C.O.N.O.

Minutes October 2, 2001 General Membership Meeting

Oct 07, 2001

COUNCIL OF NEIGHBORS AND ORGANIZATIONS
(CONO)
GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
2 October 2001

Business Meeting ?–At 7:10 PM on 2 October 2001, Jan Doran, CONO President, called the CONO General Membership Meeting to order at the Colorado Springs Senior Center, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Board Members present included Jan Doran (Pres), Roy Ayala (1st VP), Lynn Poos (Tres), and Larry Bagley (Sec). The Agenda, Treasurer?’s Report, and the September Meeting Minutes were distributed. The minutes were approved as amended, and the Treasurer?’s Report, showing a balance of $1,560.24, was approved.
Introductions and Discussion ?– Jan Doran asked for and received introductions from attendees around the room.

Guest Speakers:

Gary Park presented an update on the status of and suggested revisions to the Streamside Ordinance. The purpose to the ordinance is to protect streams and define the use interface for streamsides. When presented to the City Council in March, the ordinance was soundly trounced. Since then, a committee has been working on revisions to the manual to be implemented by the ordinance. The primary revisions are reduce the overlay width based upon stream typology (three types), clarify impervious cover limits, and partial relief of impervious limits on sites predominantly within the overlay. Other revisions include exemption of the Preble?’s Meadow Jumping Mouse areas protected under the applicable Habitat conservation Plan, eliminate less significant or isolated streams, eliminate parking maxims, and expand the Prudent Line Exemption. The Ordinance will probably be on the agenda again in November or December. Gary Park will work with John Himmelreich as the CONO lead on the Ordinance. When asked what was the HBA position on the Ordinance, Gary stated HBA had been involved in extended discussions and expected favorable reaction from the HBA to the revised Ordinance.

Robbie Gower, Police Protective Association, provided information regarding SCIP Ballot initiatives on Public Safety. Increases in Police and Fire protection have not kept up with the increases in population growth. Police response times have increased and funds are needed for capital improvements and personnel increases. There is no sunset clause for the public safety initiatives since these will be for salaries and will need to keep paying the personnel. Colorado Springs is well below the national averages in per capita dollars for police and fire protection for comparable sized cities. In response to questions, figures for crime rate versus per capita spending were not readily available but could be found. For example, Cincinnati has a much higher crime rate and per capita spending, and Colorado Springs has a larger population now. The wording on the ballot fairly assures a dedicated funding stream for current and projected years. TABOR caps result in the ballot for increasing taxes. Public Safety is number B4 on the ballot.
Business Reports/Presentations

OWN Representative ?– Rose Kliewer announced Jan Doran?’s birthday, provided cake for attendees, and presented a birthday present. By unanimous consent, based on previous demonstrations, there was no singing.

Skyway ?– Jean Matthews reported Skyway is still embroiled with person at Cresta and Hercules and his attempts to ?“bring culture?” to the barbarians. The individual has postponed the hearing several times on the pretext of being unable to attend. Suggestions were made to the effect of filing suit to enforce the covenants, and getting the City to enforce Codes.

Red Rocks Canyon ?– Joe Fabeck reported the Planning Department will present a step by step process for project planning at the Thursday meeting at Building 4 of Village at Skyway. There is very real possibility the developer will be allowed access to City water and be allowed to develop in the County without City oversight.

CONO Web Site - Tom Thomas, reported the web site is generating funds, and would like to see more ?“hits?” on the site. He also asked for feedback regarding what is on the site and what links people would like to see on the site. Tom will develop a handout and distribute it detailing the aspects of the CONO Web Site.

SCIP Perspective - Walter Lawson presented a well-reasoned rebuttal to SCIP. He characterized the problem as Serious Infrastructure Deficit (SID) meaning an infrastructure backlog caused by years of City Council not meeting the responsibility to force infrastructure cost be covered prior to development. He pointed out if the impact fee had been implemented in 1999 as originally planned there would now be funding available to apply to infrastructure. He suggested Bonds without a guaranteed revenue source would be a future burden for taxpayers. Walter intimated SCIP is the product of preferential treatment of industry and will be never ending until citizens force the Council to meet its fiscal responsibilities. He questioned when will the subsidy of development stop and developers pay for the impact to the infrastructure. He proposed a no vote on SCIP would force the City Council to ?“fix?” the development infrastructure issue once and for all. During the discussion of his comments, he was asked to provide a paper to be put on the CONO web site with requests to respond. Others suggested SCIP was necessary to fix past sins of omission, while there should be a call for the City Council to address future infrastructure needs with development fees of some kind. It was noted other cities have much higher development fees for building permits, project approval process, etc, which result in higher housing costs to the home owner. There is no cheap, quick, easy answer.

Items for Discussion ?–

Joint Mutual Support Resolution ?– Jan Doran presented a resolution of joint mutual support between the Northern El Paso County Coalition of Community Associations, Inc. (NEPCO) and CONO. The question was asked what ?“economic, sociological?” phrases mean in the NEPCO paragraph. After some discussion, it was moved, seconded and approved by a vote of 26 to 1 to accept and sign the resolution.

CONO Forum for SCIP Ballot Items ?– The Forum will be 10 October 2001, 7:00 P.M., in City Chambers. Bob Wignall will be the mediator. Jeanne Brush, Jean Matthews, Lynn Poos, and Jan Doran will work on questions to be presented at the Forum. Roy Ayala, and Rickie Stuart will assist during the night of the Forum.

Amendment to CONO By-Laws ?– Lee Cool, as Chair of the Nominating Committee, presented a proposed change to the CONO By-Laws ?– Section 3.01, add ?“and one Associate member?” and ?“the Associate member who is elected to the Board shall serve as an observer and consultant without vote.?”; Section 6.01, add ?“an Active Director At Large, and Associate Director At Large.?”; Section 7.08, add ?“Associate Director At Large shall serve as a participatn, consultant, and observer on the Board of Directors, but shall have no vote in the proceedings.?”, and Section 8.03, add ?“Associate members may select no more than one of their number to serve on the Board of Directors as above.?” Jan Doran (Pres) and Lynn Poos (Tres) determined a quorum being present, identified who could vote, and presented the question. It was moved, seconded, and approved 26 to 1 to accept the amendment to the by-laws as presented.
Election of Officers for 02 ?– Jan Doran and Lee Cool presented the Ballot for election of CONO officers for 02. Jan opened the floor for nominations. Rose Kliewer nominated Jamye Fraser as 1st Vice President. Roy Ayala seconded and the nomination was approved. There being no further nominations from the floor, the ballots were distributed, collected and counted. The CONO Board of Directors for 2002 are Jan Doran (Pres), Roy Ayala (1st Vice Pres), Larry Bagley (2nd Vice Pres), Lynn Poos (Tres), Jeanne Brush (Sec), Tom Thomas (Dir at Large) and John Himmelreich (Dir at Large).

Neighborhood Roundtable ?–

Jan Doran asked if a speaker regarding tax exempt/non-profit organizations should be invited. Interest was high so Jan will pursue a speaker.

John Himmelreich provided a copy of the Amendment of City Code 7.5.907 regarding citizen appeals on land use decisions. The wording seems to place the City in the enviable position of being able to determine who are ?“parties in interest?” and not allowing those who are not ?“parties in interest?” to appeal any City land use decision. Many CONO members were concerned over this apparent infringement on citizen rights and freedoms. Jamye Fraser will chair an exploratory committee (Pat Poos, John Himmelreich, Walter Lawson, and Tom Thomas) to look into what this amendment really means and how it will affect citizen rights to appeal City land use decisions. Jamye Fraser will also chair a Covenant Committee.

Announcements ?–

4 & 11 Oct 01- E/W Mobility, 105 N. Weber
17/18 Oct 01 ?– E/W Mobility Open House.

6 Nov 01 ?– 7 PM, Next CONO meeting.

Newsletter - Newsletter items are to be submitted to Peggy Pantoja (tpan401437@aol.com, 473-9296). Inputs are always welcome. Minutes are posted to the CONO website at (www.CSCONO.org).

Next Meeting - The next CONO meeting is 7:00 PM, 6 November 2001 at The Senior Center, 1514 Hancock Avenue, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80903.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:25 PM by resounding unanimous consent.

Respectfully submitted,

Larry C. Bagley
Secretary, CONO