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November 4, 2021
ARAPAHOE COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
SouthPlatteIndependent.net
VOLUME 76 | ISSUE 52
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 14 | LIFE: PAGE 16 | CALENDAR: PAGE 19 | SPORTS: PAGE 28
Don’t count out Tri-County Health yet, leaders say Health chief, Adams Co. officials see collaboration possibility past 2022 BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
which will also be expanded beyond Main Street to include Alamo Avenue and several side streets. The move is intended to better protect the downtown area, with some buildings that date back to the 1870s, from development and demolition that city staff said could threaten its community character. City staff members also believe that an all-inclusive historic
The formal bonds that hold the public-health partnership among Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties together may be loosening, but the complete demise of the TriCounty Health Department, which has served them for decades, may be less certain to happen than it has appeared. “My best-case scenario is, after a couple months, Adams County works with us and figures out they can provide what they want in terms of local control and (for their residents) in a two-county infrastructure,” John Douglas, executive director of Tri-County Health Department, told Colorado Community Media in an interview, expressing hope that Adams and Arapahoe could still work together. He also envisioned a future where Arapahoe County partners with TriCounty “as some kind of independent entity” that Arapahoe might contract with — or even that Greenwood Village-based Tri-County gets “evolved” into a department of Arapahoe County. He said he hopes that whatever Tri-County becomes could also work with Adams and Douglas counties at least in a transitional role to provide services and help them plan for what their evolution to new health agencies might look like.
SEE DOWNTOWN, P5
SEE TRI-COUNTY, P6
In a September 2020 file photo, a man dismantles a canopy during a sweep of a homeless camp along the South Platte River. PHOTO BY DAVID GILBERT
As homeless camps expand, tension builds Littleton, Englewood, Sheridan adopt action plan BY JENNIFER BROWN THE COLORADO SUN
Cyclists and joggers along the South Platte River Trail in Littleton call police on a regular basis these
days to report homeless campers. Residents also notify authorities when someone is sleeping on a sidewalk outside a storefront. And then, while officers are responding to those reports of unauthorized camping or trespassing, other Littleton residents call the police department to complain that officers are harassing the homeless. The tension is rising as Denver’s homelessness crisis creeps beyond the city and into surrounding
towns. There is no permanent homeless shelter in Littleton, Sheridan or Englewood, only motel voucher programs and a network of churches that provide warm beds on winter nights. There isn’t a day shelter in Littleton where people could get a hot meal, take a shower and sign up for job training or housing vouchers. SEE HOMELESS, P21
Council OKs new downtown historic district Designation seeks to bring new grant funding, safeguard preservation BY ROBERT TANN RTANN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Littleton City Council voted 6-1 on Oct. 26 to approve a new downtown historic district designation.
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Patrick Driscoll, who represents District 1, which includes downtown Littleton, was the only councilmember who voted against the proposal. The decision overhauls the current district designation along Main Street that property owners have had the option of joining since 2005. The new designation will automatically apply to all properties within the district’s boundary,
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