The Common Area Committee has several new members this year. Learning about the committee’s responsibilities was akin to an Abbott and Costello performance of “Who’s on First?” Watch their act at Bing Videos.
Knowing who owns which parcels and the associated responsibility was our first challenge. There are numerous landowners within TrailMark. You probably know that we homeowners share our neighborhood with several larger landowners.
The City of Littleton owns most of our neighborhood streets, some of the parcels adjacent to TrailMark Parkway and Independence Street, and the fire station parcel. The city used to own more land but conveyed much of it to South Suburban Parks & Recreation.
South Suburban Park & Recreation District owns much of the open space, including TrailMark Park, Hogback Hill Park, and most of the trails and surrounding land.
Shea Homes Limited Partnership owns the undeveloped parcel on the northeast side of TrailMark Parkway near the entrance to our neighborhood.
TrailMark Metropolitan District owns some of the water drainages and retention areas and some narrow strips of land. They also own TrailMark’s water rights within the three reservoirs.
TrailMark Homeowners Association owns strips of land adjacent to the north side of TrailMark Parkway from the neighborhood entrance to Hogback Hill Park.
Star Canyon Homeowners Association and Star Canyon Condominium Association own private streets and open areas adjacent to the patio homes and condominiums.
Ken-Caryl Ranch Water and Sanitation District owns two small, fenced parcels containing their lift stations.
Jefferson County Hildebrand Ranch Park is adjacent to three sides of the subdivision, Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farms manages the lands to our north, and United States Army Corps of Engineers manages the lands to the east of the neighborhood. The US government actually owns the land at TrailMark’s entryway as well as the land used by Chatfield State Park and Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farms.
We learned maintenance responsibilities don’t always reside with the landowner. The City of Littleton transferred maintenance responsibilities for its land adjacent to TrailMark Parkway and Independence Street, including the road medians, to the TrailMark HOA before granting final approval of the subdivision.
The ownership information provides an understanding of TrailMark’s common areas and our committee’s responsibilities. Our Common Area Committee helps to meet TrailMark HOA’s maintenance responsibilities, which are primarily the medians and areas adjacent to TrailMark and Independence. Thankfully, we don’t have responsibility for all the open space in our community and we understand things much better than Costello did at the end of their gig.