The Arapahoe County Board of Commissioners on Aug. 12 continued the public hearing on Arcadia Creek subdivision (case PM22‑006) to Sept. 23 after an extended public comment period in which dozens of neighbors raised safety, traffic, drainage and tree‑loss concerns.

Staff and the applicant described the proposal as a 55+ gated infill community straddling the Jefferson/Arapahoe county line with 25 total lots (23 in Jefferson County, two in Arapahoe County). Arcadia Creek LLC is seeking final minor‑subdivision approval in Arapahoe County to split a 1.92‑acre parcel into two lots and to make related improvements to about 1,200 feet of West Christiansen Lane. Planning staff recommended approval subject to seven conditions; multiple technical reviewers (SEMSWA, Mile High Flood District, South Metro Fire & Rescue) submitted comments and signaled conditional concurrence on the engineering elements.

Why it matters: the road work and drainage changes would affect an established, largely private lane used daily by pedestrians, bicyclists, children walking to Wilder Elementary and residents who described the lane as a longstanding community recreational corridor. Opponents told commissioners the project relies on several variances from county standards and would widen vehicle use of a lane now used largely for walking, biking and equestrian traffic, increasing vehicle trips and snow/maintenance burdens for neighbors.

What was proposed
- Developer / applicant: Arcadia Creek LLC (presenter: David Cheddar). Project described as a 55+ (age‑restricted) gated community with a renovated historic barn, HOA maintenance and private roads; applicant said the project is intended as infill senior housing serving Littleton area residents.
- Site and scale: 25 lots total across the combined development; 23 in Jefferson County, two in Arapahoe County. The Arapahoe application covers subdividing a 1.92‑acre parcel into two lots. Staff noted project density of about 1.04 dwelling units per gross acre and that the parcels meet the R2 district lot size and width minima.
- Road and drainage work: applicant proposes to repave and stripe ~1,200 feet of West Christiansen Lane abutting the property, install a 4‑ft attached pedestrian path on the north edge of the rebuilt section, and replace an undersized 72‑inch pipe with a 21‑by‑6‑ft cast‑in‑place concrete box culvert. Engineering review cited constraints that led to a design sized to pass a 10‑year storm rather than the 100‑year standard (variance requested and supported by TRC given downstream constraints). Staff said the proposed inlets and culvert would direct more captured flow into **** Creek and that SEMSWA and Mile High Flood District reviewed the hydrologic modeling.
- Variances/waivers requested: narrower private roadway cross‑section than the county’s 36‑ft private roadway standard (paved portion maintained at 20 ft for emergency access), allowance for culvert/guardrail details, a crown change, and a waiver for a detention pond (staff explanation: site constraints and detention provided as part of the integrated Jefferson County detention design).

Public comment and community concerns
Dozens of nearby residents and a designated neighborhood representative (David Tabor, speaking for Fox Hollow, Coventry and lane homeowners) urged denial or further review. Key concerns voiced repeatedly:
- Safety for children and pedestrians: speakers said the lane is heavily used by families and schoolchildren bound for Wilder Elementary and that the planned 4‑ft delineated path plus two 10‑ft vehicle lanes would squeeze pedestrians against parked vehicles, snowbanks or the vegetation edge during winter. “I just beg the commissioners to take a very, very close look at what can fit in a 4 feet wide path,” said Tracy Murphy, a Fox Hollow resident.
- Traffic increases and cut‑through risk: opponents said the development would effectively create a cut‑through from Jefferson County to Platte Canyon Road despite gates; they also questioned the traffic model’s assumptions (residents and some commissioners called the applicant’s estimate of roughly 108 daily trips for the entire community too low).
- Drainage and flooding downstream: downstream homeowners described existing overtopping in big storms and argued the proposed culvert and rerouting of flows could increase velocity and erosion on their properties if not modeled and mitigated correctly.
- Tree canopy and character: residents said canopy trees and private vegetation line the lane and that some trees would need removal to achieve the proposed cross‑section.
- Maintenance, ownership and gate reliability: speakers asked who would own and maintain the private lane, whether gates would remain closed permanently, and whether agreements would survive future HOA changes.

Applicant and staff responses
David Cheddar and project engineers emphasized legal access rights and technical review: Cheddar said the property’s recorded easements and court rulings establish long‑standing ingress/egress across Christiansen Lane and that Jefferson County already approved the 23‑lot portion on its side. He argued the project reduces overtopping by upsizing the culvert and adding inlets, and he cited TRC, SEMSWA, Mile High Flood District and South Metro Fire & Rescue reviews. Cheddar told commissioners the project’s traffic engineer projects roughly one vehicle every 10–15 minutes during peak travel periods and asked the board to adopt staff’s approval recommendation; he also offered a clarifying condition amendment that “nothing in this condition shall affect or modify the legal rights of the existing property owners as those may be defined by agreements, recorded documents, or controlling law.”

Commission action and next steps
After hearing presentations from staff, the applicant, a neighborhood representative and nearly three hours of individual public comments, the board voted to continue the public hearing to Sept. 23 at 9:30 a.m. to allow staff and legal counsel to gather additional information on traffic modeling, maintenance/ownership agreements, hydraulic modeling downstream of the proposed culvert, and any remaining legal authority questions raised during an executive session. Commissioner Kim Campbell made the motion; Commissioner Warren Gully seconded. The motion carried on an unanimous voice vote of commissioners present. Commissioners asked staff to circulate the traffic impact studies, the maintenance plan and the SEMSWA/flood modeling ahead of the continued hearing so the public and board can review supplemental materials.

Votes at a glance (recorded actions during the Aug. 12 meeting)
- Motion to adopt the agenda as presented — passed (voice vote). (Record: motion carried.)
- Proclamation: Declared August 2025 Child Support Awareness Month — passed (motion by Commissioner Warren Gully, second Commissioner Fields; voice vote). Staff recited program statistics presented by the county Department of Human Services.
- Consent agenda (17 items) — passed (motion by Commissioner Campbell; voice vote).
- Motion to enter executive session (legal advice on access and regulatory authority) — passed (voice vote).
- Arcadia Creek: Motion to continue the public hearing to Sept. 23, 2025, 9:30 a.m. — passed (motion by Commissioner Kim Campbell; second by Commissioner Warren Gully; voice vote). Outcome: hearing continued.

What the board asked for next (board directions)
- Staff to circulate the traffic impact studies (including earlier and the most recent analyses), the applicant’s maintenance plan and recorded HOA/maintenance language, and the hydraulic modeling used for the culvert to the commissioners and make them available to the public in the meeting record.
- County attorney to prepare formal legal memoranda addressing the limits of county control over private easements and what conditions (if any) the county may lawfully impose on access or design.

Quotes (from the hearing)
- David Cheddar, applicant: “Arcadia holds unrestricted, unlimited, and permanent ingress egress rights via Christiansen Lane.”
- Tracy Murphy, Fox Hollow resident: “I just beg the commissioners to take a very, very close look at what can fit in a 4 feet wide path.”
- David Tabor, neighborhood representative: “Please deny the subdivision. Please vote against the variances.”

Ending
The board left the record open for the county to post requested technical and legal materials and reconvened the public hearing for Sept. 23, 2025, at 9:30 a.m. Residents and the applicant were told to provide supplemental documents to commissioners@arapahogov.com and to the clerk so materials can be included in the public record ahead of the continued hearing.