Good evening, neighbors! I hope you’re having a great week so far, and staying warm despite the cold temperatures.

Last night our Town Board met for a productive session in which we discussed recommendations for Original Town and the Superior Marketplace as part of the Northwest Subarea Planning Project, heard from our state representatives, approved a lot line adjustment between the Element Hotel and Park 2 in the Superior Town Center, approved a subdivision for Blocks 26 and 27 of Downtown Superior, and approved a final development plan for 19 townhomes on the northwest portion of Block 26 in Downtown Superior. Keep reading / watching for the details! (Video at the bottom of the post.)

Emails from Residents

First, a report on what residents have been emailing the Board about since we last met. As a reminder, if you are interested in seeing these emails, you may file an open records request with our Town Clerk Phyllis Hardin. If you do so, please also take the time to congratulate Phyllis – February is her work anniversary and she is celebrating 46 years of service to the Town of Superior!

• One resident emailed with questions about the Town Challenge Coin that the Superior Youth Leadership Council is proposing
• Several residents emailed with concerns about potential radiation created by 5G small cells
• One resident emailed about a meeting with Representative Matt Gray to discuss oil & gas legislation
• One resident emailed with concerns about potential future marijuana-related businesses in Superior
• One resident emailed with an update on Coal Creek Crossing landscaping and progress by Remington Homes
• Many residents emailed with concerns about the buffer zone (Tract H) and view corridors between Waterford and the Superior Town Center
• One resident emailed to ask school buses to come into the Weldona neighborhood and turn around rather than dropping off and picking up at Akron / Coal Creek
• Several residents emailed asking for updates on Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport noise, and with responses to my blog post on February’s First Friday
• One resident emailed with concerns about how the agenda is set for the Transportation & Safety Committee
• One resident emailed with kudos to the town for hiring consultant Carlos Hernandez to help with resolving transportation issues
• One resident emailed with thanks for an excellent job by our snow plow team

I hope you find this summary helpful! Now, onto the meeting…

Disclaimer: While I do my best to represent an honest and accurate portrayal of meetings and events, the following should be considered an editorial that represents one person’s interpretation of the meetings. For the most unbiased information, I would encourage residents to watch the meeting video itself and draw their own conclusions. EngagedCitizens.us is a fantastic free tool created by one of our own residents, which includes a repository of agendas, documents, and meeting videos, and allows you to search within a video to jump to critical parts. I hope you find it as helpful as I do!

Dinner with Planning Commission and Discussion of Northwest Planning Project Recommendations

Our session last night kicked off with a dinner with our Planning Commission, and discussion of the Northwest Planning Project recommendations. The first part of the presentation focused on development in Original Town, with Clarion consultant Darcie White recommending the creation of an overlay district that would span both the current low and medium density housing zones in Original Town. The purpose of this overlay district would be to protect the character of Original Town, which includes things like informal sidewalks, mature trees, Coal Creek, older housing stock, and neighborhood parks.

Next, we walked through recommendations for improvements to the Superior Marketplace. There were four themes identified: enhanced connectivity, experience and placemaking, improved identity, and long-term financial success. To address these themes, urban design consultant Cheney Bostic walked us through two design options: one that focuses new development on Center Drive but otherwise maintains the existing street design, and one that adds roundabouts to Marshall Road, encouraging more traffic to flow through 5th Ave rather than on Marshall Road. This option would be more expensive, but also more flexible going forward.

Unfortunately, with the presentation being so long, we didn’t have enough time to adequately discuss either part of the recommendations. For Original Town, the Board has asked for an executive session with our Town Attorney to better understand the implications of an overlay district. For the Marketplace, I asked for some high-level estimates of cost and timeline for these two options; Planning Commission Chair Bob McCool noted that our next step here will be to engage in further discussion and bring Brixmor, Target, and Costco to the table.

State Representative Matt Gray and State Senator Tammy Story

During presentations for the regular Board meeting, two of our state elected officials came to introduce themselves to the Board: Senator Tammy Story (Senate District 16) and Representative Matt Gray (House District 33). Senator Story talked about the various bills she is currently working on, mostly focused on education, and Representative Gray talked about his work as Chair of the Transportation & Local Government Committee. After questions from Mayor Pro Tem Mark Lacis and myself, both gave advice on how we can have our voices heard with regard to oil & gas legislation. Representative Gray emphasized that the most effective lobbying technique is having as many face-to-face meetings as possible before a bill comes out; he also noted that unique perspectives and personal stories are the most valuable things to share, rather than the facts that everyone shares. Senator Story concurred, and also suggested that as a Board, we might consider aligning with other municipalities to show that we are in agreement (e.g., with a letter) – this could be very powerful.

Consent Agenda

Moving onto the consent agenda, item 3B (approval of committee minutes) passed unanimously, as did item 3A (approval of our last Board meeting’s minutes) after it was pulled for a minor correction by Trustee Ken Lish.

Trustee Lish had a few questions about overlaps in scope of services for on-call and emergency repair services (item 3C); after his questions, the Board approved these service agreements unanimously.

Approval of a Lot Line Adjustment Between Element Hotel and Park 2

Town Planner Steven Williams presented a request to approve a lot line adjustment between Element Hotel and Park 2. After a few questions from Mayor Pro Tem Lacis and Trustee Lish, and no comments from the public, the Board approved this resolution with no further discussion.

Public Hearing and Adoption of a Resolution Approving a Subdivision Plat for Blocks 26 and 27 of Downtown Superior, and Approving a Final Development Plan for the Northwestern portion of Block 26

Finally, the Board heard a presentation from Thrive Home Builders and Ranch Capital requesting approval of a subdivision plat for blocks 26 and 27 in the Superior Town Center, and requesting approval of a final development plan (FDP) for the northwestern portion of block 26 – presenting designs of two story townhomes with optional basements. Through questioning, Mayor Pro Tem Lacis made it clear that the plat drawings on page 2 of the replat should be updated to make clear that the proximity of Tract H (“the buffer zone” between Waterford and STC) is not to scale; Tract H, while deceptively close in the drawing, is in fact 117′ set back from the 58′ foot right-of-way south of Central Park Circle. Hopefully this and the visual of the view plane we watched after alleviated the concerns of many residents of Waterford who wrote into the Board and attended the meeting!

However, the view plane visual illustrated another concern – despite the increase in elevation of these homes, the two-story Thrive townhomes are somewhat dwarfed by the three-to-four story Remington Homes approved in our last meeting. Trustee Lish asked for more details about what’s planned for the rest of Block 26; Ranch Capital developer Bill Jencks replied that 7 single-family detached, traditional two-story homes will go on the remainder of block 26. Mr. Jencks also offered to meet with any residents who still have concerns with the development, as he feels there is some misinformation about development plans that he would like to correct. Although it would be inappropriate for our Board to facilitate discussions with the developer while there are other applications pending, I hope that the residents of Waterford will take him up on this offer!

Although Trustee Hammerly was not in attendance tonight, the rest of the Board voted unanimously (6-0) to approve the application.

Wrap Up

Thank you so much for taking the time to read / listen to this recap – I hope it is helpful! Our Board is always open to hearing your comments, questions, and concerns – you may always email your feedback to townboard@superiorcolorado.gov, or to me specifically at lauras@superiorcolorado.gov. As a reminder, any messages sent to a government email are part of the public record and will have your name attached; if you feel the need to write in anonymously, you may always comment at the bottom of my blog post recaps.

Have a great week!