Developer seeks rezoning of two Great Western Park tracts from employment to residential; council holds concept review

BROOMFIELD — City staff and an applicant team presented a concept review Thursday proposing to amend the Great Western Park planned unit development to change two northern tracts from employment uses to residential uses, and the City Council and dozens of residents weighed in at a study session.

Planning manager Brandon Rowe told the council that “There will be no decision made this evening regarding this proposal.” The concept review is an early step; if the applicant files a formal application it would require additional public hearings before the Land Use Review Commission and City Council.

The proposal would change Tracts N3 and N4, about 42 acres north of Walnut Creek and east of the Great Western open area, from employment to a mix of medium‑density and high‑density residential with roughly nine acres set aside as open land. The applicant’s materials describe N3 as medium density (15 dwelling units per acre, “approximately 440 units at its maximum intensity”) and N4 as high density (32 units per acre, “potential max of 330 units”). The applicant said income‑aligned housing would be provided on‑site: about 35 for‑sale units in the medium‑density area and about 64 rental income‑aligned units in the high‑density area.

Why it matters

Staff told council the conversion would shift roughly 40 acres that were originally planned for commercial employment into residential uses and estimated a significant fiscal change: “The proposed development of up to 820 residential units would result in an estimated negative $1,300,000 annual fiscal impact,” language the staff memo used to summarize its long‑range financial plan analysis. Residents and council members raised concerns about that projection, the loss of future commercial space and the effect on municipal services and Jefferson…