July 15, 2021
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An edition of the Littleton Independent A publication of
VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 34
City puts temporary ban on sex-oriented businesses Potential for any strip club, adult store sees six-month pause while city reviews regulations BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
letter said. “Even if masks are optional when we return, anyone who is not fully vaccinated will be strongly encouraged to wear a mask while indoors.” All grade levels in Cherry Creek will be back in the classroom starting Aug. 18. In late spring, Colorado still required masks in schools unless people could prove they were vaccinated. At the time, vaccinated Coloradans — including children who are eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine — could remove masks where the
A couple blocks on a nondescript side street just east of Interstate 25 make up the only place in Centennial where sexually oriented businesses are allowed to locate — and to the city’s knowledge, no business of that kind is currently operating in Centennial. But city staff saw this year as an opportunity to do what they’ve been wanting to do for years: take another look at Centennial’s regulations on sexually oriented businesses to ensure that the rules are up to date with state and federal law, along with today’s business practices. “In part due to the expansion and availability of the internet since 2005, adult novelty stores have purportedly modified business operations, marketing, and in-store retailing in a manner that may no longer fully comport with the goals, purposes, and intent” of the city’s regulations, a June 14 city staff report says. Under Centennial law, a sexually oriented business is defined as “an adult arcade, adult bookstore, adult cabaret, adult novelty store, adult video store, nude model studio, adult motel, adult motion picture theater, or sexual encounter center.”
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In a file photo, a student wearing a face covering walks up to Walnut Hills Elementary School in August 2020 while being welcomed back to school by staff during the first week of the school year. PHOTO BY ELLIS ARNOLD
Cherry Creek schools ‘hopeful’ to make masks optional in August Tri-County Health will guide district on quarantines, continue contact tracing BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
After Colorado lifted its school requirements for masks, quarantines and COVID-19 outbreak protocols, the Cherry Creek School District announced a tentative plan for making masks optional in August
and signaled that quarantines will still continue to some extent. “We are lifting mask requirements for all summer programs, except for the Extended School Year (ESY) program, which will still require masks to be worn indoors,” a July 9 letter to the community from district Superintendent Christopher Smith said. The district is “hopeful that masks will be optional for all students and staff when school resumes in August,” the letter said. “We are planning for that likelihood but will continue monitoring state and local guidance before making a definitive decision,” the
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