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October 30, 2014 VOLU M E 27 | I S S UE 50
HighlandsRanchHerald.net D O U G L A S C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O
A publication of
Tower location remains up in air Fire crews rescue a dog from a house fire on the 5200 block of Ashbrook Circle Oct. 23. The dog and a cat were placed in the care of Douglas County Animal Welfare. Photos by Christy Steadman
Firefighters save dog, day
By Christy Steadman
csteadman @coloradocommunitymedia.com
lot of students and parents are going to be
The search is still underway for the best location to erect a safety communications tower in Highlands Ranch, and the Highlands Ranch Community Association has suggested a site for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office to consider. “This is for community safety,” said Scott Lemmon of the HRCA board of directors. “It’s not an us-versus-them. We want to work with the sheriff’s office.” The purpose of the tower is to improve emergency communication in the northern part of Douglas County for first responders, including law enforcement, fire departments, schools, public works and road crews. The northern part of the county receives spotty coverage, said Brad Heyden, captain of the sheriff’s support services division, and the terrain and topography of Highlands Ranch require a tower to improve communication among agencies. “We’re trying to get 90 percent reliability,” Heyden said. “The challenge is finding the right piece of land. The goal is for one tower in Highlands Ranch to cover all of Highlands Ranch.” The sheriff’s office proposes to erect the tower on the north side of Grigs Road, about one mile northwest of the intersection with Daniels Park Road, and southeast of the parking lot for the EastWest Regional Trail. If the tower is built in this location, it will be visible from numerous areas. The nearest residential properties are about eight-tenths of a mile to the north of the proposed location. “This is the Backcountry — the thing for Highlands Ranch,” said Brock Norris of the HRCA board. “People come here for the Backcountry. It is our jewel.” HRCA staff, including Backcountry Wilderness Area supervisor Mark Giebel, visited the area and discovered another possible site for the tower, Norris said. The HRCA’s suggested location is on the southwest corner of the intersection of Grigs and Daniels Park roads, Giebel said. It is east of the sheriff’s office’s proposed site. If the tower is erected at the HRCA’s proposed site, the tower would be built next to a high transmission tower that already exists, Heyden said. It wouldn’t be as visible because it would blend in. “It’s better on Grigs,” Norris said, “but the difference is minimal.” He added that even if the tower is built on the sheriff’s office’s proposed site, the southeastern quadrant of Highlands Ranch would get good coverage, but the northwestern quadrant would still have less-than-desirable coverage. “We’ve got huge things out there where coverage is (already) minimal,” Norris said, and added that the Westridge and
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Staff report
Nine units from Littleton Fire Rescue and South Metro Fire Rescue responded to a fire at a single-family home on the 5200 block of Ashbrook Circle at 1:05 p.m. Oct. 23. The call reporting fire and smoke came in at 12:58 p.m. As of 2:30 p.m., the fire was under control, said Littleton Fire Rescue division chief Roland Seno. Significant damage was done to the second floor of the home, the garage and a vehicle parked in the driveway of the residence. No injuries were reported. The residents of the house were not home at the time of the fire, but one dog and one cat were rescued. Condition of the animals is unknown, but they were alive at the time of rescue, Seno said. Both were turned over to Douglas County Animal Welfare. Origin of the fire is unknown, and crews on scene suspected investigation could take up to a week’s time In addition to LFR, responding agencies included Highlands Ranch Metro District park rangers, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and the Arapahoe County Rescue Patrol.
Fire crews work on extinguishing a fire at a Highlands Ranch home Oct. 23. Homeowners were not home at the time of the fire, and no injuries were reported.
Charter high school proposed Former Denver Christian campus is planned location By Jane Reuter
jreuter@coloradocommunitymedia.com A charter high school that eventually would accommodate 1,500 students is aiming for a fall 2015 opening. Backers of John Adams High School have signed a letter of intent to purchase the now-vacant Highlands Ranch campus of Denver Christian Schools, near C-470 and University Boulevard. Denver Christian Schools consolidated its three campuses to a site in Lakewood earlier in 2014. Whether or not the Highlands Ranch purchase is successful, John Adams High proponents ideally seek to open their school in 2015, but said that may not happen until 2016. John Carson, a former Douglas County School Board president and a University of Colorado Boulder regent candidate, is among the high school’s eight board members. Its vice president, Jason Sanders, founded the K-8 Ben Franklin Academy, also in Highlands Ranch. Board president and elementary charter school parent Matt Krol said Sanders first proposed the idea a few years ago. “We felt the next biggest need was a charter high school in this county,” said Krol. “Our goal is to take the education children are learning from different charter schools and have an overall rigorous curriculum that prepares them for college.” About 9,000 children attend the district’s 12 charter schools, only two of which of-
HRCA wants to have voice in sheriff ’s options
Supporters of the proposed charter John Adams High School have made an offer to purchase the vacant Denver Christian Schools campus on Dad Clark Drive in Highlands Ranch. Photo by Jane Reuter fer secondary education. They are STEM and SkyView Academy, both in Highlands Ranch. But Krol said those schools can’t accommodate students graduating from the various charter schools in the county.
“Those students have gone for years in a charter school experience,” Krol said. “A