Second Edition: Spooky Season in Full Swing
Monday, October 5, 2026
Spooky season is on across the Ranch, with contests, tours, and haunted trails all month.
Happy October, neighbors. We are back with the second Highlands Ranch Report, and this month is already packed. Adventure films at Southridge, a haunted mansion tour for the grownups, two decorating contests to show off your street, and a big safety upgrade coming to one of our busiest intersections. Let us get into it.
This week around the Ranch
Mountainfilm on Tour, Wednesday, October 7, Southridge Recreation Center. An evening of award winning adventure short films in the Wildcat Auditorium, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm with doors at 6. Tickets are $17 and the evening is suggested for ages 16 and up, with a cash bar and a YETI backpack raffle when doors open. Seating is first come, first served.
Spirits with the Spirits, Wednesday, October 7, Highlands Ranch Mansion. If film night is not your thing, the Mansion is running its spooky evening tours from 6:30 to 9 pm the same night. This one is for ages 21 and up, and children and infants are not admitted.
The Highlands Ranch Mansion hosts its Spirits with the Spirits evening tours on October 7.
Halloween House Decorating contest, all October. If your house is the spooky one on the block, HRCA wants it on the Halloween map so neighbors can tour the best decorated streets. This is your excuse to go all out on the inflatables.
Holiday Banner Decorating Contest, October 1 to 31. HRCA is running its second annual banner contest for kids, so this is a great rainy weekend project for the little ones before the holidays arrive.
Farmers Market countdown: three Sundays left. The market runs October 11, 18, and 25, then the season is done. If you have been meaning to stock up on fall produce, the clock is ticking.
Looking ahead. The HRCA Board Working Session is Monday, October 12. The Therapeutic Recreation Halloween Dance is Friday, October 30. All rec centers close at 5 pm on Halloween, Saturday, October 31, and the Backcountry Wilderness Half Marathon winds through the trails that same morning. Mark November 9 for the Veteran's Concert too.
Development watch
A safer Broadway and Highlands Ranch Parkway. Douglas County approved a $4 million agreement with CDOT to fix up the Broadway and Highlands Ranch Parkway intersection, with $3.6 million in federal safety funds and a $400,000 local match. The plan adds new turn lanes, a third through lane on Highlands Ranch Parkway, and a replacement traffic signal. The county says the single left turn lane on Broadway regularly backed traffic into the through lanes, causing rear end crashes, so this one should make the daily commute noticeably smoother. Construction is moving toward early 2027.
UCHealth Pavilion 2 is seeing patients. The hospital campus held its ribbon cutting on September 9 for the new four story medical office building at 9051 SSG Chris Falkel Drive. At 118,574 square feet, it holds physical therapy, imaging, a full floor ambulatory surgery center, and clinics including internal medicine, gastroenterology, surgical, and heart and vascular services, all now open to patients.
Parkway reconstruction wrapping up. The Highlands Ranch Parkway reconstruction between Broadway and Burntwood Way was scheduled to finish around the end of September. In the county's update for the week of September 20, crews were still raising the new signal poles and building the raised center medians. Keep an eye on your commute to see how it landed.
Government corner
County commissioners meet Tuesday, October 13. The Board of Douglas County Commissioners holds its business meeting at 1:30 pm, followed by the land use meeting and public hearing at 2:30 pm, in the Commissioners' Hearing Room at 100 Third Street in Castle Rock. The next land use hearing after that is October 27. You can attend in person or watch the livestream on the county website.
Planning Commission meets tonight. If you are reading this Monday morning, the county Planning Commission meets at 6 pm tonight, October 5, in the same Castle Rock hearing room. It meets on the first and third Mondays of each month and weighs in on land use decisions before they reach the commissioners.
HRCA meetings this month. The Architectural Review Committee meets this Wednesday, October 7. The Board Working Session is Monday, October 12, which is the pre board workshop where no action items occur. The Design Review Committee meets Wednesday, October 14, and reviews development plans in and around the Ranch. The Finance Committee meets Monday, October 19, and the Delegate and Board meeting we flagged last week is on Tuesday, October 20.
That is the second edition. Next week we will be back with more events, more development news, and the recap from this month's board meetings. If you have a tip about something happening in your neighborhood, reply to the newsletter and tell us.