CASTLE ROCK — Developers broke ground in November on the gargantuan Promenade at Castle Rock project, but public pushback against the 200-acre development came to an ugly head Tuesday night.

Castle Rock Mayor Paul Donahue had three people removed from the Town Council chambers for being disruptive during a public hearing covering the development plan, agreement and zoning regulations for the Promenade.

Nearly every person who spoke at the meeting opposed the project or at least asked that construction be delayed for three months to allow for the relocation of a large prairie dog colony on the parcel. The Town Council eventually voted 7-0 to approve the construction plans as submitted.

Donahue issued a warning about his intentions to have people he deemed to be upsetting the decorum of the gathering kicked out of the room long before he and his fellow council members cast that vote.

The first person signed up to speak was Castle Rock resident Linda Vannostrand.

“This is personal for those of us who viscerally love this landscape and the animals who depend on it,” Vannostrand, a prairie dog supporter, said. “These animals and those that live interdependently with them will suffer. Council need to put this ordinance to referendum.”

Vannostrand’s comment brought on loud and lengthy chorus of cheers leading Donahue to warn people that if they could not contain their applause they would be removed, adding council chambers are “not a football stadium.” A few speakers later, one woman clapped in support of the comments of another Promenade opponent and Donahue had one of the police officers in the room lead her out into the lobby. She and some others in the chamber claimed she came in late and never heard the mayor’s warning about disruption.

Another woman was lead out under similar circumstances a short time later.

Finally, as the public comment period was drawing to a close, a third man was lead out of the chamber as the crowd booed the mayor’s actions. That person, John Buckley, had addressed the Town Council earlier in the meeting and accused them of ignoring the will of the constituents on numerous issues, including the Promenade project.

Buckley was booted because he loudly called on the mayor to grant the speaking time set aside for one of the women previously kicked out of the meeting to another person who showed up later.

“I’m not surprised,” Buckley said as he stood to leave. “This is how you have conducted yourself in every town board meeting I have attended.”

It was the Town Council’s second public hearing in two weeks covering the massive project that is expected to bring up to 1 million square feet of retail space and 360 residential units to the parcel located northwest of the existing Outlets at Castle Rock retail center between Interstate 25 and U.S. 85.

Many at the meeting said the town of 50,000 didn’t need another mall, but a majority of the opposition centered on the extermination of a large prairie dog colony on the site.

Deanna Meyer, a resident of unincorporated Douglas County, was among the organizers of a protest on Feb. 24 during which about 40 people gathered on the corner of Factory Shops Boulevard and Meadows Parkway to decry the destruction of the prairie dog habitat.

She spoke at Tuesday, saying ” We don’t need a mall. We need the prairie dogs. When will enough be enough?”

Meyer and others blasted the Town Council for ignoring the development’s opponents, saying that it is clear their support was in the bag when they authorized what could top out at $24.48 million in shared sales tax and development reimbursement incentives for the $177 million project.

When the Town Council cast it unanimous vote in favor of the project, Meyer started chants of “Recall Donahue. Recall Town Council.”

At least one Council member said he is not concerned about a backlash related to the Promenade.

George Teal said that, among his constituents on the south side of town, he heard directly from two people who opposed the project in recent months.

“I stopped counting at 26 the number of people… who wanted me to approve it,” he said. “The reality is I am going to be voting in favor tonight.”

The Promenade at Castle Rock is a joint venture of Greenwood Village-based Alberta Development Partners and Denver’s Forum Real Estate Group. Retailers are expected to begin opening there this year.