LOCAL

Implementation of law was delayed through 2020

BY REBECCA SPIESS DENVERITE

Since July 1, Denverites have had three options at the grocery store: bring your own reused bag, go without one… or pay 10 cents for each one.

According to the city, Denver uses more than 100 million disposable bags every year, yet only 5 percent are ever recycled. The plastic bags are notoriously difficult to recycle and cannot be collected by the city in their purple recycling bins either. Paper bags are easier to recycle, but require a lot of resources to make.

So where will you see the fee? All retail stores, including grocery stores, department stores, liquor stores and hardware stores. The exceptions include businesses where retail is not the main revenue generator, like beauty salons or restaurants. Temporary vendors, like farmers markets, won’t have to charge, either; and dispensaries are exempt because their little paper bags are too small to fall into this ordinance.

Retail stores will list the number of bags and the resulting charge separately on their receipts.

A few more details

The law was passed in 2019, but implementation was delayed because nobody wanted to ask for even one more dime in 2020.

Bags that are provided within a store don’t carry a charge. For example, you won’t be required to pay for bags containing prescription medications, or for the small plastic bags in the produce aisles. If you buy flowers or potted plants, you also won’t be charged for the bag collecting water drips.

Individuals on federal food assistance programs such as SNAP or EBT will also be exempt from paying the fee.

What is the city going to do with their new dimes? Nothing exciting, really. Stores get to keep 40 percent to cover the cost of implementing the fee (which will likely include putting up new signage and training employees). They can also use the money to provide free reusable bags to customers.

The other 60 percent goes back to the city which, it says, it will use to cover the program, hand out free disposable bags, create PSAs and maybe even fund community cleanups.

And to people who use disposable bags to collect their recycling, the city has a simple answer. Put your recyclables in your purple bins without them, loose. No one needs the bags at all, and they actually cause damage to recycling equipment.

This story is from Denverite, a nonprofit Denver news source affiliated with CPR News. Used by permission. For more, and to support Denverite, visit denverite. com.

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About 160 units going up

BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

An affordable housing project that calls for 160 units of new housing is in the works for Brighton, in collaboration with Adams Points Redevelopment Project and the Brighton Housing Authority.

The property is on vacant land at 19th Avenue and Bridge Street that Adams County-owned, according to the press release by Adams County and Brighton Housing Authority.

“As someone who has struggled with housing in my past, it’s incredibly important to me to expand the affordable housing options in Adams County,” said Eva J. Henry, chairperson of the Adams County Board of commissioners. “This partnership with Brighton Housing Authority is a win-win for all involved, especially those residents in need of quality and affordable housing.”

There are several affordable housing properties in Brighton that are managed or owned by BHA or with a partnership.

“The affordable housing project mentioned in the recent press release is in the early stages of feasibility. The number and type of units may vary based on the demand and project scope, which is not fully determined,” said Debra Bristol, chief of staff with the Brighton Housing Authority.

The first phase is the feasibility plan the Brighton Housing Authority wants to use to finance the project with low-income housing tax credits. Plus, there an agreement that into effect with the county with the help of the Adams County manager’s office, the facilities & fleet management department and the county’s attorney’s office.

“This is just one of the many ways our employees are working to make a difference in the lives of our residents,” said County Manager Raymond H. Gonzales. “We will continue to include the availability of affordable housing among our top priorities.”

Metro area home sales set median price record in June

Just 3,122 homes were listed for sale last month across metro counties

BY ESTEBAN L. HERNANDEZ DENVERITE

The median closing price for a home in the Denver metro area was a record $545,000 in June, according to the latest real estate market trends report from the Denver Metro Association of Realtors.

The amount is a 1.49% increase from May, and a whopping 22.47% increase compared to June 2020.

The report uses sales from 11 counties in the metro area, including Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver and Jefferson counties.

Realtor Brigette Modglin, who’s been part of the Association of Realtors’ market trends committee since 2016, said some of the reasons for the increase include more millennials looking to buy homes, buyers who want to work from home after the pandemic, and baby boomers who are also interested in buying, either by upsizing or downsizing from their current home.

She added there were some huge sales that may have skewed numbers a bit. A home in ritzy Cherry Hills Village recently sold for $1.1 million above its initial listing price tag.

While Modglins said it wasn’t clear whether this sale impacted June’s number, she said this is the kind of sale that can cause sale averages to spike.

She noted that this is why the median closing price is generally used more often than the average closing price, since Modglin said the average is the sum of all home sale prices divided by the total number of sales. The median is more of the “middle” value and is more insulated from outliers like, say, a multimillion-dollar home sale.

The report said the average closing price for a home in the metro area in June was $643,645.

The report noted the average number of homes on the market for June is 16,098, based on figures from 1985 to 2020. The market is nowhere near that, with just 3,122 listings last month, a record low.

Despite being a record low, June’s homes-on-the-market figures were a 50.46% increase from May, far above the average 5.86% change. But even then, the 3,122 listings were 51.09 percent fewer than in June 2020.

The record high listing for June was in 2006 when the area had 31,900 listings, according to the report.

This story is from Denverite, a nonprofit Denver news source affiliated with CPR News. Used by permission. For more, and to support Denverite, visit denverite.com.

STAFF REPORT

BRIGHTON — An Adams County Court judge declared a mistrial in the case of Jeremy Webster.

Webster is accused of killing a 13-year-old boy during an alleged road-rage incident in June 2018. The incident, which also injured the boy’s mother, his younger brother and a bystander, was at a Westminster dentist’s offi ce.

Chris Hopper, the spokesman for the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Offi ce, said an emergency medical issue prevented a prosecution witness from coming to Colorado to testify in person at the trial. Hopper called the witness “necessary and indispensable” to the prosecution’s case.

Hopper said that the jury selection process was still ongoing and jurors for trial had not yet been seated. The judge, Priscilla Loew, reset the proceedings to Oct. 25.

Webster is charged with a total 22 counts, including murder with extreme indifference and assault with extreme indifference.

Webster

incident, which also injured the boy’s mother, his younger brother and a bystander, was at a Westminster dentist’s offi ce. spokesman for the 17th

Missing person’s death termed ‘suspicious’

STAFF REPORT

FIRESTONE — Brighton police and Weld County sheriff’s deputies are investigating what they are calling a “suspicious death.”

The body of 33-year-old Ryan Coburn was discovered near Weld County roads 20 and 19, east of Firestone, according to the sheriff’s department. A press release said Brighton police took a missing person’s report about Coburn June 23. His family saw him last June 19.

Joe Moylan, a spokesman for the Weld County Sheriff’s Offi ce, said no cause of death has been determined.

Authorities would like information about Coburn’s activities in the days leading up to his death and/ or circumstances surrounding his death. Those with information should call Detective Jared Patterson at 970-400-5374.

Voting for COVID-19 Memorial closes July 18

STAFF REPORT

July 18 is the last day to vote on the artwork submitted for the “Americas COVID-19 Memorial,” a project of the Denver-based Biennial of the Americas.

The Americas COVID-19 Memorial is “an artist-driven project to acknowledge the grave impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the Americas,” states a news release. The Americas include Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean.

The multi-month project was announced in March and the open call for public submissions closed at the end of May.

Twenty-one artists were commissioned to contribute to the exhibit, and an additional 186 members of the public also submitted work for the exhibit. The artists include people from 15 countries and 22 states.

The Biennial of the Americas is a nonprofit that launched in 2010 to “enhance, celebrate and discover the cultural and economic connections between North and South America,” states its website.

The virtual exhibit of the Americas COVID-19 Memorial is currently on view on the Biennial of the Americas’ website, biennialoftheamericas.org.

In August, the Biennial of the Americas will announce awards for the Americas COVID-19 Memorial. Awards will be given to a juried fi rst place, juried second place and juried third place; as well a public favorite for the artwork that receives the highest number of votes from the virtual exhibit.

An in-person exhibit will take place Sept. 3-25 at Museo de las Americas, 861 Santa Fe Dr., which is in the Santa Fe Arts District in Denver’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. The in-person exhibit will highlight the work of the Americas COVID-19 Memorial’s commissioned artists and the award-winning artworks.

To learn more about the Biennial of the Americas or the Americas COVID-19 Memorial, visit www.biennialoftheamericas.org.

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a commission member from the congressional district in which they are held.

The venue for some meetings, especially those scheduled for August, aren’t yet fi nalized. View the redistricting commissions’ offi cial calendar at redistricting.colorado.gov for the most up-to-date information.

Half of the state’s eight congressional districts would encompass all or part of the Denver metro area under the proposal from nonpartisan staff. And a signifi cant number of state House and Senate districts are also in the area.

Ten of the commissions’ public hearings will be held in Denver metro communities, all on Tuesday or Wednesday evenings through Aug. 24.

More than 100 commenters from Lakewood already have chimed in, with most asking that Lakewood, which is in Jefferson County, be kept separate from Douglas County. The two are drawn together in the proposed 7th Congressional District.

Meanwhile, the proposed map places the new 8th Congressional District in the area northwest and north of Denver, including the cities of Arvada, Westminster, Broomfi eld, Thornton, Brighton and Platteville. The map resembles one recommended by the Colorado Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, though it doesn’t stretch as far into Weld County as that group suggested.

Legislative districts are likely to be a focus of the hearings, too. Three proposed metro-area Senate districts and fi ve House districts would place incumbents in the same district.

Public comments sent to the commissioners asked them to consider: • Black, Hispanic and minority communities, whose populations have shifted from central Denver to Aurora, Commerce City and other suburban Denver areas. • The impact of affordable housing and the interests of renters. • Oddly-drawn district lines in the proposed legislative maps, including splitting the dorms of the University of Denver between two state House districts.

The Interstate 25 corridor north from Denver saw some of the state’s most explosive growth between 2010 and 2020, as subdivisions popped up on former agricultural land. That’s part of the reason the new 8th Congressional District was drawn in this area.

The fi rst draft also would shrink the 2nd Congressional District, still including the college towns of Boulder and Fort Collins, but no longer reaching across the Continental Divide into Eagle County.

The 4th District would include the northern and eastern parts of Weld County under the proposal, before stretching out to the Eastern Plains and south.

Residents of western Boulder County are upset at potentially being moved into the 3rd Congressional District under the proposed map. The 3rd District has been a Republican stronghold and it’s currently represented by U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert. Some 20 people submitted nearly identical comments to the commission objecting to the proposed change, which includes placing all of Summit and Eagle counties in the 3rd District.

Other comments received by the commissions thus far include: • Concerns about Longmont’s grouping with Weld, Douglas and Eastern Plains counties in the current congressional map, rather than with Boulder. • Urging a congressional district be drawn along the northern I-25 corridor, including to keep Larimer and Weld counties together and separate from the Eastern Plains. Others, however, want to keep Larimer and Weld separate from each other. • How rapid population growth and development in Greeley has given it more in common with metro Denver than with Fort Morgan, Sterling and Yuma. • How a signifi cant Hispanic population in Greeley could be grouped with those in Longmont, Brighton and Commerce City.

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Proposed map Colorado’s new eighth congressional district, which includes Brighton, Commerce City, Northglenn, Thornton and Westminster.

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This story is from The Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support The Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun.com. The Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.

WEST NILE

FROM PAGE 1

larvicide treatments, weekly trap collection counts and weekly spraying in areas when the counts warrant,” said Roy Vestal, director, Fort Lupton Pubic Works.

“The public needs to be vigilant because West Nile Virus have a permanent summer presence in Colorado,” Lawley said.

When an infected Culex mosquito bites, West Nile symptoms can appear within three to 14 days. Most people do not exhibit symptoms but could experience fever, headache, nausea, vomiting muscle aches, weakness and rashes and should seek medical attention immediately. Less than 1 percent of infections develop a neuroinvasive illness that attacks the nervous system which could be fatal, according to the health department.

The health department recommends the four “D” to prevent bites: * Drain weekly standing water around the house such as tires, cans fl owerpots, clogged rain gutters, rain barrels, toys, and puddles; * Dusk and Dawn: Mosquitos are swarming; when outside take safety measures to prevent mosquitoes’ bites; * DEET products are effective insect repellents or other products that contain picaridin, IR3535, lemon eucalyptus oil, and para-mentane-diol; and * Dress in long sleeves, pants, and a hat.

For more information about preventing mosquito bites and West Nile Virus in Weld County, visit https://www.weldgov.com/Government/Departments/Health-and-Environment/Environmental-Health/ Animal-Related-Diseases/ZoonoticDisease-Seasonal-Updates.