW property originally proposed for the travel center. The adjustment was approved by the Planning Department on an administrative basis without a public hearing.

Fill dirt from the county’s work to level, straighten, and add curbs to Beacon Lite Road has been stockpiled on the proposed Buc-ee’s site.

Caption: March 25, landfill on the property atop Monument hill proposed for a future Buc-ee’s. Photo by Allen Alchian.

MRW has applied for two permits to drill wells on the property, one for the Denver Aquifer and the other for the Arapahoe Aquifer. Beverly noted that the well permit requests preceded Buc-ee’s withdrawal of its Palmer Lake annexation application, which he argued indicated the company’s intention to go back to the county for approval. Beverly noted that no application to build the travel center has been filed at the county level to date. He said he expects the company to try to get administrative approval, which would not require any public hearing, because most of the property is currently zoned C-1, an obsolete zoning category historically used for small-scale neighborhood commercial activities.

Zoning issues

Beverly said one of TPI’s goals was to educate the community about zoning issues. The land to the east of I-25, known as Monument Ridge East, is zoned for residences in two categories: 12 residences per acre (RM-12) and one residence per 6,000-square-foot lot (RS-6000). The land west of the travel center site is zoned for rural residences on 5-acre lots (RR-5). These residences all use wells, Beverly said. A small portion in the northeast corner of the travel center site is zoned Commercial Community (CC), a designation used for retail, service, and office establishments that primarily serve nearby residential neighborhoods.

The county Master Plan categorizes the area at the top of the Palmer Divide as Suburban Residential, which, while predominantly for residences, does allow for limited retail and service uses. Beverly said he believed Buc-ee’s would argue it is “just a gas station” to take advantage of the “retail and services use” aspect of the master plan.

Water supply

Beverly explained there are two water supply requirements used in planning developments. The state uses a 100-year rule, requiring aquifers to be managed so that they last a minimum of 100 years; in other words, only 1% of the water can be pumped in any given year. The county, however, uses a more stringent 300-year rule that requires developers to identify a 300-year water supply for subdivisions. Beverly said Vertex Consulting Services was arguing for the travel center to fall under the 100-year rule because it is not a subdivision. Allowing a single business to use the 100-year rule would require the county to set a precedent, Beverly said.

Public services

Beverly said Buc-ee’s decision not to pursue annexation into Palmer Lake requires changes to the plan for public services such as police and fire. Police protection, instead of coming from Palmer Lake, would be provided by the county Sheriff’s Office, which typically has a single officer in north El Paso County, serving as the Student Resource Officer at Palmer Ridge High School. That officer would be pulled out of the high school to address issues at the travel center. Police back-up would likely be provided by the Monument Police Department. Monument Fire District would serve the travel center instead of the Palmer Lake Fire Department, and Monument Sanitation District would provide sewer service.

Property values

Beverly said it was difficult to find a study examining how Buc-ee’s travel centers impact home values. Using studies of major developments, the study done for the rock quarry in Colorado Springs and anecdotal press releases from communities with Buc-ee’s travel centers, he estimated a total property value loss to homeowners of $64 million to $241 million. Those property losses would mean a decrease in taxes paid to the county of $346,000 to $1.3 million, according to Beverly’s estimate.

Call to action

In his final comments, Beverly asked residents to let their neighbors know that Buc-ee’s still intends to build its travel center. He recommended writing emails and letters to the El Paso Board of County Commissioners, the county Planning Department, Congressional District 5 Rep. Jeff Crank, state House District 20 Rep. Jarvis Caldwell, and Holly Williams, who represents County Commission District 1.

Beverly noted that Buc-ee’s plans in other states had failed when Departments of Transportation “made the bill too much,” adding that the state Department of Transportation has concerns about traffic safety on Monument Hill. He encouraged the community to attend meetings of the county commissioners and the county Planning Department.

The TPI webpage, at https://www.trilakespreservation.org/, has a sign-up page for a newsletter, sample letters opposing the travel center, and a way to make tax-deductible donations to the organization.

In his introduction of Gayle, Beverly noted that IM has been supporting TPI pro bono, although TPI has paid the legal fees for filings.

Gayle said IM had scored victories with the recalls of trustees in Palmer Lake and with Buc-ee’s withdrawal of two petitions for annexation. She questioned the logic of the community surrendering its water and property rights to a family-owned corporation in Texas.

Gayle argued that the county’s approval of the Boundary Line Adjustment and a recent grading permit were, in fact, backdoor, illegal ways to advance the travel center toward approval.

Gayle said Integrity Matters was planning lawsuits against the county based on Colorado’s Rule 106, which allows individuals to seek judicial review of government actions, and on Rule 57, which authorizes declaratory judgments challenging policymaking by governing bodies.

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

Above: March 25, landfill on the property atop Monument hill proposed for a future Buc-ee’s. Photo by Allen Alchian.

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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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