Planning Commission Agenda and Packet 2016 03 10

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Planning Commission Meeting Minutes February 11, 2016 Page 8 of 18 allows any more possibility of more kids with more development, I urge that it be taken out. The community really expressed to CC and through the public means that we don't want any more density. If there is any slight inkling of it in this plan, I'd like it taken out. I love the conceptual idea of smaller stores and smaller parking lots, but many of us have to leave Louisville to shop in big box stores. The possibility of having big box stores such as Hobby Lobby or ARC leave and not be replaced might cause the City to lose good tax revenue. How can little stores pull in the same sales tax? Moline says that his children went to Coal Creek Elementary when there were many portables, and they had a fine, really good experience. I don't know that portables necessarily mean a real decline in education here in Louisville. Bradley says portables themselves are not necessarily a horrific thing. It is the whole size of the school. Having a school over 600 kids puts a strain on the whole entire system. It is the size of the hallways, the cafeteria size, and the poor art teacher who has 600 kids that come through her class currently. There have been national studies that the best size of an elementary school is around 400 kids. Below that or above that, you have impacts on test scores. A huge elementary school impacts the kids negatively. The staff and the infrastructure are affected. Moline says in other parts of the county, when schools are not meeting those enrollments, they get closed and schools combine. I look at this issue and think that the school district should deal with this complexity. If the school district is saying that the capacity is something you feel is far in excess of what the program and what the building can support, it is a problem for the district to try and solve. Bradley says it is the responsibility of the City to try and evaluate the impact to the community. If we know, as a city, that we have a problem with the schools in Louisville, that the current drawn boundaries do not put kids in the schools equally, and we know we are running into a problem for LES, the capacity should be readdressed by BVSD. They are already doing that. It is a big problem and the responsibility of BVSD, but I think there is some responsibility for the City itself. What the PC decides directly impacts the community whether BVSD acts or not. If BVSD acts and decides LES can no longer support the number of kids attending and we need to redraw the boundaries, it just impacted your community. Moline says that BVSD says they can accommodate the size by ratcheting down open enrollment. Bradley says open enrollment has been closed. There is a big argument in the community as to whether LES can accommodate 600 students. At 653 students, the defined capacity of the school is based on the number of physical classrooms. It does not address how many kids are flowing through the hallways. Tengler says I am very sympathetic to what you suggest. I think that as much as we might like to provide that sort of guidance, we cannot tell a builder downtown what type of architectural design they can use. There are certain things that are out of the scope of what we are allowed to effectively voice our opinion on, or make any judgement on, in this PC. Bradley says I think you have a lot of power and ability to voice your opinions and suggestions. BVSD can take them or leave them, but I think that as a city, we have an opportunity to request and ask. I am asking the PC to look at what the impact of increased development will be in this area. My son is a third grader and was at LES. He is no longer at LES because he could not take the noise and eat in the cafeteria. We had to withdraw him from the school which was devastating to me because we loved LES. It is a wonderful school and wonderful community. Tengler says I agree, as a city we do, and as individuals we certainly have that opportunity. But for the PC to effectively put a condition on approval of something and suggest that BVSD needs to build a new school, it is out of our scope. Randy Caranci, 441 Elk Trail, Lafayette, CO I have voiced my opinion several times at different types of meetings regarding the redevelopment of Highway 42 which has yet to be funded. The impact on Highway 42 continues