This blog is and has always been a production of myself, H. Stith Bennett. In the past, as a member of the founding Board of the Allenspark Community Cultures Council (ACCC) I operated the blog as a service to the Allenspark community, and I — with others — will continue to do so. All are invited to participate.
As a result of the sham (i.e. not provided-for in ACCC Bylaws) “public meeting” and “election” held May 3, 2009 I was removed from the founding ACCC Board, and most of the founding Board members elected themselves (!) to the permanent ACCC Board. As a consequence of my removal from the ACCC Board, blog participants should understand that the ACCC Board Chair (past and present, same individual) has severed any practical relationship between ACCC and this blog. Similarly, the ACCC Board Chair has severed any relationship to the (at present unused) address “www.allensparkccc.org” that I purchased and attempted to donate for the use of ACCC. The effect is that my donation has been refused by ACCC. So note: the internet names “http://apccc.wordpress.com” and “www.allensparkccc.org” are exclusively registered to H. Stith Bennett. They are NOT registered to ACCC.
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Based in Allenspark, a Colorado mountain community, the Allenspark Community Cultures Council (ACCC) incorporated as a Colorado non-profit organization in 2008.
The bylaws of the organization may be found — as a pdf file – here: accc-bylaws1.
The mission of the ACCC is to promote art, education, recreation and health by establishing and operating a community center for Allenspark residents and visitors.
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On March 18, 2009 the Boulder County Planning Commission recommended Conditional Approval of a Special Use and Site-Specific Development Plan for Multiple Principal Uses submitted by ACCC. Thirteen conditions were placed on their recommendation. That document may be found — as a pdf file – here: accc-bc-planning-staff-special-use-recommendation.
Here’s our Plan:
Purchase. Renovate. Operate.
Retire all indebtedness by 2018.
The long term fund raising amount to achieve the Plan is $700,000.
The 2008 short-term fund-raising goal was $134,000.
The amount raised in 2008 was slightly less than $100,000,
about $34,000 short of our goal. Pending grant funding,
renovations are planned for 2009.
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Here’s our Plan in more Detail:
Purchase. Renovate. Operate.
Retire all indebtedness by 2018.
Estimated Monthly Revenue from Operations
Estimated Monthly Operating Expenses
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Ten-Year Capital Finance Plan
Estimated Funding Needs for the Ten-Year Plan
Estimated Capital Expenses for the Ten-Year Plan
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Local and regional reports of our story…
SILLY SEASON in the PRESS
“Everyone’s got an angle”, and how the local and regional press has reported our story — silliness included — is exemplified below.
The experience of living in Allenspark and knowing what has happened, yet then encountering these news reports is something akin to trying to solve those puzzles. You know, the ones where you find all the hidden (or not so hidden) flaws.
How many errors, flaws, or items leaving mistaken impressions can you find?
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LONGMONT TIMES-CALL… text (solid reporting) and a few comments – Silly Season included!…
Publish Date: 8/26/2008
[Sidebar]
…
How to donate
The Allenspark Community Cultures Council plans to seek private donations, low- and no-interest loans, and grants to raise $700,000 to buy and convert property alongside the Peak to Peak Highway into a community center. The council has raised $61,000 from individuals and received a $1,000 grant from Boulder County’s Tourism and Recreation Program, council interim board chairwoman Margaret Patterson said.
She said people interested in making contributions can call her at 303-747-2089 or send donations to the Allenspark Community Cultures Council at P.O. Box 431, Allenspark, CO 80510. Further information about the proposed community center is available at www.apccc.wordpress.com.
No porn shop in Allenspark
Former ATV rental building will become community center
By John Fryar
Longmont Times-Call
ALLENSPARK — Plans to open a pornography outlet at the onetime site of an ATV rental business are giving way to a proposal to convert the property to a community center.
The recently formed Allenspark Community Cultures Council has signed a contract to buy the property at 14863 Colo. Highway 7 from its owners, Jeff and Vicki Mead of Niwot, according to Jeff Mead and Cultures Council chairwoman Margaret Patterson.
Patterson said Sunday that a 4,050-square-foot building on the Peak to Peak Highway, an adjacent cabin and the land outside those buildings could be transformed into a community center by next spring.
A summer survey of Allenspark-area residents will guide the center’s activities and uses, Patterson said, and could include art studios and exhibits; community classes; an exercise room; a visitor center and museum; a food cooperative; lectures, musical events and discussion groups; a community garden; community offices for forestry and county government information; a playground; and a gathering place for area youth.
Patterson said she couldn’t discuss details about what the Cultures Council has agreed to pay for the property until the sale closes, which is to occur by early October, but she added that “financing has been arranged.”
She did estimate it could cost $700,000 to buy and renovate the building.
Jeff Mead, however, said Monday that it’s “a simple deal,” with the council agreeing to pay $440,000 plus closing costs. He said he and his wife bought the property for $428,000 in early 2007, and he estimated he’s put another $75,000 into it since then.
Last April, when the Boulder County commissioners denied the Meads’ application to continue using the property as headquarters for their all-terrain-vehicle rental business, Jeff Mead said he intended to change the retail art gallery that’s also quartered there into a “porn gallery.”
Mead, who’s moved the base of his ATV rental operation to Lyons, said Monday that opening a pornographic gallery and gift shop there “would have been the best thing to do” financially if he’d decided to keep the property.
But he said he’d concluded he could do without “one less headache” as he prepares to embark on another new business venture.
Mead said he’ll be launching a business that converts gasoline-fueled vehicles to run on natural gas.
He said one reason for his earlier porn-shop plan was to highlight how far government has gone in intruding into American property-rights values, when “a nice little family-run business” like the ATV rentals “could be forced out but a porn gallery could go in.”
But Mead said he’d also decided that he didn’t want to try to get back at people who successfully fought his ATV business.
Patterson said the idea of a community center was something she; her husband, Glenn; and others had been thinking about even before the Meads began using the property for their ATV business.
“Basically, unless the community actually takes control of that building, the most prominent building in town,” Patterson said, the future use of the property by the Meads or possible future owners would be “left to chance.”
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Comments
Please read the TimesCall.com policy on comments.
Again the hammer of Liberal tolerance and acceptance falls on a legitimate small business owner. As long as you’re tolerant and accepting of
the right sorts of people… come on up! Um… call for Allenspark, it’s the Victorian Era and they want their closet back. Hey, here’s an idea –
maybe you should have let the shop open and if it was going to be as big a blight and a failure as you expected, let Darwin’s Natural Selection
work its mojo.
Longmont 8/26/2008 10:41:35 PM
“What’s wrong with a porn shop?”>>>> What was wrong with the gay teen arcade? The Lyons market supported that just fine, but it became a
little too worrisome for the locals and ruling elite.
Longmont 8/26/2008 9:49:23 PM
What’s wrong with a porn shop? If the market economy will support it? That should be up to the potential customers, if any. Presumably the
new proprietors looked into that. That’s Libertarian.
Longmont 8/26/2008 9:08:42 PM
Wow! Bummer! Now those folks will have to drive to Longmont for their toys. Wonder if the shop would have really made a profit? Would have
made an interesting point of interest for sight seekers going to RMNP or Estes. “See the rutting, get in a rut”. What an odd place Colorado is
becoming.
Longmont 8/26/2008 5:28:55 PM
Wow. Seems pretty libertarian to me. His neighbors didn’t want an ATV center and used the hammer of govt. But the local bought him out and
the situation seems to have brought more community together in both Allenspark and Lyons. Win-win
Longmont 8/26/2008 11:25:29 AM
With open arms, Lyons welcomes you Mr. and Mrs. Mead, you will fit right in……. Lyons is virginal territory and it doesn’t even have a porn shop.
Longmont 8/26/2008 11:05:28 AM
congrats Allenspark for getting rid of that parasite.
boulder county 8/26/2008 8:15:51 AM
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BOULDER CAMERA…image
Boulder Daily Camera article 8-24-2008
BOULDER CAMERA…text
Allenspark residents buy out porn shop
Perturbed locals plan to convert location into a community center
Jeff and Vicky Mead had been planning to open a porn shop in the two-story log cabin they own at 14863 Colo. 7 this month, and until recently were promoting the adult store with a large banner outside the building.
But now the couple — who have found themselves the center of some local residents’ fury over the proposed “Patterson XXX Porn Gallery” — say they will instead sell the $428,000 building to a non-profit group that wants to convert it to a community center.
“It seemed to us we’re better off focusing our energy on our other businesses,” Jeff Mead said of the pending sale.
The Meads previously said they had no choice but to open a porn shop after a protracted fight over their former ATV-rental business based at the cabin ended in April with the county shutting down the operation.
The couple plans instead to open a new business converting gasoline vehicles to run on natural gas. The company will be based at their ATV rental company in Lyons.
The decision to abandon the porn idea, Jeff Mead said, has nothing to do with pressure from locals.
“I would never succumb to that,” Jeff Mead said. “It’s more that I have an opportunity to put my energy in one direction.”
Margie Patterson, an Allenspark resident who has fought against the Meads’ ATV rentals and proposed porn plans for years, is now the chairwoman of a newly formed non-profit group that on Saturday signed a contract to purchase the building that she said was to be named after her in spite — a claim the Meads have denied.
“The building is so prominent in town,” Patterson said. “It needs to be a use that represents who Allenspark is.”
The Allenspark Community Cultures Council has so far raised more than $61,000 from donations and grant money, Patterson said. She estimated it will cost about $700,000 to pay off the building and renovate it.
When it’s finished, she said, the building will host amenities such as community meeting space, art studios, an exercise room, a community garden, a convenience store and a playground — all based on feedback from a survey the group sent out to all Allenspark residents earlier this summer.
“It’s so great to be doing a positive thing for the community,” Patterson said. “There really is nothing like that up here.”
The council, led by seven Allenspark residents, has an aggressive fundraising plan to reach its financial goals and plans to pay off the investment within 10 years. Its members want to open the building to the public sometime next spring.
“We’re hoping for grants, more donations and corporate sponsors,” Patterson said.
She said that had the controversy over the Meads’ business plans not drawn so much public attention to the prominent cabin, Allenspark might not ever have landed a community center.
“In a sense, we have to say the Meads almost did us a favor,” Patterson said.
Contact Camera Staff Writer Heath Urie at 303-473-1328 or urieh@dailycamera.com.
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ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS text…
Plans for porn shop in Allenspark called off
By Heath Urie, Daily Camera
Monday, August 25, 2008
It turns out there are better ways to make money in Allenspark than running a pornographic art gallery after all, a Niwot couple said Saturday.Jeff and Vicky Mead had been planning to open a porn shop in the two-story log cabin they own at 14863 Colorado 7 this month, and until recently were promoting the adult store with a large banner outside the building.But now the couple – who have found themselves the center of some local residents’ fury over the proposed Patterson XXX Porn Gallery – say they will instead sell the $428,000 building to a nonprofit group that wants to convert it to a community center.”It seemed to us we’re better off focusing our energy on our other businesses,” Jeff Mead said of the pending sale.The Meads previously said they had no choice but to open a porn shop after a protracted fight over their former ATV-rental business based at the cabin ended in April with the county shutting down the operation.
The couple plan instead to open a new business converting gasoline vehicles to run on natural gas. The company will be based at their ATV rental company in Lyons.
The decision to abandon the porn idea, Jeff Mead said, has nothing to do with pressure from locals.
“I would never succumb to that,” Jeff Mead said. “It’s more that I have an opportunity to put my energy in one direction.”
Margie Patterson, an Allenspark resident who has fought against the Meads’ ATV rentals and proposed porn plans for years, is now the chairwoman of a newly formed nonprofit group that on Saturday signed a contract to purchase the building that she said was to be named after her in spite – a claim the Meads have denied.
“The building is so prominent in town,” Patterson said. “It needs to be a use that represents who Allenspark is.”
The Allenspark Community Cultures Council has so far raised more than $61,000 from donations and grant money, Patterson said. She estimated it will cost about $700,000 to pay off the building and renovate it.
When it’s finished, she said, the building will host amenities such as community meeting space, art studios, an exercise room, a community garden, a convenience store and a playground – all based on feedback from a survey the group sent out to all Allenspark residents earlier this summer.
“It’s so great to be doing a positive thing for the community,” Patterson said. “There really is nothing like that up here.”
The council, led by seven Allenspark residents, has an aggressive fundraising plan to reach its financial goals and plans to pay off the investment within 10 years.
Its members want to open the building to the public sometime next spring.
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DENVER POST text…
Boulder County porn shop halted
A pornographic art gallery in the idyllic mountain town of Allenspark may no longer be in the works.
A group of residents who hated the idea that Jeff and Vicky Mead wanted to establish an X-rated business in the former Eastin Gallery is buying the building to turn it into a community center.
The Allenspark Community Cultures Council said Saturday it had signed a purchase agreement for the Meads’ 4,050-square-foot building just off Peak to Peak Highway in Boulder County.
The group hopes the building will include art studios, community classrooms, a visitor center and museum, a food co-op and a center for lectures, musical events and discussion groups.
That’s a far different offering than what the Meads had planned for the building — everything from erotic art to edible underwear and panties with slits in the middle.
“Of course, if the deal falls through, all that may still happen,” Jeff Mead said Sunday.
He and his wife originally wanted to run their ATV business out of the former gallery they bought in 2007 for $428,000.
But Boulder County stopped them, saying the ATVs were not an approved use in the Allenspark area. A pornographic gallery was, however, which prompted the couple to recently advertise that the “Patterson XXX Porn Gallery” was nearly ready to open.
Many in Allenspark say the Meads were naming the gallery for Margaret Patterson, who tried to derail the porn idea. Patterson is also the chairwoman for the community cultures council.
Patterson couldn’t be reached for comment Sunday. But the group said Saturday it planned to cover capital expenses for the center through a fundraising program designed to solicit contributions and low- or no-interest loans from individuals, grant-making organizations, corporations and government agencies.
In the first month, fundraising efforts have brought in more than $61,000 from individuals and a $1,000 grant from the Tourism and Recreation Program of Boulder County.
Jeff Mead said he wanted to unload the building because he is more interested in starting a new business converting gasoline vehicles to run on natural gas.
But if the deal falls through, he’ll gladly let a national company set up a porn establishment in the building.
“Hey, if the local government is so stupid to choose a porn gallery over a nice family business,” Mead said, “then so be it.”
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
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Previous DENVER POST text (June 2008)…
Allenspark pair to open porn shop in protest
Vicki Mead is a 52-year-old wife and mother who thinks she should start trolling XXX-rated shops for material and ideas on how to run her own pornography gallery in bucolic Allenspark.
“I guess I’ll be visiting successful porn stores and see what’s the best seller — maybe edible underwear or panties with slits in the middle,” Mead said.
She and her husband, Jeff, say they are not smut peddlers but frustrated property owners. They say pornography is the only way they can survive in Allenspark after Boulder County turned down their request to run an all-terrain-vehicle rental business in a building they purchased for $428,000 in 2007.
The two-story log building housed the Eastin Gallery and Studio for 16 years just off the Peak to Peak Highway. Since the gallery has been an approved use, Boulder County cannot object to a use dedicated to adult artwork, Mead said.
“We just were shot down and shot down by Boulder County until we decided this is the only thing that’s allowed where we might make some money,” she said. “We just got to the point where we will do something legal with the building even though it appears unreasonable.”
Neighbors say the couple has been anything but agreeable. They fought the Meads’ application for the ATV business because it would ruin the quiet nature of the area.
ATV use already has destroyed land, some of it private, around the homes in Allenspark, said neighbor Margaret Patterson, adding that both county and federal wildlife officials objected to the Meads’ ATV venture.
“They (the Meads) think we’re a bunch of prissy little mountain people upset over a little pornography,” Patterson said. What ATV users have done to a local meadow “is more obscene than any pornography.”
Jeff Mead has promised to open the porno gallery and sue Boulder County for violating his First Amendment rights if anyone tries to shut it down, Patterson said.
“That’s how he would make his money,” she said.
Boulder County has no grounds to stop the gallery, said Dale Case, Boulder County land director.
“This would be consistent with the use that’s been approved there for 16 years,” Case said. The county would object only if the Meads decide to expand the size of the building.
“We would be looking at the intensity of the use,” Case said, “but not on the actual content of what they are selling.”
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
8 responses so far ↓
apccc // August 16, 2008 at 10:17 am
What a great thing this is! And the whole community is invited to participate.
Let’s come together and make this happen.
Glenn and Margie Patterson // August 17, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Thanks for setting this blog site up, Stith! We look forward to participating in discussions about this exciting project! Thanks also to the many people from the Allenspark community and beyond (as far away as Texas and Arizona) who have contributed their ideas, their services, and their money to help make this happen!
Bill // August 18, 2008 at 7:29 am
So many opportunities!
I get enough exercise just working here but what about dance lessons?
Could we form a poker group? I miss my buddies in Boulder and if we donate proceeds to a charitable cause, it’s all legal!
BILL
Name the Center // September 3, 2008 at 9:40 pm
It was suggested at the last public meeting that we might want to think of a formal name that lends itself to a more casual version. To that end, I propose “Windy Peaks” or as I hope to say sometime next year, “I’m going up to ‘The Peaks’ to get some coffee and listen to some music”. I could be talked into appending “Cultural Center” to the formal name.
– Jeff Davis
Vicki Dyas // September 11, 2008 at 9:56 pm
I think there are too many things starting with Allenspark so for the name I suggest either: “Mountain Community Resources” or “Mountain Community Resource Center” (MCR OR MCRC) then people who live in the area but not in Allenspark feel ownership as well.
Gloria Sexton // September 30, 2008 at 10:30 am
How about Allenspark Community Center? Simple and functional. g.
Candace Chapin // October 11, 2008 at 9:25 am
To the Interim Board -
Here are submissions for the “name the center” -
There are so many ways we can approach it and there are so many good ideas. I think it will be interesting to see what the community wants to embody in the center reflected in the name and what they will select.
There were many thoughts that came to me, but as I narrowed down to just who we are are what we are about – the place we live: the moutains, what the vision is of the center : to enhance and support our lives and values here and what the vision is for the center – I came up with these following names and variations.
These can be varied by adding Allenspark – ie:
Allenspark Mountain Life/Living Center, but so many names alread have Allenspark it might be nice just to focus on the fact that we are here in the Mountains and that is why most of us came here instead of staying in the flatlands.
We could also add Town to make it Town Center, which would describe the vision we have – that the current gallery will become a center of activity of social gathering, education and arts in the community.
We could also add Culture, but I personally think that is a little formal, although it reflects the overall idea of the many cultures we hope to flourish at the center as set out in the original mission statement.
So – the submitted names and variations for consideration are -
My favorites are the following but I submit the variations because the community may feel the one of the other variations expresses their idea of the center.
My three favorites are –
Allenspark Mountain Life Center
Allenspark Mountain Living Center
Allenspark Mountain Living Cultures Center
The complete list and variations as follows -
Mountain Life Center
Mountain Living Center
Allenspark Mountain Life Center
Allenspark Mountain Living Center
Mountain Life Town Center
Mountain Living Town Center
Allenspark Mountain Life Town Center
Allenspark Mountain Living Town Center
Mountain Life and Culture Center
Mountain Living and Culture Center
Allenspark Mountain Life and Culture Center
Allenspark Mountain Living and Culture Center
Mountain Life Culture Center
Mountain Living Culture Center
Allenspark Mountain Life Culture Center
Allenspark Mountain Living Culture Center
Mountain Life Cultures Center
Mountain Living Cultures Center
Allenspark Mountain Life Cultures Center
Allenspark Mountain Living Cultures Center
These become very long –
Allenspark Mountain Life and Culture Town Center
Allenspark Mountain Living and Culture Town Center
Allenspark Mountain Life Culture Town Center
Allenspark Mountain Living Culture Town Center
Allenspark Moutain Life Cultures Town Center
Allnespark Mountain Living Cultures Town Center
Or simply -
Allenspark Town Center
If we want an acronym – we can do this -
Allenspark Resource Center (ARC)
Glenn and Margie Patterson // October 14, 2008 at 6:07 pm
The top choices so far for the name are:
Windy Peaks Gallery & Welcoming Center
The Gallery: Allenspark Welcoming Center
Spirit Ridge Gallery & Welcoming Center
another new one just in:
Morning Star Gallery & Welcoming Center
Like gas stations in rural Texas after 10 pm, comments are closed.