Highlands Ranch Citizens for Responsible Development: Highlands Ranch

CCU Withdraws its proposal to HRCA to Purchase the University Site in Highlands Ranch

Sadly, today the end came for the CCU proposal. This from the HRCA website:
"NOTICE: Colorado Christian University has withdrawn its request to purchase land from the HRCA for a university campus in Planning Area E in the Backcountry. As a result, the community information meetings scheduled for January 12th, 14th, and... 27th have been cancelled."

I will ask formally that a process begin with the delegates that will determine if the HRCA Board of Director's confirm that the Backcountry (formerly OSCA) Management Plan is still as valid today for the HRCA as it was in 2002, when it was initially adopted.

From the Highlands Ranch Open Space Conservation Area Plan......

"The Primary purpose of the plan is to establish appropriate land uses for the 8,200 acre Open Space Conservation Area (OSCA). The plan also identifies specific areas for open space, wildlife habitat, public facilities, and public and private recreation and educational facilities including parks and trails."

This is our Primary Goal as well, but we are organizing to insure that all appropriate measures are taken to RESPONSIBLY develop these areas as outlined in the plan. The development of this important area of our community demands that all citizens’ concerns are heard, and then an outline of what will actually be done to evaluate, sell, develop or improve these assets is presented to the entire community before decisions are made. It is imperative that the Highlands Ranch Community Association, as steward for these lands, takes all the steps necessary to achieve the goals of this plan.

MANAGEMENT IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FOR THE OPEN SPACE CONSERVATION AREA

All of the FACTS of the OSCA Management Implementation Plan can be found here:

http://www.hrcaonline.org/PDFs/HRCA/PDF71.pdf

Please take a few minutes to read all about the amenities of this plan. It is easy to see how much hard work went into the development of this plan. Pay close attention to all of the various stakeholders who contributed their expertise to this plan.

I ask you this? Who wouldn't want to follow this plan? It will be a glorious addition to our already outstanding community.

Ask yourself this: Should we FOLLOW the PLAN? Or, should we NOT FOLLOW the PLAN?

I vote FOR the PLAN; Because it is part of what makes Highlands Ranch such a special place

NIMBY's

NIMBY - "Not In My Back Yard".

Interesting phrase, isn't it? I found a very good definition on the internet this morning. Here it is: "A Situation where one or more members of a community oppose establishment of an inherently undesirable project (such as a hazardous waste dump or radioactive material storage), or an otherwise desirable project (such as a school or shopping center), too close to their homes from fear of its negative consequences."

Now, back to the topic at hand, Highlands Ranch. If every time a development in the Master plan at Highlands Ranch was stopped by a strong vocal minority of neighbors directly adjacent to it because the land about to be developed was pristine, full of desirable wildlife, or was going to add traffic to the streets, none of those developments would have ever happened, and Highlands Ranch would still be a very large paper plan with one or two subdivisions at Broadway and Dad Clark Drive. There would be a 25 year old vacant and shuttered NorthRidge Recreation Center and no gas stations, restaurants theaters, or shopping, not even a Jenny's Market.

Is this what the original planners of Highlands Ranch would have been proud of? NO! Of course not, neither would the communities to the north of County Line Road, in Arapahoe County be happy if there were no Highlands Ranch. A master planned community is just that, PLANNED. When development that is planned begins to happen, it is natural for those most affected to protest and express their self interest to keep the land in its original condition. However, the Highlands Ranch community is a sparkling success, one of the best communities in the entire nation. Why? Because the plan was followed, only adapted when market conditions changed, or some other discovery was made that made the original plan not feasible. All citizens of Highlands Ranch should be able to enjoy ALL of the amenities in the plan for our community, even if it causes consternation to those who live directly adjacent to it.

The best use of NIMBY resources and energy is to have their concerns heard and adopted in whatever way feasible by the developer. This way, everyone wins, the developer, the community at large, AND the NIMBY.

What can you do to help?

Please help us by doing one or all of the following:

• Sign our Petition at: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/hrcitizensforgoodopenspace/

• Contact the HRCA Delegate for your district. They are the ones who will eventually help decide to approve this prudent land sale. Voice your support now before this opportunity is lost and CCU decides to move elsewhere, taking their positive economic benefits with them. To find out who your delegate is, click on the link below entitled, "Find your District Delegate Contact Information". Roll your cursor over your neighborhood on the map and you will find out the contact info for your District Delegate.

• Contact the HRCA Board of Directors:

The Board of Directors has the ultimate decision in this matter. It is imperative that all of us contact each and every one of them to let our voices be heard.

• Laura Hopkins (lhopkins@hrcaonline.org)
• Paul Meyers (pmeyers@hrcaonline.org)
• Todd Landgrave (tlandgrave@hrcaonline.org)
• David Martz (dmartz@hrcaonline.org)
• Rick Dinsmore (rdinsmore@hrcaonline.org)

• Contact your local association Board of Directors

• Attend the RAC meetings at Eastridge Recreation Center at 6:30PM on the third Tuesday of every month starting January 19th 2010. This is your opportunity to speak directly to all of the HRCA Delegates.

• Attend the CCU sponsored community meetings
• Tuesday, January 5 – 7PM Southridge
• Thursday, January 7 – 7PM Southridge
• Tuesday, January 12 – 7PM Location TBD
• Thursday, January 14 – 7PM Location TBD
• Wednesday, January 27 – 7PM Location TBD

• Attend other meetings as announced

Showing posts with label Highlands Ranch. Show all posts

Showing posts with label Highlands Ranch. Show all posts

Sunday, December 27, 2009

The Opposition

The Highlands Ranch residents who compose the current opposition groups are generally residents of the Hearth and Firelight, the two communities located closest to the 1,200 acre OSCA developable areas, including the proposed Colorado Christian University site. They are digging deep to find out all the facts they can to construe this project as one that is not wanted by ALL of the citizens of Highlands Ranch. Several old news clippings from over five years ago have been used to place the university in a bad light. Some folks testified that they were not informed that this site was developable for a limited number of recreation and public uses when they bought their homes. If that is the cause of all this ill will towards Shea Properties, there is nothing our group can do to change those facts. What we CAN do is inform the rest of the citizens of Highlands Ranch who are in favor of the responsible development that there are ways to turn the sale of the designated university site into a wonderful benefit for ALL of Highlands Ranch. The 202 acre regional park was mentioned as another "thing" that was wrong with the OSCA plan. If this group had their way, they would want Douglas County to never develop this regional park which is a benefit to ALL of Douglas County, not just highlands Ranch. It’s hard to get supporters of the OSCA plan to come out and speak and email their delegates and HRCA Board Members. This is an uphill fight for us who care enough to stand up in favor. All we can do is get out and knock on doors and spread the word! Thanks for your continued support!

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Please sign our petition so we can show our HRCA Board Members the level of our support.

Please sign this petition ( http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/hrcitizensforgoodopenspace/ )if you support the Responsible Development of the Highlands Ranch Community Associaton Open Space Assets that are already zoned (1,200 acres) for limited public and educaiton uses. Please only sign if you are a Douglas County Resident. The development of these open spaces has already been zoned and approved for the uses shown in the Highlands Ranch Open Space Conservation Area Plan. More details at:
http://www.hrcaonline.org/NewsEvents/NewsFullStory.aspx?NewsID=99

NON-QUANTIFIABLE ECONOMIC BENEFITS TO THE ECONOMY FROM PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES

The economic impacts widely reported in studies of the economic impact of higher education can be quantified in real financial terms. While they include the indirect and induced impacts from the expenditures by the various institutions, they exclude many non-quantifiable impacts including the following:

1. The presence of a college or university in a community may be a ‘draw’ to other types of businesses, which do not supply goods and services directly or indirectly to the educational institution. These businesses use student interns and employees with specialized skills such as science, computer programming, business or health care. Often these businesses employ student full-time upon graduation.

2. Faculty, staff and students often start businesses outside the institution. These entrepreneurial startups may often generate significant employment and payrolls as well as making significant contributions to the local economy.

3. Each institution provides a wide variety of athletic, cultural and social activities during the year. These programs undoubtedly enhance the quality of life in the local economies as well as attracting visitors during the course of the year. Additional visitors come to visit faculty, staff and students. This visitor spending supports hotels, motels, bread and breakfasts, restaurants, theaters, camp grounds, taverns, gift shops, and other local businesses. The study does not include the economic impacts of these visitors.

4. Faculty, staff and students deposit funds in local financial institutions, which are subsequently re-invested into the local community through business and consumer loans and mortgages. These funds bolster the regional and state economies.

5. Alumni of higher education institutions return to their institutions for alumni reunions and to take advantage of educational programs, such as Elderhostel. In some cases after a return visit they decide to relocate to the area. Faculty and staff retirees from the various institutions often continue residing in these communities. This study doesn’t consider the economic contributions associated with alumni relocating to these communities nor the impacts of retirees from the communities.

6. Faculty, staff and students serve as volunteers in community-based and faith-based organizations. In many instances they play a major leadership role within these institutions. Students also engage in service-learning experiences including tutoring in public schools, business plan development, recreational program leadership and staffing, among others. The economic value of the hours spent in these endeavors is not included in this study.

7. The estimated taxes associated with the total economic impact excludes workers and unemployment compensation payments from the institutions as well as real and personal property taxes paid to localities by businesses and employees. Consequently, the total estimated taxes paid are an underestimate of the actual taxes remitted at the state and local levels.

8. Most of the institutions have health care benefits and insurance for faculty, staff, and, in some cases students. These insurance plans help bolster the local health care community by providing financial support for services received as well as reducing the amount of uncompensated care provided by the health care institutions.

9. The most important long-term economic benefit not reflected in this report, however, is the increased human capital provided by private colleges and universities. The College Board’s recently released publication, Education Pays 2004, documents the benefits associated with college education2. Graduates of these institutions enter the job market, receiving earnings well above those of high school graduates. Nationally, individuals holding bachelor’s degrees will earn 1.73 times the lifetime earnings of high school graduates. Even higher returns accrue to those with a masters, doctorate and professional degrees. These higher earnings are reflected in higher taxes paid to state and local governmental units. Furthermore, unemployment and poverty rates are lower for college graduates compared to graduates with a high school degree or less. College graduates make fewer claims on public social services, report better health and have lower incarceration rates than those with less education.