Prairie dog supporters in Castle Rock may be planning a recall effort of their
city council members in order to fight a proposed mall,
reports the Colorado Statesman.
The Statesman obtained a five-page document outlining a campaign strategy to force a recall of three members of the seven-member council this year. The remaining four would be targeted for defeat in November 2016.
At issue is a plan from the
Promenade at Castle Rock--a massive 166-acre, $177 million residential and commercial development--and its intrusion on a local prairie dog habitat.
But the future of the recall effort is unclear following an agreement this week between WildLands Defense and Alberta Development Partners, developer of the Promenade project. WildLands agreed to drop a petition fighting the zoning ordinance for the mall in exchange for commitments to relocate and protect the remaining prairie dogs.
Stacey Rogers, one of the Castle Rock activists fighting the project, believes this may deflate the recall effort:
“It seems to me, and again this is speculation, that they [WildLands] got what they wanted. They don’t care any more.”