February 2023 Annual Member Meeting
Date: Thursday, February 9, 2023
Time: 6:30 – 9 p.m.
Location: Franktown Fire Station
We established a quorum with 40 members in attendance and 8 proxies for non-attending members, totaling 48 membership votes. All board members and 3 of 5 ECC volunteers were in attendance. We began the meeting shortly after 6:30. Tom reviewed the agenda before introducing Lt. Alan Stanton.
Lt. Stanton provided data from the June 29 – July 5, 2022 traffic monitoring devices that aligns with the heavy traffic that residents are seeing.
Within one week, 12,521 trips were recorded on Deerfield Rd, which confirmed to him that the road is being used to bypass Franktown. He noted this level of traffic was a “red flag” for a rural road.
Deerfield Rd’s speed limit is 30 MPH. The data shows that 35% of the recorded speeds were 10 MPH or greater than the speed limit, and 11% were more than 15 MPH than the speed limit. The top speed recorded was 103 MPH.
Lt. Stanton also noted that 50 citations were written for speed violations over the last three months. They are enforcing a no-tolerance policy; if someone is pulled over, they will be getting a ticket instead of a verbal warning. The Sheriff Dept has also observed large numbers of dead animals in our area, likely due to speeding.
In order to address Deerfield’s concerns, Lt. Stanton has proposed that the Sheriff’s Dept:
Meet with the Douglas County Planning Dept on potential signage options
Post traffic monitoring devices to gather stealth stats for winter traffic, similar to this past summer
Deploy speed trailers to capture data on speeding vehicles and display their speed
Leverage the traffic enforcement team to write citations and potentially conduct commercial vehicle inspections
Notify Google to remove Deerfield Rd from alternate routes; carries more weight as a law enforcement request
Lt. Stanton asked for our assistance, as our roads do not have shoulders where the deputies can safely park or pull over vehicles. They are looking for property owners who are willing to have their cars on their property – please reach out to administration@deerfieldexpress.org if you want to volunteer.
Ginney presented the Treasurer’s report, including a YTD 2022-23 summary and estimated expenditures for the remainder of the year. She explained how the special projects account will be used for fire mitigation project. Detailed financial handouts were provided to attendees and are also posted on the website.
The Welcoming Committee provided an update of new resident counts and activities to reach out to our new neighbors. They continue to put together Welcome Baskets, which include Deerfield wine glasses, a bottle of wine, and key paperwork.
Lauren gave a brief update on website traffic, which has trended higher since the new site was launched in June. The website hosting will likely be transitioned to a lower-cost option once our contract is up this fall.
Dave Jacobs represented the Environmental Control Committee and provided an overview of current properties and types of applications the ECC has processed in the past few years. The ECC also executed a “drive around” last fall to audit covenants adherence, primarily with off-street parking. They observed 14 properties, or 7% of Deerfield, with violations. We briefly covered ECC enforcement activities. Tom noted that Colorado Court of Appeals Case #2021CA1595 is scheduled for oral arguments at 2 p.m., March 22, 2023 at the Downtown Denver court.
Lash provided an update on the Fire Mitigation program. We have not formally secured the grants, but we have been notified of a pre-award by the state and believe a Douglas County grant looks promising. Preliminary total reimbursement could be as high as 75% on mitigation work. Potential timeline and cost structure was reviewed and is included in the slides. We are currently accepting property owners for our wait list, as some residents may drop out of the program. Please contact administration@deerfieldexpress.org if you would like to sign up.
We discussed potential social activities and ways to utilize DHPO funding. The community sees value in dumpster days, so the Board will schedule a Spring Dumpster Day. We are also looking for volunteers to assist with social planning activities – please reach out to a Board member or administration@deerfieldexpress.org if you are interested in volunteering.
The USPS would like to remind everyone to pick up their mail daily, especially if you have a package. There have been some issues with cluster boxes being stolen.
Diana Love presented a draft rebuttal to the Douglas County Planning Dept Short Term Rental Regulations, on behalf of Franktown Citizen’s Coalition. The proposed ordinance is geared towards HOAs, so she would like to see more inclusive language for organizations like DHPO, and control below the county level.
DHPO Board of Directors
By
Lauren Fulton – Secretary