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July 10, 2014 Volu M E 1 3 | I s s uE 25
LoneTreeVoice.net A publication of
d o u g l a s C o u n t y, C o l o r a d o
Streets getting facelift Metro district repairs and landscapes medians, beautifies interchanges By Jane Reuter
jreuter@colorado communitymedia.com
Lone Tree’s Taylor Rimmer takes a breather from trying to stand inside the water balls on July 4 at Sweetwater Park. Photo by Jane Reuter
Celebrating a successful Fourth Storm and online sign-up glitches only hiccups in 2014 festivities By Jane Reuter
jreuter@colorado communitymedia.com For the first time in seven years, Lone Tree’s Independence Day celebration went off without a hitch. Almost. A late afternoon thunderstorm shut down the Sweetwater Park festivities for about an hour and a half, and an online sign-up system aimed at alleviating long lines for the free attractions buckled under extreme demand. But those were minor glitches in an otherwise happy event, city leaders agreed. Some even saw the storm as a blessing in disguise. “The rain was perfect because it dampened down everything and we didn’t have to worry about fires,” Mayor Pro Tem Jackie Millet said. “I thought it was a beautiful evening.” Since 2008, rain, fire and man-made hiccups that delayed or canceled the fireworks have done in the annual event. This year, stormy weather came again, but passed well before sunset. Event organizers announced via loudspeakers about an hour after the park’s 4 p.m. opening that severe weather was en route, and they would close the park temporarily as a precautionary measure. Lone Tree and Acres Green residents were undeterred. When the storm passed and the park re-opened, both the sun and the crowds returned. “I think they all came back,” special events coordinator Lesley Johnson said. “I’m 100 percent sure we had 10,000 people there.” The park’s capacity is 10,000 and by the morning of July 4, the city’s supply of 10,000 wristbands — limited to residents of Lone Tree and Acres Green and their guests — was depleted. Its online sign-up system, a first for 2014 — that was intended to allow people to reserve a spot in line at the water balls, zipline and bungee jump attractions — also suffered ill effects from the crowds planning to attend the events. While the program — which sent texts to let people know about when their turn would be — worked temporarily for some of the attractions, it failed at others. It also was difficult for those who hadn’t signed up online to sign up at the park using smartphones.
The Yellow Designs BMX Stunt Team entertain the crowd on July 4 at Sweetwater Park. Photo by John Klassen
Lone Tree’s medians are getting facelifts and fresh landscaping this summer, and Park Meadows mall is gaining a landscaped entrance to match its sophisticated image. All of it is courtesy of the Park Meadows Metropolitan District. Crews are working on the established medians on both Lincoln Avenue and Yosemite Street, and putting the finishing touches on medians constructed last year along Park Meadows Drive. The work requires periodic lane closures. Time has taken its toll on the medians along Lincoln and Yosemite, which are about 15 years old. “They are just starting to deteriorate,” PMMD manager Bob Blodgett said. “With the combination of rain, snow, ice melt, the salt and sand that’s thrown up on them in the winter —a lot of the grout between the flagstones has gone. Some of the flagstone itself is just cracked and deteriorated.” Crews are re-grouting and resetting the stones, “to hopefully make them last another 15 years,” he said. That work on the medians on Lincoln soon will be complete; crews then will move on to the Yosemite Street medians and work there through late September. The board budgeted $450,000 for the project. Work also is nearing completion on medians along Park Meadows Drive, where crews are framing the structures built in 2013 and adding landscaping. Another PMMD project is underway near Park Meadows shopping center’s east entrance at the corner of Yosemite and Park Meadows Center Drive. The $230,000 project, which includes a $35,000 contribution from the City of Lone Tree, is designed to beautify an interchange that otherwise has been largely ignored. Crews are building a concrete wall, adding irrigation and planting trees, shrubs, ornamental grass and flowers. “That area has never been addressed Streets continues on Page 20
Two-year-old Emma Rotter watches the bungee jumpers through the fence at Sweetwater Park during the Independence Day festivities. Photo by Jane Reuter
Abba Fab guitarist Scott Pearson entertains the crowd at Sweetwater Park during the Abba tribute band’s show on July 4. Photo by John Klassen
“I think it was too many people for the system to handle,” Johnson said. “We’re looking into how we can make it better for next year.” Millet, who stepped in for a working Mayor Jim Gunning, was happy with the way the day’s events went. “There are always things we can improve on, but all things considered, it was
a great event,” she said. “Staff worked very hard. From the bicycle decorating down to the selection of food, there’s a lot of thought and planning that goes into it. “It’s the birthday of our nation. To have your friends and neighbors there joining you in that celebration, I think is wonderful.”
The Park Meadows Metropolitan District’s summer projects include repairing flagstones on Lone Tree’s Lincoln Avenue meridians. Photo by Jane Reuter