UPDATE: Chris Jenkins of Norwood has asked that City Council remove their presentation from the July 16 City Council agenda.
Manitou Springs Mayor John Graham addressed concerns over the July 16 presentation of a development proposal during the July 9 Manitou Springs City Council meeting. The proposal, from Chris and David Jenkins of Norwood Development Group, consists of an 18-acre land donation in exchange for the creation of a new road and possibly also a parking lot near the Manitou Incline.
“Our meeting tonight sort of started with some concerns about the Jenkins presentation next week,” said Graham. “I want to run by you how I see the agenda for that item going, let you know what it is, and if you have different ideas, you can let me know.”
Manitou Springs City Councilor Judith Chandler questioned recent reporting from KRDO, who published an undated letter from the Jenkins to the mayor and city council, about the July 16 meeting.
“On the meeting minutes for June 18 on page four of five under Council correspondence, it states, quote, ‘There was a brief discussion about meeting with David and Chris Jenkins. The consensus was that the council would suggest a public presentation, followed by discussion and public comment,’” said Chandler. “In the recent KRDO news report. It was stated, quote, ‘Manitou city officials state the meeting will not be open to public comment.’ So either the minutes do not reflect the will of Council of the [June 18] minutes or the KRDO article, which, has several highly misleading comments, one of which states, ‘Manitou city officials.’ I want to make it clear that, because the Jenkins presentation will be next Tuesday … the community will, in fact, be given three minutes per resident for public comment.”
Graham clarified that the July 16 meeting will include public comment. “I thought we’d start off, we would let the Jenkins do their presentation,” he said. “We think this would take 20 to 30 minutes. Once they’ve completed their presentation, City Council would be able to ask questions, make comments, have some dialog with the Jenkins. Then we would open public comment and that would be our typical protocol.”
Councilor John Shada noted the Bulletin had reported the opportunity for public comment correctly.
Concerns about the proposed development have grown since Manitou residents received a survey last month asking about hypothetical ballot initiatives for the city to accept a donation of privately owned land and the creation of a Ruxton Avenue Access Road and a parking lot.
“I do expect there’ll be a little bit of emotional [public comment] — potentially some contentiousness,” said Graham.
Connie Brachtenbach, a longtime Manitou Springs resident, held a community meeting last month to organize residents against the proposal, which she argues will negatively impact nearby neighborhoods. Brachtenbach and a coalition of community members and organizers from the Friends of Ruxton Canyon, a group of Ruxton Avenue residents formed during the renovations of the Incline, have been canvassing and collecting survey data of their own.
“There’s been over 300, I think 376 people [who have taken their survey],” said Brachtenbach. “This was as of [July 8] — 376 people have actually gone to the site, 278 have completed the survey, and 276 of those have been against, and that does not include any of the handwritten, responses. Those are just online numbers.”
Brachtenbach is hoping for a robust community response for the July 16 City Council meeting. “We’re trying to get people there in numbers,” she said. “I was asking for 1,500 people to show up. I don’t know if that’ll happen or not, but I would love it if it did.”