The Denver Post, May 14, reported that a 2200-acre development is proposed for just east of the Hogback at Morrison. It has been dubbed ''Denver Tech Center - West'' and is strongly supported by Jeffco County Commissioners. Rezoning on the project has already begun.
Such a development will put a lot of pressure on EPE to develop land, including lots below the 1.5-acre minimum in our Covenants. We can expect developers and speculators to be buying up lots in our community for current or future development because of this new west-side project. That will put even more pressure on our Covenants Committee to enforce the Covenants and the Board to find ways to fund the defense of the Covenants.
As for the Covenants, we went through a wrenching court case on the Retterer property on Lee Rd. in 2005, costing some $27,000, and lost. Yet, few in our community know what happened, how we lost the case, where the flaws in our approach were and how to avoid the same outcome next time - AND THERE WILL BE A NEXT TIME!
The current Board has repeatedly denied access to records of the Retterer case claiming that ''we have learned from this case and it is time to move on.'' How does the next Board, which will be elected next week and in a subsequent election in August ''move on'' without any documentation of what happened and how to improve our approach for the next time? The current Board has left all future Boards totally defenseless.
With this new development pressure, we all must work together to review the Retterer case files, discover where we erred and present a blueprint for future Boards to avoid the pitfalls that the previous Boards fell into. We cannot know too much about what happened and how to better prepare ourselves for future court cases to defend our Covenants. The evaluation should be ongoing, leaving no stone unturned.
The purpose is not to lay blame for what has happened. In that respect, the current Board is correct that it is ''water under the bridge.'' But to leave future Boards defenseless would be unthinkable and irresponsible.
I have been asking for such a thorough review since January 2006 and at each request have been stonewalled with respect to access to HOA records on this precedent-setting case. However, meeting minutes from that period do indicate that much more information is available and much more process occurred than has been revealed (e.g., mediation occurred before we went to court). Those records must be reviewed and persons interviewed so that the new Board and Covenants Committee can be adequately prepared to defend our community.
I call for a full review of all records of the Retterer case by the new Board and Covenants Committee so that the most egregious violaters of our Covenants can be efficiently prosecuted and our Covenants can be adequately defended, when challenged. Without such a review, we just threw $27,000 of our money down the ''memory hole.''
I urge all EPE Owners to attend the forthcoming Elections Meeting and vote for candidates who want to be prepared for our future, and not for candidates who want to bury the past, and all the knowledge that goes with it.
Such a development will put a lot of pressure on EPE to develop land, including lots below the 1.5-acre minimum in our Covenants. We can expect developers and speculators to be buying up lots in our community for current or future development because of this new west-side project. That will put even more pressure on our Covenants Committee to enforce the Covenants and the Board to find ways to fund the defense of the Covenants.
As for the Covenants, we went through a wrenching court case on the Retterer property on Lee Rd. in 2005, costing some $27,000, and lost. Yet, few in our community know what happened, how we lost the case, where the flaws in our approach were and how to avoid the same outcome next time - AND THERE WILL BE A NEXT TIME!
The current Board has repeatedly denied access to records of the Retterer case claiming that ''we have learned from this case and it is time to move on.'' How does the next Board, which will be elected next week and in a subsequent election in August ''move on'' without any documentation of what happened and how to improve our approach for the next time? The current Board has left all future Boards totally defenseless.
With this new development pressure, we all must work together to review the Retterer case files, discover where we erred and present a blueprint for future Boards to avoid the pitfalls that the previous Boards fell into. We cannot know too much about what happened and how to better prepare ourselves for future court cases to defend our Covenants. The evaluation should be ongoing, leaving no stone unturned.
The purpose is not to lay blame for what has happened. In that respect, the current Board is correct that it is ''water under the bridge.'' But to leave future Boards defenseless would be unthinkable and irresponsible.
I have been asking for such a thorough review since January 2006 and at each request have been stonewalled with respect to access to HOA records on this precedent-setting case. However, meeting minutes from that period do indicate that much more information is available and much more process occurred than has been revealed (e.g., mediation occurred before we went to court). Those records must be reviewed and persons interviewed so that the new Board and Covenants Committee can be adequately prepared to defend our community.
I call for a full review of all records of the Retterer case by the new Board and Covenants Committee so that the most egregious violaters of our Covenants can be efficiently prosecuted and our Covenants can be adequately defended, when challenged. Without such a review, we just threw $27,000 of our money down the ''memory hole.''
I urge all EPE Owners to attend the forthcoming Elections Meeting and vote for candidates who want to be prepared for our future, and not for candidates who want to bury the past, and all the knowledge that goes with it.
