VOLUME 35 | ISSUE 39
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 28, 2023
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Battery maker gets Brighton approval Taxpayers may
get lower refunds next year BY JESSE PAUL THE COLORADO SUN
775,000-square-foot building. Their first phase would create 332 net new jobs in Brighton with an average annual wage of $68,516. The batteries would be meant to power a variety of uses, including electrically powered aircraft. The site is the former location of a Sears/KMart distribution center that contains 1.3 million square feet of space and parking but has been vacant for the past 18 months. The previous zoning specifically limits the building’s uses to warehouses and distribution centers. Amprius hopes to get the zoning changed to allow industrial, commercial and public uses. Brighton staff, from planners to utilities to the fire marshall, have
Colorado taxpayers are projected to receive refund checks next year that are slightly smaller than anticipated, state economists said, though the exact amounts will be determined by whether voters approve a 10-year property tax relief plan on the November ballot. If the ballot measure, Proposition HH, doesn’t pass, Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights refund amounts will be at least $628 — or $40 less than anticipated — for people who are single tax filers and earn up to $50,000. The refund checks will be at least $1,834 — or about $150 less than anticipated — for people who earn $278,001 or more. If Proposition HH passes, the TABOR refund checks will be flat rate and not determined by income levels. Under revised data presented to the legislature Wednesday, the checks would be $832 for single tax filers, down from the $898 that was anticipated. In both cases, the refund amounts are doubled for joint tax filers. The exact sums could still shift slightly depending on the state’s accounting methods for tax revenue collected in the 2022-23 fiscal year, which ended June 30 and on which the TABOR refunds are based. The checks will be sent out next year after people file their 2023 tax returns. Greg Sobetski, chief economist for Legislative Council Staff, the nonpartisan agency for the Colorado General Assembly, said Wednesday the downward reduction from the amounts the state estimated in the state’s 2023 ballot guide, also known as the blue book, happened because there has been a larger-than-anticipated number of tax filings in the state.
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• Vestas to lay off 200 employees
BUSINESS
Amprius, a maker of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and aircraft, hope to open their large factory in Brighton in 2024. FILE PHOTO They plan to take over the vacant former Sears/KMart distribution warehouse on Bromley Lane.
City Council clears way for Amprius Tech with zoning change • Page 3
•27J Schools moves online-only Dec. 1
BY SCOTT TAYLOR STAYLOR@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
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LOCAL OBITUARIES LEGALS CLASSIFIED
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Councilors gave their final approval to plans to reuse the former Sears warehouse on Bromley Lane as a battery manufacturer. Councilors approved rezoning the former Sears distribution center by a 5-2 vote on final reading at their Sept. 19 meeting after two hours of public testimony. The final vote followed closely with the final tally from the first reading on Sept. 5, with Councilor Ann Tadeo
switching her vote from a no to a yes. Councilors Matt Johnston and Mary Ellen Pollack remained opposed. Pollack said she has not changed her mind. “There is so much craziness going on with green new deals and whatnot, but what do we really know?” Pollack said. “We know there is a lot of politics and we know there is a lot of money involved. But I have not changed my mind. I am going to continue to support the residents of that area and the city of Brighton.” Amprius Tech announced in March its intention to occupy the empty former distribution center on Bromley Lane, setting up their new lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility in the
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