I hope this email finds you well! My name is Hannah and I’m working with DOTI on the South Central Community Transportation Network process. My role as a consultant is to help manage the community engagement and outreach.
I’m reaching out because the Community Transportation Networks – South Central team is hosting a kickoff Community Open House on Thursday, March 19 from 5:30-7:30pm at La Familia Rec Center (65 S Elati St.). This is an opportunity for residents to come learn about this process and help us identify neighborhood projects to improve safety and meet Denver’s ambitious goals to increase the percentage of Denverites walking, bicycling and taking transit.
I’ve attached the flyers (English and Spanish versions in one attachment) to this email. If you can, please post it on your social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, NextDoor, etc.,) and share it in any upcoming newsletters or meetings you have scheduled prior to the 19th.
Thank you in advance for your help spreading the word, and please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
Hannah Rimar | Senior Associate
South Central Community Transportation Network Project Team
t: 303-825-6100 | e: hannahrimar@gbsm.com | w: www.gbsm.com
Denver Parks & Recreation Office of the City Forestry has identified conifer trees in the Denver area infected with the Ips engraver beetle. The bark beetle is always present in Denver’s urban forest and flares up every 9 to 10 years. The beetle rarely attacks healthy trees and mostly occurs in newly transplanted or stressed trees. In 2002, we lost over 300 spruce throughout the city; in 2012, we lost over 200. Currently, we have documented about 74 this year throughout the city and the park system.
Denver Forestry’s strategy for the park and parkway system is to remove infested trees quickly, inspect existing trees, and apply a preventative treatment to trees that are in proximity but not infested. All removed trees will be replaced.
The Ips engraver beetle is 1/8 to 3/8-inch-long, reddish-brown to black in color and lives under the bark of conifer trees, producing girdling tunnels that cause foliage discoloration, crown dieback, eventually killing the tree.
To aid in the prevention of beetle infestation, practice proper tree maintenance including adequate watering, pruning out deadwood, protecting the tree from injury from construction activities, mechanical damage and soil compaction.
Preventative treatments may be helpful for other trees but once infected, no chemical treatment exists, and swift removal is the only option to keep the beetle from spreading.
To identify if your tree may be infected, look for fading needle color at the very top of your conifer or signs that the top of the tree is dead. If you suspect your tree is infected, contact a licensed and insured tree company for inspection. Colorado State University Extension also provides information on this pest and others. https://extension.colostate.edu/
Potential flooding of Cherry Creek Trail on Wed. May 22, 2019: Annual reservoir sediment flush
WEDNESDAY, MAY 22: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will conduct their annual sediment flush of the Cherry Creek Reservoir & Dam. As always, the released water is not expected to reach the Cherry Creek Channel until Wednesday evening, at which point the trail could experience flooding.
This year is a low-flow year, so any flooding should be minimal—operations crews anticipate that the Cherry Creek Trail will remain open but remind everyone to use extra caution if water is on the trail, and to consider using an alternate route if possible. If necessary, please use the sidewalk along Speer Blvd. Crews will be out early on Thursday morning to address any needed cleanup. Thanks for your patience!
Find full details from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers HERE
Tuesday is city-wide election day and ballots cannot be mailed at this point. Vote by hand delivering to a ballot collection box or vote in person. 24 hour ballot boxes reside at the Denver Botanic Gardens and on the east side of the Cherry Creek Ross library. Every vote counts!!!
Just passing along a friendly reminder that residential street sweeping begins Tuesday, April 2 and runs through November. In the past, Denver’s street sweepers have removed phosphorous, copper, lead, zinc, chloride and mercury off our streets, which is why it’s so important for residents to move their vehicle on street sweeping day. It helps keep all that crud out of Denver’s waterways!
When residents move their vehicles, crews can sweep all the way to the curb line and provide the best service possible. Residents are urged to follow the red and white signs posted on the block for street sweeping parking restrictions to avoid getting a $50 ticket. Even if it appears a sweeper has cleaned the street, it’s still important to not park during the restricted times posted, as the sweeper may need to return to the area to make another pass.
For those who need help remembering street sweeping day, there are some tools out there! Denver residents can sign-up for text and email reminders online at www.pocketgov.com. For those who aren’t tech savvy, they can call 311 to request “no parking” calendar stickers.
Denver Public Works is releasing updated procedures that aim to lessen construction impacts to people as they move about the city and to improve access to adjacent homes and businesses. The department worked in conjunction with City Council members Wayne New, Paul Kashmann, Albus Brooks, Jolon Clark and Raphael Espinoza, and community and business leaders to implement new requirements on contractors when closing the public right of way (vehicle travel lanes, parking lanes, alleys, and sidewalks) for construction activities:
Traffic Management Plan for All Modes
A contractor’s traffic control plan will be required to show how all modes will be provided safe and convenient access around a project site, including pedestrians, people on bikes and scooters, transit riders, and drivers. Specifically, the traffic control plan will be required to have a strong focus on pedestrian safety. The plan must be included in a contractor’s street occupancy permit application.
Denver Public Works will also require additional barricades, signs and provisions for pedestrians in the traffic control plan.
Pedestrian Canopies
Pedestrian canopies will be required, with limited exceptions, on new projects where vertical construction is occurring directly adjacent to a pedestrian pathway (ex: multi-story building).
Existing large projects will be reviewed to determine if any mobility improvements can be made.
Construction Worker Parking Plan
Large projects (greater than $100,000 and lasting longer than a week) will be required to submit a parking plan for their workers and subcontractors’ workers who will access the construction site.
The parking plan must aim to minimize impacts to surrounding businesses and residences.
Workers will be allowed to use the front of the project site for parking, but otherwise must utilize off-site parking that the contractor will be required to provide.
Additionally, beginning April 1, Denver Public Works will require the posting of information signs for all private projects in the public right of way lasting longer than seven days. The signs will list the contractor, their contact information along with details of the permit including permit number, location, duration, and description of the project. Denver Public Works will work to standardize the placement of similar information signage as part of existing building permit requirements so this contact and description information is accessible to the public.
I hope you can join Cherry Creek Business Alliance for our rescheduled Cherry Creek Election Forum. Please share this invitation with your neighborhood organizations. All are welcome! We’ll have a panel discussion with the 3 candidates running to represent Council District 10 and a presentation from the No on 300 campaign. We’ll also have No on 300 Yard Signs available at the event.
Thank you for your help spreading the word! I hope to see you on April 4th! – Bethany
Get Ready for the May Municipal Elections!
7 Candidate and Ballot Issue Forums
Denver Decides, a consortium composed of the League of Women Voters of Denver, Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation, Historic Denver, and Denver 8 TV, will once again hold candidate and ballot issue forums for the upcoming May 7 election. The forums will be held in the community and also taped for later viewing on Denver 8 TV or streamed through the Denver Decides website.
Election Day Tuesday, May 7
Ballots will be mailed on April 15
Tuesday, March 19 District 1 (Northwest), Auditor
6:00 p.m. Scheitler Rec Center, 5031 W 46th Ave, Denver, CO 80212
Wednesday, March 20 Districts 2 (Southwest) and 7 (Southwest-central); Ballot Issues
6:00 p.m. SWIC, 1000 S Lowell Blvd, Denver, CO 80219 (Sandos Hall)
Wednesday, March 27 Districts 4 (Southeast), 5 (East-central), 6 (Southeast)
6:00 p.m. Cook Park Rec Center, 7100 Cherry Creek S Dr., Denver, CO 80224
Thursday, March 28* District 9 (Northcentral Denver), Clerk and Recorder
6:00 p.m. Johnson Rec Center, 4809 Race St, Denver, CO 80216
Tuesday, April 2** District 10 (Central) and At-Large (city-wide)
6:00 p.m. Denver Art Museum (Sharp Auditorium)
Thursday, April 4 Districts 8 (Northeast) and 11 (Montbello/Green Valley Ranch)
6:00 p.m. Montbello Rec Center, 15555 E 53rd Ave, Denver, CO 80239
Saturday, April 13*** Mayoral Candidates, District 3 (West-central)
9:30 a.m. SWIC, 1000 S Lowell Blvd, Denver, CO 80219 (Sandos Hall)
*Please plan extra travel time due to heavy construction in the surrounding area.
**Street Parking or in Cultural Center Garage – access 12th Ave. between Broadway and Bannock. Enter building and proceed to Lower Level via stairs or elevator to Sharp Auditorium
***This event coincides with Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation’s monthly meeting.
The Public Hearing for “Game Plan for a Healthy City” (originally scheduled for 3/13/19) has been rescheduled to WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10 at the regular Parks and Recreation Advisory Board (PRAB) meeting.
The PRAB meeting on April 10, 2019, begins at 5:30pm. It is held at the Wellington Webb Municipal Building, located at 201 W. Colfax Ave., Room 4.F.6.
A copy of the “Game Plan for a Healthy City” is accessible through the City of Denver’s Denveright website. Review the plan directly via this link. The 3-Year Action Plan is also now available for review online. Please email parksandrecreation@denvergov.org with questions.
