Voice
Lone Tree 7.18.13
Lone Tree
July 18, 2013
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourlonetreenews.com
Douglas County, Colorado • Volume 12, Issue 27
Designers to reveal retail area’s future Open house set on plans for Entertainment District By Jane Reuter
jreuter@ourcoloradonews.com The design team charged with studying Lone Tree’s Entertainment District will reveal its vision for the area’s future during a July 25 community open house. Residents and business owners are invited to drop in between 4 and 7 p.m. at the district’s Bridge Centers building, home to Panera Bread, to take a peek at the plans. A brief presentation is planned at 6 p.m. The district, off Yosemite Street and Park Meadows Drive, was developed under the county and later annexed into Lone Tree. City officials long have hoped to improve access into the center, traffic and pedestrian flow through it and its overall appear-
ance. The center includes the United Artists theater, Mimi’s Cafe, the Brunswick Zone and Sky Venture Colorado, among others. In April, the city hired consulting team 505 Design in May to create a proposal that ideally will drive more traffic to the center. Consultants have since met with residents, tenants, customers and business owners. Although 505 Design’s managing principal John Ward wouldn’t talk specifics, his enthusiasm about the plan is clear. “I think it’s very exciting,” he said. “We did a lot of public outreach (and) there’s a real consistency in that community about what they’re looking for and how they think about things. So it leads us to a pretty unified answer.” The brightly colored Mellow Mushroom, the district’s newest and one of its most visible tenants, helps set the stage for change, he said. Retail continues on Page 12
Designers will host an open house to reveal their vision for Lone Tree’s Entertainment District July 25. The district includes the United Artists theater, shown here. Photo by Jane Reuter
Sterling Ranch again garners county’s OK
Pickleball makes quite a
racket
Plans call for breaking ground on development later this year Pickleball players bump paddles at the end of a July 12 game at the Lone Tree Recreation Center. Pickleball, a game similar to tennis, is played on a court with the same dimensions as a doubles badminton court. The net is similar to a tennis net, but is mounted two inches lower. Photos by Deborah Grigsby
Beverly Carr of Castle Rock takes her game of pickleball seriously. Carr is one of several regulars who play at the drop-in pickleball sessions at the Lone Tree Recreation Center. The game began in Washington state in 1965 when a badminton shuttlecock was misplaced, and the sport was named after inventor Joel Pritchard’s dog Pickles.
Hybrid sport takes root in south metro area By Anna Sutterer
Special to Colorado Community Media
A
fast-growing sport combining elements of tennis, badminton and ping-pong, pickleball has swept across America and made its way to south metro Denver.
Pickleball players use small paddles, similar to those used in ping-pong, and a plastic wiffle-like ball. Wooden paddles are typically used by beginning players. More advanced players opt to use rackets made of more lightweight materials, such as composites or graphite.
South Suburban Parks and Recreation embraced the trend last November at its Sheridan center and expanded it to the Lone Tree location last month. The Buck and Goodson recreation centers, in Littleton and Centennial respectively, are also exploring adding the hybrid sport, if enough interest is expressed. While the game is new to many, its roots date back decades. Named after founder Joel Pritchard’s dog Pickles, the game began on Bainbridge Island, Wash., in 1965 when Pritchard and Bill Bell misplaced the shuttlecock to their badminton set and had to improvise a new form of entertainment using the pooch’s perforated plastic ball. Pickleball is most commonly a doubles Picketball continues on Page 12
By Ryan Boldrey
rboldrey@ourcoloradonews.com The Sterling Ranch planned development has been unanimously approved for the second time in three years by the Douglas County commissioners. With the July 10 approval, the project — which calls for a 12,000-home community located on 3,400 acres northeast of Roxborough State Park and south of the Chatfield Community Association — hopes to break ground by the end of 2013. “After six-plus years of hearings, I’m thrilled,” said Harold Smethills, Sterling Ranch managing director. “Everybody’s been heard and the commissioners made their decision. So now it’s onward to building homes, and we’re ready to go.” The development, which will remain 37 percent open space, has plans for 30 miles of trails, multiple parks and wildlife corridors, a multi-field athletic complex, a hospital, fire services, schools, and a town center patterned after Littleton’s historic downtown. “This development sets an example for future developments to come down the road,” said Sterling Ranch attorney Gil McNeish, citing mitigation plans, open space preservation and water conservation techniques, such as rainwater harvesting, that are all part of the development’s master plan. About a dozen opponents, who were either Chatfield or Roxborough residents, spoke out against the project at the 4½hour hearing. Most spoke against the detriment the project would have on their rural way of life, and expressed concerns over the development having enough water secured to move forward. “I think that the Board of County Commissioners has a fiduciary duty to the citizens of Douglas County and not the developers,” said Dennis Larratt, speaking on behalf of the Chatfield Community Association. “Yet in this case it looks like the Ranch continues on Page 20
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