Castle Pines Voter Ratification of Annexations

Annexation in Castle Pines takes a public hearing and a council ordinance, according to the city. Question 301 adds a section to the Home Rule Charter that sends some of those annexations to an election. If the city annexes a parcel over 20 acres owned or controlled by a single owner or ownership group within 180 days of the section's effective date, the charter refers that annexation to the city's registered electors for ratification at an election.

If no qualifying annexation occurs within the 180-day period, the council may repeal the section by ordinance, without a vote of the registered electors.

The question counts the window as 180 days "of the effective date of this section." The City Council's Resolution 26-51, which set the ballot title on August 25, 2026, describes the amendment as reaching an annexation "occurring within 180 days after the amendment takes effect." The petition committee's FAQ, repeated in Denver7's August 18 report, describes it as reaching land annexed "between now and election day (November 3, 2026)." Under Resolution 26-51, the charter text on the ballot is the text of the certified petition.

As of the city's August 26 update, no annexation petition was active in Castle Pines. On March 24 the council accepted the withdrawal of the Crowsnest petition, for an approximately 795-acre property, and imposed a stay of at least 120 days on annexation applications. The city says a new applicant must start the state-law process over, with a substantial-compliance finding, an eligibility hearing and public hearings.

Castle Pines voters decide Questions 300 and 301 separately, and neither text refers to the other, so either can pass alone. Question 300 requires voter approval before the city annexes property over 20 acres owned or controlled by a single owner or ownership group or part of a common plan of development or related transactions, and it treats single, successive, cumulative, serial or simultaneous annexations of multiple parcels as one. Question 301 refers a parcel "annexed within 180 days" for ratification, reaches only a single owner's or ownership group's parcel over 20 acres and has no aggregation clause.

A Statement of Intent to Circulate a Petition was filed with the city clerk on May 11, 2026, and petitions were turned in on July 31. On August 3, the city clerk certified the petition, with 1,406 signatures, as valid and sufficient. State law then required the council to set a ballot title. Resolution 26-51 says that setting the title neither endorses the petition's provisions nor concedes they are valid, and that the city waives no right to challenge them. The clerk's staff report estimates the cost of taking part in the coordinated election with Douglas County at $29,000. At the same August 25 meeting, the council adopted Resolution 26-53 opposing the prior-approval measure that appears as Question 300.