September 3, 2015
THIS WEEK IN
VOLUME 14 | ISSUE 33
LIFE
LOCAL
A look at what makes a good song for the summer
Page 13
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
C-470 work could begin next year New toll lanes included in highway project By Mike DiFerdinando mdiferdinando@coloradocommunitymedia.com
Lolli and Pops gives away free candy during the Park Meadows Pancake Breakfast Aug. 28. Photos by Mike DiFerdinando
Mall opens doors to new stores Businesses include vintage candy store, girls’ athletic wear By Mike DiFerdinando mdiferdinando@coloradocommunitymedia.com If you like candy, you’ll love Lolli and Pops, a vintage candy store. If you’re an active young girl, Ivivva may become your favorite shopping destination. And if you’re in the mood for a good burger or some Mexican fare, then the Park Meadows Food Court can satisfy your palate with The Melt and Chipotle. The four stores are among recent new additions to Park Meadows, recently highlighted during the Lone Tree shopping mall’s anniversary pancake breakfast. Walking into Lolli and Pops is like stepping back into the old-fashioned candy stores of the 1940s and ‘50s. Bins of every imaginable confection line the walls. An enticing glass case houses specialty chocolates and baked goods, and in the back is an entire section dedicated to gummies. You can fill your own bag or jar with whatever candy you like for $13 a pound. “You fill it up with any candy you want and then we weigh it,” Lolli and Pop’s Kelly Comstock said. “Based on that weight, you pay your price. It’s $13 per pound but you aren’t obligated to fill it up to that pound. Yesterday, someone paid $1. It’s whatever you want.” The sweets shop also offers glass jars at various price points that come with free refills. “It’s a really good gift because it’s one price,” Comstock said. “It’s $100 for our smallest jar and then you get free refills for a whole calendar year.” Lolli and Pops also offers a jar that gives you free refills forever. Ivivva, owned by Lulu Lemon, sells athletic wear for girls ages 4-14 and opened about a month ago. Like its bigsister store, Ivivva often uses live models in its windows and hosts events such as the Sept. 5 cheerleading clinic with a former University of Colorado cheerleader. “She’s going to go over dreams and goals and kind of share her story about how she got to where she is today,” said Reba Kurcera of Ivivva. “She’s a coach
The Colorado Department of Transportation hosted an informational session Aug. 26 at the Lone Tree Arts Center to take public comment and answer questions about a number of projects set to take place along the C-470 corridor. The projects, which include new toll lanes, drew a great deal of public comment at the meeting, with residents who live in the area voicing concerns about noise. The various improvement projects will cost an estimated $340 million to $380 million and have a long-term completion goal of 2035. CDOT also proposed an interim 2016 construction phase that would tackle a portion of the long-term projects for the highway, including the new toll lanes. “We do not have $340 to $380 million to do this project today,” said Jon Chesser, environmental program manager for CDOT. “Nor do we have the traffic analysis that shows the full buildout is required today. It’s an incremental increase over time (building to) that ultimate 2035 design.” For 2016, CDOT is proposing an interim construction phase with improvements extending from I-25 to Wadsworth. It does include tolls and the new capacity to be tolled. The existing non-tolled lanes will remain. “The idea of the project is to provide the driver with options on how you want to get from A to B,” Chesser said. The cost of the interim project is C-470 continues on Page 11
Neighbors fight highway noise Coalition presents at CDOT public hearing By Taryn Walker twalker@coloradocommunitymedia.com
The Melt’s first store in Colorado is at Park Meadows. The Melt serves gourmet burgers. now. We like to put a lot of stress on dreams and goals for girls and get them thinking about their future.” The Melt is a gourmet burger shop that opened its first Colorado location in Park Meadows. Chipotle will be opening Sept.14 — it will be Chipotle’s first food court location in Colorado. According to Park Meadows General Manager Pamela Schenck-Kelly, the new additions are part of an updating of the dining area that includes changes to the look of the restaurants. “We want to make it fun and exciting, so we’re changing out what our design criteria is,” Schenck-Kelly said. “Before, the materials were a little more natural and now we have a more sleek, industrial look. Open kitchens. We want people to really be able to see in there.”
Reba Kurcera works at the new Ivivva store at Park Meadows. Ivivva is activewear for kids ages 4-14.
After the Colorado Department of Transportation’s public hearing about C-470’s expansion, Highlands Ranch Neighborhood Coalition treasurer Byron Daniels said he’s feeling optimistic. The coalition was formed four months ago after several Highlands Ranch residents were unhappy with CDOT’s move to save on costs and not install noise-mitigation walls for the project, which will double highway capacity and add an express toll lane between I-25 and Kipling Avenue. The group has grown from one or two to about 50-plus, Daniels said. At the Aug. 26 hearing in Lone Tree, more than 200 Highlands Ranch residents showed up to express their concerns about C-470 noise. “The importance of this coalition is to get the noise barriers that were promised in the original 2006 plan by CDOT,” Daniels said. “We sell our homes, pass away and the next group of people come in to raise their kids, and they have this blasting noise from the roads that affects their health.” In 2006, CDOT released an environmental assessment for concerned Noise continues on Page 11