Legal Counsel for Our Group, Cost per Family, Forming a Steering Committee, and Plan of Action: It's time to take the gloves off...

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Greetings,

My name is Rebecca Franciscus and my husband and I live in Orr Estates right across from the proposed development.  I was the blond lady that asked several questions at the community meeting last Friday. I am an attorney (but not a land use attorney), and recommend strongly that we engage legal counsel on behalf of our group to oppose the Creekside Homes LLC application.  Specifically, as we all know, the key to defeating the application will be to present a unified front with cogent legal and factual analysis regarding the nine approval standards for rezoning. We already have a great draft of the responses to the nine points that Phil Nearing read at the community meeting,  but that draft needs to be turned into a strong, legally based brief to submit to the City to properly oppose the application.  

To that end, I have contacted a friend who is one of the best real estate/land use planning attorneys in Denver and I am getting an engagement proposal for helping our group prepare a response to the city.  Here is the information on the law firm I propose we engage: https://www.aldermanbernstein.com and their retainer is $5,000 (estimated fees for their scope of work).  I propose that with $100 per family to cover the legal costs, but this may NOT cover all of their work or expenses depending on what happens with the planning commission.  I will work with them as much as possible to minimize legal fees.

The firm has run conflicts checks, confirmed they are very familiar with the rezoning application process, and confirmed they will accept our case.  I believe that if we divide the $5,000 between all the residents, it will be reasonable and worth every penny. The retainer will be used for the legal services, and if it is unused, it will be refunded.  We will need $100 per resident to proceed ASAP.  I'd like a volunteer to join the Steering Committee (read below) and ask as our treasurer to collect the funds from everyone before I submit payment to the law firm for their fees so that we have at least two eyes on all dollars and help ensure checks and balances.  SOMEONE who knows Excel PLEASE VOLUNTEER FOR THIS! 

Further, since we need to move quickly and in a coordinated fashion, we need a plan of attack and clear group leadership. To make the process work for a group so large, I recommend that we create a STEERING COMMITTEE to: (1) coordinate our community response and work with counsel to prepare the necessary documents for city planners;  (2) gather funds from each homeowner for use to pay legal fees; (3) communicate with all homeowners and create a Dropbox/closed website/Google page for our group to store relevant documents, share information, coordinate calls to City Counsel, the mayor, and attendance at meetings. (Does anyone have strong IT/website skills in our community that can help set this up and manage this piece?)  The steering committee's needs to be formed by next week, so please reply all if you want to volunteer. This group will be expected to dedicate significant time working on behalf of our group over the next two plus months. I recommend that we appoint one or two individuals per neighborhood to be on the steering committee, and I would like to suggest that it include Saber Amine (tech savvy and blog leaders in Franklin Meadows), Dick Riddell (Franklin Meadows and impacted neighbor with water knowledge) and Phil Nearing (Orchard Trace).  Dick and Phil spoke at the meeting for our group. I will be happy to be one of the representatives from Orr Estates, especially given the relationship management we need with counsel to save costs by providing some of the research and background.  As noted above, we need a numbers person as well.

Please reply all if you have thoughts.  We all need to act together and pay our share for this to work.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

Warm regards, 
Rebecca and Tucker Franciscus

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