County error leads to litigation

On Feb. 9, Casas Limited Partnership No. 4 filed a lawsuit over a dispute regarding the location and conditions of a turnaround easement on Kurie Road in Black Forest. The El Paso County Board of County Commissioners, the EPC Board of Adjustment, Ron and Karen Page, David and Beverly Padgett, Mountain View Electric Association, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., and ENT Federal Credit Union were named as the defendants.Steve Jacobs, a representative for Casas, said Casas owns the property at the southern terminus of Kurie Road, immediately south of the public turnaround easement. They are concerned that the turnaround is not only too small to accommodate emergency vehicles, but also has not been properly maintained by the county.On March 11, 1960, the BOCC recorded the formation of Park Forest Estates Filing No. 2 subdivision in Black Forest, according to county records. The documents show that Kurie Road, a gravel road located within the Park Forest platted area, was also accepted, and included a100-foot-diameter public turnaround easement at the end of it.Since then, development along Kurie Road has increased, which means additional homes and the need for utilities. When the house to the east of Kurie Road, currently owned by the Padgetts, was built in 1984, Mountain View Electric Co. placed the overhead utility lines in the public right of way, Jacobs said. Trees, shrubs and fences have also been added to the right of way over the years. ìI love trees but when theyíre in the public right of way, it becomes a safety issue,î he said.According to county documents, the public turnaround easement was platted to encroach on a portion of the properties to both the west and east of Kurie Road; instead, it was constructed entirely on the western property.The Pages own the property to the west, and their house was built in 2010, according to the documents. On Aug. 18, 2015, the Pages submitted a site plan for a 740-square-foot detached garage on their property, adjacent to the turnaround easement.But the site plan did not depict the location of the turnaround easement, which extends about 20 feet onto the Pagesí property, according to county documents. While the turnaround easement is depicted on the Park Forest Estates Filing No. 2 Plat, it is not on the EPC assessorís map.The county documents state the following: ìAs a result, the detached garage should have been sited so as to comply with the minimum front yard setback of 25 feet as measured from the location of the turnaround easement as platted rather than from the property line. (EPC) Development Services did not verify the location of any additional easements at the time of reviewing the site plan application and the structure was approved in error.îJacobs said the Pages had the concrete poured for the garage on Nov. 4, and county documents show that Ron Page requested a setback variance Nov. 30. The board of adjustment scheduled a hearing regarding the situation for Jan. 13, 2016, and the Pages voluntarily stopped construction until then, according to the county.However, Jacobs said construction resumed Dec. 29, before the board of adjustmentís hearing. By the date of the hearing, the garage had been completed, he said.ìThe board of adjustment ruled to give the variance to the Pages, in part, I think, because by then, they had already built the garage,î Jacobs said.Currently, the turnaround is about 85-feet long, which is about 15 feet less than what it should be, Jacobs said. The lack of maintenance to the turnaround and Kurie Road in its entirety has led to drainage issues, and the Casas property owners have received complaints from the post office and newspaper services about the poor conditions in the turnaround, he said.ìMy major concern is the amount of burnable fuels in the public right of way that the county has not cleared,î Jacobs said. ìMy second concern is the lack of an adequate turnaround for emergency vehicles.îBryan Jack, fire chief of the Black Forest Fire Protection District, said, ìWhen someone submits a subdivision plan, we have the opportunity to look it over and comment on it. The road widths and turnarounds all meet requirements now. The issues come from roads like Kurie Road that were developed years ago.îJack said the cul-de-sac type of turnaround in question probably would not accommodate a larger ladder truck, but the short-based wheel apparatus like an ambulance or a smaller fire engine probably would not have an issue. Jack said the over-hanging trees and other burnable fuels would not deter the department from reaching a resident in the event of a fire or other emergency.Jack said he is aware of the pending litigation. ìWe will work with our counterparts at the county and work with the homeowners to come to a compromise, but we do not get involved in private property issues,î he said.Ron Page stated in an email that he and his wife did not feel comfortable speaking about the issue because of the pending litigation.Jacobs said the best outcome for the lawsuit would be to have the turnaround placed where it was originally intended to be. However, he said the Casas property owners have offered to have the turnaround extend partly onto their property and partly onto the Pagesí property.ìThe county process is arbitrary and unacceptable because of a lack of leadership at the department level and the board of county commissioners level,î he said. ìThe entire situation was caused by incompetent county leadership.î