Hello, everyone. My name is Kevin Haughn. I am a resident in Elizabeth, Colorado at Independence in Elbert County. I absolutely love living here.
Currently, I sit on the board of directors for the Independence Overlay Metropolitan District, and I am also the chairman for the Architectural Controls Committee and the Director Member for the Resident Review Committee. However, this is not the website for any of the official things that Independence and its government do, including the board and committees that I just mentioned. If you want to find that information or engage with Independence and its government, then please go to them. They have a website at Independence Overlay Metropolitan District, for example. There are other ways to get ahold of them and see what they are up to, but this website here is totally different and unaffiliated.
As the name here indicates, this is an unofficial website that is run only by me, and I represent nobody but myself. I am a lot of things in this life, yet I am not the official spokesperson for any of them. Really, I only represent myself, my own viewpoints and opinions, and no one else. I'm just a guy.
Great question, and thanks for asking.
I have been on this board of directors for about four years now. When the Independence development began (I think officially in 2018, picked up steam in 2020, and then I bought my home here with my wife in 2021), it was as expected: pretty dusty and not too populated. But at some point, a word went out from the developer that they would open up two seats on the five-member board of directors for the Overlay District. So, I submitted my Letter of Interest and ran for office in May 2023, and so did another guy.
And that was it: just two people to fill the two vacant seats, so there was no election—we just got on. Over the course of a year and half, the other guy showed up to maybe two board meetings (out of probably ten) and then moved out. It was me as the only resident director on the Overlay District board for a long time. I got to learn a lot about the developer and our contractors, suppliers, vendors, agents, bookkeeping, the development, neighbors, etc. While I had extensive experience with Common Interest Developments (CID) and being president on a homeowners association (HOA) board for many years, volunteering for a Special District (which is a form of local government) in the State of Colorado was new to me. But I soaked it all in.
One of the things I wanted to do was to provide an official outlet at Independence for homeowners to unify under one common, supportive, constructive, positive culture. While others were putting together social functions and community events, I was trying to put together a rules committee. After all, if residents do not comply with our covenant-controlled community's rules, then our culture will not be unified and will probably not look the best. So, imagine trying to sell your home in a community that does not enforce its Covenants, Rules & Restrictions (CC&Rs)—that would be tougher to do than if everybody was instead compliant.
It took a lot of time, a lot of work, a lot of networking, a lot of learning, a few failures, and a lot of convincing to finally get a rules committee set up at Independence. This did not happen until 2026, some three years after I began on this quest. Along the way, as new residents moved into the development, the likelihood for volunteer interest grew. I was able to connect good people with each other for various things, and I have advised the board of directors on what I have done and witnessed.
I actually began volunteering and getting involved at Independence in 2022. In the nearly five years that I have been active, I have been writing my thoughts and opinions down for anyone to read, obviously with Independence residents being the main audience. In my somewhat unique position, I wrote down things that I saw regarding the development, the developer, the board of directors, our community management, resident feedback, things I was directly involved in or with, and other matters that have all been public knowledge. I figured that not everyone was interested in everything (like I am) and couldn't always get too involved with things (for various reasons), so I brought my commentary to them as a voluntary service. I have received great reception over the years, so I am glad to provide value to so many people—and the number keeps growing; people ask me to be added to my distribution list, and so I add them; I don't get their information any other way, and I keep it all confidential.
Since 2024, I have noticed that a few bad apples had moved into Independence. These are folks who don't get involved in important things, don't have educated or enlightened opinions, and frankly just sit around talking trash as their form of entertainment. And which public forum do you suppose caters to people like this?
Social media.
Through a Facebook group, a terribly aggressive and negative tone has developed—replete with misinformation, scare tactics, wanna-be lawyers, rabble-rousers, and conspiracy theories—and it is supposed to be representative of "the neighbors of Independence." Well, it's not representative of very many people at all. It's just another social media outlet where people can irresponsibly post things, like all the other social media sites that you know about. What seems to be mostly important there is the common psychology that we see with social media: feeling approved and empowered by others—fitting in. The 'Thumbs Up' is the most coveted thing a person can get in online social media, so that seems to be the main selling point of this toxic Facebook group: come say the most entertaining and irresponsible things—even pretending to help people—and then see how many 'Thumbs Up' and how much praise you can get in the comments section. And then conversations just degrade and sound more like what you'd hear in a high school cafeteria. It's pretty pathetic.
So, my infrequent "newsletter" that I've been sending out all these years at Independence now has to change to accommodate the growth and development here, plus the challenges to our culture, as more and more people come to live in this 1,400-home community, where it is divided into several homeowner districts over a large land area. I have a large readership base (which is ever-increasing) for what I send out via e-mail, and adding new folks to my distribution list is a bit of an administrative task.
So, here is my website. I hope you like it. Over time, you will notice that people will be citing it for their own Independence politics—both lovers and haters. I will continue to post here for as long as I live at Independence, even if I am not serving in its government. This website will essentially serve as a repository for my infrequent newsletters, where you can track my thoughts over the years—click the "Newsletter" link at the top of the page.
Thanks for being here if you are a helpful, good, and compliant soul like me. Please feel free to contact me if you want me to address any questions, rumors, history, narrative, or insight that you have on your mind regarding Independence in Elizabeth, Colorado. And feel free to tell people about "Unofficial Independence" as much as you want, especially those who would find the most value in it. You can reach me directly at
Kevin.Haughn@UnofficialIndependence.com
In conclusion, may God continue to bless us, Independence, Elizabeth, Elbert County, the State of Colorado, and the United States of America.