Week of January 12, 2023
$1.00
An edition of the Littleton Independent A publication of
VOLUME 22 | ISSUE 8
Residents, Centennial Airport officials ask for feedback FAA attends meeting BY TAYLER SHAW TSHAW@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
includes approximately 2,553 fulltime equivalent positions, which is up about 198 from last year, mostly due to new hires in the public health department. As reported by Colorado Community Media, other funding will
Residents demanding changes at Centennial Airport expressed frustration and confusion, mainly with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), during the airport’s Jan. 4 community noise roundtable meeting. Nearly 20 people spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting, expressing similar concerns as residents did during the December meeting about increased air traffic, noise and lead pollution from aircraft fuel. “We knew when we purchased our home that there was an airport nearby, and that didn’t bother us,” said Nathan Winger, who moved to the Sundance Hills neighborhood in Greenwood Village about a year ago. “I remember standing in the backyard during the inspection of our home and commenting to our Realtor that it’s pretty quiet here,” he said. “It wasn’t until a couple of months ago that I really began to notice the additional noise and the additional flights.” Some residents have formed a group, “Quiet Skies Over Arapahoe County,” to advocate for changes to be made to address safety and noise concerns. The group has a website, bit.ly/quietskies, that includes links to YouTube videos of aircraft flying over homes. During her public comment, Audra Dubler, a leader of the resident group, said the FAA’s silence has been “deafening.” Members of the Centennial Airport Community Noise Roundtable, which aims to work with the airport to reduce and mitigate the impact of aircraft noise,
SEE BUDGET, P3
SEE AIRPORT, P10
Staff members of the new Arapahoe County Public Health Department listen to speakers at the grand opening on Jan. 3. PHOTO BY NINA JOSS
Arapahoe County Public Health opens 200 attend meeting BY NINA JOSS NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Roughly 200 people gathered in a conference space at the Arapahoe County Fairgrounds. The bus-
tling noises fell into an organized silence as the crowd listened for the farthest thing they could hear. Then, for the closest. These listening exercises were part of the team-building activities at the grand opening of the Arapahoe County Public Health Department on Jan. 3. The
174-employee department, tasked with providing public health services, replaces the seven-decadeold Tri-County agency. Tri-County served Arapahoe County and its neighbors, Adams and Douglas counties, SEE HEALTH, P8
Arapahoe County operating under $499M budget for 2023 26 amendments adopted BY NINA JOSS NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Arapahoe County is now functioning under its 2023 budget, which was adopted with amend-
ments in December. The 2023 budget is balanced at about $499 million in revenue and the same in expenses, Finance Director Todd Weaver said at a Dec. 6 Board of County Commissioners meeting. The bulk of the funding will go toward paying county staff. It
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | CALENDAR: PAGE 17 | SPORTS: PAGE 20
EMOTIONAL LEARNING, ART, GOOD MEDICINE P14