June 9, 2026: 77 acres of wildfire mitigation, and a push to be heard

“A quick reminder to attend our upcoming open houses to give input on the annexation policy. Residents should have received a survey, so we’re hoping to get as much input as possible, so people can contribute to what the future of annexation looks like.”— Council Member Kori Salazar, June 9, 2026

Wildfire

Funded another 77 acres of wildfire mitigation in the city's open space — Approved Voted to hire Deer Creek Forestry for the 2026 round of mechanical wildfire mitigation — roughly 77.2 acres at $3,750 an acre, capped at $290,000, paid from this year's budget plus money rolled over from last year. The first 255 acres were finished in 2025 under a grant from the Colorado State Forest Service, and while cutting that work the crew flagged neighboring ground worth treating to keep the fuel breaks continuous. This round also maintains the acres already cleared, because regrowth undoes mitigation if nobody comes back. The per-acre price is higher than earlier phases: the areas are smaller and more scattered, and maintenance costs more than a first cut. The city selected this contractor in 2023 from four proposals off the state forest service's contractor list.

Water & Sewer

Let a sewer line cross city land to reach the Foundry Church — Approved Granted the Castle Pines North Metropolitan District a 50-foot easement, about a sixth of an acre, across city-owned land in Lagae Ranch so it can run sanitary sewer from Hyland Hills Street to the Foundry Church. The district builds it, operates it and maintains it; the city pays nothing and the agreement requires the ground to be restored when the work is done.

The Annexation Policy

Pushed residents to weigh in on the annexation policy before it was written — On the record Used her council report to tell residents where to be heard on the annexation policy: open houses on June 29 at the library and July 1 at the Exchange Coffee House, and a survey mailed to households. This is the policy council ordered in March when it paused annexation applications, and the point of the 120-day timeline was to leave room for exactly this. Staff reported the survey had already drawn somewhere between 450 and 500 responses.

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About this record

Every entry comes from a public Castle Pines City Council meeting; video and official minutes are available through the city clerk’s office. Ordinances take two council votes — an entry marked first reading still needed a second, confirming vote before it became law. Resolutions, emergency ordinances and contract awards take a single vote. Matters still in process are described as such rather than claimed as outcomes. Dollar figures come from the staff memo or the record; none are estimated.