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WHEAT RIDGE | APPLEWOOD | MOUNTAIN VIEW | LAKESIDE | BERKELEY August 14 – September 15, 2019 • ngazette.com • FREE
Family Fun At 5 Fridges And Ridgefest ■ By
Nancy Hahn
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f you and your family enjoyed the Wheat Ridge Carnation Festival and are looking for more Wheat Ridge fun, get ready to enjoy a visit with baby goats this month. Many of you remember when 5 Fridges Farm’s male goats disappeared while weeding in a pen near the Wheat Ridge Recreation Center. A huge, but unsuccessful, search for the goats was conducted. While those missing goats were never found, 5 Fridges Farm got new male goats and now there are baby goats. On Aug. 15, visit 5 Fridges Farm, 11100 W. 38th Ave., for a tour of this urban farm, located right in the middle of apartments, homes and a school. There are baby goats and there is nothing cuter or bouncier than baby goats. They seem to have springs attached to their feet. There are turkeys, chickens, ducks, cows, fields of crops, and more to see, too. Amanda Weaver will conduct the free tour. It is sure to be fun and snacks will be provided. Please park on Quail Street or Parfet if the driveway is full. Continued on page 2
CARNIVAL RIDES FOR KIDS SPICED UP THIS YEAR’S CARNATION FESTIVAL, held the weekend of Aug. 9-11 in Wheat Ridge’s Anderson Park. Winners of this year’s festival awards – including the chili cookoff and pie contests – can be found on page 10. PHOTO BY DANIELLE BREEN.
Will Lakewood’s Growth Limit Initiative Impact Surrounding Communities? ■ By
L
Mike McKibbin
akewood’s recently passed growth limit initiative could cut the number of its building permits nearly in half, although residents may still have to deal with traffic congestion and other impacts caused by growth outside the city. That’s what an assistant professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Colorado Denver said may be some of the impacts caused by the recently approved controversial measure. The July 2 ballot measure 200 asked Lakewood voters to limit residential growth to no more than one percent per year — estimated at about 700 building permits in the first year — through a permit allocation system that will begin in January 2020 and require city council approval of allocations for projects of 40 or more units. The issued passed by a 53 percent to 47 percent margin. Just under 36 percent of the city’s 99,638 registered voters returned their mail-in ballots. Carrie Makarewicz said the allocation process spelled out in Lakewood’s initiative could be “messy.” However, she said it might be hard to attribute a “noticeable” change in Lakewood’s growth due to the initiative. “I think you might be looking at about half as many permits” compared to the last several years, Makarewicz said. “It’s also likely to drive up the prices of land that could be developed. You might not see a drop in lots being developed, but there could be a decrease in the number of units built on those lots to 39 or fewer so they can avoid getting the council’s OK” with an allocation. Likewise, lots that might have been developed as smaller projects could see
denser 39-unit development, Makarewicz noted. The initiative could cut new housingrelated construction traffic, but probably won’t affect overall traffic numbers, Makarewicz added. Over the long term, traffic might even increase due to developers taking their projects outside the city to
surrounding communities and Jefferson County. “More single-family developers will need to find lots in areas already zoned for new homes in the county or elsewhere,” she said. “So there could be more pressure in west Denver and into the city of Denver, too. But if you are surrounded by growth, you’re
going to see some impacts from pressures inside and outside the city.” The city could also see a drop in revenue from fewer permit applications and associated fees, she said. “There’s also the loss of construction Continued on page 16
PEOPLE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Ned Breslin At Tennyson Center Understands The Kids He Helps ■ By
Laurie Dunklee
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ed Breslin, CEO of the Tennyson Center for Children, understands what abused and neglected kids experience — because he experienced it himself. The Tennyson Center, at 29th Avenue and Tennyson Street, helps kids ages 5 to 18 who have been traumatized by abuse and neglect. Breslin shares this memory in a TED Talk published last month: “It’s Christmas and I’m in my early teens. My four brothers burst into the room. I come in later and sit as far away from my family as I can, in a green chair. I am lonely, small and scared. I’m wrestling with a common event that happened night after night: a merciless beating at the hands of my father that left lasting scars. My mother swept the horrors under the carpet, so I was wrestling with living in a house where my screams went unanswered. The memory of this Christmas is vivid because my father videotaped it and we watched it year after year. “I hated that green chair. It came to symbolize my isolation, abandonment and pain. I just wanted to get away. Since the TED Talk came out, people tell me about their own green chairs and how they got away.” Continued on page 2
NED BRESLIN IN HIS OFFICE, WHERE DEPARTING Tennyson Center kids are invited to paint on his walls. The rainbow drawing on the right reads “Hold On, Pain Ends.” PHOTO BY LAURIE DUNKLEE.