On July 10, the Peyton Fire Protection District, led by board chairman Bob Joly, held a public hearing on a proposal to exclude 676 acres of the Santa Fe Springs development from the Peyton fire district.The Falcon Fire Protection District had previously agreed to accept the acreage, if the exclusion was granted, according to earlier reports by The New Falcon Herald. Ray O’Sullivan, developer of Santa Fe Springs, also agreed to donate land and build and equip a new fire station in the Falcon district.O’Sullivan attended the hearing, along with other key players in the negotiations: Rita Connerly, attorney for the Peyton fire district; James Collins, O’Sullivan’s attorney; and Jim Sparr, a consultant from Almont Associates Inc. Sparr attended in support of O’Sullivan.Joly asked for clarification of the exclusion area, which originally consisted of 1,299 acres when Santa Fe Springs requested the exclusion in January.O’Sullivan confirmed that he has reduced the size of the exclusion area and reallocated land within the exclusion area that had been designated for commercial development. He has donated land on the north side of Judge Orr Road for a church and a school, he said, adding that he has allocated more land for residential development, leaving a small area of commercial development in the southeast corner of the new exclusion area.Sparr said property owners in the exclusion area would benefit by at least three ways: lower homeowners insurance rates – based on Insurance Services Office (ISO) ratings, the savings would amount to $370 annually; lower property taxes based on Peyton’s mill levy of .006114 vs. Falcon’s mill levy of .005712; increase response times because of the distance between the entrance to the development and the full-time staff planned for a future Falcon station.The Peyton fire district currently has an ISO rating of nine within 5 road miles of their fire station in Peyton and an ISO rating of 10 for areas outside the 5-road-mile radius, Sparr said. The entrance to the proposed exclusion area is 7.5 road miles from the Peyton fire district station and 4.5 miles from the current Falcon fire station.If absorbed by the Falcon fire district, Sparr said the exclusion will have an ISO rating of six because it is 4.5 road miles from the Falcon district’s current fire station. If the area remains in the Peyton fire district, it will have Peyton fire district’s ISO rating of 10, even though the area would be within the 5-road-mile radius of the future Falcon fire station in Santa Fe Springs. An ISO rating of nine or 10 is unacceptable to some mortgage lenders, Sparr added. He also said it would take three years for the Peyton fire district to accumulate the response time records and provide the training and testing required for improving its ISO rating.”Right now, I need to be able to show buyers that I have a plan for fire protection,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s a selling point for me. Insurance ratings affect people’s ability to qualify for a house.” Having homeowners in the exclusion area pay higher insurance rates than their neighbors in the Falcon fire district would “be grossly unfair,” he said.O’Sullivan said he plans to begin the first phase of Santa Fe Springs in the proposed exclusion area. He said he’ll first build 48 houses to test the market and continue from there.Connerly entered about 30 documents as exhibits, including the mutual aid agreement between the Peyton and Falcon fire districts. “We respond to calls in the Falcon district, and they respond to calls in our district,” Joly said.However, Collins argued that the districts “don’t provide the same level of service outside the district compared with inside.”Connerly said she calculated the losses to the district if the acreage is excluded. Based on full build out and the original acreage that was included in the exclusion, she said the Peyton district would lose $152,849 on commercial property and $295,201 on residential property each year. O’Sullivan pointed out that the revised exclusion area consists of 1,300 houses as opposed to the build out she used that included 1,174 homes.The subject of district attorney fees ignited a few sparks. Connerly cited Colorado Title 32-1-501, which governs the procedures for exclusion from special districts: “The petition [requesting exclusion] shall be accompanied by a deposit of money sufficient to pay all costs of the exclusion proceedings.”O’Sullivan paid $2,000 when he first applied for the exclusion, but Connerly said the district’s attorney fees have soared to about $26,000. O’Sullivan hasn’t paid, and Collins suggested the fees are not his responsibility. “Where would it stop,” Collins said. “The statute says the applicant pays the cost of calling a hearing, not the costs of preparation.””Why should the costs of this proceeding be paid by the taxpayers of this district rather than the applicant?” Joly asked.”I’ve been to hundreds of hearings and not once has anyone asked me to pay attorney fees,” O’Sullivan said. “Under no circumstances will I pay you to oppose my application. I’ll pay whatever costs are fair, but what I’m asking is, how (much) am I required to pay for attorney fees?””To the full extent of the law,” Joly said.The meeting came to a brief halt as O’Sullivan and Collins consulted in private. When they returned, O’Sullivan said he would pay the district attorney fees if he’s not asked to pay for anything else.Joly then asked for a motion to continue the hearing so the board could have time to review more than 100 pages of exhibits provided by the applicant.O’Sullivan objected to any further delay.”I came here tonight to get a vote. You have required me to pay in order to get a vote,” O’Sullivan said. “I withdraw my offer. This is a blatant waste of everyone’s time. I am not coming back before this board. I’m going to appeal to the county commissioners.”The board moved to continue the hearing Aug. 14.Peyton steps up to improve ISO ratingIn a follow-up interview, Joly said he expects to perform an ISO water-pumping test this fall or next spring, as soon as the weather permits. He said he believes the test, in combination with other steps the district has taken, will soon give the Peyton fire district an ISO rating of six, which he said has been confirmed by his ISO contact.Additional steps the Peyton district has taken to improve its ISO rating includes sending eight new volunteers for firefighter training at Pikes Peak Community College, a new fire truck scheduled for an August delivery and increasing the length of hose on the district’s current fire truck to 1,200 feet. “It’s a point system, and all these things improve our rating,” Joly said.
