News-Press DCCR 7.25.13
Castle Rock
Douglas County, Colorado • Volume 11, Issue 18
Viva la Renaissance!
Impromptu parades and medieval garb are never an uncommon sight at the Colorado Renaissance Festival.
July 25, 2013
Free
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourcastlerocknews.com
Costs rising for park Construction, unstable soil driving up total bill By Virginia Grantier
vgrantier@ourcoloradonews.com
Goodness gracious, “Great Balls of Fire.” This man — shown performing on July 21 — has the hottest job at the Colorado Renaissance Festival, performing four times a day, to the delight of the much cooler spectators gathered at the festival grounds. “Vegetable Justice” gets served every weekend at the Colorado Renaissance Festival as this man hangs in the pillory, making fun of all those who paid to take a chance at drilling him with a tomato.
Photos by Ryan boldRey A Centennial State tradition, the Colorado Renaissance Festival has just two Saturdays and two Sundays left this summer. So before it passes you by, head on down to Larkspur and kneel to the King and Queen, take an elephant ride, watch some fire-breathing entertainment and enjoy a late-afternoon joust while enjoying a turkey leg and cold beverage. The festival, which brings the medieval out in many, features fine art, fare of the times, rides for the kids and more. For more information, visit www.coloradorenaissance.com.
Castle Rock’s biggest park-construction project ever, a 237-acre plot that includes amenities expected to be a regional draw — such things as a 50,000-square-foot fieldhouse, a pool, miles of hiking, outdoor amphitheater for 2,000 people, a pond and a building for weddings and meetings — is on schedule since its June groundbreaking, officials say. About 40 acres have been scraped and shaped, water and sewer lines soon will go in — all in all, about 220,000 cubic yards of dirt have been moved, project superintendent Brian Peterson said July 18. But there are other things to be moved. Moving around some money was the issue being talked about at the July 16 Castle Rock City Council meeting. Unexpected costs because of unstable soil issues and rising construction costs may end up adding about $4.4 million to the Philip S. Miller Park’s $20 million Phase 1, town parks director Rob Hanna told the council. It’s possible that bids for the final portion of the park’s Phase 1 could come in lower, causing a smaller increase, but town staff said they wanted direction from the town council on whether to proceed as planned, in light of the additional costs. The council’s consensus, after hearing recommendations from the town manager, the parks commission and business leaders to proceed, is to proceed with getting bids, seeing what the numbers are and then making decisions about which reserve funds to take the money from, if need be. Town Manager Mark Stevens said the increase in the cost estimates “is significant, there’s no denying that.” Stevens said the town, with its healthy reserve funds and other options, can easily handle the extra cost. “We’re in the position to do that.” And if the full cost of the project had been known during the initial Park continues on Page 27
Dinner offers view from on high Historic ranch is site for land conservancy’s annual fundraiser By Virginia Grantier
vgrantier@ourcoloradonews. com There’s a mesa, a mountain east of Interstate 25 called Hunt Mountain, and it’s the site of the historic still-operating JA cattle ranch — the site where you’ll have
an outside dinner near a cliff’s edge. If you buy a ticket. The Douglas County Land Conservancy, which to date has protected 21,838 acres of land from being developed in perpetuity and is now eyeing land along the Highway 83 corridor south of Franktown to help create a buffer from Colorado Springs, will hold a fundraising dinner Aug 24. The event will be held at one of the places the land conservancy and the ranch owner have saved for all time.
The 6,200-acre JA Ranch northeast of Larkspur is still in the same family’s hands since it was established in the 1800s, and still running cattle. And the ranch, which has large expanses of wildlife habitat, scenic views and working agricultural land, will always be preserved because of its conservation easement with the Douglas County Land Conservancy. Ninia Ritchie, the current family member watching over the Dinner continues on Page 27
An annual Douglas County Land Conservancy fundraiser, set for Aug. 24 this year, will again offer a cliff-edge dinner with views at the historic JA Ranch near Larkspur. Courtesy photo