Board of County Commissioners Business Meeting - Regular Meeting

Test your mic real quick.

Have I muted you, sir?

Possibly. Can you hear me now?

We sure can. Thank you, sir.

And thank you, Troy, for helping out with that. It is 934. Today is Tuesday, August 4th. Welcome to the Board of County Commissioners Business Meeting. This is a meeting that was rescheduled from July 28th, 2026. Let us start with, and for the purposes of an invocation, a moment of silence, please. You know, we had, by my count, six wildfires actually ignite here in the county over the last really eight days. And of course, we're familiar with the Penley Fire and certainly that did grow to a size before contained. But we did have several others started by lightning strikes that I think through the diligent work of our local fire districts, as well as our county team, we were able to keep contained. I think we're all familiar though, that we have other folks in other parts of the country that are not quite as fortunate as we are. And so let's please have a moment of silence and let's keep those folks in our prayers. Amen. All right, let us begin. Let us start, if you will, arise and join me, please, with the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right, moving to the county attorney for purposes of certification of the agenda.

Yes, sir. The county attorney's office reviewed all items on this agenda, and you have appropriate jurisdiction over these matters.

Thank you very much, counselor. Commissioners, any disclosures for any items on this agenda?

None for me. I have none, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioners. I have none either. We're gonna start off with some ceremonies and proclamations today. We have, first off, Agents of Discovery program update, and it'll be presented by Darcy Wilson, Open Space Administrative Assistant. Darcy, please.

Good morning, commissioners. Thank you so much for having us here. This is Darcy Wilson with Open Space and Natural Resources. And I'm extremely honored to present our Agents of Discovery app. And we do have a special guest today. We've got a special guest today. Dougie?

I didn't see you.

Introducing from the green corner, Agent Douglas, fighting out of Douglas County, Colorado, weighing in at 195 pounds of curiosity, courage, and Colorado adventure. Everybody give it up for Agent Douglas. Woo! Tail of the tape, Douglas County is hometown Douglas County. Weight, 195, all muscle. Fighting style, explorer, puzzle master, adventure enthusiast. Signature moves, the curiosity combo, the discovery dash, and the mile high bear hug. Favorite arena, Douglas County open spaces. Special abilities, educating the community in a fun way. Favorite victory celebrations are bear hugs, high fives, and fist pumps. Douglas is our new representative of Douglas County. This app, he is also known as the champion of curiosity. He comes by his passion for exploration naturally. This is a program we designed to get more community involvement and more education out to our community of all ages. We had a program that, oh, excuse me. With this program, it is an app that you can get on your phone and you can do a play anywhere or you can play on site. So when people go out to our natural open spaces, they can download the app. It's a free app. and it's considered like Pokemon Go. The kids can get out there. It encourages them to get out there and play the games and all the games are educational. So it asks what sounds a bear might make or what kind of flower do you see. It educates on everything we do for open space including conservation, easements. We partner this app with Douglas Land Conservancy. We do 12 missions a year and we just upgraded our package so we can now do 33 missions a year. And with this, um, you, you can do the play anywhere, which is inclusion now for our seniors. It is inclusion for, um, our IDD community. So if you have any kids who are maybe home on summer break and they might get a little restless, well guess what? They can play from their own home, their bedroom, the living room. They can play anywhere. This is a picture, we went to the Pace Center and Agent Douglas, as you can tell, he's a magnet. People see him coming, they love him. Elvis has definitely entered the building, for sure. For the past eight years, we've actually had a program called Decode Douglas County that we've used and it was a great program. The highest year we had with Decode Douglas County for completed missions was 384. With this new app, we're definitely reaching a lot more community because right now we have 841 completed missions in just seven months. So you can see the numbers have gone up of how many people in our community were engaging to get out on open spaces and continue with our education. With the, like I was saying, the inclusion has been huge with the Senior Center. We've been in Castle Rock Senior Center, in the Highlands Ranch Senior Center. With the IDD community, we're working with Wellspring and ARC. And with ARC, we go out to them and we've done submissions with them in their classrooms. the pediatric floors and the rehab nursing facilities at Sky Ridge Medical Center and Highlands Ranch Hospital at University. We are also in talks with right now to be able to get the app there. We're gonna put hopefully tent cards there where patients who can't leave their beds very easily will be able to play agents of discovery. Another benefit of why we moved from this was to reduce our environmental footprint. We were finding with decode, we had a lot of pamphlets and brochures. That's how you participated with it. And sometimes it would fall out of people's pockets. We would have extra trash or just an overflow of brochures left over. So we ended up saving our first year doing this an immediate $10,000. Mission Statistics, I did already speak to this. We are currently hosting one mission a month, but we will be bumping that up. In the seven months we've done it, we are at 841 and because of the huge success, we are now partnering with Historic Preservation to now get Agent Douglas working and get more exposure again for Douglas County Historic Preservation and more education on Douglas County open spaces. One of our programs, we have two going this, this summer. It is I spy agent Douglas. So you want to think of this as a where's Waldo and this is, we've partnered with each district. So our first month was last month and we were at the pace center. And we thou this month we are at the Miller activity complex and next month we will be at the Highlands Ranch library. And what we're doing is we're putting out on social media, um, the county and Douglas Land Conservancy clues on all social media. So the parents and the kiddos can find where agent Douglas is. They go in, they can make an appearance with agent Douglas and they get a prize, which is a badge. It's a sticker. And at the Pace Center, Agent Douglas, their badge is he's painting. At the Miller Activity Center, he's with their agent, Agent Chucky, and they have their arms around each other because they're pals. And then at Highlands Ranch Library, he's reading a book. So we're trying to promote our partnerships, and so far it's been wonderful. The Pace Center challenge ended, and they asked us if we would keep up all our marketing information on Agent Douglas because of the response they're getting. We went there with Agent Douglas twice last month and we were able to see over 250 kiddos and their parents. And I want to brag a little bit because we were more popular than the Kona ice truck. Just letting you know. So he's been huge. The kids running up to him, giving him bear hugs, high-fiving. One little boy they had to leave to go get in the Kona ice line and he was crying so Agent Douglas held his hand and walked him over to get his ice. So definitely he's, he's been a huge, huge response. People have loved him. So these are the different badges and stickers they'll get. Um, so you can see what they look like and this is their passport. Um, we are looking at extending the program for more partners based on, on our pilot program. The partners are just loving it. The Miller activity center already has seen an uptake. and people coming in looking for him. And you'll see this little boy, this was at the fair last week, and he was another one who just didn't want to let him go. He kept getting back in line to go give Agent Douglas a hug. And with this, I presented at Cherokee Ranch and Castle, Cherokee Castle Ranch, Green University. So this was 50 plus science teachers and we brought Agent Douglas in and I'm not kidding when I say Elvis has entered the building because the teachers all jumped up. These were the first two said, you need to take our picture with Agent Douglas. They brought their banners out, they brought everything out and they're putting their pictures in on their electronic messaging boards for all the parents. With this, we had them all play the app and it was very interesting watching all the teachers go from very demure and learning and okay, explain how we do this app and play the mission and the missions are 12 questions and they got so darn competitive on who was going to finish the mission first. It was amazing. And then they were, they had bragging rights. So it was, it was wonderful being able to explain this to them, show them what a tool is to get our kids in the next generation excited about open space, excited about Douglas County, learning about our County and taking that pride. because then we've had some teachers who did play it with their students before school got out, and they went and told their parents, hey, we need to go to these open spaces. Hey, did you know that Douglas County has this? So the tools being very effective. This also led into, it's, giving resources back to the teachers. We now will bring agent Douglas and a handler, which is myself. Um, and we will go to the school starting in September and we're going to be playing missions with the, in the classrooms for the kids who can't get out for field trips or maybe can't get out to the properties right away. And, um, one of the schools we have lined up, um, we're actually doing it in their auditorium and we're going to have four classes for science classes out there that we will get, to present this app to. So the excitement is definitely, definitely there. And I'm trying not to brag too much. I'm really excited about this program if you can't tell. With the different partnerships we've had, we've had just from the Pace Center, we've had three different companies in Parker reach out to us. if we could do a mission at their business and their facility. One of the other partners you'll see we've got up here is we've attended Calf Days. So they did all their educational hikes and when they came off the hike they could meet Agent Douglas and learn about the apps. And just from this visit we had 32 people sign up for the app just from him being out there for half an hour. And then of course you'll see him in the parade He's been in four parades now and there's baby bears on there. He's growing. We do have another campaign coming up that we're in now called Colorado Explorer and what this is is Agents of Discovery is the creator of the app. Agent Douglas is our agent. We create the missions. We have two rangers that do create all our missions. So every partner in Colorado who's using this, which you can see here is Colorado Parks and Wildlife, City of Louisville, Douglas County, Castle Rock Parks and Trails Foundation, Bureau of Land Management. There's more using it, but these are the ones who are participating in this campaign. And what we're doing is this has really built our partnership with all these different agencies because we've all gone out to everybody's property and helped with their missions. So we're promoting each department, each partner every single month. We put everything on our social media for them. They put our information for Douglas County on their social media. So it's turned into a really nice partnership. And then with this, you might recognize someone in this picture. This was kind of an action shot. Commissioner Van Winkle came out with his family and agent Douglas and actually did a mission with us. And it was nice. I got to see them at the fair and his kids came up and instantly recognized agent Douglas and Hey, we played that game with him. So it's, it's the whole point is we want to educate all ages. We want to promote the wonderful, wonderful features and gems that makes Douglas County, Douglas County. And with this app, we're doing it. And one of the comments the teacher said is they really love this app. because they're tricking kids into learning. They don't realize they're learning because they're playing and having fun. So with that being said, I would like to thank you commissioners for your continued support because our program there, there's no way this could have happened without your support on this. And I hope we grow this a lot larger, but right now, um, more than doubling what we've ever done with decode. I think we're well on our way. So thank you very much.

All right, Darcy, thank you for presenting. Commissioner, comments and any questions?

No questions for me, but very proud to take a moment out of our meeting to highlight the work and get the update on the program. It sounds like it's full steam ahead on many different fronts. Agent Douglas, I'm sorry if I've ever demoted you. My kids know you as Dougie the Cubby.

That's his nickname. That's what he picked up.

But they love you. I know I've seen you everywhere, even on the very hot parade days, which I'm sure you stay cool as a cucumber, but... You've been everywhere lately. It's very popular in the community. Really, and I think in a larger sense, really speaks to, really reaffirms our commitment as a board. We have a big goal of preserving open space. We have added to our open space just recently and we have Highlands Ranch here today where we've been able to add to the open space of Douglas County even there. But also we don't want it hidden behind, just hidden behind a barbed wire that no one can go to. And I really think it speaks to providing those innovative educational opportunities for not just kids but everyone of all ages, all abilities. and even from your own home in your own backyard so really cool what what you're doing what the program is doing big thanks uh dan dirts of course um and steve schultz and darcy thank you so much for presenting today your whole team's doing great all right thank you commissioner commissioner layton any questions or comments

Yeah, Mr. Chair, I would just echo those sentiments from my colleague. Tremendous presentation, Darcy, and just really respect and appreciate the enthusiasm. We have so many families like Commissioner Van Winkle's and mine that love engaging in open space and Commissioner Thiel's as well. We know we have a lot of active citizens that just love open space we saw that on our survey and um to commissioner van winkle's point the north of 200 acres that just got preserved in highlands ranch in addition to the thousands of acres that have been preserved over uh several decades is pretty exciting so nice to have a wonderful and friendly and furry representative of us good job

Thank you, Commissioner. My feelings are that obviously raised my children in scouting. I was raised in the scouting program here in the United States. And life as an outdoorsman, outdoor person, really needs to start in our youth. And it is programs like this that make it friendly, make it inviting, that create the Colorado State Parks officers that my daughter is, create the thru-hikers that my son is, and create that lifelong love of the outdoors that I hope I'm always able to enjoy as the years go forward. But it all starts with the youth. So I think this is great. I think this is a great program. We've got so many programs in our open space and in our parks that get adults out and allow the adults of our community to enjoy our outdoor spaces. This is, I wouldn't call this the missing link, but I would say this is the part that is crucial in order to give us a way to engage with the youth, the younger the better, and get them to learn all about the outdoors at a very young age and let that be something that they too can enjoy for their long lives. So I think this is great, well done. If only Dan Dertz was here. If only he was here so we could thank him for such innovative work as our Open Space Director. If you could, Darcy, please let him know our appreciation for his fine work.

Thank you, sir. And he would have loved to have been here, but he is obviously out in the field covering for Agent Douglas.

Well, you know, we gotta cover for each other every now and again, so that's fully understandable. All right, well, thank you very much. Let's go ahead and open it up for any public comment. Is there anyone who'd like to give public comment on Agent Douglas and the program being rolled out? Seeing none, it looks like this is merely a presentation of the program, but Caroline, did we wanna grab a couple photos of Agent Douglas? Something to, something for, and we got Drew right here? All right, so let's go ahead and get a couple photos. Dan's a good sport. Continuing with our ceremonies and proclamations, we do have a recognition of Mike Bailey, the CEO and General Manager of the Highlands Ranch Community Association for receiving the 2026 NECO March Hero of Community Management Award. Presenting will be Monica Wasden, Highlands Ranch Community Association Board President. Monica, come on up.

As she's walking up, the reason Commissioner Layton couldn't be in that photo, he had surgery just a few days ago, so that's why he is joining us online and pushing through. Hope all is well, Commissioner Layton, and thank you so much for being able to join us.

Yeah, you bet. And, you know, huge shout out to Orthopedic Centers of Colorado and Dr. Justin Newman. Man, going into surgery is never super fun. And, you know, I had a great save of my son at a park, so he's fine. But getting knee surgery isn't ideal. And this team did a wonderful job. So huge, huge shout out to them. The recovery is going great.

You know, Abe, I was telling everybody that you were actually fighting the Penley fire and took a wrong step and blew out your knee. I thought it was a better story, but we'll go with your story. That's cool.

That is a good story. I have some connection just through the helicopter, but no, this one was saving my son in a park. So, you know, lots of fun out there, but sometimes eight-year-olds get themselves into the crosshairs. So I like that story, though. That's pretty good.

You know, we'll work on it together. We'll collaborate. We'll see if it works going forward. Well, thank you, Abe. Having done knee surgery myself about 20 years ago, mine was an easy scope, and I was able to be on my feet in a week. But I know yours is pretty extensive, and so we definitely wish you the best, buddy, and thank you for being here. You bet.

Thanks, guys.

Monica, if you please. Sorry.

That's okay. Good morning, commissioners. It is my honor to recognize Mike Bailey, the CEO and general manager of the Highlands Ranch Community Association as the inaugural recipient of the 2026 Nico March Hero of Community Management Award. Established by respected financial professional and longtime Community Association industry supporter Nico March, this prestigious national award recognizes exceptional leadership, integrity and service, qualities that Mike demonstrates every day. Throughout his career, Mike has remained deeply committed to strengthening Highlands Ranch. His leadership has advanced conservation initiatives, educational partnerships, intergenerational programming, and civic collaboration, creating a lasting impact on the community he serves. Mike leads with thoughtfulness, purpose, and a genuine commitment to bringing people together. His influence extends well beyond HRCA's operation and is reflected in the strong partnerships, meaningful programs, and sense of community he has helped cultivate. Please join me in congratulating the inaugural recipient of the NICO March Hero of Community Management Award, Mike Bailey.

Yeah, Mike, I saw you comfortably sitting there, but yeah, now you don't get away with not having a couple words. Can you share a few words in reflection upon this nice award?

First of all, I'm concerned how much I'm going to have to pay Monica for those kind words. All joking aside, thank you for the recognition, but Truly, the award is working with a board that we have staff that's here in the community at large. And it extends to entities such as Douglas County, yourself as the three commissioners, Doug and his quartet of Dan's, Avery, and they just go down the list, Dirt's, Robert's, and all of your staff collectively. Collaboration is the award. And the things that we've been able to accomplish of late or an epitaph to that.

Very good. Thank you, Mike. Again, thank you for all you do. Questions or comments from the board?

I don't have any questions. I get to just... Oh, go ahead. Sorry, Commissioner. Go ahead, Abe. No.

Oh, okay. Sorry. Well, we're probably thinking the same thing, Commissioner, but just wanted to highly congratulate what I sort of deemed to be the unofficial mayor of Highlands Ranch, Mike Bailey, I think what might be missing from the presentation is just the pure numbers of individuals that HRCA serves on an annual basis in Douglas County. It's truly staggering. And, you know, I just wanted to express my personal appreciation to you, Mike, for just always rowing in the same direction as the county, working well and being, to your words, just a great collaborator. So congratulations.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner?

I'll say ditto and add just a few words. I mean, a national recognition like this doesn't come across often. There's I don't know how many thousands and thousands of community managers across the country and they picked you for very good reason. We're very lucky to have you in Douglas County. It's been a tremendous honor getting to know you and working alongside you with beautiful Highlands Ranch. You do have a great board. You have a great partnership Monica being here today and the team being here today I think speaks to that supporting you and it's also good very good working with with them It's not an easy job though. It's a hundred thousand. It's more than hundred thousand people none of whom are ever grumpy on a daily basis, but you're able to manage the day-to-day operations of a huge community through HRCA and all the needs and all the rec centers and all the things that HRCA partakes in and leads with, with that bigger vision that Monica referenced, which is preserving open space and making sure Highlands Ranch is great for the next generation, for kids like mine who are growing up here in Highlands Ranch and love calling it home. um and then finally just big thank you for the partnership of being able to work with us in douglas county the collaboration to get backcountry really stepped up a tremendous notch and really preserving that from what could have been heavy development is a huge, I personally owe you a huge thank you for that, because I didn't want to see development there. And it's gonna be open soon, I believe, to all the people for just pure open space to get out there in the beautiful, Douglas County backcountry in Heinz Ranch backcountry. So heartfelt thanks, heartfelt congratulations. Like I said, thousands across the nation could have been picked. They picked you, and I think, and I would wholeheartedly endorse that and just am so proud to see it. Thank you.

I personally do not find this award at all surprising because Mike, you are the product of the finest educational institution in the state of Colorado for your undergraduate degree.

Could you remind us what that is again? I am a proud UNC Bears yourself, Commissioner.

Go Bears. And Doug DeBoard, our county manager. And maybe a new county commissioner next year, maybe. Who knows? But go Bears. Mike, great job. The second reason that's not surprising, and all joking aside, is you're really one of our better partners, I would say. We do not always get... the full-throated level of support and partnership from all of our community associations. I mean, I don't wanna, I'm not gonna throw stones at anybody, but Mike, you stand out because you're always there. We come up with some stupid idea, you're at least willing to have the conversation with us. We come up with a great idea, and nine out of 10 times, your answer is, let's find a way to make it happen. Highlands Ranch is obviously our largest community here in the county, so we need that kind of partnership. President Wasden, you have been a fantastic friend and colleague and partner to the board for years, But to have your senior staffer here, and of course, to all your trustees, who I know are all dedicated to making the Highlands Ranch community a better place for everyone to live and work, it's phenomenal that we get such great partnership from your chief executive. So Mike, this is, I wish we had an award that in any way comes close to the Nikko Award, but just as a way to say thank you, we do have something for you here in a little bit. In the meantime, I'd like to go ahead and open it up for public comment. Is there anyone who would like to give public comment on this matter? Seeing none, let's bring it back to the board. And Commissioner Layton, I'm afraid you're gonna miss out on this photo, but Mike, come on forward once again. We've got a little something for you and we'd like to capture it. Monica, could you come on up and bring up any of your folks that you have with you? People of accomplishment and achievement.

I know. You've got to be a lone wolf. You've got to chart your own path.

Moving forward. Moving forward, let's turn to the consent agenda. The consent agenda are a number of items that will be taken on one motion and one vote without discussion among the board or public comment. The board may remove any items on the consent agenda for further discussion at any time. How would the board like to proceed with the consent agenda?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move to approve the request on items A through Q of the consent agenda. And while I have been pulling things off recently, do not see any need to pull anything off. All pretty straightforward. All right. Thank you, Commissioner. Is there a second?

I will second that motion.

Thank you, Commissioner. There is a motion and a second for the consent agenda. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. and unanimous passage of the consent agenda. We now turn to our regular agenda today. Our first item is Parks Funding Agreement between Douglas County and the Gold Crown Foundation Incorporated in the amount of $7,500,000 for the construction of the Gold Crown Field House. Presenting will be Steve Schultz, Director of Parks and Recreation for Douglas County, Colorado. Steve, when you're ready.

Good morning, Commissioners. Thank you, Chair. It's a pleasure to be here today. As we kind of move forward through the strategic plan of Douglas County and the Board of County Commissioners to provide a historic investment in Douglas County and in recreation amenities. What we have today is the Board's approval is requested in the amount of $7,500,000. That's between Douglas County and the Gold Crown Foundation for the construction of a Gold Crown facility down here in Castle Rock. Uh, we've been working with this group for over the last handful of years. Um, this was highlighted as one of the board's core priorities, and this is a three way partnership, uh, between Douglas County, our friends at the town of Castle Rock, and the Gold Crown Foundation to provide these facilities. This field house will be and is scheduled to be 75,000 square feet. It's going to include 12 overlap volleyball courts, multi-purpose room, STEM programming, and enrichment camps. The expected project cost will be approximately $24 million. As previously mentioned, the foundation is also partnering with the town of Castle Rock for the land. This project went through and was approved by the town of Castle Rock on July 21st, 2026. This project and Douglas County's portion of this project has been vetted through the Parks Advisory Board and was totally recommended for, unanimously recommended for approval by the Board of County Commissioners. on January 16, 2025. With that, our recommendation to staff and the Parks Advisory Board is the approval of the funding agreement with Gold Crown Foundation for the amount of $7.5 million. With us today, we do have representatives of the Gold Crown Foundation and Kevin Petty and Ray Brown. And we also have a representative from the town. It's Matt Goal. Got it. to provide comments. We do have a little bit of a presentation that Gold Crown can go through after this presentation with your direction board, and then I will turn it over to you. Thank you very much.

All right, thanks, Steve. Any questions, board, for our director of parks?

Not at this time, no.

Okay. Commissioner Layton, any questions for Steve?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That was a great presentation, Steve. I have a couple of questions, but I'll reserve those following the presentation from the Gold Crown folks.

All right. Thank you, Commissioner. Steve, I have no questions for you at this time. We're happy to hear from either Mr. Gold with the Town of Castle Rock or from Gold Crown. Sir, you are no stranger to the board, having worked on this for about a year, a little over a year now, but please do give us your name and your role with Gold Crown.

You bet. Thank you, Commissioners. Good morning. Kevin Petty, president of Gold Crown Foundation, UNC Class of 2004. Go Bears. Go Bears. We appreciate the time and the opportunity to be here this morning. Usually I present with our mascot, Agent Bill Hanslick, but he is traveling, so I'll be here by myself. But we do have Ray Baker, chairman and co-founder of Gold Crown, as well as Tara Lightheimer, our CFO. Steve, thank you. Thank you, Doug. Thank you, Jeff, for all your help in getting us to this point. I will just quickly go through an update of the project where we stand today. As a quick reminder, Gold Crown Foundation started in 1986. We provide youth sports and enrichment programming as well as youth sports facilities. And as demand has continued to grow for our programs and the opportunity to expand our reach into Douglas County, We're excited to build upon the 15,000 kids we serve annually today. Just a quick update on the site. Many of you are familiar, but our chosen site is in the Dawson Trails development. We continue to work with Dawson Trails as well as Westside Investment Partners. As they continue to prepare the site, our location is also receiving that infrastructure progress as well will be adjacent to the new Costco off of Crystal Valley and Dawson Trails Boulevard. Through the town of Castle Rock, we have been granted the site in total of 22 acres. In order to maximize that, we've created a phased approach to build out the full 22 acres. Right now, we stay focused on the mission critical, which is the field house that Steve spoke about, as well as the accompanying parking, which is shaded in green. The future phase in yellow will be the rest of the internal infrastructure, multipurpose turf field and the parking associated with that, as well as the potential to expand the facility from six basketball courts to eight basketball courts. This first phase is what we originally presented to the Board of County Commissioners now a few years ago. The project update, we've submitted our SDP package to the Town of Castle Rock and are working through the first round of comments. We're about ready to begin the CD phase with our architect, Barker Rinker Seacat. We've selected a Castle Rock-based contractor, WCG Construction, and we're also working with owner's representation through CAA Icon. We're targeting an April 2027 groundbreaking subject to our funding, and we expect a 12-month construction schedule with an opening in early 2028. At full operational capacity, we expect to serve an additional 15,000 youth through our programs, as well as welcome approximately 600,000 visitors annually to the facility. These are just a few of the renderings through our planning phase, the aerial view looking to the north, the internal central control desk, the gymnasium space, as well as the community or the family gathering space in the lobby. As far as a funding update, Steve's numbers were what we were hoping for at $25 million. It's actually inclusive of the land, a $45 million project with the support of the commissioners and the $7.5 million we're seeking today. The total land value of $10 million. Our own financial commitment of 5 million as well as committed gifts to this point bring us to a current funding gap of 11.7, but we do have about 9 million under consideration right now. that we feel very confident about, which will leave us a remaining funding gap of 2.7. Again, just a couple of renderings from our planning phase. The floor plan, the upper left portion is slightly shaded. That would be the expansion to two additional courts, and then obviously the south entry into the facility. And with that, I thank you for the time and the consideration. We're really excited to be a part of this community. As Commissioner Thiel noted, we've been working on this for quite some time and we're starting to really get some strong momentum and look forward to breaking ground here in a few months. So thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Petty. Would you be willing to take questions from the board? Yes, sir. All right, board, any questions for Mr. Petty?

Yeah, I just, so Mr. Petty, again, no stranger to any of us, and we've been with you on this journey and very excited to see the progress. I think you answered really a lot of my questions, and my primary question was related to funding, and that is so encouraging to see that you've been able to raise and get commitments at that level with some anticipation that you'll get some more. So congratulations on that. I think that is super exciting. And, you know, I think again, for the listening public, I just would remind folks that this is the largest and most historic delivery of recreational amenities in the history of Douglas County, in combination with what's happening in each of our commissioner districts, as well as Zebulon. It's really an exciting time with lots of groundbreakings in front of us. I'm thrilled by the continued commitment to collaborate with the other areas of recreational construction, including Zebulon, to host some really significant tournaments in the future. But love the renderings. I think it looks great. I'm not sure I have additional questions. Like I said, the funding piece really answered that for me. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner, any questions for Gold Crown?

No, thank you for being here.

All right, thank you. Obviously, Mr. Baker's here as well. If you'd like to say a few words and maybe take some more questions from the board, we'd be happy to hear from them.

Thank you, commissioners.

Thank you, sir. Mr. Baker, if you could, you were briefly introduced, but please do give your name and tell us your role with Gold Crown.

Ray Baker, Gold Crown co-founder and chairman of the board. Bill sends his regrets, but he is overseeing a vacation of part of his 15 grandkids. So having a great time, but he does regret not being here and wanted to express his appreciation for your long time commitment for this project and we're excited to move ahead and break ground soon.

Thank you, sir. Would you be interested in taking any questions from the board? Board, any questions for Mr. Baker?

No questions from me. Thank you so much for being here. And yeah, it's unfortunate Bill Hanslick couldn't be here today, but I do remember meeting with him and every couple months, you know, checking back in. He would stay on top of things and as would Kevin and just make sure that the train was on the tracks and we were moving forward to this day. So please send your whole team my thanks.

Thank you. We appreciate the support from all parties. It's been a bit of a long journey, but we're going to get it done.

All right. Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Layton, any questions for Mr. Baker?

No, thank you, Mr. Baker. No questions for me. Thank you.

Ray, I'm really glad you were able to, I'm really glad you brought this one into us. I think this is gonna be a phenomenal addition to the town of Cass Rock, but really even Douglas County. So thanks so much, and everybody better be careful, because when he came in, the guy was doing more math in his head than I was doing on a calculator. So very much appreciate your involvement, sir, and bringing hopefully adding yet another great achievement to your long and illustrious list of achievements here in the Denver area.

Well, thank you, and thank you for staying with us throughout the journey. We appreciate it. Thank you, sir.

I'd be interested in hearing, because we're kind of doing this in partnership with the town of Cassarock, hearing from Mr. Gohl, representing the town of Cassarock. Matt, would you like to come forward and just kind of tell us, share with everyone and the board how this is working out with a part of our program to encourage youth sports in our municipalities. We had a very similar award that went to the town of Parker, the city of Lone Tree. Can you talk about the partnership with the town on this project?

Sure. Thank you, commissioners, and good morning. Thank you for having me here. I am joined with Jeff Brower here from the town's Parks and Rec Department. And our town manager cannot be here today. But I do thank you for the opportunity to speak before you and share our support for the project. We believe that the Gold Crown project will be a great amenity to the town of Castle Rock. As you know, Jeff and his team are well underway with a sports development center project in the town as well, providing a wide array of recreational opportunities to not just families of Castle Rock, but throughout the county and the region. We see this as a great partnership. That word has been said several times here today. and we do appreciate that ongoing partnership here. It was mentioned previously, the town council did consider this item on July 21st. They did support it unanimously with sharing, with providing the land to the project, as well as a $1 million fee waiver towards this project to help with that funding as well. So we do see, I won't get into the details of the project, that's been done already, and you can see the number of individuals that are expected to come to the community through this, and we see it as a great amenity, not just for our kids, but for the families who will be able to participate in this and be able to participate in our community and support the economics of the region as well. So we are really grateful for the partnership, for the county's support of this project, And I'm just here to take a moment and offer the town support for this project as well.

All right. Thank you, Matt. Would you be interested in taking questions from the board?

Certainly.

Board, any questions for Mr. Gohl of the town of Cass Rock?

No questions for me. Thank you for being here. Thank you for supporting. I do know.

No questions for me. All right. Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Layton, any questions for the town of Cass Rock?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No questions, but, you know, this is just another example of a longstanding and phenomenal partnership with the town of Castle Rock, whether it's Link and our transportation amenities or just this great delivery of recreation for the people of Douglas County. It's an exciting time to work with the town of Castle Rock and again, extend our thanks.

All right. Thank you, Commissioner. Matt, I remember when you were our budget analyst when I was on council. So good to see you moving forward with more involvement with the town's management. And thank you very much for working through with this. Obviously, we were working with Gold Crown directly, but we knew the partnership with the town was going to be critical to bringing this one in. So I have no questions for you, but thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Great. Thank you.

All right, at this time, let's go ahead and open it up for any public comment. The only public comment I had signed up was actually Mr. Goal, which I felt more appropriate to have him present as our partner in the town of Castle Rock. Is there anyone who would like to speak on this matter? I am seeing none, so let's bring it back to the board. Board, how would we like to proceed with this funding agreement between Douglas County and Gold Crown Foundation Incorporated?

Well, Mr. Chair, if there's no further discussion, I'll make a motion to approve the parks funding agreement between Douglas County and the Gold Crown Foundation incorporated in the amount of $7,500,000 for the construction of the Gold Crown Fieldhouse.

I'll second the motion, and I'd also add, you know, there is a massive shortage for parks, field recreation across our county. It goes for many, many years, for actually decades, the county and even our municipalities went quite a while without building new parks and new recreation despite our county uh growing i think it's uh it's well known for especially if you're a parent that has kids and new sports um how hard it is to get that field time and at a decent time if it's ice it's even harder if it's a swimming pool it's even even more difficult um But Castle Rock really has stepped up, and so have the voters of Douglas County. The voters of Douglas County in 2022, so four years ago now, passed a pretty good sized tax, I think in response, at least in part, to the lack of new fields and recreation opportunities with over 87%, it was like 88% of voters agreed to tax themselves. And now here we are four years later putting that money to work along with our municipalities. It's not just Gold Crown in Castle Rock, it's not just Sebulon, just South of Hunts Ranch there in Sterling Ranch off Highway 85, it's Parker with Salisbury Park. It's High Note Park in the very center of the northern part of our county in Lone Tree. And it's also the Brickyard. Brickyard didn't ask for any money directly from the county for Brickyard. There's a share back that tax includes. But it's sub-funded largely with COPs. And so Castle Rock found a way to finance that project largely on their own with a bit of help, just tax incentives from the county. And so for Castle Rock it was, but we need more. And that more and where we can get help from the county is Gold Crown. When I first became a commissioner, I toured the Gold Crown facility that's been up in Lakewood for many years, incredibly impressed with the services it provides to that community and instantly saw why Castle Rock might want it here. I did have serious questions, the financing and otherwise, but now that we're here a whole year and a half later, all my questions have been fulfilled and I'm very excited to see us at this point where we can get those funds out the door to help provide this amenity. It's also not just us paying for it. We don't pay for anything on our own ourselves, I don't think. Everything is a partnership, whether it's the Link on Demand that Commissioner Leyda mentioned, any of those other parks, any of those other facilities. All of it, we do a small portion. This is a $45 million building that was just presented. And we, Douglas County, through the taxpayers, are providing that $7.5 million hopefully a bit of a cornerstone or a large piece of it to help drive the private and public partnership. So I'm very proud that we're here today, very proud to second the motion and I'm very excited to see what the future holds for the Castle Rock community and all these tremendous recreational facilities that are coming online here in the next few years.

All right. Thank you, Commissioner. You know, the only thing I would add, I absolutely speak in favor of the motion. The only thing I would add is at some point in time, we were actually we were asking the question on the board of, you know, is is there actually real support for this project here? Not just in Castle Rock. but through the county. And it turns out we were actually getting emails in from people who had heard, people who were patrons of Gold Crown, and I hadn't seen them, so I asked if our staff could print them out. And I was presented, I thought I'd get a couple pages. I was presented with a stack of papers four inches thick. And our staff prepares our agenda and because they know I'm like 58 years old and got gray hair and bad eyes, they print it in like 12 fonts so that I can read it without my reading glasses. this four inch stack of paper was actually like five font and I needed my reading glasses. And so the amount of support that Gold Crown garnered for this project literally printed out to four inches of paper on a five font. It was, and I would be lying to say I was able to read every single comment, but every one that I was able to read spoke glowingly in support of the great, great Gold Crown project. I don't think this is just a Castle Rock project. I know we've heard from the town of Castle Rock. I actually don't think this is just a Douglas County project. project and douglas county amenity i actually believe this is something that will sort of shift that center of gravity of uh youth sports here in the probably even on the entire front range of colorado to douglas county and so thank you gold crown for bringing this great great opportunity to our community uh i for one very much appreciate it and i speak in favor of the motion any further discussion we do have a motion in a second Hearing none, we do have a motion and a second to approve this funding agreement. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. And we are unanimous and the funding agreement between Douglas County and Gold Crown Foundation is approved. Congratulations all. Our next item is acceptance of grant of easement from Highlands Ranch Metropolitan District to accommodate traffic signal facility improvements associated with the Highlands Ranch Parkway Broadway to Burntwood Reconstruction Project, Douglas County Project number CI2026-005. Looks like Dirk Zender, Real Property Acquisition Specialist of Douglas County Public Works and Engineering presenting. Dirk when you are ready sir

Good morning, Commissioners. George Xander for staff. With me is Amy Strathopoulos, also of Public Works. The item before you is an acceptance of a grant of easement from Highlands Ranch Metropolitan District to accommodate traffic signal facility improvements associated with the Highlands Ranch Parkway Broadway to Burntwood reconstruction project. As you can kind of see from I'm very technologically challenged. There we go. Thank you. As you can see from this slide, the county is currently reconstructing a section of Highlands Ranch Parkway between Broadway and Burnwood Way. The work primarily consists of replacing the entire existing concrete roadway and sidewalk section and constructing new raised medians and updated pedestrian curb ramps. As part of the project, the county will also install a new traffic signal at the Highlands Ranch Parkway and Rich Glen Wayne intersection at the location of the senior center and upgrade the existing traffic signal at the Highlands Ranch Parkway and Burntwood Way intersection. The installation of the new signal at the Senior Center requires a small, approximately seven and a half foot wide by 100 foot long easement as shown there on the bottom right from the Highlands Ranch Metropolitan District. And now I'm going to turn it over to Amy and she can give you a quick update on the project.

Good morning, Commissioners. Amy Strathopoulos presenting for staff. And yeah, I'd like to take this opportunity to provide an update on the reconstruction project. The project began on June 8th and phase two began yesterday. So Sunday night we shifted traffic. You can see in the picture below the concrete paving from phase one and then in the picture above we have traffic on the new concrete and we started demolition of the old concrete yesterday. So this week we'll continue demolition. We've begun the underground work for the signals and we expect installation of the signal equipment to begin in early to mid-September and the project is on track for an early October completion. The county went after a pretty aggressive schedule and we are offering an incentive payment for early completion and the contractor Castle Rock Construction is meeting that challenge in addition to doing really great quality work. I also want to point out that we've set up a project hotline and a project email address. So if folks have questions or comments, they can contact us through this phone number or email address. As of yesterday, the project had received a total of 29 calls and emails over 56 days. So this is less than one phone call or email a day. And we did not receive any calls about the overnight traffic shift on Sunday night. This is remarkable. This is unusual for a project of this size. And I think this is just a testament to the great job that Castle Rock Construction is doing and the great job that our communications team is doing with the proactive outreach. On behalf of staff, I recommend the acceptance of a grant of easement from Highlands Ranch Metropolitan District to accommodate a traffic signal facility improvement. The improvements associated with the Highlands Ranch Parkway Broadway to Burntwood Reconstruction Project, CI-2026-005. Thank you.

All right. Thank you guys.

Any questions from the board? No questions for me. This is one that we've been keeping a very close eye on. I am particularly excited. I think I drive it about every single day. So I've been keeping a close eye. The work is proceeding very well and very much appreciate it. I'll speak more later, but no questions now.

Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Layton, any questions, sir?

Mr. Chair, no questions for me. Great presentation.

Very good. I have no questions, guys. Again, this one that's been rolling for a while. It's been on the board for a while. So progress looks great. And I have no questions at this time. At this time, let's go ahead and open up for any public comment. Is there anyone who would like to give public comment on this matter? And I am seeing none. Let's bring it back to the board for Action Board. How would we like to proceed with this acceptance of grant of easement?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No public comment today, but it is something the public has been very vocal on, at least to me and I think to several of us, especially with the senior center going in right here and that stretch of highway. Well, it's not a highway. It feels like a highway being such a big, heavily traveled road. But it's one I've heard a lot from the public on, one that the public's very happy to hear a turn signal's going in there and it's a great partnership with the Metro District who will be helping finance it along with us at a later date we'll be paying back. So it's a great partnership, great project, something we have heard a lot from the public on. This stretch of corridor built I think in the early 80s, In really traveling Highlands Ranch every day the way I do, the road, it just had outlived its usefulness. It was crumbling in parts. It had some dangerous parts. And for pedestrians, it was also very difficult. So the upgrades that we're seeing installed now, I know every construction project comes with some headaches. And it's painful at times for citizens trying to get through there, get to their work and home every day, get through their fast. But in the long run, it will be a huge improvement for the community. And one of the greater things I think that this board and this county really accomplishes this year so to be able it's just today it's just an easement i'll make the motion here in a moment but it is part of that bigger multi-million dollar construction project that will make a huge difference for a lot of residents across douglas county therefore mr chair i move to accept I move to approve acceptance of grant of easement from Highlands Ranch Metropolitan District to accommodate traffic signal facility improvements associated with the Highlands Range Parkway Broadway to Burtman reconstruction project. This is Douglas County project file number CI2026-005.

Thank you, Commissioner. Is there a second? I'll second that motion. Thank you, Commissioner. I'll second that. Very good. There is a motion and a second. Any discussion? I mean, I'd just like to say, well, thank you to, I spoke a minute ago about the great partnership we have with the Highlands Ranch Community Association. Of course, here we're dealing with our partnership with the Metropolitan District. equally a great partnership. Highlands Ranch is our largest community here in the county, and so having those key partnerships is absolutely critical. And so I, for one, very much appreciate the partnership we get. We have friends and colleagues on the elected metropolitan district board who are very active with the commissioners we appreciate their collegiality and friendship and so once again uh you know teamwork makes the dream work very much appreciate the highlands ranch metro district i speak in favor of the motion any further discussion There is a motion and a second. All in favor of approving the acceptance of a grant easement, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. The acceptance of the grant easement passes unanimously. Drop two hammers on that one. At this time in our agenda, it's time for commissioner comments. Commissioners, opening the floor for any comments from the board. I would only like to say we just completed the Douglas County Fair and Rodeo for 2026. Once again, an enormous success. We did sell out each rodeo. We sold out one of our two concert series. Once again, it's apparent to me after my 20 years in business, I tend to think of the fair and rodeo not just as a community amenity. that we put on and regardless of cost. But I'm starting to, I have thought about it as a businessman who has been elected to this position. It is apparent we have a great market. We have market demand for our fair and rodeo every year. And every year we have continued to make investments in our fair and rodeo to make it better. and we have succeeded. I hope my colleagues will be interested in discussing next year's fair and rodeo here in the weeks to come, and then planning over the next year in earnest so that 2027 can be just as good, if not better.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, the Fair and Rodeo, such a big time for our county. It's such a great connection between our historical roots as a county and our agricultural roots in the future. It was a very good time. I do want to point out, I did get out to the Pinley Fire that we had just recently here in the county. Could have been a very disastrous fire. And our Hell Attack team, all of our firefighters across the county, South Metro Fire, West Fire, all of them, and our county resources and even state resources at times have been very busy throughout the month of July and as we start August here. That fire in particular, though, seeing it firsthand had tremendous amount of citizens, volunteer firefighters and others just coming up and thanking us for the helicopter. The way that fire started, the closest way a firefighter could get to it is a 30-minute distance a more than 30 minute hike up a very steep hill with all their equipment and on over 100 degree days. So to be able to have that hell attack team get out there and hit the fire very quickly really prevented something that could have been and should have been very catastrophic. Again, it speaks to the hard work. In that particular instance, all we needed was a little field with a fire hydrant. Didn't even need a lake or anything. The state did help provide resources for it. The state helicopter came out, but it wasn't until a day, it was at least a day later, at which case the fire could have been very heavily out of control. So that HELITAC team, And those firefighters, the volunteer firefighters of West Metro, the supporting staff of South Metro Fire that came out, and also the state resources really saved a lot of lives, a lot of property, a lot of livestock, a lot of horses and others out there just west of Sedalia. That could have been a very bad one. We're staying on top of it every day. We get the alerts immediately. And when we can ever add more resources to help put out a fire, hit those fires hard, hit them fast right away, because that makes all the difference in the world. Once the fire gets going and it gets big, you're three, four days into it, then it becomes not just millions of dollars, but millions, hundreds of millions of dollars in some cases. to be able to fight those fires and put them out and restore those properties. And so we're staying on top of it. Ask all of Douglas County to also stay vigilant as it is Colorado and it is the month of August, it's hot and dry. Just be careful and more staying on top of it. I would also add another resource that we invest in which is the AI monitors that monitor both night and day for smoke out there. Those worked perfectly. We got alerts immediately as a county that there was a fire that had started and the health tech team got on it immediately. So everything is working the way it's supposed to and saving a lot of lives and a lot of properties.

All right. Thank you, Commissioner. All points well made. Commissioner Layton, definitely want to give you an opportunity to have Commissioner comments, please.

Well, thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll be brief because, you know, I'm so proud of both of you and my comments are really more about thanks to each of you. And, you know, oftentimes, you know, the public will never know the hard work and the effort that you and this board have put into both of those great issues. I mean, you read my mind. The first is, you know, putting on a party for 400,000 of your closest friends is no easy task. And though I missed the end of it, I was so encouraged by the farm to table brunch that we had. I mean, every year it just gets bigger and better. And then, of course, getting to see just, you know, 3x the number of people with developmental disabilities at the Unbridled Rodeo. um people that don't normally have access to uh our fair in a typical way got to show up and participate in a way that was really suitable for them and it was heartwarming to participate in that so um wanted to thank you both for just the great work you did throughout the rest of the week to make sure that the fair was a success i understand that we might have purchased a duck so i probably uh owe you a check in that regard but We can settle that up later. And to Kevin's point, I just, again, want to thank this board for the consistent uh support for the wildfire action collaborative and this hell attack team all of these these tools that we're seeing go into place this summer are the result of a lot of planning and a lot of work and a lot of time at the wildfire action collaborative and with emergency management to try to get the resources and the support for these critical firefighting mechanisms. And you both have never wavered in your support, particularly for the state's only county-operated helitack and helicopter. It's a huge deal, and I think the state is starting to recognize the need. I know later this month at Metro Area County Commissioners, we're hosting the governor candidates and possibly the governor to talk about Specifically, that how we're responding to wildfires in the state of Colorado and I go to those meetings very proud because Douglas county is doing it right, and you know to Commissioner Ben winkles point. And we fire any of these fires could have been absolutely catastrophic I just got a text message today from a commercial real estate attorney that. has been working in the state for a long time, resident of Douglas County, and just said thanks to this board for making sure that we have those resources because they could have been so much worse this summer.

All right. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. Very much appreciate those comments. At this time, the board was open for any other business before us. Board, do we have other business? County Manager? All right, looks like no other business. County Manager's Report. Very good, thank you, Doug. And so we'll go ahead, we're running a little long, so we'll go ahead and adjourn. Our next business meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 11th, 2026 at 1.30 p.m. We are adjourned. For everyone else who's here for land use and public hearing, I know we're running a little bit late. If you'll just give us a couple minutes to switch over the meeting and we'll get right to that work.