Week of January 19, 2023
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DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
CastlePinesNewsPress.net
VOLUME 10 | ISSUE 22
Pinery SUA residents oppose new development
Our in-depth look at the housing crisis
Commissioners vote 2-1 in favor BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Trickling up: How housing is becoming less affordable for more Coloradans BY TAYLER SHAW AND LUKE ZARZECKI COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
A home means everything to Shelley Gilson, a 50-year-old single mother of three girls who works as a guest service agent at an airline. “It’s one word: priceless,” she
said. The rising cost of housing in the Denver area has made it difficult for her to afford a home. She spent years bounding around working for low pay, including to several affordable housing communities across the state.
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 14 | CALENDAR: PAGE 13 | SPORTS: PAGE 26
Eventually, more than a decade ago, she found a home at Orchard Crossing Apartments in Westminster. It is an affordable housing community that includes Section 8 housing, the federal government program that provides vouchers to low-income families, the disabled and elderly. SEE TRICKLING UP, P16
After four hours of presentations, public comment and discussion, the Douglas County Commissioners voted 2-1 to move forward with the next stage of the Scott Avenue Planned Development Rezoning. Following much discussion between the board members, a motion was made by Commissioner George Teal and seconded by Lora Thomas to approve the application. Abe Laydon voted against the measure. Over 50 Stone Creek Ranch and Pinery residents filled the hearing room, all wearing red in opposition of the Ulysses Development Group’s plan to build 220 multi-family workforce units located at the northwest corner of the intersection of State Highway 83 and Scott Avenue. The land has been used for agricultural purposes. In 1996 a cellular tower was approved and the Comprehensive Master Plan Land Use Map Amendment to include the Pinery Separated Urban Area was approved by the Planning Commission in March last year. Previously, the Scott Avenue Planned Development Rezoning approval was denied by an 8-0 vote at a Planning Commission hearing on Dec. 19. SEE DEVELOPMENT, P6
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