The Ridge at Fox Run

Gazette article on Donala Distri

Gleneagle ballot issue aims to save open space

Recreation set-aside sought amid housing

By Pam Zubeck/The Gazette

Story editor Jeff Thomas; headline by Charlie Matthews

Laurie Harmelink's young daughter recently told her mom she's ready to move. She wants out of the city.

But the Harmelinks aren't city dwellers.

They live in Gleneagle - a subdivision 15 miles north of Colorado Springs amid rolling hills and a growing number of homes.

"It's a neighborhood in a day," Harmelink said, describing the frenetic pace of growth.

That's why some think it's time to set aside land for parks, trails and recreation facilities in the 2,000-acre region.

On May 4, Harmelink and about 3,000 other voters in Gleneagle, the Ridge at Fox Run and Falcon's Nest subdivisions have a chance to vote on widening the scope of
the Donala Water and Sanitation District to include parks and recreation.

If approved, the agency would become the Donala Metropolitan District.

"The development in our district has outrun the amenities, and there really are none," said Dana Duthie, manager of the Donala District. "If we're going to get involved
in getting the kinds of facilities we're talking about, we've got to move quickly."

Established in 1972, the district has seen most of its growth in the last decade as people fled the city for a paradise of spectacular views and wooded privacy.

Today, the district serves about 1,450 homes, and more are being added by the week.

Just ask Jose Flores. When he moved into his home in eastern Gleneagle two years ago, he was the only one on the block.

Today, he's surrounded by dozens of homes.

"We need a place to go" for recreation, said Flores, who supports the ballot measure. "It's just getting too crowded."

Although 410-acre Fox Run Regional Park lies just east of Gleneagle, neither Harmelink or Flores would chance sending their kids on the three-mile trek along busy Baptist Road to get there.

Within the Donala District, few potential recreation spaces remain.

One unofficial play area, an open field on Gleneagle's south side, drew plenty of kids for impromptu soccer games in the past. But today, the tract is piled with dirt as developers prepare to build patio homes on the site.

The county, which focuses on trails and large regional parks, collects fees from developers to pay for neighborhood parks. But county officials said the fees don't generate enough money to buy choice lots in today's hot real estate market.

Duthie said the ballot proposal would allow the district to deal with developers directly on behalf of its customers to try to preserve land for recreation facilities. Top on
the list, according to a recent survey of residents: a recreation center/health club, followed by community parks and athletic fields.

The district also could, with voter approval, impose taxes for recreation, although state law bans the district from seeking a tax increase during its first year.

Duthie doubts new taxes would come any time soon. "There's no plan at all for any taxation increase," he said.

Instead, the district is likely to try for funds now available to El Paso County and other entities in the region.

The district would be entitled to receive about $20,000 a year from the state's Conservation Trust Fund, which doles out lottery proceeds for recreation purposes. That would be money that ordinarily might go to El Paso County, however.

Last year, the county received about $824,000 in trust-fund money, about $300,000 less than it would have received if other special recreation districts, such as Widefield School District, hadn't raked off a share.

In addition, the Donala District would be a contender for Great Outdoors Colorado lottery money - a separate lottery-fed fund that is a major source for county and
Colorado Springs projects.

So far, no organized support or opposition to broadening the district's responsibilities has emerged, Duthie said.

"There are people who have a distrust of government and believe we're going to tax them right off the bat," he said. "We don't have a driving desire to build our empire."

Pam Zubeck covers local government issues and may be reached at 636-0238 or zubeck@gazette.com


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