RESIDENT / OCCUPANT PRSRT STD ECRWSS US POSTAGE PAID LYONS, CO PERMIT No 2053 $.50
VOLUME 26, NUMBER 6
LYONS, COLOR ADO
JULY 18 / AUGUST 14, 2025
B •R •I •E •F •S A branch Brief title has broken from the Lyons Lions LYONS – textClub tree
LYONS – Ted Gullikson passed Brief titleMonday July 7. He was away on LYONS – text a member of the Lyons Lions Club for 55 years. To honor his memory, the Lyons Lions Club is establishing a memorial scholarship in his name to be used for higher education to be offered to a Lyons High School senior Contributions may be sent to Lyons Lions Club, P.O. Box 1415, Lyons CO 80540. Wildfire Preparation
LYONS – The Town of Lyons is aware of local concerns of smoke and wildfire. The town would like to remind residents of Lyons who reside in Boulder County to sign up for emergency alerts. Visit www.bocoalert.org to sign up for emergency alerts if you live in the Town of Lyons or unincorporated Boulder County. If you are a resident of Larimer County sign up via Larimer’s NOCO Alert System at https:// www.nocoalert.org/. Another good resource is the Watch Duty App. Most importantly, now is the best time to review the wildfire evacuation checklist. Stay safe and stay prepared. Road Improvements Hwy. 66 in front of Cemex
LYONS – Cemex is installing a triangle-shaped island at the plant entrance on Colorado State Hwy. 66. This installation is an agreed-upon safety measure with the Colorado Department of Transportation to prevent traffic turning left out of the facility. Construction of the island commenced on Monday, July 7 and will continue for up to five weeks. There will be a speed reduction to 45 m.p.h. in the vicinity of the plant during the full term of the construction, which will be identified by signage east and west of the construction zone. Wildfire Mitigation: Lyons Match for Boulder County Wildfire Partners
BOULDER COUNTY – Boulder County will continue its wildfire mitigation program, which offers up to $500 to Continue Briefs on Page 8
issuu.com/sdcmc Like us on Facebook I •N •D •E •X LYONS MAYOR’S CORNER OPTIONS CONTRAST LOOKING UP INSIGHT VIEWPOINT SHOWCASE WHAT’S COOKIN’ BODY TALK CHOICES CONSESUS
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A day on the river at Lavern Johnson Park is all it takes to beat the heat. Tubes, sunshine, and summer vibes. CATHY RIVERS
Lyons Town Board accepts a new Lion sculpture, receives over $16,000 for improvements, and other issues By Susan de Castro Gierach Redstone Review Editor LYONS – At a Lyons Town Board meeting in early July, the board discussed Resolution 2025-46 to accept an annexation application from Dave Merkley and to set a public hearing date for a property located at 4497 Ute Hwy. near the intersection of Colorado Hwy. 66 and U.S. Hwy. 36. The resolution was passed unanimously by the board. This will be the new site for the proposed reopening of the Western Stars Gallery. Many residents and former customers are looking forward to the new gallery. “If all goes well, we are tentatively planning for our reopening at 4497 on our tenth anniversary weekend, November 14. Various musicians have already offered up playing at our opening,” said Chrystal DeCoster, Western Stars Gallery owner. The town board also passed Resolution 2025-45 unanimously to accept a legacy sculpture named Shey, which is a very large statue of a lion lying on the ground. The artist who created Shey, Kimmerjae Macarus, reached out to Town Staff in early April, via their contacts through Moxie Bread Company – Lyons about a legacy placement of the sculpture to be located in Lyons. The town has other permanent public sculptures located throughout the town. The sculpture was donated by benefactor, Greg Fitzgerald, who knows the artist. The town is working with the sculpture artist, Blue Mountain Stone, and Lyons Public Works regarding moving the sculpture from Lafayette to Lyons. Any cost would be paid from LAHC grant funds. Administrator Victoria Simonsen said that she and the staff are thinking that a location for the giant lion might be in Bohn Park. The staff requested that the Board of Trustees accept the
Public Legacy Sculpture as part of the Lyons HeARTs of Lyons Public Art Program. A third Resolution 2025-47 was passed unanimously by the town board to enact a temporary moratorium on issuing demolition permits for just over two blocks in the downtown area to protect historic buildings. Moratorium area would be from 3rd Avenue to 5th Avenue and would include the block on High Street from 4th Avenue to 5th Avenue. The Town Administrator said that the town staff suggested a period of eight months for the moratorium, to allow time to form some regulations and make informed decisions around any future demolitions. In other news, Finance Director Cassandra Eyestone told the board that July 2024 is the first month the town received sales tax revenue from the additional 0.5 percent tax approved by the voters. As a reminder, the additional 0.5 percent is to be used for capital improvements only. The original 3.5 percent sales tax revenue for April sales was 6.4 percent ($8,700) higher than in April 2024. The year-to-date sales tax revenue for the original 3.5 percent tax was 8.0 percent ($39,500) higher than in 2024. The sales tax figures also include the town’s portion of the State’s marijuana tax received each month. A reduction in this amount was recently approved to take effect on July 1, 2025 and will reduce the amounts remitted to the local municipalities from 10 percent to 3.5 percent. Staff estimates the impact to the annual sales tax numbers to be a reduction of $25,000. The estimated impact to 2025 will be approximately half of that amount due to the timing of the reduction. The Service Award was awarded to Melinda Wunder from the Lyons Arts and Humanities Commission for the extensive volunteer work she has performed through arts and human-
ities for the Town of Lyons. Wunder will soon be moving out of Lyons and the LAHC wanted to give her this award and recognition before she left town. Administrator Simonsen announced a few changes and personnel updates. Upon the hiring of Lisa Ritchie and the transition of building and planning duties to her, Simonsen has implemented the following title changes: Lisa Ritchie is now the Director of Planning and Building; Aaron Caplan is now the Director of Utilities and Engineering. In other news from staff, Lyons was previously approved to submit a State Rural Economic Development Initiative Grant (REDI) to enhance the Visitor’s Center with design, shelving, lighting, etc., to provide a small popup creative/artisan co-op retail space. DOLA announced that Lyons was one of 13 projects that would receive $16,500 toward the improvements. This is the first step in creating an artisan space that will hopefully support Lyons Creates as their Creative District. Announcing more changes, Administrator Simonsen said that the Building Department has moved back into Lyons Town Hall and will be under the direction of Lisa Ritchie as Director of Planning and Building. Lyons will once again celebrate the Fifth Annual Lights Off Lyons, a community gathering to encourage residents and businesses to go “low lights or no lights” on Saturday, Aug 16 and explore the planets, stars, and more with telescopes, local scientists and the community. The evening starts at the Lyons Regional Library with a mini planetarium experience brought to us by the Fiske Planetarium. Fiske is one of the largest planetariums in the U.S., educating the public on astronomy and astrophysics since 1975. This is a mini dome show Continue Town Board on Page 3