Westminster planning panel recommends removing required ground-floor commercial at Uplands C1B and C1C

The Westminster Planning Commission voted unanimously Feb. 11 to recommend that City Council approve a comprehensive plan amendment and an amendment to the Uplands preliminary development plan to change Planning Area C1B and C1C from commercial mixed use to urban multifamily, removing the requirement that new multifamily buildings include a specific amount of ground-floor commercial space.

The change would not alter the approved density or height for the parcels: the existing PDP allows up to 300 residential units across C1B and C1C and building heights up to five stories would remain unchanged. City staff had recommended the commission hold the public hearing and recommend approval to City Council.

Commissioners and applicant representatives said the amendment responds to market conditions in the area. Nathan Lawrence, senior planner with the City of Westminster planning division, told commissioners that staff finds the proposed comprehensive plan amendment and PDP amendment generally meet the review criteria in the Westminster Municipal Code and recommended that the commission forward approval to council.

Marcus Pockner, land use and community outreach consultant for Uplands, and Kaley Gillespie of North Design said the amendment would remove a minimum ground-floor commercial requirement that they and city economic development staff say has deterred multifamily developers. Gillespie said the existing comp plan designation requires a minimum commercial floor-area ratio and, under the current designation, the site would require roughly 43,780 square feet of commercial space — about the size of a typical supermarket — which the applicant’s marketing found unattractive to multifamily developers. Gillespie told commissioners that, by removing the commercial requirement, the site would support “market rate housing in a mixed income neighborhood setting” and could reduce vehicle trips in the area.

Public commenters urged the commission to preserve the commercial designation. Aaron Varner, a resident of Prospector’s Point and a member of the Prospector’s Point Condominium Association board, said, “I cannot affirm this application is in the best interests of Westminster or the Prospector’s Point community at this time, nor does it represent good city planning in my view.” John Palmer, another nearby resident, said neighborhood residents “need retail” and warned that converting ground-floor space to apartments would reduce potential sales-tax revenue and walkable services for existing nearby affordable housing.

Applicant representatives said the change is intended to concentrate viable commercial space in the Uplands village center and to avoid leaving a large vacant parcel on the east side of Federal Boulevard. Chad Ellington of the Uplands team told commissioners that the village center is the planned location for neighborhood commercial and that “we can do small neighborhood commercial along the street” there while the C parcels are not as viable for vertically integrated ground-floor retail.

Commissioners expressed mixed concerns and support. Commissioner Kinnear said she worried about permanently removing opportunities for sales tax revenue and asked for more detail on economic impacts. Commissioner Mayo and others said they shared that concern but supported the recommendation based on staff analysis and the applicants’ market outreach. Commissioner Carpenter disclosed an affiliation with the Westminster Chamber of Commerce and said he had no financial interest in the project before voting to second the motion recommending approval.

The Planning Commission motion — moved by Commissioner Mayo and seconded by Commissioner Carpenter — passed unanimously by roll call (Commissioners Kinnear, Zhang, Carpenter, Bossert, Mayo, Colling and Tomachek voted yes). The commission’s recommendation will be forwarded to City Council for final action.

Notable details entered into the public record at the hearing include that notices were mailed to 1,001 property owners and one homeowners association within 1,000 feet of the subject parcels, the current PDP allowance of 300 residential units for C1B and C1C would not change, and that the applicant’s marketing outreach contacted more than 5,100 developers and investors with limited commercial interest on these parcels. The applicant and North Design cited an estimate of more than 1,300,000 square feet of vacant retail and office space citywide in Westminster’s commercial analysis as context for the request.

The commission closed the hearing after the vote; the next tentative Planning Commission meeting date announced was March 25.