A public hearing will be held on Sept. 3 concerning whether a referendum will be placed on the ballot to add a 0.25% sales tax to assist the Woodland Park School District.

The Woodland Park City Council sent the question to the public hearing stage during its Aug. 20 meeting.

“I think it’s important that we give the community an opportunity to potentially vote on the 0.25% sales tax,” councilmember Jeffrey Geer said.

A citizen’s initiative gathered over 900 signatures in just three weeks but fell short of the 15% of registered voters needed to place it on the ballot. The citizen’s initiative would have asked voters for a 0.5% tax increase rather than the 0.25% that will be decided at the public hearing.

Council considered both amounts, opting for the lower of the two. There was discussion about having a hearing on both, but the higher rate was tabled after a 4-3 vote.

If passed, the funds would be used to pay “the existing financing obligations of Woodland Park School District RE-2 outstanding on the effective date of this Ordinance that were issued to finance construction, acquisition, renovation, improvement or major repair of School District facilities, including all scheduled principal and interest payments due under those obligations.”

Another public hearing will be held at the Sept. 3 meeting. This one would clarify what Woodland Park Police Chief Chris Deisler called “ambiguous language” concerning the unlawfulness of what the ordinance calls “intentionally, knowingly, or negligently set, kindle or cause to be set or kindled any fire, including but not limited to fires caused by the use of any incendiary and/or explosive devices, fireworks and/or smoke bombs.”

Code adjustments

Council passed a nuisance ordinance that gives some procedural structure to the City Code.

“This … fills some procedural gaps that I noticed when reviewing the Woodland park Municipal Code,” City Attorney Michaela Szlagyi said. “There were a lot of references to nuisances and City Council has the power to declare nuisances but then there was no process or follow through on how the city can abate those nuisances.

“It’s very similar to what other jurisdictions do.”

Among the items addressed are problem dogs, accumulation of manure, garbage or other refuse, weed and beetle control, fire bans and watering restrictions.

Council also passed an ordinance addressing code penalties which, among other things, increased the maximum fine from $1,000 to $2,650.

In other business

Following a lengthy presentation by area historian Steve Plutt and several public comments, the council denied an ordinance to designate the Vos Building at 209 E. Midland Avenue as a historic landmark.

Cristin Blosser was appointed to serve on the Board of Review. Blosser is the owner and architectural manager at Compass Architecture.