C.O.N.O.

Approved Minutes of April 10 General Membership Meeting

May 28, 2001

COUNCIL OF NEIGHBORS AND ORGANIZATIONS
(CONO)
GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
10 April 2001

Business Meeting ?–At 7:10 PM on 10 April 2001, another typical snowstorm night for a CONO meeting, 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), Margaret Radford (1st VP), Roy Ayala (2nd VP), and Larry Bagley (Sec). The Agenda and the March Meeting Minutes were distributed. The minutes were approved as corrected.

Introductions and Discussion ?– After introductions around the room, Jan Doran congratulated the new City Council members, Margaret Radford and Sallie Clark. Each discussed some of their plans for the upcoming Council year, and Margaret tendered her resignation as CONO Vice President. A replacement to fill Margaret?’s vacated CONO Board position will be named at a later meeting.

Old Business

Red Rocks Canyon ?– As approved in the March meeting, Jan Doran sent a CONO letter to TOPS et al expressing supporting the recommendation to maintain Red Rocks Canyon as an open space. There is no feedback yet on the letter.

Intermodal Transportation Plan (ITP): After the first reading before Council, Centennial Boulevard is back on the map to be considered for extension. John Himmelreich pointed out the proposed future route of Centennial extension includes an area which is an old landfill. The environmental clean up of the landfill, may be an insurmountable obstacle. John Himmelreich, Roy Ayala and Larry Bagley will attend the upcoming meetings and report back to CONO. As part of the discussion, Margaret Radford provided a summary of the Council decision regarding Woodmen and Academy interchange funding. The developers will not be charged to improve the intersection, and the City will refund the cost of the wall to Rosenbaum and Dean.

Comprehensive Plan Report: The final revised, amended Plan can be reviewed on the City?’s web site at www.colorado-springs.com/PublicPlan. Due to CONO members efforts, many items deleted from the draft document were re-instated. However, it is still an advisory document.

Brady Road Home Neighborhood Issue: The Neighborhood appeal regarding the Brady Road Home was denied by Council. Sandra Gabor reported Councilpersons Guman and Null, though voting to deny the appeal, were helpful in suggesting going to the State Board with safety issues and standards. There is still an open item regarding the perceived/alleged/implied ?“SLAPP?” suit by the home administrators.

Anti-SLAPP Legislation: The Anti-SLAPP Bill will not be re-introduced this year ?– it is now dormant at least until January 2002. Bill Sinclair thinks there is enough support now to get it passed next year, but still needs public input and support. Lola Bradley would not allow the bill to be re-introduced in this session since, in her words, if she did, there would be too many others she would have to allow to be re-introduced.

Neighborhood Network Forum: Roy Ayala attended and reported the March Neighborhood Forum planning meeting was very successful. The City Neighborhood Services Department is very excited over the planned Forum. The Neighborhood Network Forum is now officially scheduled for 30 June 2001, 9 AM to 4 PM, at Centennial Hall. The agenda, though not final, includes items such as Code enforcement, Traffic Calming, Planning Process, and how to make a presentation to Council. Volunteers to support CONO participation, and to assist neighborhood associations to participate are needed. Contact anyone on the CONO Board to volunteer.

Membership ?– There are 46 HOA paid members of CONO with 30 plus associate paid members of CONO as of 10 March 2001. Carl Willenbrich, Roy Ayala, and Leon Kirk, as the membership committee, will continue efforts to enlist new members.

New business ?–

Newsletter ?– After some discussion, there is no doubt a regular, be it monthly or quarterly, CONO newsletter is needed to keep interest and involvement level high. Peggy Pantoja (tpan401437@aol.com, 473-9296) volunteered to replace Margaret Radford as the Newsletter editor.

Traditional Neighborhood Development ?– Anne Knapp discussed and distributed Chapter 11, Implementation, of the Comprehensive Plan, and asked for CONO representatives for the Implementation Committee. A key item is mixed use codes to allow for mixed used neighborhood development. Jan Doran, Rose Kliewer, Walter Lawson, and Larry Bagley volunteered to be representatives from CONO on the committee. Anne Knapp will contact them for notification of time, date and location of the meetings.

CSU Meeting - Jan Doran reported on the Colorado Springs Utilities rate increase letter, and her presentation to Council. The rate increase was passed, but the Council agreed to public information meetings in the future. She stated the presentation by CSU provided much new insight into the issues faced in the utilities arena.

Web Site ?– Tom Thomas is willing to design and do the legwork to provide a CONO web site. The example cited is his site for Tamrron (www.tamarron.org).
Neighborhood Concerns, Announcements, etc:

Wellington Clark discussed the Colorado Springs response times and other standards found on the City Web site. They are looking for citizen inputs via the web.

City Information to HOAs ?– Paul Tice offered to provide land use briefings to HOAs. They need a two-week window for any given presentation to a HOA. He can be contacted at 385-5347 to schedule a time and location.

Friends of Monument Valley Park (FMVP) ?– Anne Knapp provided a handout regarding the FMVP annual meeting, 1 May 2001, 7 PM, Colorado Springs Parks and Recreation Building, 1401 Recreation Way in which ?“General Palmer?”, ?“Elsie Palmer?”, and Stu Dodge will provide entertainment and reflections on Palmer Park. It was moved, seconded, and passed unanimously for CONO to become a member of the Friends of Monument Valley Park and to pay the $15 dues.

Newsletter - Newsletter items are to be submitted to Peggy Pantoja (tpan401437@aol.com, 473-9296). Inputs are always welcome and needed. To view past newsletters and other pertinent CONO stuff, visit the Neighborhood Web Site at www.neighborhoodlink.com/CONO.

Next Meeting - The next CONO meeting is 7:00 PM, 1 May 2001 at The Senior Center, 1514 Hancock Avenue, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80903. The meeting was adjourned at 9:05 PM by resounding unanimous consent.

Respectfully submitted,
Larry C. Bagley
Secretary, CONO