Homebuilders should have no problem finding buyers for houses near Denver International Airport despite a “plain-language notice” about possible future impacts from aircraft, a developer told Denver City Council members Wednesday.
People are buying homes valued at $500,000 and more near airports that serve Dallas and Washington, D.C., said Ray Pittman, whose company is planning a High Point development.
As part of an agreement signed by Denver, Aurora and Pittman’s company, Landmark Properties Group, potential homebuyers in High Point will receive a notice that says, in part, “the use and the enjoyment of the property may be affected by aircraft noise, vibrations, fumes, smoke, dust or fuel particulates.”
“My question is, ‘Who is going to buy a home?’ ” asked Councilman Charlie Brown.
Landmark seeks a zoning change from Denver that would allow homes in High Point up to East 68th Avenue just east of Tower Road.
Mark Davidson, a Denver lawyer who helped lead a neighborhood lawsuit against the city over noise from Stapleton Airport, said allowing homes to “encroach” on the airport could “negatively impact the growth and development of DIA.”
The zoning request will be the subject of a public hearing scheduled for Sept. 19.
GUNNISON COUNTY
Tiny body found; woman, 35, suspected
Acting on an anonymous tip, Gunnison County deputies discovered the body of either a fetus or a baby in the tank of a U.S. Forest Service outhouse, officials say.
The Gunnison County Sheriff’s Office is investigating whether a 35-year-old woman gave birth. The body was found Tuesday afternoon in Taylor Park, about 40 miles northeast of Gunnison, Undersheriff Rick Besecker said.
Besecker said he cannot release the name of the woman until medical evidence verifies her role in the incident.
It is unclear whether the body was that of an aborted fetus or a newly delivered infant, officials said. The circumstances that led to the child’s being left in the outhouse have also not been determined, Besecker said.
He said he didn’t know whether a child was born and left in the outhouse or whether a fetus was brought to the small concrete structure after its death.
CLEAR CREEK COUNTY
Search teams find lost German hiker
A 24-year-old German woman who became lost on Chief Mountain on Wednesday was found by Alpine Rescue volunteers about 10:45 p.m.
The woman, identified by Bill Barwick of Alpine Rescue as Vera Linnssen, was cold but unharmed.
Linnssen, who had been in this country about a week while on vacation, became separated from her boyfriend and two other hiking companions at about 2 p.m. when she began jogging ahead up the nearly 12,000-foot peak, said Lt. Rick Albers, spokesman for the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office.
The boyfriend called authorities after he climbed the mile- plus trail to the peak and back down without finding his girlfriend, Albers said. The mountain is 19 miles south of Idaho Springs.
Searchers using headlamps called out for the woman after dark, he said.
DENVER
Museum reaches goal with $1 million grant
With the receipt of a $1 million grant from the Kresge Foundation, the Denver Art Museum has reached its goal of $28 million in private support for its $90.5 million addition, the museum announced Wednesday.
“I’m relieved and excited,” said director Lewis Sharp. “It is a milestone. I think there is an enormous sense of accomplishment that we had set a goal and that we have achieved the goal.”
In November 1999, Denver voters approved a $62.5 million bond issue for the basic components of the building designed by architect Daniel Libeskind. It is set to open in the fall of 2006.
The museum sought private funds for the remaining portion of the project budget, including what Sharp called “finishing” elements. These include the titanium cladding on the exterior, black-granite floors in the atrium and lobbies and end-grain wood flooring in the galleries.
DENVER
Local architect chosen for justice center
David Owen Tryba Architects was selected Wednesday as the master urban-design architect for Denver’s justice center. The firm will be responsible for overseeing the design of the center, which will include a courthouse, detention facility and parking garage.
The Denver-based firm’s designs include the Archdiocese of Denver, the Alberto Vilar Research Center and the Englewood Civic Center.
GRAND COUNTY
Arvada man vanishes during fishing trip
Authorities continued their search for an Arvada man who didn’t return from a fishing trip in the mountains over the weekend.
Ted Frahm, 56, last contacted his son Friday from a pay phone at Lake John near Walden. He said he was going to Grand County to try his luck there.
When he didn’t show up for work Monday, family members started searching for him, and by Tuesday they had filed a missing-person report.
Authorities in Grand County have fanned out trying to find his brown 2001 Dodge pickup with the Colorado license plate 095-KJF. The truck was towing a fifth-wheel trailer with the license plate 289-KHH.
COLORADO
Panel to study woes of minority students
The Colorado Commission on Higher Education is forming a task force to determine why many minority students do not do as well at colleges and universities as other students.
CCHE executive director Rick O’Donnell sent a letter Tuesday to a dozen legislators and all CCHE members asking them to join the task force to explore the issue.
“There is some anecdotal evidence that ethnic minorities are not succeeding as well as they should be at some Colorado campuses,” O’Donnell wrote. “The reasons may be many, from a lack of academic and social supports to an environment where alleged racial incidents make students feel unwelcome.”
State legislators asked the CCHE to look into the issue.
