Planning Commission Minutes 2014 04 10

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Planning Commission Meeting Minutes April; 10, 2014 Page 28of 37 2042 or later,do we need to rethink our ratios? Do we need to rethink everything because our policies are not in alignment? From a management perspective of regulations, they are very suburban and characteristic. ACCESS: When you look at access, we have very poor transit delivery. We have one route every 15 minutes of the DASH that only serves residents from Boulder and Lafayette. If you live in north Lafayette or in Broomfield, you cannot get to Louisville. If you live in Denver, you actually have to go to McCaslinand transfer an hour headway to the 228 to get to Louisville. It is better to go to Boulder to get to Louisville along the DASH than actually take the 228. Louisville is really not connected on a major course ofa major bus serviceperspective.We have very poor transit delivery to Downtown. Similarly, from an enforcement perspective, we have 2-hour limits on our on-streets, but we have no time limits on a number of our off-street spaces in the Old Town neighborhood. We are complaint driven. We are not proactive in that enforcement.We are not managing our resources. People can park wherever they want because we are not pushing and pulling based on policies. CHARACTER: Whenyou look at character, how parking fits with any environment is very important. You look at community format, our Downtown handbook is very pedestrian-oriented. It is a character based land development code. If you look at the vitality of downtown, we have a good mix of uses but are probably too heavy on restaurants if you think of downtown and where our parking supply is. We have good vitality when compared to McCaslinbut in terms of a true walkable environment, our vitality is not as mixed. We are skewed toward the entertainment side. If you look at walkability, clearly in the McCaslinenvironment, it is not the best environment. You cannot deliver people or extend the reach of the car. You want to create a park once environment, which meansyou park once and you do a number of trips by foot. That is what we have Downtown but not at McCaslin. You can start to see how these policies are all over the place. LIVABILITY: We want businesses to be successful. We want the neighborhoods to be successful. When you look at those policies, one is neighborliness and your ability to get to know one another. We have a great environment currentlyin Downtown and Old Town in terms of your ability to know the businesses and know your neighbors,and your ability to maximize your exchange. Cities exist for exchange. You are buying goods and services. The most robust cities are calledareas for informal exchange. Formal exchange is “I go and buy a cup of coffee.”Informal exchange is on my way to the coffee shop, I see a store, see something I want to buy, I see my neighbor, and chat. The more opportunities for informal exchange,the more neighborly or more robust an environmentbecomes. Downtown is very rich in that perspective. CONVENIENCE: When you look at convenience, if you live in Old Town, your ability to actually park in front of your house is not being achieved on key nights of the year. This is a convenience issue. It is a direct impact on quality of life. We have heard that clearly from our residents. We have a parkingdeficit in Old Townwhich is a zoning issue. A lot of Old Town homes were built before we had the luxury of creating parking spaces, but it is a reality we have to acknowledge. We cannot be naïve to it.