Hardware store, town at odds

June 24, 2009

By JoAn Bjarko
The Wellington

Owners of Ace Hardware in Wellington (Colorado) are exasperated with the way town government has handled their complaints that the stormwater drainage system east of Interstate 25 doesn’t work.
Heavy rainstorms have inundated the store’s parking lot, which was designed for onsite runoff, but the owners say they also took on water from the public drainage ditch in April, which isn’t part of the design plan.
The town’s response to the store’s complaint — calling the business’s letter of credit and threatening to pull its certificate of occupancy — is going too far, business owners Doug and Vicky Andersen contend.
“If it wasn’t difficult enough to open a business in a town that has no established base of retail loyalty in the middle of a recession, we are continually being undermined by the very people who should be grateful for our commitment and dedication,” Doug Andersen wrote in an e-mail to the town board, with copies sent to several people in the community.
Andersen criticized in particular how town administrator Larry Lorrentzen and town attorney Brad March have handled this issue, but his complaints about how town government operates date back several years.
The Andersens, who opened the hardware store last August, were hoping for a public discussion of the drainage problem at the June 23 town board meeting, but the issue was not placed on the agenda.
Of the seven town board members, three responded to requests from The Wellington for comment and said the drainage debate will likely occur at the next town board meeting on July 14.
Andersen said he wanted an earlier meeting, however, because town attorney March set a July 18 deadline to declare his business entity, Royal Scythian LLC, in default of its development agreement if the drainage issue is not resolved by that time. Unless the town rescinds its notice of default, it can collect $5,081 from Royal Scythian on the letter of credit.
Even more critical to the Andersens is the threat of losing the certificate of occupancy that allowed them to open their business. When questioned about that possibility, the three town board members said revoking the certificate has never been their intention.
“I can’t imagine anyone on the board wanting to shut them down,” said board member Mishie Daknis. “As a town board, we never spoke of that.”
Andersen referred to an e-mail from March to Blair Trautwein, who is representing Royal Scythian. It was written before the Andersens hired a drainage engineer to work on this specific issue. The business no longer works with the engineer who designed the drainage plan two years ago.
March wrote to Trautwein on May 21: “This is a matter that needs to be addressed and we are in a position that if Mr. Andersen’s engineer is not willing to participate it will be necessary for the Town to draw against the letter of credit and perhaps to ultimately look at the previously approved certificate of occupancy. It is well understood that the Town would not be perceived as particularly user friendly if the certificate of occupancy were revoked or a red tag was issued. This drastic step would be a last effort, but if there is no willingness of the landowner and the landowner’s engineer to deal with the drainage concerns (beyond telling the Town that the Town must address the issue), the Town may be left with little choice but to consider drastic steps.”
“They’ve got a gun to our head,” Andersen explained in a recent interview. “Technically, they already had all this information.”
Vicky Andersen also noted that the town placed no restrictions or contingencies on the certificate of occupancy when issued last year.
Trautwein in a June 19 letter to March said, “Clearly and improperly, the town was on a crusade to find Royal Scythian at fault for the drainage problems rather than attempting to determine a solution to the drainage problem.” He pointed out many times over the past two months that Ace Hardware suggested the public ditch was causing the problem.
Trautwein also objected that the town decided to call the letter of credit without inviting Royal Scythian to the board meeting where that action was sanctioned.
“The Town Board needs to deal with this type of treatment as a matter of policy,” Trautwein wrote. “We request that it do so and place this matter on the Town agenda.”
“It’s not the town board out to get Doug Andersen,” Wellington (Colorado) Mayor Larry Noel said. “Doug’s had a problem with the town for six or seven years.”
Asked to comment about future steps, Noel said the engineering report Andersen gave the town on June 19 makes the call on the letter of credit unnecessary. The notice of default, Noel said, was intended to push Andersen into producing an engineering report. The drainage problem itself does not affect other town residents, he added.
“We’re not out to cause problems, we’re out to fix them,” Noel said, adding that the town board has never considered shutting down the business. “We’re going to take all things into consideration on the engineering and then proceed as we need to.”
Board member Jack Brinkhoff said the town’s engineer needs time to review the Ace Hardware documents and advise the board on his conclusions.
According to the Andersens’ engineer, Aaron Cvar of Front Range Stormwater & Floodplain Consulting, Wellington (Colorado) is responsible for fixing the problem. The north roadside ditch of East Jefferson Avenue does not drain properly, and did not drain properly prior to the construction of Ace Hardware, Cvar said in his report.
“It is our belief that the problems that the Ace Hardware pond has experienced are not due to poor design or faulty construction,” he wrote. Rather, he said, water backs up in the north roadside ditch and drains into the hardware store’s detention pond.
“Regional drainage within public right of way is typically the responsibility of the governing municipality,” Cvar added.
He then offered two temporary solutions the town could implement, with estimated costs of $9,500 or $18,000.
“I’m glad they brought in a new engineer,” Brinkhoff said, adding that taxpayers should not have to pay for a study to isolate the problem.
“We have to hear both sides before we make a decision,” Daknis said.
The Wellington (Colorado) Area Chamber of Commerce also wants to hear both sides of the story, said chamber president Tom Gillespie.
“It’s in our best interest to understand what’s going on,” he said.
With that in mind, chamber board members will attend the upcoming town board meetings, Gillespie said. Ace Hardware is not a chamber member, he said, but all businesses in town are important to the local economy.