November 10, 2026: Council raises campaign donation limits, vacates Havana, and approves contract to finish the development code
Campaign Finance
Voted to replace the state’s $400 donation cap with city limits, and against cutting them further Passed
Voted for final passage of Ordinance 26-07, which sets Castle Pines’ own campaign contribution limits in place of the state’s $400 cap on what one person can give a municipal candidate. The new limits are $2,000 per person per election to a candidate committee or a political committee, and $10,000 per person to an issue committee; candidates can still put any amount into their own campaigns. The ordinance also caps contributions and spending in cash, coin or digital currency at $100, bars asking on-duty city employees for contributions on city property, and writes the city’s existing registration, reporting, record-keeping and leftover-money rules into the municipal code. Before the vote, one colleague moved to hold every limit to $2,000, and another moved to cut the candidate limit to $1,000, arguing that higher limits invite outside money and raise the cost of running for office. Salazar argued against both: residents, not council, should decide how much they give, and a limit does not decide what a campaign costs. She also asked whether all issue committees share one limit, and the clerk said they do; and whether a recall or a recount starts a new election under the limits, and the clerk said a recall would and a recount would not. Council rejected both amendments. No residents signed up to speak at the hearing, and the clerk received no public comment between readings. It passed, with Council Members Eubanks and Mulvey voting no.
Development Code, Building Codes & South Havana Street
Approved $178,000 to finish rewriting the city’s development code Approved
Voted for Resolution 26-74, a not-to-exceed $178,000 agreement with Goebel Partners LLC to finish the Unified Land Development Code: one rulebook to replace the land development codes Castle Pines inherited from Douglas County when it incorporated in 2009. The rewrite has stopped and started since 2019, through three consultants and an attempt by city staff to do it in-house. The staff memo puts $70,000 in this year’s budget and proposes the remaining $108,000 in the 2027 budget. The city manager used the purchasing policy’s exception for specialized professional services, so the contract was not competitively bid. Salazar asked how the rewrite lines up with the comprehensive plan update now under way. The community development director said the code is how the plan gets carried out, so the code work follows the plan: if the plan calls for a business district that fits beside neighborhoods, the code sets the building heights and buffers that make it happen. The work runs in three steps: an audit of the current draft and the city’s planned developments, drafting with public review, and adoption hearings before the Planning Commission and council. Staff aims to finish by the end of 2027; the contract runs to June 1, 2028 as a cushion, and the mayor said she would have preferred a December 2027 end date. It passed 7–0.
Asked what the 2024 building codes would cost residents and the city On the record
Questioned the city’s contract building official at a study session on moving Castle Pines from its current codes (the 2021 international codes, with the 2018 energy code) to the 2024 editions. State law also now requires a city that updates its codes to adopt Colorado’s model electric and solar ready code and its low energy and carbon code. Under them, new homes with gas appliances must also be wired so an electric range or furnace can be swapped in later, must leave clear roof space and an empty conduit for future solar panels, and must have a wiring path for a garage car charger. The official estimated the state codes add roughly $1,000 to $1,500 in materials to a standard new home, said the 2024 energy code costs builders about the same as the 2018 code the city uses now, and said a remodel is held to the new rules only for the part of the house being worked on. Salazar asked how the update would change SafeBuilt’s scope, its cost to the city, or permit fees. He said the city’s cost would not change: permit fees are set as a share of a project’s declared value, so the only effect would be a slightly higher valuation, such as a $300,000 home coming in at $305,000. Staff will bring the code update back for a formal vote. This was a study session: council took no vote, and study sessions do not take public comment.
Gave final approval to giving up the old stretch of South Havana Street Passed
Voted for Ordinance 26-11 on second reading, after pointing out that the motion as read left out the words “on second reading.” It vacates (gives up the city’s public right-of-way over) the 1.575-acre stretch of South Havana Street left behind when the road shifted west for Canyonside Subdivision Filing No. 4. Staff said the developer paid for the realignment, the new road has been open to traffic since early fall, every neighboring property keeps its access, and the city will maintain the new road as it did the old one, at no added cost. Under the agreements the city signed with Douglas County and the developer in 2023, the vacated land goes to North Canyons LLLP. No residents signed up to speak at the hearing. It passed.
Parks & Open Space
Took the first votes to bring Canyons parks, trails and open space into city hands Approved on 1st reading
Approved on first reading, on consent, Ordinances 26-12 and 26-13, which accept the first two groups of park, recreation, trail and open space tracts from The Canyons Metropolitan District No. 7, the district that serves the Shea Canyons area east of I-25. This carries out Ballot Item 2F, which voters approved in 2023: the city collects up to 12 mills of property tax for parks and open space while the district lowers its own levy by the same amount. The district keeps the improvements that mainly benefit private property, such as fencing next to private lots, mailbox pads and lighting, and retaining walls that hold up private property, along with easements to maintain them. The first group holds tracts with only public improvements; the second holds tracts with retaining walls the district keeps. A third group, including some retaining walls the city will own, comes later. The city manager said second readings come in December.
In the Community
Welcomed new residents and met with incoming and outgoing elected officials Ongoing
Attended the city’s new resident welcome, where she showed Canyons residents the city’s development map and heard from several who want to get involved with the Planning Commission. Also attended a dinner for incoming and outgoing elected officials with Council Member Mulvey and City Manager Penney, where she spoke with outgoing County Commissioner Abe Laydon.
Watch the recap
About this record
Every entry comes from a public Castle Pines City Council meeting; video and official minutes are available through the city clerk’s office. Ordinances take two council votes: an entry marked first reading still needs a second, confirming vote before it becomes law. Resolutions, emergency ordinances and contract awards take a single vote. Matters still in process are described as such rather than claimed as outcomes. Dollar figures come from the staff memo or the record; none are estimated.
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