Committee forwards Far Southwest Area Plan to full council after broad community support

Brian Boteo, senior city planner with Denver Community Planning and Development, told the Community Planning and Housing Committee on Nov. 18 that a Far Southwest Area Plan covering Harvey Park, River Park South, College View, Bear Valley, Marston and Fort Logan has been developed through extensive community engagement and is consistent with Comprehensive Plan 2040 and Blueprint Denver.

Boteo said staff aimed to make the plan locally specific and that outreach included a kickoff meeting, pop‑ups, RNO meetings, visits to high schools and an online survey. "We sent out, 30,000 postcards, nearly 30,000 postcards," he said, describing an effort to notify every address in the plan area. He told members the advisory committee and the Planning Board both voted unanimously to recommend approval.

The plan sets six community priorities — complete commercial centers, quiet suburban neighborhoods, local businesses, safer street design, transportation options and social/community spaces — and recommends directing growth to centers and corridors such as Federal Boulevard, Sheridan and Wadsworth while keeping most low‑density residential areas low. Staff noted the plan includes guidance for Federal Boulevard’s expected BRT corridor and recommends allowing townhouse and duplex building forms in select low‑residential areas near transit while requiring design and affordability considerations to reduce displacement risk.

Committee members praised the outreach and highlighted local concerns. Council member Flynn said the team’s neighborhood work "hit the nail on the head," and members urged attention to historic properties and anti‑displacement measures, particularly in College View. Members also pressed staff on implementation: CPD staff acknowledged the suburban code currently lacks a zone district that cleanly allows duplexes and row houses and said the plan’s recommendations would require text amendments to the zoning code and design safeguards to preserve neighborhood scale.

Staff recommended forwarding the Far Southwest Area Plan to the full City Council for consideration; the committee indicated support to send the plan to the floor for council review. The plan also includes references to river corridor guidance drawn from the Healthy River Corridor study, such as a 50‑foot riparian buffer and a broader 150‑foot influence area, which staff said could be emphasized consistently across city plans that touch the South Platte River.

Next steps: the plan will be scheduled for full council consideration where zoning text amendments and implementation details will be addressed as part of follow‑up code work and coordinating projects (including the "Unlocking Housing Choices" work group) that examine how adopted area plan recommendations can be implemented at the zoning and code level.