Agenda Date: 01/23/2018
Subject:
Title
Joint Study Session with City Council and Planning Commission to Review the Draft Mineral Station Framework
Body
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Presented By: |
Jocelyn Mills, Community Development Director |
SUMMARY:
The study session is for City Council and Planning Commission to review the draft of the Mineral Station Framework.
BACKGROUND:
On December 12, 2017, city council suggested it was premature at this time to establish a master plan in the traditional sense for the Mineral Light Rail Station. This was in large part due to the issues of traffic and parking raised by the public during the 2016 community engagement process, plus other future planning processes that will influence the decisions around this specific intersection.
One of those future planning processes is the CDOT Preliminary, Environmental and Linkage Study (PEL). Since those initial public input meetings, the cities of Littleton, Englewood, Sheridan and Denver, plus Arapahoe County, CDOT and others have agreed to initiate this formal CDOT planning process. The PEL is a study that analyzes the long term traffic demands along Santa Fe (Hwy 85) from C-470 north to I-25 with the outcome setting the parameters for constructing safety and capacity improvements along the corridor. The intersection of Mineral Avenue and Santa Fe is one of the top priorities of this study.
This PEL process would also coordinate and evaluate the impacts of the proposed extension of light rail to Lucent Boulevard. It is anticipated the extension and its timing to Lucent Avenue could notably influence the long term traffic demands along the corridor and specifically at Mineral Avenue. This could influence the ultimate footprint of a proposed interchange at this location along with the property at the Mineral Avenue Station. Recognizing these two significant planning issues, the direction was to use the community engagement comments from the 2016 engagement process to create a framework plan for the station property and surrounding area.
From that direction, staff met with the Planning Commission Chair and Vice Chair and decided that first step was for the Planning Commission to discuss the rough draft of a framework plan. Planning Commission held a study session on January 8, 2018 to review the document. Commissioner comments have been incorporated into the draft document. The next step is this joint study session with City Council to review the draft.
NEXT STEPS:
If given the direction to proceed from the joint study session, a public meeting is tentatively scheduled for February 15, 2018 from 6 to 8pm at the Carson Nature Center to give the community an opportunity to review and comment on the draft. Information will also be posted on-line for additional input opportunities. From there, a final draft will be compiled and scheduled for formal hearings before Planning Commission and City Council shortly thereafter.