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Draft Colfax/13th Avenue station-area plan recommended to advance to hearings; aims to spur mixed-use, transit-oriented development
Summary
Staff presented a final draft of the Colfax and 13th Avenue station area plan covering about 87 acres in north-central Aurora and asked the committee to move the plan forward for adoption; next steps include a Planning & Zoning public hearing April 23 and City Council consideration in early June.
Planning staff presented a final draft of the Colfax and Thirteenth Avenue Station Area Plan to the Planning and Economic Development Committee on April 9 and requested the committee's direction to move the plan forward for adoption.
Daniel Krasnowski, supervisor in the Planning Department, described the study area as about 87 acres in north-central Aurora along Colfax Avenue that includes the Colfax Avenue station near Anschutz and the Thirteenth Avenue station east of I-225. The area is adjacent to major medical employers and existing neighborhoods including Hoffman Heights, Chambers Heights, and the Meadows mobile home community.
Krasnowski said the 2009 plan is outdated and does not reflect recent station locations, zoning changes or near-term development opportunities. The updated plan reaffirms the area's vision as a mixed-use, transit-oriented community, refines land-use frameworks, identifies recommended actions to implement the vision, and is intended to support an urban renewal plan that could fund infrastructure to enable near-term housing and other development.
Key plan elements shown to the committee include a land-use framework that emphasizes commercial mixed use along Colfax and residential development south of Colfax near the Thirteenth Avenue Station, and a mobility network focused on new streets and pedestrian connections to better link neighborhoods to transit, retail and employment. Krasnowski highlighted an imminent project: an extension of Dillon Way to connect south of Tollgate Creek up to Thirteenth Avenue to serve near-term development parcels and provide public-safety access.
Krasnowski said staff recommend moving the draft plan through Planning & Zoning for a public hearing on April 23 and then to City Council in early June; the urban renewal plan process would follow into the summer. Council Member Jurinski asked about a fiscal note; Krasnowski said the plan adoption itself carries no fiscal note and that individual infrastructure investments would return to council with separate funding requests. The committee also discussed Regional Transportation District (RTD) involvement; staff said RTD has been engaged and supportive and that the city holds quarterly meetings with RTD.
The committee did not take a formal vote on April 9; staff asked to proceed with the public hearing and adoption schedule.
