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MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR Continued from page 1 passes (McCaslin Boulevard, Steel Ranch, South Street, and US 36 at Davidson Mesa). Within three years, I expect to be able to run, walk, or bike from Waneka Lake in Lafayette to Eldorado Canyon on open space trails passing through Louisville, without crossing a major road. Recently, I attended the ground breaking ceremony for Pearl Izumi's new worldwide headquarters in the Colorado Technology Center. Pearl Izumi is building a state of the art, sustainable building for its headquarters that employs over 100 people. Other Louisville companies are also doing great things: Sierra Nevada Space Systems received a $200 million grant from NASA to continue development of the Dream Chaser Space Plane; Boulder Wind Power is developing more efficient energy producing wind turbines in Louisville; El- dorado Springs Water bottles Rocky Mountain spring water right here in Louisville; and Gaiam produces healthy lifestyle products at their site on South Boulder Road. Unfortunately one company who will not be doing business in Louisville is Phillips 66. We were all very excited when Conoco Phillips acquired the old Storage Tek, Sun Mi- crosystems site to build an alternative energy research facility and worldwide training center. However with the split of the company the Louisville Campus became part of Phillips 66 and they have decided to sell the site. 'While this decision is a disappointment to both the City and the State of Colorado, it does leave a property that has been cleared and is ready for development. Phillips 66 has committed to work with the City to find a buyer that provides a benefit to the region. This month I had the pleasure of listening to teams of 4`h graders from Louisville Elementary School present argu- ments for and against preserving the Louisville grain elevator. The quality and detail of their arguments were very impres- sive. They made all the arguments for preservation (unique building, last of its kind, represents Louisville's agricultural heritage, will attract tourists to Louisville) and against pres- ervation (limited dollars in the preservation fund, costs are too high, there are other buildings important to Louisville's heritage that need preservation funds) that the City Council considered in its deliberations. I've also had the pleasure of meeting and talking with the 1st or 2nd grade classes from Louisville, Coal Creek, and Fireside Elementary Schools. We discussed what the City does for them such as building parks, providing safe drink- ing water, and providing school resource police officers to make schools a safe place to learn. We talked about how the City clears the streets when it snows so they can get to school (although there were some in favor of snow days). I didn't mention the new snow removal policy which will clear more streets earlier, during and after a storm, than we have in the past. They asked some great questions including "What is the hardest thing you had to do as mayor." The answer might be the decision to cancel the fireworks this year due to the drought. Upon reflection it really is trying to address all the concerns and great ideas of Louisville residents. You are a dy- namic and engaged bunch of people and we in local govern- ment work hard to keep up with you. The City Council and I will continue to do the work that needs to be done to maintain the quality of life that makes Louisville such a great place to live. I don't really know what President Johnson was talking about. It's a pleasure to be your Mayor. - Bob COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE Continued from page 1 After the creation of the Vision Statement and Core Community Values, staff collected data and created maps to analyze land use patterns and identify areas of stability and ar- eas of change. Staff also completed a demographic, economic, and fiscal analysis of the City as well as a regional transporta- tion model. All of this information led to a community design charrette held in August. The charrette (a collaborative community planning and design process that brings stakeholders together in intensive work sessions to develop plans for their community) resulted in the creation of land use framework options for the City. Planning Staff presented these options and gathered feedback at a community meeting on November 14`h. The Planning Commission and City Council will hold public meetings to discuss, revise, and formally adopt the final updated Comprehensive Plan in the coming months. The Planning Commission's first scheduled meeting to dis- cuss the Comprehensive Plan Update is on November 29" at 6:30 PM in City Hall. Additional Planning Commission and City Council meetings will follow, so keep an eye on the agendas on the City web site (www LouisvilleCO.gov) for your opportunity to participate in the 2012 Comprehensive Plan Update. If you have any questions or comments, please contact the Planning Department by phone at 303.335.4592, or by e -mail at Planning@LouisvilleCO.gov. Winter 2012 - 2013