Planning Commission Minutes 2015 04 09

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Planning Commission Meeting Minutes April 9, 2015 Page 21 of 27 density to leverage the BRT. That is certainly not the only vision. The first question is are we or are we not going allow any housing? Then the secondary question is what is that going to look like? What concerns me most about this is we are having the conversation without context. We have no discussion of population or demographic trends and what that means. We have not considered the impact of Superior Town Center and the diverging diamond interchange (DDI). We have not looked at any regional issues with our sister towns of Lafayette, Longmont, and Erie. It seems to be that while the process is well intentioned, it lacks a sharp focus. I hope you can help us all by figuring out a way we can develop real answers that can impact the community. Sid Vinall, 544 Leader Circle, Louisville, CO He is here mainly to speak about the South Boulder Road Small Area Plan. Since that has been postponed, I will say a few words about McCaslin. In some of the workshops and information gathered about McCaslin, there is a sense of community and more integration with Louisville itself and trying to build up more character in this area. I can't envision that happening. We have a beautiful Downtown right now. McCaslin seems to be a different character. It is mostly commercial in the area. I would love to be able to go to a Target on McCaslin or Office Max or a Costco instead of driving over the bridge and giving my money to Superior. The other night at the City Council meeting, John Leary mentioned that "that" part of the city provides close to 50% of sales tax. It seems to be that in other towns such as Boulder, they have a beautiful Downtown section in the Pearl Street Area with some mixed use and the brick area with a lot of restaurants. They have University Hill. Boulder has 28th Street where the commercial stores are located. I imagine that's where most of their sales tax is coming from. After listening and seeing some of the results of the Workshop, I wonder if McCaslin needs to be our industrial engine. I can understand parks and some plazas, but it seems to me that this part of town may provide more potential for tax revenue for the rest of the town. I know there are going to be more meetings on this whole topic, but those are the thoughts that came to me tonight as Planning Staff presented their findings. I am not sure what the "Four Pillars" are over on McCaslin sticking straight up out of the ground, but I hope in the future they mean something about making a lot more money. Sherry Sommer, 910 S Palisade Court, Louisville, CO I am thankful that you are working through this and not just paving it over with a lot of residential or a lot of big boxes. People live there and I enjoy it as it is. I think it could become better. I thank you for thinking about all of these different issues. A couple things I'd like to add. We talked about pedestrian safety. I was walking along Cherry Street today and thinking, it would be great to have traffic calming along Cherry, along Dahlia, and some of these streets touching residential neighborhoods. That's my side of town. I'm sure other people have traffic calming concerns as well. Thank you for considering purchasing open space as I think it is super important for the health of our community. I was just reading an article in the Wall Street Journal about how cities of Boston, San Francisco, and Chicago make little parks and little green spaces where pollinators would want to come. Not such a desert of pavement and junipers. It is a little nature interjected into the Cityscape. I think it is worth considering. I think you should try to buy Open Space as it would create more greenery. I have a question. How much do you work with the Sustainability Board or the Cultural Council? I think it is important to work with all of these different entities in the City and I would like to know how you work with them. Cindy Bedell, 662 W Willow Street, Louisville, CO I appreciate the opportunity for public input because these Small Area Plans are incredibly important for all residents of Louisville. I have a couple comments to add. From last year and what I've seen in the paper, our sales tax already went up about 8%. I'm not sure but I heard that there may be some revenue sharing with Superior with the Superior Town Center. I would