City Council Minutes 2017 02 07 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes February 7, 2017 Page 9 of 15 Jeff Sheets, Koelbel and Company, 5291 East Yale Avenue, Denver, stated the Plan and its newest revisions concern him in that it is putting an urban project in a suburban environment. He stated his real question is what does the market support in this area. If the Plan moves forward with limited or no residential development, then the market is entirely driven through commuters or office growth. Koelbel has roughly 70 acres of land to develop in Centennial Valley and the Plan would require less density than what we are allowed now. It would require structured parking which is simply not affordable with current rents. The Edge Area in the plan calls for clustered buildings, but that is not what the market demands and they aren't economical. If the market was driving these types of uses, it would already be there. The real concern is for new design guidelines based on this Plan The changes to Centennial Parkway are a positive to the City and to the employees already in the area. He stated he doesn't have a high degree of confidence in the build out numbers in the fiscal model. He stated his support for the Transit Oriented Development he feels the Plan ignores the marketplace and is not likely to be fulfilled The Pian needs to be market based and guidelines need to be developed. Frost Yarnell, 1109 Hillside Lane, reviewed the history of this area noting the same conversation has been going on for more than 13 years and every time it is discussed residents state their concern about high density housing. The market is important but it is also important to note what the community wants Members took a short break. Mayor Muckle asked for Council comments. Councilmember Maloney stated he is also concerned about residential development on the west side of McCaslin Boulevard but he thinks the TOD concept has some merit. However, what is in the Plan currently is not documented enough for him to support He stated his other major concern is the future of Centennial Valley and how it may or may not develop over time. For right now, he supports the December 6 version of the Plan as it meets the needs of the community and addresses most of the issues we have. Mayor Pro Tem Lipton stated his earlier request to look at adding Transit Oriented Development provided some useful information, but it really wasn't his vision for TOD in the area. He would like to see more commercial and retail. He stated he is still interested in TOD but this will need to evolve in a way to preserve the values of our community. This is a start to the conversation but not the end of it. He would like some mention of a goal of TOD in the Plan, but not what was presented this evening. There will need to be changes in Centennial Valley and we need to see what the market may bring to the area. We need to work with Koelbel for a forward looking plan for that area. We need to wrap up this conversation. The Comprehensive Plan process will begin again and that will be a time to help this Plan evolve. We have to embrace a vision the community can accept and we can be patient in this process and make changes to the Plan later to address Centennial Valley.