Woodmoor says an algal bloom caused musty-tasting water that still met all standards. With its Loop partners now gone, it plans a smaller project alone.
Author Archives: Michael Christensen
Michael Christensen is the editor of The Monument Independent. He holds a BA in history and an MS in statistics, and has spent 30 years in marketing — the last 15 focused on digital marketing, data analytics, research, and artificial intelligence. In his professional work he is Director of Marketing Operations, Marketing Analytics, and AI Initiatives.
For the past ten years he has worked in educational research, land use assessment, and local government research — the three subjects that account for much of what this paper covers. The statistics training informs how the Independent handles numbers: test scores, campaign finance filings, and public-meeting vote records are traced to primary documents, and the method is published alongside the findings.
He is a married father of four school-age children. He coaches youth soccer, hikes in the Colorado mountains, fly fishes, and reads historical non-fiction and, less defensibly, books about data analysis strategy.
Posted inSchools
Monument Academy’s Elementary School Made $1 Million. Its High School Lost $579,000.
Monument Academy closed its 2025-26 books with a $288,000 surplus, and the number hides more than it shows. The charter’s elementary campus in Monument earned $1.0 million; its middle school lost $141,000; its high school, with 90 students, lost $579,000. The surplus also depends on a $531,000 credit from a bond refinancing and on federal […]
Posted inGovernment
Palmer Lake’s November Ballot Is Set: Two for Mayor, Ten for Five Trustee Seats
Palmer Lake’s clerk certified the November 3 ballot: two candidates for mayor, ten for five trustee seats. The top two winners serve four years, the next three two.
Posted inGovernment
Promontory Pointe and Sanctuary Pointe Vote on Dissolving Their Metro Districts
Mail ballots on dissolving Triview Metropolitan Districts No. 2 and No. 4 were due Sept. 1. The count is Sept. 10. The $6.4 million in road bonds stays until 2048.
Posted inLocal News
El Paso County Is Rewriting the Rules the Buc-ee’s Fight Turned On
Three days after the Board of County Commissioners used the current land code to clear a 74,000-square-foot travel center on Monument Hill, the county’s consultants are circulating a 516-page draft that would rebuild that code from the studs.
Posted inGovernment
Eight Hours at Centennial Hall: How Buc-ee’s Won Its Appeal
The Board of County Commissioners voted 4-1 on Thursday to allow a 74,000-square-foot travel center at Interstate 25 and County Line Road. The motion that carried never found the project to be a convenience store. It found it similar enough to other things the district allows — and that distinction governs everything that follows.
Posted inGovernment
Commissioners Grant Buc-ee’s Appeal, 4-1
El Paso County commissioners voted 4-1 to grant Buc-ee’s appeal, overturning the Planning Director’s determination on the C-1 classification.
Posted inGovernment
Residents Will Ask the Commissioners to Name the Neighborhood
Twenty-five Tri-Lakes residents will put one clause of the county code to the commissioners, citing a 1991 definition that barred fuel sales.
Posted inGovernment
LaKind Will Not Seek Re-Election as Mayor of Monument
Mitch LaKind announced he will not seek re-election as Monument’s mayor in November, ending a six-year run from trustee to mayor that spanned the town’s conversion to home rule. His departure puts an open seat atop a ballot already carrying four council seats and a use-tax question.
Posted inGovernment
Thursday’s Buc-ee’s Hearing: Time, Place, and How to Take Part
El Paso County commissioners hear Buc-ee’s appeal Thursday at 9 a.m. in Centennial Hall. Doors open at 8:30. Written comments close at noon Wednesday.