Week of September 22, 2022
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DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
LoneTreeVoice.net
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | CALENDAR: PAGE 17 | SPORTS: PAGE 24
VOLUME 21 | ISSUE 31
Commissioners meet again about San Luis Valley water project More information to come BY ELLIOTT WENZLER EWENZLER@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
A controversial plan to pipe water from the San Luis Valley to Douglas County may be seeing new life after
the county commissioners recently met behind closed doors to discuss it again. Four months after announcing they wouldn’t use federal COVID-19 funds on the proposal from Renewable Water Resources, or RWR, the commissioners heard a legal update on the project from the county’s
outside counsel, Steve Leonhardt, Sept. 13. Leonhardt, who recently met with RWR, provided advice and a piece of “work product” for commissioners to review. “We intend to provide the public with more input and information about any additional discussion
with RWR once each of us has had an opportunity to look at that work product,” Commissioner Abe Laydon said during the public portion of the meeting. In May, Laydon made the decisive vote not to use a portion of the SEE WATER, P10
Home prices see short-term drop Longtime Realtor not sold on recession talk BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Lone Tree to host ‘Craftoberfest’ Portion of proceeds will go to Tall Tales Ranch BY TAYLER SHAW TSHAW@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Lovers of beer and German cuisine are in luck. The City of Lone Tree will host its annual “Craftoberfest” on Saturday, Sept. 24, from 2–5:30 p.m. at Prairie Sky Park, located at 9381 Crossington Way. Oktoberfest is an annual German festival held in autumn that is often referred to as a beer festival. While the festival takes place in Munich, Germany, other locations around the world host their own celebrations. Lone Tree’s “Craftoberfest” is expected to have six breweries in attendance, such as the Lone Tree Brewing Company, Blue Spruce Brewing Company and Little Dry Creek Brewery, according to a Sept. 15 news release from the city.
To accompany the craft beer selections, there will also be food trucks and German cuisine. Although beer-sampling is a highlight of the event, the festival is family-friendly. Attendees can enjoy live performances of bluegrass and oompah music, as well as a range of activities including cornhole and polka dancing. Those wanting to test their strength can also look forward to a stein raising competition. The U.S. Steinholding Association describes steinholding as a traditional Bavarian strength contest. For as long as possible, competitors have to hold a full 1-liter beer stein in front of them with a straight arm. Tickets are required to attend the event, according to the release. There are three ticket options available for purchase: • The general admission ticket costs $8 and includes a Rocky Mountain Root Beer and admission to the event. • The “mug package” ticket costs
$25 and includes admission, a commemorative 20-ounce mug and two beer tokens to redeem for two beers from any of the participating breweries. Additional beer tokens can be purchased at the event and cost $10 per token. • The “unlimited beer sampling package” costs $35 and includes admission, a commemorative Belgian taster glass and unlimited samples from participating breweries. Those interested in learning more and/or purchasing a ticket can visit: bit.ly/Craftoberfest2022. Supporting Tall Tales Ranch A portion of the proceeds from the Lone Tree “Craftoberfest” will be donated to Tall Tales Ranch to help build its ranch site in Lone Tree, according to the release. Tall Tales Ranch is a nonprofit dedicated to creating a community “where people with and without disabilities can live in a supportive, SEE FESTIVAL, P2
Kelly Moye bought her first house in the north Denver metro area for $120,000. That was in 1991. Prices likely won’t ever come back down to that level, said Moye, who has worked as a Realtor for three decades. But home prices in the metro area and statewide have shown some early signs that they may be breaking the pandemic-era trend of steep increases. August was the fourth consecutive month of decreases in the median price for single-family homes in the metro area and statewide, according to the Colorado Association of Realtors’ most recent report. The median price was $620,000 in August in the metro area, down from $660,000 in April. And while the single-family home prices are still up compared to this time last year, the rate of year-overyear growth in prices has slowed for the last several months in the metro area and statewide. But Colorado’s housing situation is still dire: This spring, the measure of housing affordability tracked by the association reached its lowest level since at least 2014 for both metro Denver and the state as a whole. While the market remains in an affordability crisis, the tracker has at least started to turn in the other direction. SEE HOUSING, P20