Family histories are attached to many roads in Falcon, but the stories fade as the town grows or relatives move away.Terry and Darlene Tamlin still live on McLaughlin Road in Falcon, but Tamlin Road itself has been neglected – caught in a web of bureaucracy between the county and the city and leaving residents to wonder what will become of the dirt road that runs between Falcon’s town center and Marksheffel Road.Grace Tamlin, who moved to Falcon in 1946 and now lives in Colorado Springs, related bits of the family’s history. She said the Tamlins have many colorful stories beginning with Verdell’s (her husband) grandfather, Saverio Molenario, who was born in Italy and came to the United States in 1857. Molenario homesteaded in Kutch, Colo., a small town five miles north of Highway 94.The family name was changed to Tamlin, and Saverio’s son, Ben, moved to Falcon where he started a dairy farm and grew alfalfa on 640 acres. “Ben had seven children, and all the Tamlins in the Colorado Springs phone book are directly related to Saverio,” Tamlin said. Ben’s family home still stands on Highway 24, but the road that bears his name was never part of the ranch, she added.Today, Jim and Dee Ozburn, whose family has owned the Falcon Food Store and Camp Ground for many years, have been questioning city and county officials about future plans for the road. For years, one could access Tamlin Road from Meridian Road west of Highway 24. Tamlin road continued west to Marksheffel Road and provided commuters with an east-west alternative to Woodmen Road. However, the road has never been improved, and today drivers must detour through Falcon Highlands to reach Tamlin. In addition, construction on Dublin Boulevard east of Marksheffel Road has cut off access to the west, making the road virtually useless, Ozburn said.Ozburn expressed his frustration about the condition of Tamlin Road in a recent meeting with John McCarty, director of county transportation, because after the detour was put in place, Ozburn no longer had a way into a piece of property he owns on the road. Since then, Ozburn learned the majority of the road is in the Banning Lewis Ranch subdivision, now part of Colorado Springs, and only a small portion of the road is still maintained by the county.The city became aware of Ozburn’s problem after he pointed out that he pays city taxes on a one-half-acre lot off Tamlin Road. He now has access to his property, but said once Dublin Boulevard is fully developed by the city, he will have to reach his property via a frontage road with limited access.City transportation plans for Tamlin Road appear to be non-existent; in fact, a number of new maps on the city’s transportation Web site do not show the road. On other maps, the road exists but is not named. A call to the Colorado Springs city transportation department resulted in the following responses: “What road?” and “Are you sure it is in the city?”David Lethbridge, engineering manager for Colorado Springs, said it is his understanding that Banning Lewis Ranch developers will be responsible for all roads within the ranch. While Lethbridge is not sure of the fate of Tamlin Road, he said, “It will no longer exist in its current configuration, and in fact, it may go away entirely.” Which leaves Ozburn with his limited access frontage road and the Tamlins with a mere memory of their mark in Falcon.
