Westridge Homeowners Association

We are sorry we cannot attend the meeting to amend the Planned Development zoning to allow for expansion of an existing church.  My husband and I are not able to take time off from work to attend this meeting, but we are none the less opposed to allow for the expansion of the Rock as they have been proposing for months and months now and have three times been denied. 

The neighborhood has been informed that the church has hired a special law firm and threatened Jeffco with a lawsuit in relation to RLUIPA.  We are not lawyers, but if the Planning Commission has 3 times ruled that the expansion is _*inappropriate*_ for the neighborhood - we don't see how this Act can suddenly make the expansion _*appropriate*_.

The Otten Johnson lawyer letter concludes with the sentence, "does not adversely impact the health, safety, and welfare of the residents..."   We wonder how they define welfare?  The anxiety over the impact of this expansion has weighed heavily on the neighborhood and has consumed time and resources that could have been better spent by the HOA than continually battling the Rock.  Sunday traffic is already a burden - we don't see how they can argue that the "existing street infrastructure has the capacity to handle the expansion".  And what about weekday traffic?  Already it can be a hassle to exit the neighborhood onto Kipling - our welfare is certainly going to impacted if it takes even more light cycles to access Kipling while their traffic enters the neighborhood.  And what if our property values suffer when we have a "mega church" in our residential area?  Who is going to take responsibility for that?  Living here for more than 13 years, we are far better to judge what is good for our neighborhood and actually care about it than the attendees of the Rock - the majority of whom do not live in this neighborhood.

We hope the commissioners can agree that Rock cares nothing about the neighborhood they have moved into.  Their actions prove that they will only be satisfied when they get their way.  We urge the commissioners to refuse this Goliath and preserve the nature of our neighborhood.  We'd like to put a rest to this expansion issue and let us live the quality life that other Jeffco residents enjoy.

Kudos on your statements.  I especially agree with your comment abot the "Rock cares nothing about the neighborhood they have moved into.  Their actions prove that they will only be satisfied when they get their way."

I would like to reply and hopefully clear up some misconceptions about actions the Rock has taken.  I have been to as many of the HOA meeting's as I can to give information and answer questions throughout this process.  The Rock does care about the community.  when the Rock purchased the additional 4.4 acres of land from the school dist. it was told that the Land allowed Chruch Use.  the HOA president at the time was informed that the Rock ahd purchased the Land. At that point The Rock could have gone ahead and applied for a building permit and used that land, but that would have ment a buidling would have to be rather far away from the exisitng building.  This was not desirable for use by the church or in asthetics for the community as building closer would be.  The Rock decided to rezone the whole property inorder to allow for the expansion closer to the existing building.  Rezoning is a public process and is what the community has seen so far.  The Rock does wish it could go back and talk with the HOA before talking with the County in it's preliminary planning process, but the overall process would have been the same though maybe with less emotions.  The Rock tried on several occasions to discuss plans with the HOA until it was finally denied in a letter that the HOA did not want to discuss it further.

The reason a lawyer was brought in has nothing to do with the Community.  Jefferson County Staff told the Rock's representitives it was allowed church use on the new property on three occasions before purchasing, two at the County building, by Staff and also in representation to the Appraiser at the time of sale.  The Land was listed as having Denver R-1 rights in our preliminary meeting documents and The Staff Case Manager stated it our first community meeting.  Sometime after that first community meeting it came to the Rock's attention that Staff had changed it's mind somehow and was saying we did not the rights previously stated.  The sole reason the lawer was brought in was to help  defend the Rock's property rights.  Further documentation has shown where the Zoning Administrator stated in an e-mail to Staff at the time the Land was joined together that Church Use is allowed in both Zoning Districts.  The Land currently owned by the Rock has two zoning districts.   

All that being said and done, The Rock does care about the neighborhood and is still willing to get community/HOA input on the expansion through the site development process which will involve the Landscaping design and some Parking redesign.  I don't know how to create that process or if the HOA/community is willing to participate but we will work to make it happen.  I will still be attending as many of the HOA meeting's as I can to help with the communication between the HOA and The Rock.

Darren Leafblad 

colo.kid@gmail.com