VOLUME 79 | ISSUE 50
WEEK OF OCTOBER 3, 2024
$2
Westy council votes to leave disputed Flats trail partnership BY MONTE WHALEY MWHALEY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
The Westminster City Council on Monday night narrowly agreed to withdraw support for the controversial Rocky Mountain Greenway Trail which would connect Westminster to a site that was the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant. Councilors voted 4-3 to walk away from an Intergovernmental Agreement signed in 2021 with Jefferson County and several other entities to construct a bridge connecting Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge and Westminster Hills Open Space. Westminster also partnered with Jeffco for a Federal Lands Access Program in 2016 for the Rocky Flats trail. The vote means that Westminster will not contribute any outstanding funds to the crossings project, city spokesman Andy Le said. The remaining 0.4 miles of connecting trail within Westminster will not be constructed, Le said. The bridge over Indiana Avenue is within JeffCo’s right-of-way, and JeffCo may continue installing the bridge. A majority of councilors said they no longer wanted the city to be part of the project over concerns that any foot traffic along the trail into Westminster will stir up deadly plutonium linked to the shuttered Rocky Flats facility. They added the history of Rocky Flats has been whitewashed by local governments who seemingly want residents to forget the troubled history of the plant. SEE VOTING, P12
PICK OF THE LITTER
Dumb Friends League connects families, pets
P20
WESTMINSTERWINDOW.COM • A PUBLICATION OF COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA