Conifer Area Council Town Hall Meeting Videos

Hello Conifer-ites and 285 corridor dwellers!
I attended the Conifer Area Council meeting last night at West Jeff Middle School and thought I would share my notes with the community in case you couldn’t attend. I also scanned the meeting hand out. If you’d like a pdf of this handout emailed to you, feel free to message me your email address and I’ll forward it along. This was a great forum to learn more about what’s happening in our community, and I encourage you all to attend the next meeting, which is April 18th.
Conifer Chamber of Commerce
285 Winterfest is this weekend in Aspen Park and the Mt Lugo tubing race is at Meyer’s Ranch. More info is available here: www.goconifer.com/285-winterfest
US Forest Service
Forests typical burn every 25 years but haven’t in the last 100+ yrs because we have put them out, leading to lots of fire load. The Forest Service is working on being proactive via prescribed fires and has 2000+ piles ready to burn. No dates were given regarding when burns will happen.
Conifer Library
It’s tax season! All tax forms and booklets are at library. AARP reps available for consultation.
The library now has Discovery Play times for small children. Library is encouraging families to read together with the goal of families to read 1,000 books. Prizes are awarded for participants. Check the library calendar for details on their group meetings and events - Meditation, art group and book groups.
Mountain Hearth and Home
Four factors to avoid chimney fire:
1) Wood used should be seasoned. Knock the wood together to hear the sound it makes. Thud is bad, thunk is good!
2) Properly installed chimney caps with a screen block sparks and keeps animals out who could build a nest.
3) Inspections- have a professional sweep your chimney regularly.
4) It’s important to burn a hot fire to avoid incomplete combustion. Give the fire oxygen to make it hot and avoid build up of creosote in the chimney.
CDOT - Jana Spiker
No new update on Kings Valley interchange project. There is no funding available for construction, which is estimated to be a $8-10 million expense. If federal funding becomes available, CDOT wants to widen 285 from Richmond Hill to Schaffer’s Crossing and to do the King’s Valley build out.
Richmond Hill will be getting a new cantilevered overhead sign structure this year. There will be minimal road closures for this.
Jeffco Planning and Zoning - Dennis Dempsey and Heather Gutherless
29 new cases (up from 22), 9 new pre apps, 3 updates for formal cases, 3 new formal cases
40-50% of applications typically don’t move forward
See meeting handout for list of proposed development and zoning changes.
A few proposals that were highlighted:
Dutch Brothers coffee shop in parking lot at Staples
Office building near kitty drive and Mountain Resource Center
Eagle Cliff Rd (near Catholic Church) 41.8 acres for proposed tiny home development, a new single family homes and storage
Highway 73 (across from Safeway near CHS) application for 25.1 to be rezoned for 113 residential lots.
Scott Adair - Representative from Phillips Edison & Company, which owns King Soopers shopping center
Scott and the company would like to be more connected with the community and was present to introduce himself and solicit feedback on the shopping center.
Scot learned the shopping center is in an enterprise zone, which means there are tax credits available to small businesses. He is working with the businesses in the shopping center to get more info on the tax credits available to help their businesses thrive.
State Senator Tim Neville
Senator Neville provided an update on bills being debated. (Sorry- I wasn’t able to get solid notes on his presentation.)
Conifer Area Council shared results of their recent community survey:
Conifer Area Council was formed in 2002 as a non profit formed to address community issues, provide town hall meetings, and survey residents to hear what is important to them. Development is going to happen in our community, and the council provides a forum for residents to provide input which this is shared with the county, local service providers (fire dept), etc.
1,656 people completed the survey, which is 8 times the typical survey response. This is 13.53% of area residents!
87.38% feel safe in their neighborhood
Many people feel Conifer doesn’t have a community center (such as a main street or gathering place).
Conifer’s most pressing issues (according to survey respondents):
1) Fire vulnerability
2) Preservation of small town character
3) Diminishing water supply
4) Lack of urgent medical facility
5) Not enough well paying jobs
New concerns: Traffic on 285 and Conifer area needs a rec center
Area stakeholders will receive detailed survey results and the council would like these stakeholders to present at future meetings how they will address community concerns.