GOLDEN — Students at Shelly Trujillo’s in south Jefferson County can continue eating meals and doing homework in Trujillo’s former home after a vote by county commissioners Tuesday.
Students found it helpful to use the house, which sits on the half-acre studio property between Wadsworth Boulevard and Kipling Parkway on Quincy Avenue, but zoning rules requiring Trujillo to live in the house jeopardized students’ access to it.
Trujillo hadn’t resided in the house since 2011 and the home became an area for dancers to rest, eat dinner and do homework. Trujillo said about 75 percent of her students attend multiple classes on the same day and often have time between sessions.
True Dance Studio, which opened in 2010, has classes from 3:30-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday during the school year.
County staff supported the business but opposed the rezoning since the studio is in a residential area and thought the owner should still live on site. Had the rezoning not passed, Trujillo would have moved back into the house with her three children.
Dozens of Trujillo’s dancers spoke in support of the rezoning, telling stories of getting their homework done in between classes, eating a healthy dinner rather than grabbing fast food after class, and having a place to rest when ill. One called it a “home away from home.”
No one opposing the rezoning came forward at any meeting on the issue.
“I’m relieved,” Trujillo said. “I feel blessed that the kids will enjoy this place.”
Joe Vaccarelli: 303-954-2396, jvaccarelli@denverpost.com or twitter.com/joe_vacc
