Je co Board of Education to decide on use of shuttered school buildings

BY ANDREW FRAIELI AFRAIELI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Sixteen elementary schools will be closing after this school year due to a vote by the Je erson County Board of Education in November. With their closing, the future use of the school buildings is called into question.

Included in that November vote was a resolution from the Board to create a community-involved process for giving recommendations on decisions involving the use of these buildings, according to Chief of Strategy and Communications for the District Lisa Relou. Part of that process is creating an advisory committee that includes District sta as well as additional speci c ad hoc members based on the location of the building being considered, Relou said in a Board study session earlier this month.

According to Relou, there will be a “step-by-step process including value assessment, engagement with local municipalities and special districts, proposal collection, legal review and community engagement, all in an e ort to make the best determination possible as to the future of the property.” e Board is the only body capable of declaring a building to be surplus, and therefore able to be sold by the District. Usage proposals from outside organizations are expected, and the committee — which will be decided upon by Feb. 1 — will draft a rubric to guide decision-making on these proposals by Feb. 21.

“ is rst process, we have this property, we’ve talked with the city, and now we’re going to have a public information session,” Relou said. “We might have an open house where it’s open most of the day where people can come in and see the property, and then we host a meeting where we give more information. And when we really open this, we’re going to collect the intent to propose — just getting a sense of what people might want to do in these buildings.” e next step after creating a rubric for these proposals will be March 1, when the Board studies the rst round of properties that might be considered as surplus. Next would be March 9, when the Board votes on that round of properties.

“We’re in the process of scheduling, reaching out to all our option schools to see what their needs are or desires might be, so that we are certain that we wouldn’t push things through the surplus process without rst understanding if those particular things are of interest to our internal folks,” Relou said.

Relationships and Planning Workshop

Starting a Family? Growing a Family? Growing Old? Staying Young? Getting Married? Adopting?

Have any of the above been a concern of yours over the past few years? Let us at Davis Schilken, PC help put your mind at ease with our Love and Planning workshop. We can help give you a quick rundown on what type of things you need to consider with your Estate Plans as your family life changes. Don’t let circumstances cause worry. We will cover things like asset protection, marriage, divorce, blended families, and more.

Remember, there is always a solution – let us at Davis Schilken help you find a solution.

Join us for one of our Love and Planning Seminars!

When: Wednesday, February 8th 8:00am – 9:30am

Where: DTC Office

7887 E. Belleview Ave., Suite 820 Denver, CO80111

*Coffee and Bagels will be provided

When: Wednesday, February 22nd 11:30am – 1:00pm

Where: Denver West Office 1658 Cole Blvd., Bldg. 6, Suite200 Lakewood, CO 80401

*Sandwiches will be provided

Please RSVP to Sherice Ritthaler at saritthaler@dslawcolorado.com or call 303-670-9855 to continue to support our community.

If you are looking for a great non-profit organization to donate to and one that keeps the funds they receive right here to help our local community, then please consider donating to your Conifer Salvation Army. Please reach out to Jacqueline Neal at 303-919-2923 or email: conifersalvationarmy@gmail.com or you can also mail a check to our PO Box 262, Conifer CO 80433. We are also looking for volunteers for our local Conifer unit, if you are looking to volunteer, please think about joining our team! A special thank you to our partners, King Soopers in Aspen Park, Citywide Banks in Conifer, Aspen Park-Ace Hardware, Staples in Conifer, we are so appreciative of your continued partnership and commitment to our community!

Thank you again to our wonderful community.

Wishing you all the best in 2023 and a happy, healthy, and blessed New Year!

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Pedestrian safety and curbing excessive noise are two areas the Morrison trustees want to continue focusing on, especially since those issues were brought up numerous times in a survey of town residents and businesses.

At a meeting to discuss the survey results on Jan. 18, trustees decided to ask Police Chief Bill Vinelli to create a tra c safety and noise enforcement comprehensive plan. ey also asked for data on the locations where Morrison police are writing speeding tickets.

“I feel the chief can really make an impact for us,” Mayor Chris Wolfe said. “I think we need more (speeding) enforcement in town where we live, especially on Highway 8.”

Trustees also suggested that speed enforcement should be more prevalent on Highway 74 through downtown and Highway 93 because slower vehicles will help pedestrians feel safer walking along town roads.

“Pedestrian safety ties into tra c enforcement,” Trustee Paul Sutton said. “We need to get people to slow down, and we need to encourage the (police) chief to do tra c enforcement to slow down cars.”

Morrison o cials sent a survey to residents and businesses within the approximately 2-square-mile town limits. Fifty-four community members and eight business owners responded. e survey asked wideranging questions about what the community liked and disliked about the town, with many respondents saying they enjoyed living in Morrison.

However, when asked what was the biggest challenge facing Morrison today, three speci cally mentioned speeding and pedestrian safety, while eight said quality of life would be improved by investing in pedestrian safety through trails and sidewalks, and reducing tra c speed.

Trustees agreed that the town was addressing many pedestrian safety concerns and wanted to communicate that to residents, especially since it was a hot-button topic for many. ey plan to put information in the Hogback, the town’s newsletter.

To help with pedestrian safety, the town is planning to build a trail along Highway 8 from Canyon Vista Drive to Red Rocks Vista Drive, hoping to eventually create a path to make the Morrison Natural History Museum more accessible to pedestrians.

Morrison also will be installing ashing crosswalk beacons, one on Highway 8 at Red Rocks Vista Drive and one on the west end of town by the Philips 66 gas station.

It appears the town will not be purchasing a speed-enforcement van as it had hoped because it is too expensive, and ticket revenue would not pay for it. However, town ocials continue to look at that option and others.

Curbing excessive

Noise

Trustees said enforcing the noise ordinance can be di cult, but it was a quality-of-life issue for some residents.

“It’s a through-town thing,” Wolfe said. “We can look at the warnings being issued and see what (Vinelli) is going to propose to add to enforcement.”

In the community survey, of the 54 community respondents, 23 said noise from tra c was a moderate or major problem. Of the respondents, 29 said the town should increase enforcement of the noise ordinance by police ticketing more violators, and 28 said the town should consider acquiring noise-detection equipment so it could issue more citations.

Sutton said the survey showed that the town wasn’t xing the problem.

“We can’t continue to kick the can down the road,” he added.

In past years, the town had electronic signs along Bear Creek Avenue in the downtown area in the summer months to remind motorists of the noise ordinance.

Trustee Katie Gill said maybe the town could tie enforcement to equipment on motorcycles and vehicles rather than using decibel meters.

“We have a lot of people who live in places during the summer where they can’t have a conversation on the deck or in the yard because it’s so loud,” she said. “We need to have some degree of enforcement.”

BY NINA JOSS NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Several metro Denver law enforcement agencies are seeking help identifying a suspect who they believe robbed four banks earlier this month.

e morning of Jan. 9, a suspect robbed the Chase Bank at 7605 W. 88th Ave. in Westminster. e following morning, the same person is suspected of robbing three more banks, including the First Bank at 8901 E. Hampden Ave. in Denver and US Bank at 8441 W. Bowles Ave. and First Bank at 6701 S. Wadsworth Blvd. in unincorporated Je erson County.

An FBI crime alert described the suspect as a white male in his 20s between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-10 tall. He has a slender build, dark hair, brown eyes, “stubble” facial hair and black eyeglasses with a thick frame, according to the alert. e suspect approached the teller, made a verbal demand for money, threatened the teller and then ed the bank, the alert said. e suspect did not display a weapon, according to a Facebook post from the Je erson County Sheri ’s O ce. e FBI’s Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force and Metro Denver Crime Stoppers are working with local police agencies on the case. e FBI is involved because the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which insures deposits, is considered a victim, said FBI Denver spokesperson Vikki Migoya.

Images of the suspect show him wearing di erent baseball caps and jackets or hoodies during robberies.

Anyone with information on the suspect is encouraged to call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at (720) 913-7867, 24-hour anonymous tip line. Callers could earn up to $2,000 for information that helps solve the crimes.

WANT TO PARTICIPATE?

The Evergreen Park & Recreation District will continue hosting discovery sessions to get the community’s input on programs and facilities the district should consider in the next three to five years.

The sessions will be:

• 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 25, at Wulf Rec Center to discuss parks and outdoor recreation;

• 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26, at Buchanan Park Rec Center to discuss the rec centers and indoor programs;

• 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 31, at Evergreen Lake House to discuss special topics such as youth sports, aquatics, dog park, pickleball, etc.;

• 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, at Buchanan Park Rec Center to discuss serving the whole community.