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Election results raise questions

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Contributed by: Joseph Kirchmer/YourHub.com on 11/12/2007

This year's election results may have a serious impact on future plans for towns in the county - most notably a plan for a future cultural arts center in Parker.

Douglas County voters narrowly voted down a property tax hike that would have funded the construction of a new library in Parker and additional libraries in Lone Tree and Castle Pines. The proposal was defeated by a little more than 200 votes.

The Town of Parker had plans to introduce another ballot proposal next year that would have asked voters to approve plans to build a new $40 million performing arts center that would have been built next to the new library. But now that the library proposal has been defeated, those plans are now in jeopardy.

"What this means is that we're going to have to circle the wagon," said Bryce Matthews, town planner for Parker. "The library and the town have partnered up on this and obviously (the vote) affects the planning of the site."

The town held a design competition this fall to select the architect for the new library and performing arts center, eventually settling on Humphries Poli Architects with Semple Brown Design. The town paid $10,000 each to the two design firms that lost out on the bid.

Douglas County Libraries director Jamie LaRue said the library's board of trustees will now take a look at the voting results in the county's precincts to see if Parker voters supported the library proposal.

"At this point, we know (the vote) was close, but we don't know much about where it was or where it wasn't," he said. "We still have lots of questions and we still need to gather more information."

LaRue said he's not sure if the town will now move forward with plans to propose a tax hike for a new performing arts center.

"The original intent was to build on the momentum, but momentum there is none," he said. "It's certainly disappointing. On the other hand, the fact that it was so close is not an overwhelming mandate from the voters to go away and never darken our door again."

The board of trustees will discuss the election results at 7 p.m. Nov. 16 at the Neighborhood Library at Roxborough, 8357 N. Rampart Range Road. Suite 200. The meeting is open to the public.

Douglas County has its first new city since Lone Tree

Voters overwhelmingly approved a plan to incorporate Castle Pines North, winning approval comfortably by more than a 3 to 1 margin.

But with the approval comes change, particularly for the 65 businesses located off Castle Pines Parkway and Interstate 25. The incorporation vote included a provision that will raise taxes for the businesses in order to fund government services.

Lisa Towne, owner of Little Italy Pizzeria, 558 Castle Pines Parkway, said she expects her sales tax to increase by about 2 percent. She also expects a property tax increase in the near future.

"As a business owner, I'm definitely not looking forward to paying more taxes," Towne said. "For a lot of businesses around here who struggle daily, I think it will put more stress on their finances."

Towne, however, voted in favor of the incorporation because she believes it will ultimately lower property taxes on her home in Castle Pines North. Instead of individual HOAs contracting with several different providers for services like sewer and trash collection, the town will now be able to contract services for the entire city, thereby driving down prices.

"As homeowners, I think we'll see the benefits in the next year or two," she said.

So much for a crosstown rivalry

A vote in a town nearly 60 miles away will not have an impact on whether Castle Rock will go ahead with plans to build a new baseball stadium in the heart of downtown. Brighton voters overwhelmingly voted down a proposal to construct a new $18 million stadium that would have been home to its own minor league baseball team.

Brighton's team would have competed with a possible team from Castle Rock. The American Association of Independent Professional Baseball stood ready to install a team in both towns if they could find a way to build stadiums for the clubs.

But that shouldn't affect whether Castle Rock will move forward with plans for a baseball stadium, according to Rob Hanna, director of parks and recreation for the Town of Castle Rock.

"The league said from the beginning that it's an either/or situation," Hanna said. "The league never said we had to have both teams. In fact, the initial concern was whether we could support two."

Castle Rock town council members are now awaiting the results of a feasibility study conducted by Barrett Sports Group that looks into the pros and cons of landing a baseball team. The study will be presented to council soon, said Angela Copeland, community relations manager.

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Showing 1 of 1 comments

Submitted By: Karin Malchow

posted on 11/13/2007 @ 6:08:38 AM

Rated Story

Lone Tree was planning a cultural center in conjunction with our proposed new library, too. One has to wonder about community interest after voting down a library. Oh well, there's always the internet.

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