Palmer Lake Board of Trustees, May 9 – It’s official: no fireworks in Palmer Lake

Discussion of Fourth of July event becomes contentious
Elephant Rock vision plan update
Special events
Executive session

By James Howald and Jackie Burhans

The Palmer Lake Board of Trustees (PLBOT) met twice in May; on May 9 and on May 30. Since the May 30 meeting was held after this issue of OCN went to press, that meeting will be covered in next month’s issue.

At the May 9 meeting, the board considered a special event permit request from Shane Neal, representing Awake the Lake (ATL). The board heard an update on the progress made by the Advisory Committee for the Elephant Rock Vision Plan. Five special event permits were approved.

The meeting was followed by an executive session to receive legal advice on an offer to purchase town land, and a vote was taken following the executive session.

Discussion of Fourth of July event becomes contentious

Neal asked the board to approve a special event permit for the Festival on the Fourth event. He explained ATL had canceled its previous plans for the event, which would have included a fireworks display, because it could not find a volunteer to manage the event. The event he proposed at the board meeting was a scaled-down version, to be held in a controlled area adjacent to the Centennial Park Gazebo on the west side of the lake, that would include alcohol sales, vendors, and music, but no fireworks. Ambulance support, EMT resources, and private security personnel would be provided. Tickets to the event would cost $20, but food and alcohol would be sold separately, he said. Neal said he expected up to 5,000 people would attend.

After explaining the event requested in the permit application, Neal went on to say ATL considered fireworks central to the event and it proposed holding the event with fireworks. Neal listed three options: the smaller, more controlled event without fireworks he had submitted a permit application for, a larger event with fireworks, or no event at all. He said when ATL canceled the previously planned event there was a lot of push back from the community, all of it in favor of holding an event with fireworks. Meetings were held to see if the event could be revived, and Neal volunteered to plan the event.

Town Administrator Dawn Collins said that she was concerned about the lack of adequate planning, that she wanted to support the ATL event, but the cancelation meant that law enforcement staff from surrounding organizations had re-assigned their staff when the cancellation was announced, and those officers were no longer available to support The Festival on the Fourth.

Jeff Hulsmann, representing ATL, said that events like The Festival on the Fourth were important to the town and the scaled-back version of the event, without fireworks, would fail and would fill the town with angry disappointed attendees

Trustee Shana Ball said she did not have enough information to decide at the meeting.

Interim Police Chief Adam Lundy said he could support the smaller version of the event but adequate police support for the version with fireworks was not available. He said the event historically has never been safe. Collins said 18 members of the Fire Department would be available to support the event.

Neal asked the board to authorize him to move forward with planning for an event with fireworks and said the board could cancel the event later if its requirements were not met. Resident Susan Miner spoke in favor of this approach. A permit for an event with fireworks was not the issue before the board.

Lundy pointed out again that law enforcement staff from surrounding agencies were re-assigned when they were told the event was canceled and were no longer available.

Mayor Glant Havenar said, “Everyone wants the event going forward,” and hoped Neal would remain as the event planner.

At that point, Neal asked the board to vote yes or no on an event with fireworks. There was no motion for a vote and Neal withdrew his application for a smaller event. The board moved on to the next agenda item but that was not the end of the discussion. Later in the meeting, Hulsmann asked the board to vote yes or no on an event with fireworks. He said he did not want to take the blame for the failure of the event to proceed. The board did not vote at that point.

During the public comment section, Neal again asked the board to vote yes or no on an event without fireworks. Town Attorney Scott Krob said the board could vote but was not obligated to do so. The board voted: Trustees Jessica Farr, Dennis Stern and Havenar voted in favor of the smaller event, without fireworks, for which the special event permit was requested. Trustees Ball, Nick Ehrhardt and Samantha Padgett voted no. Trustee Kevin Dreher was not present to vote. The vote failed, since a majority was required for it to pass.

Elephant Rock vision plan update

Miner told the board that the Advisory Committee for the Elephant Rock Vision Plan had met twice. At the first meeting, they added Cathy Wilcox and Larry Bobo as committee members. The second meeting was held at Richard and Lindsay Willans’ location at the Elephant Rock property so that the committee could familiarize themselves with the Willans’ plans.

Miner said the committee was drafting a vision statement specific to the Elephant Rock property. All ideas submitted by community members have been collected and categorized. The committee had heard from The Arts Council of Palmer Lake, from the Parks and Trails Commission, and from the Palmer Lake Economic Development Group. A site team made up of Bill Fisher, John Tool, Jennifer Rausch and Larry Bobo had been formed and was ready to get started. Cathy Wilcox was working on listing possible types of financial support, and Miner was working on a critical path schedule with benchmarks, she said

Bill Fisher wrote an email listing positive attributes that uses of the Elephant Rock property should have, including:

Benefit to the public
Provision of park space to the community
Preservation of the rural corridor
Non-competitive with local businesses
Generates revenue for the town
Preserves historical attributes
Supports recreation

Miner cautioned the board about accepting further ideas from the community that were not submitted first to the committee.

Special events

The board approved these special events:

Shakespeare in the Park, hosted by the Palmer Lake Arts Council. The play will be Two Gentlemen of Verona. There will be two performances at the Town Hall on Saturday, June 22, at 1 and 6 p.m.
Wishing Star Farms children’s reading program, hosted by the Pikes Peak Library District. Children will interact with farm animals. On Thursday, June 27, at the Village Green at 9:30 a.m.
Summer Adventure Concert, hosted by the Pikes Peak Library District. A children’s musician will perform on Friday, July 12, at the Village Green in the afternoon.
Concert series hosted by the Pikes Peak Library District. There will be performances on Friday, Aug. 23, Friday, Aug. 30 and Friday, Sept. 6 at 6 p.m. at the Village Green. The musical selections will vary.
Palmer Lake Elementary School (PLES) Fun Run, hosted by the PLES Parent Teachers Organization. The 42nd annual four-mile run on the Santa Fe trail, to be held on Thursday, July 4, with a start time of 7 a.m. at the Pavilion at Palmer Lake Regional Recreation Center. Parking will be on the west side of the lake.

Executive session

The meeting on May 9 ended with an executive session for the board to receive legal advice on the sale of town property. After the executive session, the board voted in favor of Resolution 28-2024, which authorizes the mayor to sign purchase and sales agreements. The text of the resolution had not been published on the town’s website when this article went to press.

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The next regular board meetings are scheduled for June 13 and 27. All meetings will be held at the Town Hall. 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.

Discussion of Fourth of July event becomes contentious

Elephant Rock vision plan update

Special events

Executive session

Other Palmer Lake articles