Week of September 22, 2022
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DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
CastlePinesNewsPress.net
VOLUME 10 | ISSUE 5
Emporium marks milestone
Commissioners meet again about San Luis Valley water project More information to come BY ELLIOTT WENZLER EWENZLER@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
infrastructure to the city in its current condition, Castle Pines Public Works Director Larry Nimmo said in the June meeting. In addition, the district will transfer its stormwater enterprise funds of over $1 million to the city for the sole purpose of administering the stormwater utility, according to the agreement. According to Castle Pines City Manager Michael Penny, the IGA creates a more unified stormwater system for the city.
A controversial plan to pipe water from the San Luis Valley to Douglas County may be seeing new life after the county commissioners recently met behind closed doors to discuss it again. Four months after announcing they wouldn’t use federal COVID-19 funds on the proposal from Renewable Water Resources, or RWR, the commissioners heard a legal update on the project from the county’s outside counsel, Steve Leonhardt, Sept. 13. Leonhardt, who recently met with RWR, provided advice and a piece of “work product” for commissioners to review. “We intend to provide the public with more input and information about any additional discussion with RWR once each of us has had an opportunity to look at that work product,” Commissioner Abe Laydon said during the public portion of the meeting. In May, Laydon made the decisive vote not to use a portion of the county’s $68 million in American Rescue Plan Act money on the proposal. However, he said he was still interested in continuing to look at the project. Since then, the county has
SEE STORMWATER, P7
SEE PROPOSAL, P12
The Emporium in Castle Rock will celebrate its 10th anniversary with carnival games, free food and live music Oct. 1.
Unique destination to offer food, fun and music for 10th anniversary BY RACHEL LORENZ SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
Mike Slattery is eager to celebrate a Castle Rock destination that he
loves with the community that has supported it for a decade. On Oct. 1, The Emporium will mark its 10th anniversary with free food, carnival games and a classic rock cover band. “It’s a big milestone for the store,” Slattery, owner of The Emporium, told Colorado Community Media. “We’re excited to have everyone come and just enjoy it.” The merchant mall — which offers gifts, clothing and home
COURTESY OF THE EMPORIUM
goods — was founded by Greg and Becky Boman on Perry Street in 2013. When Slattery learned that the Bomans were looking to sell, he was concerned that The Emporium might be turned into something else and that Castle Rock might lose a bit of its charm. So he and his wife Andrea, longtime customers, bought the business in 2020. SEE MILESTONE, P10
Castle Pines North to transfer stormwater rights to city Plans to unify move forward BY NINA JOSS COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
Since the termination of the Parker water inclusion in February, the path towards dissolution of the Castle Pines North Metro District, or CPNMD, has been unclear. But in a unanimous decision on June 20, the CPNMD approved an inter-
governmental agreement, or IGA, to transfer its stormwater system and necessary property rights to the city of Castle Pines – handing over one of its main responsibilities and bringing the body a step closer to dissolution. Until this decision, CPNMD provided its community with stormwater, water and wastewater services and managed the district’s parks, trails and open spaces, according to its website. The new IGA transfers the ownership of the district’s stormwater
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 14 | LIFE: PAGE 16 | CALENDAR: PAGE 19 | SPORTS: PAGE 24
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