VOLUME 35 | ISSUE 24
WEEK OF JUNE 15, 2023
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End of an era: Polis signs bill Commerce City’s 88 Drive-In Theatre is closing prohibiting growth caps Measure repeals limits in Lakewood, Golden, Boulder
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and being bled dry or selling it,” Kochevar said, “and I really don’t want to see it left empty.” Kochevar said she put the lot up for sale in 2018 and eventually sold it in 2021 to industrial real estate company, First Industrial Realty Trust, which has asked the city to rezone the property so that it can construct warehouses. “Kids are not going to have the same feelings or perspective with a family in a car to go and watch a movie,” Commerce City resident Guillermo Serna said at the meeting. The site at 8780 Rosemary St., on the corner of East 88th Avenue and Rosemary Street, is in Irondale
Colorado cities and counties will soon be prohibited from imposing population and residential growth limits under a bill signed by Gov. Jared Polis this month. House Bill 1255 will also repeal existing growth caps enacted in Lakewood, Boulder and Golden when it takes effect in August. “We know we have more work to do to make sure that all our communities are part of the solution, but what this bill does is it says no community can be part of the problem any longer,” Polis said before signing the bill. The bill was introduced as a companion measure to Senate Bill 213, which would have rewritten land-use rules across the state and was the governor’s signature effort at the Capitol this year to encourage more affordable housing. But Senate Bill 213 failed on the final day of the 2023 legislative session, leaving House Bill 1255 as one of the only major housing bills approved by the General Assembly and signed into law this year. Rep. William Lindstedt, D-Broomfield, one of the prime sponsors of House Bill 1255, said while the measure was aimed at assisting the various elements of Senate Bill 213, it still will have an impact. “It really does point the finger at the worst kind of action that you can see from a local government to limit housing,” he said. House Bill 1255 aims to address the availability of housing by stripping local governments’ ability to
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BUSINESS LOCAL
BY ELLIOTT WENZLER THE COLORADO SUN
Sue Kochevar, whose family operated the 88 Drive-In Theatre in Commerce City, for years told Commerce City Councilors she’s sold FILE PHOTO the property. Councilors will consider changing the zoning on the lot in July, allowing the new owners to build a warehouse.
Proposal would turn 88th and Rosemary site into warehouse • Page 3
BY TEDDY JACOBSEN SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
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LOCAL OBITUARIES LEGALS CLASSIFIED
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Commerce City’s 88 Drive-In Theatre, the last remaining drive-in theater in the Denver area, is set to close this summer after more than five decades in business. Susan Kochevar, the owner of the theater, is stepping away from the business. “I love that place and I love this community,” Kochevar said in a city council meeting on June 5. “But
what happens to drive-ins all over the United States is what’s happening to mine.” There are about 300-350 drive-in theaters still operating across the United States, according to various drive-in operators and advocates. Of those, Colorado has about a half dozen. Fort Collins, Pueblo, Buena Vista are among towns across the state with operating drive-in theaters. Kochevar said her family has owned the 88 Drive-In Theatre since 1976. The theater itself has been operational since 1972. Operating the theater is no longer financially viable and needs work, she said. For one, the screen needs to be replaced and that would cost around $100,000. “I’m faced with writing it down
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