The monthslong dispute over Bow Mar’s plans to erect a gate on South Sheridan Boulevard came to a head this week as leaders of the town of 900 gave final approval to a contract that should put the barrier in place by the end of next month.
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And Bow Mar’s much bigger neighbor is furious about the move, which is intended to eliminate cut-through traffic.
Denver City Councilman Kevin Flynn said Monday’s decision had Colorado’s largest city considering a “nuclear option” in response — installing its own limited-access gate just north of Bow Mar’s, effectively barring residents of the affluent town from being able to access their community from the north.
“None of my residents will have access to that traffic signal” at South Sheridan and West Quincy Avenue, Flynn said Tuesday of the planned Bow Mar gate. “That’s a problem for us.”
His constituents, he said, will be forced to take unprotected left turns onto Quincy from the south, increasing chances for mistakes and collisions.
“It’s an unacceptable alteration of Denver’s right of way,” Flynn said.
Bow Mar’s town council also voted Monday to block access to the town via West Tufts Avenue, approving a permanent closure of that road at the town line. Bill Rigler, a town spokesman, said the gate on Sheridan is expected to be in place by Thanksgiving but won’t actually be operational until January.
As proposed, Bow Mar residents would enter the community using RFID tags placed on their vehicles, while visitors and delivery vehicles would use a guest pass or code to get through.
Bow Mar has justified its gate project as a way to stop cut-through vehicles from endangering the town’s residents. Around 1,200 vehicles enter the town via Sheridan per day, an increase of 51% over the past eight years, according to town data.
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Police have issued nearly 900 citations for speeding and unsafe driving in Bow Mar over the last four years, Rigler said. Just last week, a vehicle was found partially submerged in Bowles Lake, which is in Bow Mar. Authorities have not released the identity of the vehicle’s driver.
“In order for that car to get 50 meters out in the lake, you can imagine how fast it would have to be going,” Rigler said.
Vehicles have taken out walls and mailboxes, and residents fear it’s only a matter of time before an out-of-control driver kills someone. The speed limit in Bow Mar is 20 mph.
The town narrowed the scope of its project over the last few months, going from multiple proposed gates to just one, Rigler said.
“All other entrances into the community will remain open,” he said.
But that hasn’t assuaged the concerns of leaders in Denver or neighboring Littleton, which also fears the blockade will restrict its residents’ vehicular movements. In June, Littleton Mayor Kyle Schlachter and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston sent Bow Mar a joint letter asking the town to halt the project.
As the dispute intensified over the summer, Bow Mar hired a law firm at $560 an hour and a public relations company to deal with the situation. Flynn said he didn’t feel Bow Mar officials negotiated in good faith with Denver and Littleton to identify an alternate solution.
“They have not cooperated or collaborated at all,” he said. “Why don’t they work with their neighbors?”
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