On Tuesday, September 6th TLAG Chairman, Dave Rechberger submitted a formal request to the Boulder County Commissioners for the addition of a ballot measure to the November ballot that would protect Open Space. The measure called for a public vote before any County-owned Open Space could be annexed by the City.
Despite the measure having been submitted well in advance of the September 9th deadline, County Commissioners Jones, Gardner and Domenico declared the important protective measure dead on arrival.
In her comments dismissing the initiative, Commissioner Domenico proclaimed the proposed measure was unnecessary and would not protect its Open Space in Twin Lakes from being annexed by the City of Boulder to facilitate her own apartment development ambitions. Going further, Domenico claimed the specific outlots in play around the Twin Lakes matter were not in fact Open Space at all, rather they were a new designation of "Trail Corridor."
In what appeared to be a rehearsed display of force, Commissioners Jones and Gardner referred carefully to prepared notes as they doubled down on the arbitrary new land use term "trail corridor" for the Twin Lakes outlots. No fewer than nine separate times in their comments dismissing the measure, did the commissioners proclaim it would not be annexing Open Space to facilitate their development in Twin Lakes, they would be annexing a Trail Corridor.
In so doing, the commissioners inadvertently placed the public ownership of the Twin Lakes outlots in jeopardy as the original property sale from the Twin Lakes Homeowners Association to the County contained a reverter clause in the deed stating any future use of the land for a purpose other than a park or open space would result in it being returned to the HOA.