The Castle Rock Town Council met on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, at 6:00 PM in the Town Hall Council Chambers. The meeting lasted until 8:11 PM. All six present members (Mayor Jason Gray, Mayor Pro Tem Laura Cavey, Councilmembers Ryan Hollingshead, Kevin Bracken, Mark Davis, Tim Dietz; Councilmember Max Brooks was absent) voted unanimously on all actions. The agenda included a briefing on Douglas County Home Rule, proclamations, quasi-judicial hearings for the Wellspring Community's Unity on Wolfensberger development, a continuation of the Pine Canyon annexation and zoning, a new Art and Culture Grant Program, and financial resolutions related to the Miller Activity Complex lease prepayment and the Sports Development Center financing.
County Commissioners Briefing – County Home Rule: Douglas County Attorney Jeff Garcia and Commissioner George Teal presented the benefits of a home rule county, including the ability to opt out of state regulations, control taxation, and preserve county identity (e.g., protecting 51% open space). They outlined the process: a June 24, 2025 election to form a 21-member Home Rule Commission, with a final charter vote in November 2025. Councilmember Bracken noted that at a Parker meeting, attendees lacked information despite the education session. Councilmember Dietz successfully moved to direct staff to draft a resolution supporting the Home Rule proposal, calling it hypocritical for a home rule town to oppose a home rule county. The motion passed 6-0.
Proclamations:
Quasi-Judicial Hearings:
Discussion/Direction: Art and Culture Annual Grant Program: Maia Yates (Parks) and Jen Perry (Public Art Commission Chair) proposed a three-tier grant program: Program Grants (up to 5 grants of $10,000 each for nonprofits), Project Grants (up to 5 grants of $5,000 each for artists, businesses, etc.), and Educator Grants (up to 5 grants of $2,000 each for K-12 educators). Total annual allocation: $85,000 from the Public Art Fund (initially funded by $200,000 per year from the general fund). A panel (staff, Public Art Commission, and a Council liaison) would review applications and make recommendations to Council for final approval. Councilmember Dietz praised the program as well-thought-out. Councilmember Bracken clarified that Council is approving the structure, not individual grants. The motion to implement the program passed 6-0.
Resolution 2025-058 – Prepayment of Rentals (Miller Activity Complex Lease): Town Attorney Mike Hyman explained that the town is exercising its purchase option to pay off $9.245 million in certificates of participation (COPs) issued in 2013 to finance the Miller Activity Complex. The prepayment of approximately $5.3 million (budgeted in FY2025) will save future interest costs and provide flexibility for the upcoming Sports Development Center financing. The motion passed 6-0.
Resolution 2025-059 – Intent to Reimburse for Sports Development Center Expenses: Hyman presented this resolution to comply with IRS regulations, formally declaring the town's intent to reimburse certain capital expenditures (e.g., early procurement of steel) with proceeds from the upcoming $75 million COPs financing for the Brickyard Sports Development Center. The motion passed 6-0.
Meeting. We gather here today intent on doing good work. We seek to represent fairly and well those who have given us this task. Help us engage and meaningful discussion, give us clarity and strength to use our best skills and judgment. Please bless this community, residents, businesses, and visitors, and help us do what good work in your name. Amen. Roll call uh call to order, please. Councilmember Hollingshead. Here. Councilmember Bracken. Here. Councilmember Davis. Here. Councilmember Brooks? Councilmember Brooks is absent. Councilmember Dietz? Here. Mayor Pro Tem KV. Here. Mayor Gray. Here. Thank you. Please rise for the pleasure of the legions. Well, first I'd like to thank everyone for showing up here or or online. As far as um council comments, I'd just like to um to start with really with one one thing. Um we have still a couple of nice um proclamations tonight. Um, but besides that, I also wanted to do an awareness for ALS month. This is ALS month. Um, and uh I've had several friends pass away from this. I we uh this is the 19th year um that that uh Jeff Dunn, who was a firefighter here in Castrock had died at ALS 19 years ago in June. Um another firefighter who lived in Castle Rock that um fought for uh Collar Springs carry uh um lost his life to ALS as well. It's uh it touches a lot of people and and hopefully we can be aware of it and and and get get a get a better handle on it in the future. So I do appreciate that. And with that, Councilmember Hollins head. Thanks, Mayor. Yeah, I'd also like to uh uh recognize it is uh teacher appreciation week. So um if you know a teacher, some of I work with a lot of teachers, some of us are married to teachers up here, so uh thank them this month, especially if they uh teach seniors in high school, as this is their last week and they're uh they're they're uh done for, I guess. Um so uh great week, a lot of community involvement, a lot of community support uh in all the schools right now. It's really neat to see from the local businesses and parent groups. Um the next item I'd just like to bring up um we've talked a lot about all the money that we spend on roads in this town. We we spend a ton, there's a lot of new road projects coming into town. Um but one of the things we don't really talk about is just how we we take care of those roads and and and how the town really looks when you come in, especially off I-25 on our major roadways. Um we spend a lot of money putting in nice medians, roundabouts, sidewalks. Um, but I I do have a concern a little bit about um how much we may maintain those, especially with things like weed mitigation, um, and then also kind of the no man's land and places like founders and plum creek where you know the town manages grass, a little bit of sidewalk, and then um private property business owners have landscaped their properties sometimes 20-30 years ago, and then maybe not always kept up on that. So um if if council be okay with it, I'd just like to ask staff to bring us back some information about what we currently do um to maintain those those roadways. These are like non-HOA, our major roadways coming off I-25 specifically. Um, and then how we uh really work with our our um private property owners along those areas um to to partner with them to make sure things are still looking good in town. So um no action, just would like some information about how we um do our business and then what we ask uh other people to do. You guys are gonna do something like that. Are we all good to that?