1-Color
May 1, 2014 Douglas County, Colorado | Volume 13, Issue 15 A publication of
lonetreevoice.net
Lincoln Commons shifts focus Vision for area changes to include senior center, library, park By Jane Reuter
jreuter@coloradocommunitymedia.com
These two grizzly bears, among 300 animals abandoned in Texas, cool off in a pool at the Wild Animal Sanctuary. Photos by Jane Reuter
Sanctuary owner shares story Craig tells Lone Tree audience about decades of animal rescues By Jane Reuter
jreuter@coloradocommunitymedia.com Pat Craig was just 19 when he first heard adult lions and tigers referred to as zoo surplus, and learned most were euthanized. Thirty-four years later, speaking in front of an audience at the Lone Tree Arts Center, the memory of that moment in the back of a zoo made Craig’s voice break. “I was looking at these animals; they were looking back at me,” he said. “I thought, these animals will die without somebody. I should be doing something’.” So he did. In 1980, Craig built and opened a small sanctuary on his parent’s farm near Boulder. Within a month, he heard from people seeking to place more than 1,000 animals. “I thought saving one is better than none,” Craig said. “Pretty soon I realized I Animal continues on Page 22
Plans for Lone Tree’s Lincoln Commons area are shifting with time. What once was envisioned as a retail-dense area like Centennial’s Streets at SouthGlenn now is planned with more residential and civic uses, including a senior-living center, library and park. More shops and businesses still are included in the design, but in smaller numbers than originally proposed, and curtains have fallen on the movie theater RidgeGate developers once imagined. The Lone Tree City Council approved the amendment to the Lincoln Commons subarea plan in April. Lincoln Commons includes a swath of the RidgeGate development south of Lincoln Avenue. It is home to Super Target, Sprouts and several restaurants, shops and medical offices. Denver-based Snooze recently announced its plans to open a restaurant, and RidgeGate is donating land for a new Lone Tree library there. The area recently approved for changes encompasses about 15 acres east of the Lone Tree Arts Center. The original vision there pre-dated the recession, said Lone Tree community development director Kelly First. Those years left commercial developers more cautious, particularly about lessvisible sites south of Lincoln along RidgeGate Parkway. “Streets at SouthGlenn had an opportunity to get started before the recession,” RidgeGate development manager Darryl Jones said. “We didn’t have that advantage. A number of economic factors have changed the reality of where businesses locate. They’ve been less willing to go in locations Commons continues on Page 22
A pair of tigers lounge in the late April sun at the Wild Animal Sanctuary near Keenesburg.
Anderson back in sheriff’s race Castle Rock police commander asks voters to write him in By Ryan Boldrey
rboldrey@coloradocommunitymedia.com Castle Rock Police Cmdr. John Anderson isn’t going to let the outcome of the Douglas County GOP Assembly stop him. Anderson, who fell 20 votes shy of making the Republican primary ballot in what had been a three-person race for the party nomination, is officially back in the running for sheriff, and is asking voters to consider writing him in as the county’s top law officer in June when the Republican primary rolls around. Heading into the March 22 county assembly, Anderson, Coroner Lora Thomas and Undersheriff Tony Spurlock all were seeking the Republican nod. Yet after Spurlock garnered the support of 50.4 percent of the 460 delegates who voted
and neither Thomas (24.8 percent) nor Anderson (24.6 percent) got the required 30 percent to make it on to the ballot, Spurlock became the only one of three to get on. That didn’t sit well with Anderson Anderson, who is frustrated, not just with the caucus process, which he calls “corrupt,” but also with the current regime that has been in control of Douglas County since Sheriff Steve Zotos took office in 1983. Zotos was succeeded by his Capt. Mike Acree, who after his resignation as sheriff supported the county commissioners in appointing his undersheriff, current term-limited Sheriff David Weaver, to the office in 2005. Spurlock is Weaver’s undersheriff. “When you get an establishment in there for 30-some years, it becomes a machine,” Anderson said. “And I think that this machine self-serves itself and steps away from what the public really needs,
which is improved public safety.” Anderson pointed to the 2011 election in which Douglas County voters shot down ballot measure 1A by a margin of 60.4 percent to 39.6 percent. Had 1A passed, it would have allowed for the county to extend the sheriff term limits from two to three. If Spurlock is elected to the office, he said, “the status quo will continue,” adding that if Weaver also becomes the newest Douglas County commissioner “it stays the exact same, and (the regime becomes) even more powerful.” “Right now what I need to do is remind the public that they asked for change in the sheriff’s office by voting out the possibility of a third term. “I’m running to give them that other choice.” With 101,164 registered Republican voters in Douglas County, Anderson said it’s a bit of a sham that a few hundred get to make a decision for all of them and said there’s a reason the caucus system is only practiced in 11 states anymore. Anderson continues on Page 9
Development plans for Lincoln Commons, once reminiscent of Streets at Southglenn, have shifted with time and economic fluctuations. Photo by Jane Reuter
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