August 5, 2021
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An edition of the Littleton Independent A publication of
VOLUME 20 | ISSUE 37
Centennial allows more drive-thrus on University Blvd. Hoping for retail boost, city updates design standards
Health agency’s announcement follows new CDC guidance
BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Nearly 30% of the vehicles that travel along the University Boulevard corridor each day do not stop or start their drive in Centennial, instead rolling through the city as “pass-through” traffic, according to city staff. Meanwhile, Centennial has faced vacancies in its shopping centers on that major road — and a need for more sales-tax revenue. One way to address that problem: Take the existing traffic along University and hopefully divert some of it to the shopping centers by allowing more drive-thru restaurants. That’s the decision the city council made on July 19, SEE DRIVE-THRUS, P20
Tri-County Health urges masks in schools, indoor settings
BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
ted the murder. “The court not only finds that there is direct evidence that Birch committed murder in the first degree, both (on) his own admissions of the aggravated robbery and the shooting,” Judge Ryan Stuart said during the hearing. There is also “the direct evidence of video of the perpetrator committing the murder and
Stopping short of requiring masks in schools and other indoor places, the local public health agency for Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties released a recommendation for wearing masks in those settings as the Delta variant continues “surging across the metro Denver area,” the agency said in a news release. The Tri-County Health Department now recommends that “all persons wear masks in school settings regardless of vaccination status and, as long as we have rising rates of community transmission, that everyone including fully vaccinated persons wear a mask in public indoor settings,” the agency said in the July 30 release. The decision to recommend — but not require — masks in schools leaves the question of whether to require masks up to individual school districts in Tri-County’s area. The Delta coronavirus variant spreads about twice as easily from one person to another as previous strains of the virus, according to Tri-County. The recommendation from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for universal mask-wearing in school settings “is consistent
SEE SHOOTING, P30
SEE MASKS, P18
A former AAA store and travel agency along busy South University Boulevard at Dry Creek Road has stood vacant since it closed in early 2020. PHOTO BY MARK HARDEN
Gas-station shooting suspect set for trial Samuel Birch accused of killing clerk, 24, in Centennial robbery BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
The man suspected in the fatal shooting of a gas-station clerk in a robbery in November in west
Centennial pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go on trial in early 2022. Samuel Birch, who is in his early 30s, entered his plea at an arraignment hearing July 27 in Arapahoe County District Court. Birch is set for trial beginning Jan. 10. Birch sat for a preliminary hearing in February this year, where prosecutors argued that evidence suggests Birch commit-
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | CALENDAR: PAGE 17 | SPORTS: PAGE 24
NEW PLACES TO PLAY New breed of entertainment centers offer food, brews, fun P14
