The Rooney Valley Developers have been busy.
There are now a total of 5 lawsuits filed against the Green Mountain Water and Sanitation District based upon Green Mountain’s decision to terminate the Big Sky IGA.
You will recall that Big Sky (Tom Morton) had the prior Green Mountain board majority sign an IGA the night they were being voted out of office. And that IGA created Big Sky as the new profit making sanitation district for Rooney Valley.
So here is the list of Rooney Valley developers who have sued:
The Three Dinos (who first proposed to build carlots at Dinosaur Ridge and now propose to build warehouses)
Stream Realty (Hank Brumley) (who has worked along side the Three Dinos from the beginning and will actually build the warehouses)
Cardel Homes (who withdrew their application for a special district to develop an area to the south of Big Sky south of Yale)
Big Sky (primary director – of only two -is Tom Morton who as Sr. VP. Brookfield (Canada) presided over the Special District abuses in Solterra)
CDN (Three investment bankers from Canada who own Big Sky – so they are one and the same – and have arranged to sell the land to some unknown developer (Brookfield?) as soon as they get the sewer lined up.)
Three of the cases are assigned to the same Judge. It is expected that the remaining two cases will also be assigned to the same Judge.
The Big Sky case was filed first and will likely be the lead case. In essence the other developers on the band wagon are all saying that because they were going to get sewer from Big Sky (as the new “master meter” sanitation district for Rooney Valley), the Court must un-terminate the Big Sky IGA and force Green Mountain to provide sewer service outside of its district boundary to Big Sky so they can get sewer from Big Sky.
The case management order was filed. Here is a copy.
The order summarizes the parties positions. Big Sky again asserts “that if sanitary sewer service cannot be obtained through the Big Sky/Green Mountain IGA private properties within Big Sky will be rendered valueless.” This statement again ignores the fact that there are several ways for Big Sky to obtain sewer for Big Sky without setting itself up as a private profit making sanitation district – the new “master meter” for all of Rooney Valley – unaccountable to the public. And those ways include a public application, public hearings and public vote.
Of course there is more to assert in response to Big Sky’s other inaccurate allegations but those will unfold as the litigation progresses.
There will be a hearing on the case management order which will begin to shape the course of the case. It is open to the public and everyone is encouraged to attend if you can – to see and hear for yourself the case begin to take shape and to show support for Green Mountain (or Big Sky).
Wednesday August 28 1:00 pm Jefferson County Courthouse 4th Floor Division 2 Judge Bachmeyer.
The other four cases have not yet reached this stage.
Cardel’s position deserves special attention. You may have seen this email from Cardel to Adam Paul (Lakewood Mayor and Candidate for Re-election) which Adam Paul circulated approvingly saying in essence to the folks who voted for the 200 growth limitation “see what you did”:
From: Rod Mickelberry <rmickelberry@cardelhomes.com>
Date: July 16, 2019 at 10:57:11 AM MDT
To: “apaul@lakewood.org” <apaul@lakewood.org>, Kathy Hodgson <KatHod@lakewood.org>
Subject: Cardel’s charitable initiatives in Lakewood.
EXTERNAL
Mayor Adam Paul and Kathy Hodgson,
As a consequence of the local “NIMBYism” and lack of political appetite in Lakewood for future residential development, none helpful to Cardel’s ability to construct quality new family homes for your constituents in Lakewood, we have had to re-assess our charitable initiatives in the Lakewood area.
For a number of years we have sponsored the Action Center, the Lakewood youth sports program, and assisted the Rooney Valley Elementary School and many other worthy causes. Our corporate philosophy has long been to give back to the communities where we do business. Unfortunately, at this time, Cardel is not able to “do business” in Lakewood. Our Indigo project has been impeded at every turn.
While we expect to eventually resolve the concerns surrounding development, we have no current business interests in Lakewood to continue our community support. Those resources unfortunately, will be redirected to the many other municipalities in the Metro area who continue to support our strategy of building great homes for their citizens.
We are sure that the Lakewood political leadership will soon understand the restrictive development conditions being imposed and will get “it right” in the near future. Cardel looks forward to the time when we will, again, be able to support Lakewood entities with charitable funds.
Sincerely,
| Rod Mickelberry Regional President Denver |
9110 East Nichols Ave, Suite 120 Centennial, CO 80112Direct: (720) 251-0087 |
Now, in Cardel’s lawsuit against Green Mountain they are demanding that the Court replace the Green Mountain Board, elected by the people, with a receiver (hand picked by Cardel) who will know how to run Green Mountain better than the citizens elected by the voters.
I have been involved with these kinds of issues for 40 years in different parts of the country. I have worked with both citizens and developers. And I have not encountered the level of arrogance and exponentially unlimited sense of unjustified entitlement to control land use development as I have among the Rooney Valley developers. Cardel’s position in these two instances is a wonderful example.
Looking forward to seeing what happens to their effort to replace the voters with their hand picked receiver.
John Henderson
I find it really interesting that the group that started the Question 200 initiative lives in Solterra and 75% of its residents supported it. Aren’t those homes built by Cardel? So if Cardel didn’t build Solterra, those people probably wouldn’t live in Lakewood and wouldn’t care about the developers here. But now that they do, they want the development to stop. It seems like the “I’m here now and don’t want anyone else to come invade my space” type of mentality. They don’t want the next phase of Solterra to be built because it will cause infrastructure issues that the rest of us in Lakewood already had to deal with when their phase was built. Please explain.
Mary thank you for your comment. Kathy Ketner was the brave sole who began the 200 initiative two years ago. She does not live in Solterra or Ward 4.
Cardel was one of several builders. The developer is Brookfield and the lead Brookfield employee responsible for the special district abuses in Solterra is now one of only two directors for Big Sky and the architect of the Big Sky IGA as well as the litigation against our sewer provider – Green Mountain Water and Sanitation District.
The residents of Solterra, as far as I can tell, support development. The opposition to the Big Sky IGA, not just from Solterra but throughout the region, is based in large part on the idea that Big Sky, a private developer, led by one individual, used an election night agreement signed by those directors being voted out of office to established Big Sky as the new sanitation district for all of Rooney Valley.
There are many ways for all the developers working to build out Rooney Valley to obtain sewer service without relying upon election night agreements.
But they all involve public applications, public hearings (including hearings about whether or not it is technically feasible) and a public vote. And for some reason, Big Sky and the others don’t want to follow those procedures.
I have not heard anyone complain about building the next phase of Solterra.
To be sure, if when Brookfield was talking with Adam Paul, back when he was on the Green Mountain Board and later when he was on Lakewood City Council, and Adam Paul said the right thing – that Green Mountain did not have authority to provide sewer outside of its district – Solterra may never have been built.
But that didnt’ happen. Instead, Adam Paul supported Green Mountain providing sewer in violation of its Service Plan and he supports Green Mountain doing the same by setting up Big Sky as the new sanitation district – free for the foreseeable future from any public oversight – no checks and balances.
This isn’t about stopping development. It is about accountability for responsible development. Follow the rules, public applications, public hearings, public votes. These are governments – Big Sky, Solterra, Green Mountain. They must, in the final analysis, be accountable to you and me, the voters and the taxpayers. Through the manipulation and abuse of special districts there is no accountability – no checks and balances. That must change.
John Henderson
I could not agree more with your comments! The blatant implications of the email are truly appalling, and Cardel should be ashamed of themselves. I would never buy a Cardel home if my life depended on it after reading this. I wonder how they think they will “eventually resolve the concerns surrounding development” and how “Lakewood’s political leadership” will get “it right” now that the voters have spoken on 200 … I’m sure their attorneys are hard at work trying to figure out an end-around, in addition to the lawsuits.
As I attested in one of the public hearings in the spring, the Big sky sanitation project does not mean the regulatory requirements for WasteWater treatment. Sewage is Not allowed to remain untreated and to release’ some odors’ which would be indicative of human and eco health risks. I am an environmental chemist and consultant. The Denver Post has also reported unethical abuses by Brookfield (with tacit approval by Mayor Paul) and a long list of legal cases against Brookfield and specific Rooney Road investors have been presented and are on record with Lakewood.
The preservation of certain areas is crucial to the well being of others. Dinosaur Ridge is at the very least a historic masterpiece. The cluttering of homes and businesses would more than damage the ecstatics and vulnerability of such a place
Agreed. Rooney Valley and all of Lakewood will do just fine without Cardel and their “charitable” support. The programs that they do support are great programs, but will persevere without selling our neighborhoods to these clowns. Trading our participation in how the city is built out for some soccer and baseball jerseys isn’t what we need. Maybe the Mayor and City Manager can use the 2B “Parks, Police, Potholes” money for youth programs. I think they could easily continue to sell de-Brucing to the residents in lieu of handing over control of local government to developers.
That letter from Cardel to Paul is clearly an admission of the “pay to play” nature of this “charitable giving” arrangement, which freely paints it as being tied to the desires of the current Mayor of Lakewood. If anyone wanted to understand the nature of the developers’ relationship with this current administration, this letter should shed a clear light on the issue. Quid pro Quo. Cardel’s hope, as spelled out in unvarnished terms, is that Paul and his cronies with eventually “get it right” and let the developers again have free reign in Lakewood. Thank you Cardel for providing such a clear description of the nature of your relationship with the Paul administration.