Arvada Press 122012

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ARVADA 12.20.12

December 20, 2012 A Colorado Community Media Publication

ourarvadanews.com

Jefferson County, Colorado • Volume 8, Issue 30

I-70 transit ideas get rolling

LIGHTING THE WAY

Various technology concepts seek to stem freeway congestion By Glenn Wallace

gwallace@ourcoloradonews.com

Ava Peters paints a light bulb green with help from Caroline Marmitt during an eco-friendly holiday craft class Dec. 11 at Majestic View Nature Center in Arvada. Photo by Andy Carpenean

Council reaffirms chicken limit Residents allowed to keep up to five chickens within city limits By Sara Van Cleve

svancleve@ourcoloradonews. com Permitting poultry continues to be a topic of discussion in Arvada. During a regular business meeting Aug. 6, City Council passed an ordinance limiting the number of fowl residents are permitted to keep within city limits. Council re-examined the ordinance and other possibilities during its Dec. 10 study session, but ultimately decided to keep the ordinance as it is. The ordinance allows residents to keep as many as five hen chickens and turkeys in city limits, with no more than two hen turkeys. Roosters and toms are not permitted. “Out of the total 8,000 complaints (Animal Management) gets each year, we’re getting very minimal chicken complaints,”

said Arvada Sustainability Coordinator Jessica Prosser. During the study session, Prosser addressed the regulations in other jurisdictions , an issue that was brought up in August when the ordinance was passed. “Some of them are requiring a permit, but it’s a one-time permit, and there’s not a lot of follow-up there,” Prosser said. “Looking at where we are — with five chickens, versus eight, six, four — we’re kind of being conservative here with how many chickens we’re allowing.” Lakewood and Wheat Ridge allow an unlimited number of chickens, Colorado Springs allows up to 10 within city limits. Fort Collins and Golden allow up to six hens per residence. Also, unlike most cities that allow chickens, Arvada has fencing and coop requirements. “Wherever the chickens are, they have to be fenced, other-

wise they’d be running at large like any other type of animal,” she said. “If a coop is going to be above 120 square feet, it falls under residential miscellaneous and you’d have to get a permit anyway, just like you would for a shed. So, the coop has to be under that size.” The chicken ordinance and other animal control ordinances address council’s concerns about nuisance, neglect, cleanliness and coop requirements, Prosser said. Another concern brought up by Councilman-at-large Bob Fifer was the dispatching of chickens. “I am not comfortable with someone chopping a chicken’s head off in their front yard or in their garage in front of my kids,” Fifer said. “It is inhumane in my eyes, and that’s not what I want my kids to see.” Arvada permits the slaughtering of chickens only if it is done in a humane way. Golden, Wheat Ridge and Denver are the only cities that prohibit the

slaughtering of chickens other than by a butcher. Animal Management Supervisor Becky Robison said she has dealt with one slaughter of a chicken in her 23-year tenure in Arvada, and that was part of a religious ceremony, which is protected under state law. “I’ve never had another call, me personally, of an open slaughter,” Robison said. “That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen, but most people who are going to really keep chickens, know how to do that and don’t really do it in an open forum.” If a slaughter left an animal suffering, it would fall under cruelty, and Animal Management would take action, Robison said. Council agreed to take staff’s recommendation to leave the ordinance as it is for a year, monitor the number and nature of complaints regarding the keeping of chickens, and reevaluating the ordinance and amending it if needed next year.

State of the art transportation west of Denver used to mean saddling up a horse. But at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds Dec. 13, the public was given a look at what the future of travel up the I-70 corridor might look like. The public tech expo was hosted by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) as part of the $1.8 million Advanced Guideway System (AGS) feasibility study. The study has three phases, according to CDOT Special Projects Manager David Krutsinger. The first step is to gather proposals from around the world about what type of rail/guideway system might work in the Rockies. Second, CDOT will analyze what type of alignment those technical options require. Questions to be answered, Krutsinger said, include whether they could follow the freeway, and how much land would be needed for the tracks, and stations. Phase three will look at how to pay for the estimated $15 billion cost. “Today’s forum is the culmination of our exploration of the first one,” Krutsinger said. A total of 18 firms proposed their versions of a rail technology that could stretch from Denver International Airport to the Vail Airport, and carry people faster and more efficiently than another lane of asphalt. The 40-member study commission compared the proposals using several key criteria, including safety, proven technology, capability even in wind and weather, and the ability to be operational as early as 2017. Those criteria narrowed the field to proposals from 10 firms, and eight of those attended the expo. Krutsinger said the public expo helped CDOT keep the public informed about the progress of the study and gather input from regional stakeholders. He said it was also just to share “the wow factor of seeing what these technologies are capable of.” CDOT anticipates any new tram system becoming at least partially operational by 2025. Among the expo attendees were some study commission members, along with city representatives for mountain communities, including Idaho Springs and Empire. • American Maglev Transit of Powder Springs, Ga.: Magnetic levitation and linear induction of large passenger cars of approximately 200 passengers along with their luggage. • Flight Rail of Ukiah, Calif.: A passenger tram along an elevated guideway, powered by vacuum air pressure built up in the pneumatic tube that the tram will I-70 continues on Page 22

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