2016 in the Colorado Springs Area: A look back

While the nation may remember 2016 for a contentious presidential race, the year in the Pikes Peak region was much more subdued. It was a year of growth in the region with housing prices increasing, new businesses starting like the Great Wolf Lodge and construction such as the start of a Children’s Hospital to open in 2018. Some of the biggest local stories in 2016 were a continuation of news from past years.

- Colorado Springs Philharmonic music director Josep Caballé-Domenech's contract was extended indefinitely in January. His original contract began in September 2011 and was scheduled to expire in August. The symphony celebrated its 90th anniversary in the fall.

- Local couple Catharine and Bart Holaday gave the Fine Arts Center a $1 million gift in April, the largest since its capital campaign in 2007. It will be used to develop and create a 21st century interactive gallery space.

- Colorado College acquired the Fine Arts Center in August and took over management responsibilities Sept. 1. On July 1 the FAC will be renamed the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College. By July 1, 2020, the FAC will be fully transferred to the college along with its building, art collection and $2 million debt.

- Robert Redford and Jane Fonda began filming their Netflix movie "Our Souls at Night in September." Shooting finished in early November. The movie is set for release next year.

- An anonymous donor gifted the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum with $300,000 in November, the largest annual private gift ever bestowed on the institution in its 120-year history. The money will be used through 2018 to support the upcoming free exhibit "The Story of Us: The Pikes Peak Region from A-Z." It opens Jan. 14.

The Colorado Springs City Council saw controversy as well as kudos in 2016 as it:

- Approved a contentious land trade of the city's Strawberry Hill fields open space to The Broadmoor in exchange for several parcels expected to facilitate trail linkages and improvements to the Manitou Incline and nearby Barr Trail up Pikes Peak. Hundreds of residents came to multiple public hearings, mostly to oppose the swap. But the council passed it 6-3 in May.

- Passed a "sit-lie law," formerly named the Pedestrian Access Act, after months of watering down the proposal amid withering critiques by civil liberties advocates. The law, enacted in February, forbids people from sitting, lying, kneeling or reclining on downtown or Old Colorado City streets or sidewalks.

- In March eliminated "debtors' prisons," created as impoverished people who couldn't pay fines were jailed instead. After a 2015 challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, the city agreed to stop turning fines into jail time, to stop jailing people for unjailable offenses and to repeal panhandling ordinances that supported those practices.

- Censured Councilwoman Helen Collins after a retired U.S. magistrate judge ruled that she engaged in fraud, abuse and corruption in government, violated ethics and created the appearance of impropriety in her real estate dealings with friend Douglas Bruce.

- Enacted a construction defects ordinance intended to protect developers from lawsuits and spur construction of more condos and other multi-family dwellings.

- Extended a moratorium on growth of medical marijuana businesses and established licenses and fees for cannabis clubs. When not all clubs complied, the city issued cease and desist orders to nine of them. A lawsuit filed on behalf of the clubs has yet to be settled.

- Saw their six council districts redrawn by City Clerk Sarah Johnson with help from an advisory committee and comment gathered at multiple public hearings.

- Started work on a rewrite of the landslides construction ordinance, which is expected to tighten scrutiny of development plans on sites in the landslide susceptibility zone.