To the editor:
On Tuesday, March 15, Manitou Springs City Council, by a vote of 6 to zero, denied a request to take approximately 6 acres out of the Keithley Log Cabin Historic Preservation District. The land in question is about two-thirds of what is known as the McLaughlin Lodge/Cheyenne Village area at 183 Crystal Park Road.
The overflow crowd applauded.
The applicant had requested the removal to facilitate the building of nine new more-modern homes. City staff had recommended approval, but the Historic Preservation Commission failed to adopt staff recommendations, with a 3-3 split vote.
After a lengthy presentation by city staff and the applicant’s planner, one councilor noted that, “The setting matters.” In effect, not every square inch of Manitou needs to be built on.
“The trees, the topography and the setting matter, thus the area should be preserved.”
In truth, over the past 10-plus years, the Keithley Log Cabin Historic Preservation District has been under attack from real estate speculators and spec homebuilders. It is a recognized game plan.
The real estate speculators buy up a log cabin that traditionally sits on multiple small lots (platted in the 1940s), turn the cabin into a rental and sell off the tiny 50-foot lots to a spec homebuilder, who jams in another house (an almost log cabin).
On Chelton Road alone, this has been repeated three times, with a fourth on the way. This game plan is changing the very nature of the Keithley Log Cabin Historic Preservation District, which we set out to preserve back in 1980-83.
Council’s action on March 15 sends a clear message to the community, the planning staff, the HPC, real estate speculators and spec homebuilders. We will protect the Keithley Log Cabin Historic Preservation District.
I trust they get the message.
Charles L.T. Smith