Voice
Lone Tree 4/11/13
Lone Tree
April 11, 2013
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourlonetreenews.com
Douglas County, Colorado • Volume 12, Issue 13
Work gets rolling on roundabouts Construction to improve sight distance, slow traffic By Jane Reuter
jreuter@ourcoloradonews.com Construction to improve Lone Tree’s two roundabouts is under way and will continue through mid-July. The first phase, expected to last about two months, includes reconstruction of the sidewalk ramps and crosswalks, and regrading the center medians. Temporary lane reductions and closures are expected in both roundabouts during construction. “You’ll still be able to get through them, but particularly during the morning and evening rush hours, there may be some back-up,” said John Cotten, Lone
Tree’s public works director. Workers are starting construction on the east roundabout on RidgeGate Parkway near Sky Ridge Medical Center, before moving on to the west roundabout near the Lone Tree Arts Center. The second phase calls for reducing the height of landscaping in both the roundabout’s center medians to improve sight distance. The project is in response to drivers’ and pedestrians’ worries about sight distance and drivability of the roundabouts. In 2012, the City of Lone Tree hired Ourston Roundabout Engineering and Winston Associates landscaping company to study the traffic structures and propose solutions. Those reports recommended shaving off a portion of the landscaped mounds, and realigning crosswalks and relocating curbs
and gutters to naturally slow drivers as they approach the roundabouts. “Hopefully this will help improve the pedestrian access a little bit,” said Denise Denslow, district manager for the Rampart Range Metro District. “There also will be some slowing of traffic, and as the area continues to be busier, traffic will naturally slow itself.” Regular commuters are urged to consider alternative routes during the construction, according to the City of Lone Tree. The roundabouts are part of the RidgeGate development, and RidgeGate’s Rampart Range Metro District will foot the bill for the project. The first phase will cost about $124,000. Bids for the landscaping phase haven’t been awarded, but the cost is estimated at about $74,000.
Construction designed to improve visibility for both cars and pedestrians at the RidgeGate roundabouts is underway. Crews are starting work at the roundabout near Sky Ridge Medical Center. Photo by Jane Reuter
Bill rankles school board Finance plan could hit county taxpayers hard By Jane Reuter
jreuter@ourcoloradonews.com
Centennial resident Ann Stong flips through the well-worn pages of a family Bible, dating from 1864, that she never knew existed. Hundreds of miles away, a total stranger spotted the Bible on the auction block and tracked her down. Stong and her family drove to Arizona to bid on the piece that would eventually reconnect her with multiple generations of her family history. Photos by Deborah Grigsby
19th-century Bible back with family Centennial woman was recipient of stranger’s kindness By Deborah Grigsby
dgrigsby@ourcoloradonews. com When Ann Stong received an email from Mary Marsh last September, she almost deleted it. “I usually don’t open emails from strangers, but this one was different,” she said. “I had to open it.” More than 1,500 miles away, Arizona resident Mary Marsh had stopped by a local antique mall in hopes of finding a barrister’s case for her husband. “I saw this Bible and thought, ‘Wow, what a find for someone,’” said Marsh from her
Nearly 150 years old, Ann Stong’s family Bible was rescued from an Arizona auction block by the actions of a stranger. The pages are still in good condition, with legible hand-written entries, and the book contains historic tintype photos of her ancestors. home near Scottsdale, Ariz. Printed in Philadelphia in 1864, the Bible’s worn calf leather cover and ornate brass
lock held the key to many missing pieces in someone’s life, thought Marsh. “That afternoon, I just
couldn’t get that book out of my head — in fact, I dreamed about it that night,” she said. “I didn’t dream about all the bookcases I had seen, I dreamed about the Bible.” Compelled to find the owner, Marsh spent hours entering some of the names she had seen in the Bible into several online search engines. “It was like there were angels on my shoulder telling me I had to do this,” she said. Marsh eventually connected some of the names with Stong, a Centennial resident. “So, I sent her an email with a link to the item and to the auction information,” she said. Stong, an avid amateur genealogist whose family often teases her about spending more time with her dead relatives than she does with those still Bible continues on Page 9
The Douglas County School Board long has urged a revision of the state’s school funding formula. That wish is now coming to fruition, but not in the way members had hoped. Board member Kevin Larsen said the current proposal in the Colorado General Assembly only would increase the disparity among districts, and make matters much worse for DCSD students and taxpayers. “The cure is worse than the sickness,” Larsen said. “When we further com- Larsen pare that to the taxes that are going to be paid, I think people are going to be astounded. The net for us would always be to put more into the state than we’re getting back.” The Democratic-controlled Colorado Senate approved the bill April 2 on a partyline vote. If Senate Bill 213 passes the General Assembly, the state’s voters would then be asked to approve an income-tax increase of about $1 billion to fund the plan. Therein lies the rub. While DCSD would get more funding under the changes to the base calculations, Douglas County’s high per-capita income means taxpayers here would be hit hard by the proposed incometax increase. “The candy that’s going to be used to entice people here is that everyone’s funding is going to go up (under the new formula),” Larsen said. Supporters maintain the change is long overdue. The state’s Public School Finance Act last was updated in 1994. “It was crafted before any of us used Internet, email, or cell phones,” said Sen. Mike Johnston, D-Denver, sponsor of the bill. “Within the past five years, K-12 education suffered nearly $2.5 billion in cuts. Board continues on Page 9
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