----- Forwarded Message -----
From: "Rebecca McClellan" <RMCentennial@aol.com>
To: vcmoon@comcast.net
Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2011 1:03:10 PM
Subject: Rebecca McClellan Reports: January 18, 2011
| Friends and Constituents, I hope this finds you enjoying the new year. Following the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, this week's City Council meeting will take place tonight, January 18th, at the Centennial Civic Center, 13133 E. Arapahoe Road. Our Study Session begins at 6 PM, and the Regular Meeting begins at 7 PM. Public Comment is welcomed at the start of the Regular Meeting, and citizens can also contact all council members at once, using Council@CentennialColorado.com. Save the Date: The next State of the City luncheon will take place on Thursday, April 7, 2011, from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Centennial. Your calls and comments are always appreciated. You can reach me at (303) 956-2845, or e-mail RMcClellan@CentennialColorado.com. News items follow. Kind Regards, Rebecca McClellan Centennial Council Member, Dist. 3 (303) 956-2845 Special Meeting on Proposed Civic Center ParkOn the evening of Monday, January 24th, Centennial Council will have a special meeting dedicated to the issue of the proposed Civic Center Park. I've favored a more modest budget in the interest of reducing waste and providing better equity in our open space expenditures across the city.Our meetings are open to the public. Public comment is welcomed at the start of the 7 PM Regular Meeting. You can also listen to City Council meetings from home using the link on the city web site, at www.CentennialColorado.com. You can send a note to all of our City's elected officials at once, at council@centennialcolorado.com. Please note that the Long Range Draft Agenda for upcoming items can change. Don't hesitate to call on Thursday before a Monday meeting. That's when we get our council packets, and I can confirm the agenda. You can also check the city web site for updates. Neighborhood Meeting: Jan. 20th A neighborhood meeting is planned for a Preliminary and Final Development Plan for the Rocky Mountain Community Church proposed within the Panorama Office Park. The subject site is currently developed as a parking lot. The Applicant is proposing an amendment to the Preliminary Development Plan to rezone the property to increase the maximum building height from 35 to 45 feet with a maximum height of 55 feet for a church steeple, tower or similar accessory structure. The Applicant is also proposing a Final Development Plan for the construction of a 30,000 square foot place of public assembly (church). Project Site Location: SE of E. Panorama Drive and S. Yosemite Street Neighborhood Meeting: January 20, 2011, 6:30 p.m. Neighborhood Meeting Location: Willow Creek Mineral Clubhouse, 8500 E. Mineral Drive Lane Closure at Arapahoe & Parker Thru 11 pm., Wednesday the 19th: CDOT will close the ramp from westbound Arapahoe Road to northbound Parker Road as well as the right lane of westbound Arapahoe Road just east of Parker Road. Until 11 p.m. on Wednesday, January 19th, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) will close the ramp from westbound Arapahoe Road to northbound Parker Road as well as the right lane of westbound Arapahoe Road just east of Parker Road. The closure is necessary for crews to complete storm sewer work at the intersection. Building Code Open HouseWednesday, January 19, Noon - 3 pm., CENTENNIAL OPEN HOUSE ON 2009 INTERNATIONAL BUILDING CODE ADOPTION The City of Centennial Building Division has scheduled an open house to receive feedback about the adoption of the 2009 International Building Codes. This open house is Wednesday, January 19, 2011 from noon - 3 p.m. at the Centennial Civic Center, 13133 E. Arapahoe Road. First Wednesday, Each Month: Centennial Airport Noise Roundtable Meeting The Airport Noise Committee meets on the first Wednesday of each month at the Hotel Gold Crown Ramada, by the Air Traffic Control Tower at 7770 S Peoria St. Ppublic comment is allowed at the start of each meeting. Advice on Coyote Encounters This is the time of year when coyote pups leave their dens and are taught how to hunt for food. Centennial residents may see more coyotes and their pups out and about in backyards, neighborhoods, and in open spaces. Coyotes are attracted to neighborhoods due to the availability of their natural food sources, pet food, birdfeeders, compost piles and garbage. Please keep these attractants away and securely fastened. In addition, pets may be easy prey for coyotes. To ensure pet safety cats should stay indoors and small dogs should be accompanied outdoors. Pets should be on a leash at all times. Stay in well lit areas and keep a whistle handy. If small dogs must be kept outdoors daily or at night, the City strongly recommends a fully enclosed dog run secured to the house. The following measures have been reported to work well in hazing and in actively co-existing with wildlife in our urban areas. If approached by a coyote practice the following hazing techniques: · Wave arms and yell in an authoritative voice · Bang pots and pans · Spray with garden hose · Throw rocks, sticks, tennis balls and any non-edible items toward the coyote · Use air horns or whistles · Motion detection yard lights · Coyote Can Shaker - soda can with pennies wrapped in aluminum foil sealed with duct tape. Shake to make noise or throw toward the coyote · Do NOT feed coyotes- it is illegal to feed coyotes in the state of Colorado. Please report individuals feeding coyotes to the Colorado Department of Wildlife at (303) 291-7227. When using hazing techniques it is very important to change the hazing method used each time. It is important to continue hazing until the coyote leaves the area. Arapahoe / I-25 Interchange Project A meeting of the Arapahoe & I-25 Coalition is being planned, to discuss another trip to Washington, D.C. To my knowledge, the meeting will not be open to the public. I do not have the dates of the Washington trip. The project's lobbying contract with Capitol Partnerships (VA) Inc., is run through the City of Greenwood Village, with the monthly payments of $5,000 each from Arapahoe County and Centennial, being paid to the City of Greenwood Village. The annual total for this contract is $180,000. The lobbyist at Capitol Partnerships (VA), Inc., is Mr. Ken Butler, who is also the Chairman of the "National Council for Public-Private Partnerships," which recently gave the City of Centennial a "Distinguished Service Award." I support the aim to improve the interchange itself. But I'm concerned that citizens may have had a less public process than we should have, with Coalition meetings and technical and executive committee meetings having been held unrecorded and without adequate public involvement. Plans to improve the I-25 & Arapahoe Rd. interchange could include an underpass from the Country Dinner Playhouse area, under I-25, to intersect Yosemite near Walnut Hills. The underpass would direct an eventual 18,000 cars daily onto Yosemite, and would add at least $55.6 million to the cost of the project. You may have heard that the process to select a plan to improve the interchange is only beginning. Unfortunately, the underpass plan has been communicated to members of Congress as a locally preferred option according to the post trip report from the February, 2010 Washington trip. This followed written notice from the Walnut Hills Civic Association, formally opposing the underpass. Initiated in 2005, the Arapahoe Road Corridor Study public outreach is thought by many to have been insufficient. Going door to door in 2009, I could not find a single resident who knew about any underpass plan. According to David Evans & Associates, who performed the Study's public outreach, only three residents west of Yosemite were mailed notice of the 2005 Arapahoe Road Corridor Study by that firm. Centennial was represented on the Arapahoe Road Corridor Study's executive committee by then Mayor Randy Pye, a lobbyist with Capitol Solutions for the last year of his mayoral term. Centennial City Council has adopted potentially protective 1041 regulations that may require a permit before construction of an underpass into Centennial. To hear my support for these protections, please listen to the audio portion of the Regular Meeting of June 21, 2010, under General Business, Item C, click on item xi, then listen to the proceedings after the vote on item xi, at www.CentennialColorado.com. I was disappointed that concerned citizens were not given any warning that their protections under the 1041 regulations might be changed on June 21st, because the matter was not on the agenda. I worked quickly to help ensure that the council would remain in a position to take responsibility in this matter. Citizens can state their opinions on the I-25 & Arapahoe Road project for the Environmental Assessment record by writing to: Leah Langerman, Community Outreach Coordinator, David Evans & Associates, 1331 17th Street, Suite 900, Denver, CO 80202. phone: (720) 225-4651, fax: (720) 946-0973. LLangerman@deainc.com. David Evans & Associates has been contracted to conduct public outreach for the federally required Environmental Assessment. To contact me, Councilwoman Rebecca McClellan, or be added to my e-mail update list, call 303-956-2845, or e-mail RMCentennial@aol.com. Below are links related to the project, from the outcome of the Arapahoe Road Corridor Study begun in 2005, to the current Environmental Assessment process. I-25/Arapahoe Interchange System Level Feasibility Study: Arapahoe Corridor Study & project documents: Current Environmental Assessment: Contact info: Joe Hart or Leah Langerman, David Evans and Associates, Inc. 720-946-0969, jhart@deainc.com , llangerman@deainc.com Project Website: www.I25ArapahoeRoadEA.com |
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