Estes Park residents voted more than 2 to 1 today to make it harder write new chapters in the history of the 75-acre neighborhood around the stately Stanley Hotel.
Residents voted 1,044 to 408 to require town fathers should to get voter approval before selling any of four publicly owned properties in the historic district.
“It vindicates what we’ve been saying all along,” said Jon Nicholas, who chaired the campaign for the measure, “and that’s that people want a say in Stanley Historic District.”
The move is aimed at tripping up a city plan to sell a 7-acre parcel in the district for $1.25 million to a local developer for a proposed shopping and condo complex called Estes Wind.
Opponents of the development got 760 petition signatures from among 4,200 registered voters in October to get the measure on the ballot today.
The historic district was created in 1994 around the Stanley Hotel, a major town tourist attraction that opened in 1909 and was in the inspiration for Stephen King’s book and movie “The Shining.”
City officials have pushed the development of the property, saying Estes Winds could generate up to $200,000 in sales taxes each year.
This article has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to a reporting error, it included an incorrect first name for Jon Nicholas.
