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On Sunday, May 18, 2008 approximately 2030 hours a very large Mountain Lion was spotted on a lower limb of a tree at a residence of Bonnie Ridge directly behind 34557 and 34619 Forest Park Drive. The Mountain Lion shortly climbed down the tree and was seen walking north between the two communities.
Please be aware of this incident, watch out for yourselves as well as your family pets.
If you spot the animal please contact the Division of Wildlife and advise.
Additional information from the Division of Wildlife.
Go to: Education
Then: Living with Wildlife
Our local Wildlife Officer is:
Casey Westbrook
Phone: 303-291-7138
Local Office to make phone calls to: 303-291-7227 which is the NE Station
If you have any sightings of a Mountain Lion and / or Bear please call directly to the Division of Wildlife at 303-291-7227 to report. They would prefer to speak with the individual(s) that spotted the animal.
Julie Proffitt - President, Forest Park HOA
The Forest Park HOA Board have received requests from individuals interested in grazing of animals on their property. The governing documents state that no grazing is allowed but the Board of Directors (BOD) researched further.
Per the Elbert County code enforcement staff, grazing within R-2 zoning is prohibited. As the lots within the Forest Park community are zoned R-2, grazing is prohibited per county statute. Even if the governing documents of the community allowed for grazing, the county statute would override the governing documents, thus making grazing prohibited.
When looking at which takes precendence; a governing document or a county / state statute, which ever one is more stringent, is the one that controls.
3:38 PM - Nov. 20, 2007 - {0}
View more entries tagged with: Grazing, Forest Park, Statutes
On Tuesday, December 11, 2007 the Forest Park HOA will be holding two meetings. Both meetings will be held at the Carlson Building in Elizabeth.
The first meeting will be scheduled at 7:00 p.m. and will be the Budget Ratification Meeting. This meeting will just be to ratify the budget.
The second meeting will be scheduled at 7:30 p.m. and will be the Annual Homeowner Meeting. This meeting will be the business of the HOA including reports from officers and committees.
Look for official notices in the mail soon along with proxies.
Added November 27, 2007 - link for the official notice, proxy, and budget information
In the Denver Post on Monday, October 1, 2007, there is an article entitled "Experts keen on refilling aquifers," written
by Steve Lipsher. Water in aquifers is known as groundwater.
Within Forest Park HOA, there is a water augmentation (managed recharge) plan in place that pumps water from a dep aquifer
to replace water in the aquifers that the owners within Forest Park HOA are pumping out of for use. This augmentation
program was put in place to help keep water tables up in those aquifers that are being widely used.
In the article it describes that water within the Denver Basin, one of several aquifers under the Denver metro area, is
dropping in some areas by as much as an inch a day. When these aquifer levels drop, it requires deeper wells to be
drilled. With deeper wells, costs increase.
To help keep the water tables up, managed recharge has been going on for quite awhile in some areas. The Centennial Water
District has been doing this for over a decade. So where is this water coming from to recharge the aquifers? It's
filtered waste water in many cases and instead of moving it into an above ground reservior, more and more areas within
Colorado will begin placing this water into the aquifers where there is less evaporation and the areas underground can
serve as an additional, natural filtration system.
Something to think about when there has been concerns voiced over the supply of water over the long-term for
municipalities, small acreages, farmers, and more within Colorado.
Wendy Frenzel - Manager for Forest Park HOA
We started Friday night Sept 7 to make sure we had no problems
with the machine and wiped out 3 locations that evening.
Saturday morning was a warm one and we started around
0830hrs. The Raymonds and Arend were the lucky winners to be
the early birds and I am sure they enjoyed that, maybe not their
neighbors.
 It
went as well as it could have however I think the forest creatures
were stacking more limbs as fast as we were trying to chip
them. The piles seemed to grow and grow.
We ended Saturday evening with a large 5 pile location for a
soon to be new neighbor. Terri and her daughters will move in
around the first of October. This did not only
help Terri it also helped out our outgoing neighbors of Robert
and Elaine Heise on Elm Square. We wish them the best in
Brighton.
The only bad news was for Steve and Melanie West when I called
them on Saturday evening and told them we were wiped out and needed
to stop for the day and would be there in the morning. Steve
and Melanie were great and did some of the work themselves before
we returned.
Sunday was not bad and we called it quits around noon.
Cleaned up the machine, fed it some gas and returned it to its home
at Parker Home Depot were it needs to stay for at least a
year.
I want to give some very sincere thanks to the following
individuals. But first thanks to everyone that had debris! I was in
charge of cutting all the debris to pieces and how I did enjoy
using the chainsaw. I just do not know why all the guys
stayed away from me. Go figure and woman with a
chainsaw.
Now back to the serious and sincere thanks. I would like to
express a great deal of thanks to Dave Burnett, Larry McIntire and
my husband Kurt for the three days of very hard work and the very
long hours that they put in to help out our community. (not to
mention the stock we all bought in Ibuprofen, Ben Gay and ice
packs. These items helped take care of the bumps, bruises, cut and
very sore muscles)
Jim Raymond thank you for going next door and helping out at
the Arend's residence. A thank you goes out to Rick Arend who asked
if he could go a long with us to help. Which we appreciated
greatly. Rick was there for 3 other locations. I would
like to thank Van Sands who surprised us and showed up at the
Saunders and Kelly residence. I would like to thank Allan
Kelly and his son Ian who both helped the group when we went to the
Heise residence. I am very grateful they did, there was a lot
of debris and we were all running out of juice. A big thank
you to Steve and Melanie West for being very understanding and
letting us call it quits on Saturday evening and for them to start
their piles without us and for then going to the McGinty's on
Sunday morning to finish the last residence.
The biggest thanks goes out to the spouses who showed up with
pitchers of water and ice, coolers full of sodas and food to help
us out. You were truly appreciated and I thank you.
I think this community event was very beneficial for all who
participated and I know you all appreciated our
efforts. I hope this is not the end of a community event and
hope all of you will be at our December meeting. We have
a lot to discuss and plan. The board has done a great job this
year and we look forward to another year if you will have us.
Total expense:$510.71 Chipper Rental:
$455.66 Gas for Machine & Chainsaw: $35.05
Gas
for vehicle:$20.00
Thank you and we look forward to next year event hopefully to
be a neighborhood BBQ in the cul-de-sac area of Forest Park
Drive.
Julie A. Proffitt
VP Forest Park HOA
The road dept has been a great help this summer in assisting our HOA with Forest Park Dr. and its poor conditions. As you have noticed the main road as been graded almost on a weekly basis and soon after each major rain storm. This past week the County Road Dept not only graded the road several times they also sprayed the sand with a harding/binding chemical to pack the road material. The County Road Dept performed a survey of the easement ditches on both sides of Forest Park Dr on August 16 and will soon grade and structure them for proper usage. This past weekend the covert at the HOA mailboxes was relocated and cleaned out of the piled up mud and debris which will now allow the rainwater to flow correctly thru the covert and not be diverted across the main road to cause more damage.. This covert needs to remain open so the correct flow of the water will exit the covert just north of the mailboxes and down the ditch to the large covert at the bottom of the hill that carrys the overflow of water to the other side of Forest Park as it was originally set up to do. The Road Dept and the HOA will continue to work together to improve our local roads.
If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact us via the Forest Park website or give us a call.
Thank you,
Julie A. Proffitt
VP. FPHOA
12:42 PM - Aug. 19, 2007 - {0}
View more entries tagged with: Forest Park, Road, Grading, Spraying
There is a concern in our neighborhood at the current time regarding to the nuisance of barking dogs. A very polite note was typed and placed on the community mailboxes regarding the issue so I would like to address it and provide some information.
The Association Board can not legally do anything regarding this type of nuisance. The Elbert County Sheriff as well as The Elbert County Animal Control Officers are the jurisdiction for this type of matter. Any of our homeowners have the right to place a call to the Sheriff's Dept to report this on going nuisance and a Deputy or the Animal Control Officer will respond. They will need the address or general area of the occuance, a name of the owner or residence if you happen to know it and if this has been reported before/or an ongoing problem.
It is the responsibility of the owners to maintain their dogs and not to be a nuisance to any neighbors. It would be nice to be able to sleep with the windows open however this is not possible during the spring/summer or fall when in the middle of the night when the dogs start to bark. Please be a good neighbor and as soon as your dogs begin to bark if let out please return them to the house. If they are outside dogs then please make some type of arrangements to control the barking of the animal.
Below is the current Animal Control Officers name and contact phone numbers. This Officer is not in the office everyday so you may have to leave a voicemail for her if you are just inquiring about some information. If an incident is in progress please call the Sheriff's Dept and they will either dispatch a deputy or the AC Officer. A barking dog however is not an emergency so please use the non-emergency number listed below for the Sheriff's Dept.
Animal Control Officer: Laura Lee Hernandez
Office Number: 303-621-2027 EXT 6128
Elbert County Sheriff's Dispatch Emergency Number: 9-1-1
Non Emergency Number for Dispatch: 303-621-2030
Elbert County Sheriff General Number: 303-621-2027
Regarding the note left at the mailboxes I do not think it was kind at all for the sarcastic remarks that were added/hand written regarding the board not doing anything or that there are no rules being enforced. The board has done a great job this year protecting the peace and park atomsphere that we enjoy each day. We have also ask twice via mail to each home owner to provide any concerns or ideas as to adding/deleting the current guidelines we have currently to help maintain a wonderful place to live and to get the residents more involved in their community. Emails have been sent or phone calls made to each residence as well to be more on a personal level to get involvment for this process. Some residents gave some insight but the majority did not, so if you have something you would like to add or discuss if you have concerns then please give us a call, send an email or mail a letter and we will be glad to talk to work out any issues that may come up.
Thank you,
Julie Proffitt
VP Forest Park HOA
The Board of Directors is scheduling to rent a chipper for community use over the weekend September 8th & 9th. This is the Saturday and Sunday after the Labor Day Holiday.
This will be a great opportunity to clean up the tree debris from your acreage. The Board of Directors knows that many homeowners trees were hit hard with the late season snow storms. Get your yard ready before winter sets in!
If you are interested in participating, please e-mail the HOA manager at Manager@ForestParkHOA.com so your address can be forwarded on to the Board of Directors to ensure the chipper is brought down to your house.
7:21 AM - Aug. 14, 2007 - {0}
View more entries tagged with: Trees, Chipper, Forest Park, Snow, Winter
There are a few of the Community Members within Forest Park that will be holding garage / moving sales on Friday June 22nd and Saturday June 23rd. These two days may be a great chance to clean up the garage, the house, or the yard of those unwanted or unused items and sell them at a garage sale of your own.
12:31 PM - Jun. 13, 2007 - {0}
View more entries tagged with: Garage Sale, June, Clean Up
Driving through parts of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado you notice areas where pine trees are dead because of the Pine Beetle. These Pine Beetles not only can effect the pine trees in the mountains, they can also kill the trees located on the plains, along the Palmer Divide, and elsewhere in Colorado. Because the Forest Park community is so named because of the pine trees, the owners have been very diligent in ensuring that Pine Beetle concerns are addressed as quickly as possible.
For those of you that would like to know more about the Pine Beetle and how to protect your trees and your community, please visit the Colorado State University Extension web site on the Mountain Pine Beetle for more details. This is a very informative site that explains the life cycle, the signs to watch for, and how to prevent or limit the spread of the Pine Beetle.
Help the Forest Park Homeowners keep the beautiful Pine Trees that led to it's name.
Below is a letter from Al Mostacciuolo, the President of the Forest Park HOA, to one of the owners within the community. It is a question that many people ask about the roads throughout the community and very worth of sharing.
"Thank you for your email concerning the roads conditions on Forest Park Drive. I know Julie Profitt, VP of the HOA Board has been in contact with you regarding this subject, but I wanted to personally respond.
As you know road grating is serviced by Elbert County. You mentioned in a previous email that you had discussed this with Ric at Roads and Bridges and that we are on the radar, which is excellent.
This has been an issue in the past as well and discussed by previous boards. Past investigations noted that it is not feasible for the Homeowners Association to provide grating services.
I will request at the next HOA board meeting that we put this subject in the next newsletter, with an encouragement to residents to call the county when roads conditions deteriorate, along with supplying them phone numbers, etc.
Again I thank you for bringing us your concerns regarding the roads. "
To help the community's roads, please contact the Elbert County Road and Bridge Department when you have concerns about the roads throughout the community. Their contact information is as follows:
- Phone number for the district is 303-621-3154
- Phone number for Ric Manyik, Director for the Elizabeth Area is 303-621-3157
- Fax number for Ric Manyik, Director for the Elizabeth Area is 303-621-3159
- To visit the web site for the Road and Bridge Department of Elbert County Colorado and learn more about this department, priorities, and general road information for Elbert County, click here.
If you have received your dues back from the Elizabeth Post Office stamped "Box Closed", please reforward them to PO Box 1933. Through miscommunication, the PO Box was misadvertly closed but is back in service for your community.
Assesments for 2007 are due February 28, 2007.
9:30 AM - Jan. 25, 2007
View more entries tagged with: Dues, Po Box, Mailing
Today A Vantage Properties posted some great resources for Homeowner Associations today on their blog.
Do you want to read about the laws that govern how HOA's function?
Do you want to take a class so you can help your community better?
Do you want be on the Board of Directors in the future but want a Guide?
If you answered yes to any of the abover or just want to see what other resources are available, don't miss the A Vantage Properties blog!
4:33 PM - Jan. 24, 2007
View more entries tagged with: Hoa, Associations, Resources, Blog
As the Denver Metro area continues to get snow with weather that warms up and then cools back down, ice dams may be found on sloping roofs. What is an ice dam, how is it caused, and why is it a concern?
Ice dams are created as snow melts, runs down to the eaves that are colder than the roof, and refreezes. If this cycle repeats over several days, water can pond behind the dam and back up under the roof coverings leaking into the attic or along exerior walls.
If the attic air temperature stays the same as the outside temperature or at least below freezing, ice damming can be prevented. Research has shown that sun exposure has little effect on attic air temperature. The usual culprit for attic temperature change is air from the living space below penetrating into the attic.
You can prevent ice dams by keeping the attic cold through installing more insulation in the attic floor, sealing bypasses into the attic, drawing more outside air into the attic through roof vents, and making sure roof vents and gutters are clear.
You can fight an ice dam that has already formed by removing exess snow with a roof rake (make sure that the area is safe prior to attempting this), or steaming the roof.
Even though you are tempted do not use electric heat cables, chop ice off the shingles or out of the gutters, or use a blowtorch which could burn your house down.
If you notice any damage from ice damming, please contact your insurance agent.
Stay warm and safe during the upcoming cold snap!
3:23 PM - Jan. 10, 2007
View more entries tagged with: Ice Dams, Cold Weather, Roof
After 3 rounds of snow storms in 3 weeks, the Denver metro area has another round of snow heading it's way. With this storm, the forecasters are stating that there won't be too much snow, not several feet, just several inches, but there will be several days of really cold weather. When cold weather approaches, water pipe (both copper and PVC) freezing is a big concern. An 1/8" crack in a pipe can spew as much as 250 gallons of water a day. Do you know ways to keep your pipes safe from freezing?
If there are water lines in the garage, i.e. hot water heater, keep your garage door closed.
Make sure that all hoses attached to spigots are removed with spigots turned off.
Keep your thermostat at a constant temperature during the day and night. If you are going to be gone from home, make sure that your heat is set at 65 degrees or above.
Open cabinet doors where water pipes are located allowing for heat to circulate around the plumbing. Do make sure that all chemicals are removed from those cabinets to keep your family safe.
If the weather is extremely cold, let the cold water trickle from the indoor faucets where the pipes are on outside walls.
If pipes do crack / burst, turn off the water to the area and if needed to the entire house. Contact a specialist to help you mediate the water damage. Contact a plumber to repair the pipes. Contact your insurance agent.
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