El Paso County denied the Highway 83 & Walker Road rezoning 3–2. What comes next — appeal, refile, or build by right — and how each commissioner voted.
Author Archives: Michael Christensen
Posted inLocal News
I Left Xfinity for Conexon Connect’s Two-Gig Fiber. Here’s How the Switch Went.
After six months of Xfinity outages, I switched to Conexon Connect’s two-gig fiber over Mountain View Electric’s co-op network. The speed, the cost, the install — and one shallow-buried complaint.
Posted inLocal News
At Highway 83 and Walker Road, a Test of the County’s Own Rules
El Paso County commissioners take up the Highway 83 & Walker Road rezoning July 23 — 229 public comments opposed, and a 6-1 denial from their own planning commission.
Posted inGovernment
Monument Town Council, July 20, 2026: Lake Parking, a Data-Center Freeze and the Loop
Monument’s council started paid parking at Monument Lake, froze data centers for six months, and moved to withhold a $219,815 payment to the Loop water project.
Posted inSchools
A Quiet Downgrade: How D38 Lost Its “Distinction”
In 2025 Lewis-Palmer D38 was the only one of its high-performing neighbors to lose Colorado’s top rating. Not opt-outs, not apartments — a slow slide in student growth, and what a decade of data and the national research say actually explains it.
Posted inLocal News
Woodmoor, Explained: The Biggest Tri-Lakes Community That Isn’t a Town
Woodmoor isn’t a town. A plain-English guide to the Tri-Lakes community’s history, how it’s governed, and the districts that provide its water, fire and schools.
Posted inLocal News
The Last Line of Defense: How Greenland Ranch Keeps Denver and Colorado Springs Apart
Twenty-six years ago a cable billionaire, a county and a lottery-funded land program bought the view north of County Line Road. The easement they built stops at the county line — which is exactly where Buc-ee’s is standing.
Posted inLocal News
Call It a Truck Stop: Opposition Group Publishes Its Own Answer to the Buc-ee’s Question
A 29-page analysis released July 15th by Tri-Lakes Preservation works through El Paso County’s own classification criteria and lands on the one label Buc-ee’s has spent this fight avoiding: a truck stop.
Posted inGovernment
Home Place Ranch: Who Runs the Ranch
Home Place Ranch has no independent homeowners association. Its covenants are written, and enforced, by companies that answer to the same builder. Second in a three-part examination of Home Place Ranch. Part 1: the promise versus what was built. Part 2: who controls the community. Part 3: drainage, stormwater and fire. Home Place Ranch is […]
Posted inLocal News
Lunch, Located: A Food Truck Tracker for the Tri-Lakes
The Monument Independent launches a daily food truck tracker for Monument, Palmer Lake, Woodmoor and Gleneagle.