May 16, 2013
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourarvadanews.com
Jefferson County, Colorado • Volume 8, Issue 51
County crunched in courts
Festival highlights sustainability
Prosecution’s hands full with Sigg, other death-related cases By Glenn Wallace
gwallace@ourcoloradonews.com
Christy Smith, of Henderson, talks with Solar Greens Company representative Doug Southard, of Longmont, Saturday morning during the first annual Sustain Arvada Festival. Photo by Terrell J. Thomson
City, CDOt agree on u.s. 6 and highway 93 By Glenn Wallace
gwallace@ourcoloradonews. com Golden City Council voted 6-1 to approve an agreement with the Colorado Department of Transportation regarding future improvement plans for U.S. 6 and State Highway 93. The council meeting was held Thursday, May 9. The agreement sets parameters for “a shared vision” for those improvements, setting speed limits, alignment, landscaping and sound mitigation. Ward 3 Councilman Bob Vermeulen cast the lone opposition vote. “I feel this will be seen as us accepting the beltway,” Vermeulen said. He added that the agreement does not provide funding sources for any of the envisioned improvements. More than 145 individuals attended the council meeting, with some having to walk down the street to watch the proceedings on a video screen in an overflow room in the city’s fire station. A total of 28 area residents gave public comment on the issue, with most saying they were in favor. Golden Public Works Director Dan Hartman presented the agreement, after going into some of the history behind it. “I’ve been at this 25 years with (CDOT), and this is by far the best good-faith effort,” Hartman said. The agreement plan calls for many elements that Golden had long negotiated for: • Current speed limits to remain: 55 mph from Heritage Road to 19th Street, and 45 mph for the rest of the corridor;
City of Golden Public Works Director Dan Hartman, second from left, helps explain the details of a new compromise agreement between the city and CDOT to attendees of the May 9 Golden City Council meeting. Photo by Glenn Wallace • The roadway would be lowered below grade in sections, allowing cross-streets to cross above; • Natural earthen berms and other sound walls are called for to lower noise impacts of the road to Golden city standards of 55 decibels. Hartman said the city compromised on some items. While CDOT agreed to leave the highway corridor at four lanes wide, the agreement includes “congestion triggers” that would authorize the building of additional lanes. Those triggers would involve 75,000 vehicles per day being seen through the area over a four month period. CDOT had also sought to include toll roads along the highways to help pay for future road
improvements. “The capacity lanes that are there today, will remain free,” Hartman said, describing that as crucial to Golden during negotiations. The compromise was to allow CDOT to toll any new lanes that are built, including those created by the congestion trigger. Even before the congestion trigger, CDOT would be allowed to widen highway 93 in north Golden from two lanes to four, and toll the newly built portions. The compromise agreement makes no mention about policy, or plans regarding the larger regional plans by CDOT and Jefferson County to build out the northwest quadrant of the 470 beltway system — consistently opposed by Golden.
Gwyn Green, a longtime member of the group Citizens Involved in the Northwest Quadrant, was the first member of the public to speak. “”I have not and will never flinch from never supporting the beltway,” Green began. She added that in spite of that, she liked the compromise agreement, especially the speed and sound limitations since she lives close to the highways. “It’s safe, slow and quiet. I’m impressed that it’s a compromise in our favor,” Ward 4 Councilman Bill Fisher said. Golden Mayor Marjorie Sloan said she was eager to shake off the city’s “NIMBY” label, and begin spending more city resources on improvements, instead of opposing CDOT.
A rise in serious crime — including prosecuting Austin Sigg for the murder of Westminster 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway — is taxing the Jefferson County District Attorney’s office and draining the department’s resources. “We’re strapped as an office,” Jefferson County District Attorney Pete Weir informed the Board of County Commissioners last week. In a May 7 staff briefing, Weir told the three county commissioners that the Sigg murder trial, along with a recent spike in serious crime offenses, has left his department spread thin. His office is currently involved in 13 death-related cases. “We will get it done. All cases are important for us. But it has stretched us to the max,” Weir told the commissioners. A gag order regarding the Sigg case kept Weir from discussing very many specifics, but he did go over the case timeline. Westminster 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway was walking to school on Oct. 5, 2012, when she disappeared. On Oct. 12 the media reported that remains of Ridgeway’s body had been found in the Leyden area. Austin Sigg, 17 years old at the time, would later contact police and turn himself in for the crime. He made his first court appearance on Oct. 25. District 3 Commissioner Don Rosier asked the DA if the types of murder cases in Jefferson County were presenting particular challenges. Weir said he was not asking for additional staff funding for the Sigg case at this time, but that he may have to in the future. For comparison Weir referenced the Brunco Eastwood case that created $90,000 in court costs to prosecute. Eastwood, who opened fire on students at Deer Creek Middle School in 2010, plead not guilty by reason of insanity, which required the DA’s office provide psychological experts to counter that claim. Weir said an insanity defense was a possibility in the Sigg case as well. The state had offered some financial help — up to $75,000 allocated for expert and special witness expenses. Weir, who took over the DA’s office in January, said high-profile cases, complex mental health prosecutions, and heavy caseloads all make it more important for him to retain experienced and skilled staff.
Graduation
2013
Special Edition
See high school features and commencement information on
Pages 4-7, 23
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