- Board assesses eligibility for annexation
- Board closes TLCA to public
- Request for vacation of ROW denied
- Liability issue complicates MOU
- Public comment policy updated
- Conditional use granted for Slap Shot Hockey
- Board and commission appointments
- Executive sessions
By James Howald and Jackie Burhans
At its meeting on Jan. 25, the Palmer Lake Board of Trustees (PLBOT) held a public hearing to consider three land use issues. Of the three, the eligibility of the Ben Lomand property owned by the United Congregational Church for annexation by the town was the most contentious. At the same meeting the board continued its discussion of the conditional use permit it had granted to The Movement Church to use the Tri-Lakes Center for the Arts TLCA) building as a church.
The board also addressed a request to vacate a town right of way (ROW) on Petite Avenue. After some discussion, the board tabled a resolution concerning the memo of understanding (MOU) with Awake the Lake (ATL) regarding the proposed pickleball courts. The policy for public comments was also updated at this meeting.
At the board’s first meeting of 2024, held on Jan. 11, the board held a public hearing on a conditional use permit for a new business. It also voted on several resolutions appointing volunteers to commissions and boards.
Both meetings ended with executive sessions.
Board assesses eligibility for annexation
Mayor Pro Tem Dennis Stern opened the public hearing to consider a petition from the United Congregational Church to the town requesting annexation of 181.5 acres of land the church owns. The land in question is south of County Line Road, west of Indi Drive, and north of Capella Drive and is currently part of unincorporated El Paso County. The land is part of a larger property owned by the church, 163 acres of which are already part of the town. Stern said the applicant for annexation would speak first and then the public could comment. After public comments, the applicant would make a closing statement. Stern stressed the hearing was to assess eligibility only and other issues would be addressed later in the process.
Dan Madison, a civil engineer with Manheart Consulting, represented the church. His petition, included in the packet for the meeting, argued the property was eligible for annexation because:
- More than 1/6th of the perimeter is contiguous to the town.
- There is a community of interest with the town.
- The land is rural and capable of being integrated with the town.
- The annexation will not change any school district.
- The land will not be divided without the consent of the owner.
Scott Krob, the town attorney, said the annexation process has three steps:
- Filing a petition with a map, which has been done.
- A determination of eligibility.
- The annexation itself, which must be consented to by both sides.
Krob said the public hearing was part of the second step in the annexation process. He reviewed the criteria for eligibility detailed in the church’s petition.
Krob explained the consideration of eligibility would not be completed at the board meeting because the town was required to write an annexation impact report examining water, sewer, and electrical service, among other issues, and to submit that report to the county. The report was in progress and would go to the county in a few days, he said.
Krob said the public hearing would remain open until Feb. 2, allowing the county time to review the impact report.
Stern opened the public comment portion of the hearing. Resident Roger Mosely said the hearing did not meet requirements because the county had only had 22 days’ notice, not the 25 days required by statute. He went on to argue the property was not eligible for annexation because the town’s master plan was inadequate, the impact report had not been submitted, and the area to be annexed must be urban.
Resident Martha Brodzik said the town needed to consider the financial impact of annexation. Johan Moum said he was afraid the developer would change the nature of the development at some later time. Krob said issues of zoning could not be considered until after the annexation was complete.
Meggan Herington, the county Planning and Community Development director, said the Board of County Commissioners had received notice of the proposed annexation in early January and had asked her to tell the town what should be included in the impact report. She said she had sent the town a letter and asked that traffic and drainage studies be done, and that protection of Ben Lomand and existing trails should be considered. She said the commissioners would schedule a meeting quickly after receiving the impact report.
Residents made comments including:
- That fire prevention costs be considered.
- That residents should have input into the annexation impact report.
- That the town would be better stewards than the county.
- That the proposed development might lead to current residents needing to redrill their wells.
- That 5-acre lots would be better than the 2.5-acre lots the Palmer Lake Planning Commission had approved.
- That the presence of Native American artifacts in the land to be annexed should be considered.
- That the draft of the annexation agreement had issues about the compliance of accessory dwelling units with code.
Trustee Jessica Farr said the discussion about annexation had been going on for years and if the land was not annexed the town would still be obligated to provide police and fire service to any residents due to the principal of mutual aid, but all tax revenue would go to the county, so the town would not be reimbursed.
Trustee Shana Ball said she supported the annexation because it gave the town control.
In his closing statement, Madison said he believed the eligibility requirements had been met and residents’ concerns would be addressed in the later steps of the development process. He said traffic, water availability, drainage, and environmental concerns would be handled in due course, and that the applicant had no intention to change the project as it proceeded through the development process.
Later in the meeting, the board voted to wait until its next meeting on Feb. 8 to vote on Resolution 13-2024, which would determine the Ben Lomand property’s eligibility for annexation.
Board closes TLCA to public
At the Jan. 25 meeting, Town Administrator Dawn Collins reviewed the background of the conditional use permit granted to The Movement Church to use the TLCA building as a church.
At its Dec. 14 meeting, the board granted The Movement Church a conditional use permit to use the TLCA building for church services. The Planning Commission had previously approved that use on a three-to-two vote with the requirement to complete inspections by the Fire Department and Pikes Peak Regional Building Department (PPRBD) and to resolve any violations. Collins said the PPRBD can’t complete its inspection without accurate plans, and the plans submitted included residential living accommodations. Residential living was never approved for the building. In addition, the fire inspection was incomplete because the fire chief had not been allowed access to some parts of the building.
Collins said the Fire Department had concluded the building was not safe and should not be open to the public, the town staff believed no one should be living there and she asked the board for guidance.
Fire Chief John Vincent said the only Certificate of Occupancy (CO) he could find was out of date and was approved in 1999 when the building was a garage. He said he had been asking the owner of the building for information since 2021 without any response and had been denied access to some of the building during his inspection. He recommended closure until the required information was provided.
John Cressman, speaking on behalf of The Movement Church, asked for more time to resolve outstanding issues. He said he had presented plans he had received from TLCA at a recent virtual meeting with town staff. The church was working hard to fix problems and many buildings had changed without updating their CO, Cressman said. In response to a question from Stern, Cressman said he did not know when accurate plans would be available.
Ball said she wanted to support the work that was being done but she had a concern about inadequate egress if there is a fire.
Krob summed up the situation by saying the building had no CO and a recommendation from the fire chief that it should be closed. The town could be liable. Krob recommended the town follow the recommendation of the fire chief.
Trustee Samantha Padgett made a motion to close the TLCA building to the public until the current issues were rectified. Krob clarified that the owner would need to obtain a CO and pass a fire inspection. The motion to close the building passed, with Trustees Ball, Nick Erhardt, and Padgett voting in favor and Stern and Trustee Jessica Farr voting no. Trustee Kevin Dreher and Mayor Glant Havenar were absent from the meeting.
Request for vacation of ROW denied
During the public hearing at the Jan. 25 meeting, the board considered a request to vacate a town ROW on Petite Avenue. In his application to vacate, resident Brad Akers asked the town to eliminate Petite Avenue completely and to change the address of his house to an address on Verano Avenue. His application argued Petite Avenue is too steep to ever be developed as a road.
At the hearing, Akers said he thought his request complied with the town’s master plan.
Jim Brinkman, a surveyor working for David Sanchez, who owns property adjacent to Akers’, opposed the vacation until all options for access to Sanchez’s property were investigated. Claudia Beltran, another of Akers’ neighbors, spoke in favor of the vacation.
Collins pointed out the Planning Commission had voted against approval of the vacation. Krob said the town was under no obligation to give up the right of way and said the town should consider if the right of way could be of use in the future. A vacation would mean the town’s property would be gone forever.
The board voted unanimously to deny the request to vacate.
Liability issue complicates MOU
Krob told the board that the MOU between the town and ATL would need to address the liability questions arising from the presence of a town water line under the pickleball courts that ATL proposed to build. The MOU drafted by the town staff asks ATL to provide $20,000 to be placed in the Water Fund to cover the costs of any repairs needed to the water line. Collins said the intent was to release ATL from any further liability if repairs were needed in the future.
Farr and Ball questioned whether $20,000 was enough to cover potential repairs, and Ehrhardt asked for some insight into the amount from an engineer.
Stern proposed tabling the MOU discussion so that more information could be gathered, and the board voted to do so.
Public comment policy updated
Krob related to the board an incident at a board meeting in Wheat Ridge when a participant in a virtual meeting, using an assumed name, made a series of antisemitic and racist public comments. That prompted Krob to update Palmer Lake’s policy on public comments to prevent a similar misuse of the public comment portion of board meetings by adding that comments on items not on the agenda must be made in person or by email 24 hours before the meeting.
The town’s policy on public comments includes:
- A speaker must be recognized by the mayor before speaking and should state their name and address for the record.
- Comments must be addressed to the board as a whole and not to individual staff members.
- Each speaker is limited to three minutes and can only speak once per agenda item.
- The mayor has the discretion to limit the time or number of speakers on an agenda item and can require a speaker to leave the meeting if they do not observe decorum.
- The mayor may call for a recess if lack of decorum interferes with the orderly conduct of the meeting.
- The complete policy can be found in the board packet here: mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/palmerlake-pubu/MEET-Packet-a147a276fa7549728d977d0b2e8cb86d.pdf.
Mosely objected to the three-minute limit on public comments. Stern pointed out that the mayor had discretion to permit longer comments if necessary.
The board voted unanimously in favor of Resolution 12-2024, which adopts the updated policy.
Conditional use granted for Slap Shot Hockey
At the Jan. 11 meeting, a public hearing was held on a request from Nicole Tahmindjis for a conditional use in a C2 zone. Tahmindjis said she intended to open Slap Shot Hockey Lanes at 870-872 Highway 105. The business would provide a location for hockey players to do dryland training and practice shooting pucks using lanes that would return the pucks to the shooter, measure the speed of the shots and include special effects.
There were no comments from the public. Krob said Tahmindjis had met all requirements for the permit and the board voted unanimously to approve it.
Board and commission appointments
The board approved a set of resolutions at the Jan. 11 meeting that re-appointed volunteers to board and commissions:
- Resolution 3-2024, which re-appoints Susan Miner, Lindsey Zapalac, and Tim Caves to the Planning Commission.
- Resolution 4-2024, which re-appoints Reid Wiecks, Cindy Powell, Kevin Magner, and Garcia Woods to the Parks and Trails Commission.
- Resolution 5-2024, which re-appoints Havenar to represent the town on the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments.
- Resolution 6-2024, which re-appoints Bob Miner, Eddie Kinney, and Kevin Dreher to the Board of Adjustments.
The board also voted in favor of resolutions to retain Green & Associates as the town’s auditor and to authorize the Parks and Trails Commission to continue its work on the Elephant Rock trail.
Executive sessions
The Jan. 11 meeting ended with an executive session for the board to receive legal advice concerning public comments and hate speech.
The Jan. 25 meeting ended with an executive session to determine negotiation strategies for the sale of town property and to receive legal advice concerning a Police Department complaint.
No actions were taken following either executive session.
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The next regular board meetings are scheduled for Feb. 8 and 22. See the town’s website at www.townofpalmerlake.com to confirm times and dates of board meetings and workshops. Meetings are typically held on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month at the Town Hall. Information: 719-481-2953.
James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.
Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me.
Other Palmer Lake Board of Trustees articles
- Palmer Lake Board of Trustees, Sept. 12 and 26 – Board considers church’s request to use Elephant Rock property (10/3/2024)
- Palmer Lake Board of Trustees, Aug. 8 and 22 – Asbestos abatement contract awarded; advisory committee formed (9/7/2024)
- Palmer Lake Board of Trustees Workshop, July 10 – Advisory committee presents Elephant Rock analysis (8/3/2024)
- Palmer Lake Board of Trustees, July 11 and 25 – Elephant Rock discussion becomes contentious (8/3/2024)
- Palmer Lake Board of Trustees, May 30, June 13 and 27 – Board approves concealed carry in sensitive spaces (7/6/2024)
- Palmer Lake Board of Trustees, May 9 – It’s official: no fireworks in Palmer Lake (6/1/2024)
- Palmer Lake Board of Trustees, April 3, 11, 25 – Elephant Rock advisory committee formed (5/4/2024)
- Palmer Lake Board of Trustees, March 28 – Restoration of Elephant Rock cabins proposed (4/6/2024)
- Palmer Lake Board of Trustees, Feb. 8 and 22 – Ben Lomand property eligible for annexation; stance on migrants debated (3/2/2024)
- Palmer Lake Board of Trustees, Nov. 29, Dec. 14 and 21 – Town attorney steps back; 2024 budget adopted (1/6/2024)