Castle Rock Town Council Meeting – January 2, 2024
Castle Rock Town Council Meeting – January 2, 2024
The Castle Rock Town Council met on Tuesday, January 2, 2024, at 6:00 PM in the Town Hall Council Chambers. The meeting included a proclamation honoring the Castle View High School cheerleading team, a public comment on municipal notice publication, a town manager’s update on 2024 major projects, development services highlights, and a consent calendar that required procedural clarification before approval.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Linda Shapley, representing the Castle Rock NewsPress, expressed concern that moving town annexation notices from the newspaper to the town website reduces accessibility for citizens and decreases essential revenue for local journalism. She urged the Council to reconsider the changes proposed in Ordinance 2023-040.
Discussion Items
- Council Comments: Multiple councilmembers paid tribute to former Council member Joe “Joe Pro” Procopio, who recently passed away. They shared memories of his service, mentorship, and positive impact on the community. Councilmember Dietz also encouraged attention to ballot access issues and the upcoming Colorado legislative session.
- Proclamation: Mayor Gray presented a proclamation congratulating the Castle View High School Varsity Small Coed Cheerleading Team for winning the 2023-24 Class 5A state championship on December 8, 2023, with a score of 91.46 and a zero-deduction routine. The proclamation noted the team’s third state title in four years and seventh overall, and wished them well at the UCA National High School Cheerleading Championships in Orlando, Florida.
- Town Manager’s Report – Calendar & 2024 Major Projects: David Corliss, Town Manager, highlighted upcoming events (Fire Department awards banquet on Jan 20, Chamber gala in Feb) and reviewed the 2024 Major Projects List. He emphasized careful revenue monitoring, noting that December sales tax data will be finalized by late January and that a TABOR surplus is unlikely given 60% fewer building permits and slower sales tax growth. Key projects include: new fire station in northeast Castle Rock (design starting, opening by 2026), Crystal Valley Interchange (FHWA approvals pending, construction package 1 expected in February), downtown railroad quiet zone (Union Pacific work in January), water treatment plant expansion from 6 to 12 MGD, Emerald Park and Mitchell Gulch construction, and acquisition of Lost Canyon Ranch as open space (with $3M from GOCO, $6M from the Town, and $6M requested from Douglas County).
- Development Services Project Updates: TJ Kucewesky, Assistant Director of Development Services, presented pre-application activity, including: a 40,000 sq ft indoor recreation use (possibly courts) in the Meadows; Castle Rock Water pipelines (Pioneer and Plum Creek to Rueter-Hess); expansion of Castle Oaks Church; a firefighter memorial relocation to the new library; a new medical office building on North Castleton; a bank pad site at the Outlets; and an early childhood center on Ridge Road. Two new quasi-judicial applications: Canyons Far South (474 single-family lots) and Tower Open Space zoning (town-owned property for passive open space).
- Consent Calendar Procedural Discussion: Councilmember Brooks initially moved to remove Resolution 2024-004 (Item 10) from the consent calendar for separate discussion, believing it related to public notice publication. After public comment about Ordinance 2023-040 (Item 6), staff clarified that Item 6 addresses annexation notices for town-owned property (including Lost Canyon), while Item 10 designates online posting for council meeting notices (as allowed by state law and a voter-approved measure). Council then voted to add Item 10 back to the consent calendar (unanimous) and approved the consent calendar as amended.
Key Outcomes
- Proclamation for Castle View Cheerleading team was presented and accepted (approved December 19, 2023, by 6-0).
- Consent Calendar Approved (unanimous, 7-0) after adding back Resolution 2024-004, which includes:
- Ordinance 2023-040 (second reading): Amends annexation notice requirements for town-owned property.
- Resolution 2024-001: Appoints Municipal Judge and approves service contract.
- Resolution 2024-002: Appoints Assistant Municipal Judge and approves service contract.
- Resolution 2024-003: Appoints substitute judges.
- Resolution 2024-004: Designates the public place for posting notices pursuant to C.R.S. §24-6-402(2)(c).
- Proclamation 2024-001: Recognizes Tammy Denhard and Matt Rettmer as Keepers of the Star (presentation set for Jan 16, 2024).
- Minutes of December 5 and December 19, 2023.
- Meeting adjourned at 6:59 PM by unanimous vote.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening. We'll open with invocation. Heavenly Father, we ask your guidance and wisdom and support as we begin this meeting. We gather here today to put the intent of doing good work. We seek to represent fairly and well those who have given us this task and help us engage in meaningful discussion. Give us clarity and strength to use only our best skills and judgment. Please bless the community, his residents, businesses, and visitors, and help us to continue in doing good work in your name. Amen. Roll call, please. Councilmember Hollingshead. Here. Councilmember KV? Yes. Councilmember Bracken. Present. Councilmember Brooks. Present. Councilmember Deeds. Here. Mayor Pro Tem La Fleur. Here. Mayor Gray. Here. Hall are present. Thank you. Please join me in the Pledge of Leadance. First, I want to thank everyone for coming coming out tonight. One of the things I wanted to mention was we had a fellow council member recently passed, uh Joe Propocchio or Joe Pro as he liked to be called. A person who just loved our community. And uh just love to be a part of it. And he would he would continue to go to some of our meetings here and there. Um I I knew Joe for I don't know, about 15 years or so at other things with a town, and it's a sad passing, and and I just want to make sure that uh his family and friends and the community knows that we support him and his family, and it's just unfortunate um in his passing recently. Uh with that, I also want to um hopefully everyone had a great uh holiday season. Um 2023 is is over, and I know that you don't you don't uh flip the switch on the on the year exactly, but um hopefully we can learn from our 2023 and and bringing that into 2024 with love and understanding and compassion. Uh with that, Ryan Hollinshead. Thanks, Mayor. Yeah, my condolences also to Joe's family. Um for the cast of you folks here, he was a also a cross coach the first seven or eight years that Castleview was around and contributed to 10 to that community and um remember taking me under his wing as a young coach myself. So he's really a good mentor for me and help me missed. And other than that, just want to wish everybody happy new year. Thanks. Thank you. Laura Cavey. Yep, once again, I would like to echo those same sentiment. Um condolences to Joe's family, um, and happy new year to everybody here. It's great to see everyone. Kevin Bracken. Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, uh Joe Pro left me a voice message when he when he called me the very first time. Hey, Joe Procoprio, Joe Pro here.
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