It is true that we received a Stop Work Order from the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department on Tuesday, after we shared news that we had removed the wall separating this meeting room from what used to be a game room over there.

Today, an inspector from the Regional Building Department visited and confirmed that we technically should have obtained a permit before removing that wall. However, it’s important to understand that we’ll be able to get that permit now, after the fact, without any problem. The inspector himself said that we shouldn’t encounter any problem in getting the permit. All we have to do now is hire a licensed contractor to request and receive the permit on our behalf.

There are no fines associated with this process. The district won’t be paying anything more than we would if we had obtained a permit before removing the wall. This was a procedural oversight without any negative consequence whatsoever.

One last point is important to bear in mind. The reason we decided to remove this wall is that our community events had become too successful for this room to contain them. In March, at our third-Friday Bingo game, there were 40 people crammed into this room and we had to turn away another 12 because there wasn’t space for them in here. We removed that wall in order to create a bigger, more accommodating room. The extra space has already paid off: there were more than 50 people here for our April 21 Bingo game last week. With the wall still in place, we would have had to turn people away again.

My point is that this little problem with the permit is a good problem to have. It results from a growing Parks and Recreation program that is providing value to an increasing number of residents. I look forward to the day our Parks and Rec program become so successful that we have to remove another wall somewhere. That is a goal I will continue to strive for.

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