Lone Tree – Voters here will decide something related to arts and recreation next May, but exactly what the ballot asks is still in question.
The City Council approved a special election Tuesday night without defining the question to be put before voters.
The city’s Arts Commission wants a $15 million event center, while the Citizens Recreation Advisory Committee wants the same amount.
City leaders, however, will spend the next several months holding public meetings and examining town finances before asking voters to approve any tax increase or debt.
“It could be we examine our financial capabilities without a tax increase to see if there are some things we can afford now, (and) some things that may have to be funded later,” said Mayor Jack O’Boyle.
The arts center has been under consideration for years, but recreational aspects of the proposal have not yet been meted out, council members said.
City resident Dawn Bryan told the council that it was unwise to proceed until voters know which recreation projects they’re being asked to finance.
“I just don’t believe anyone can fund anything until something is brought forward to be funded,” she told the council.
Lone Tree has one of the metro region’s lowest sales-tax rates, at 1.5 percent. The city had a $16.2 million budget in 2006, but annexed most of Park Meadows mall last year, meaning a windfall in revenue.
The arts center would be the hub of a complex that’s in the 3,500-acre RidgeGate subdivision’s Lincoln Commons shopping district. Coventry Development Corp. has offered a free 2-acre site for the new arts center, a proposed regional library and a shared parking deck.
Staff writer Joey Bunch can be reached at 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com.
