5:30PM GURA Board Meeting @ City Hall

Meeting Agenda
Watch the meeting streaming live starting at 5:30PM
Attend the meeting @ City Hall Council Chambers - 911 10th Street - (map)
Provide in-person comment during the meeting, at 5:30PM.
Send email comments to gura@cityofgolden.net.

Tonight, GURA will review the neighborhood plans associated with each of their Urban Renewal Areas and will consider how they can forward the goals set forth in those plans.

Parfet-Briarwood Urban Renewal Area
The 8th and 9th Street Neighborhood Plan was approved in 2007. Residents at that time were concerned that single family homes would be replaced by multi-family condos and rental properties. They would have preferred that more of the houses be owner-occupied. They wanted several mobility improvements, such as continuous sidewalks and speed bumps.

*Demolition of the Briarwood Inn - predecessor to the Eddy Hotel. Photo by Frank Hanou*

In 2013, GURA created an Urban Renewal Area within this neighborhood with the goal of offering Tax Increment Financing to Confluence, so they would develop the Eddy Hotel and West 8th Apartments. Staff had some hope of convincing Confluence to designate some of the apartments as "affordable," but were unable to persuade them. GURA is about to help fund a path and a stairway leading down the hill from 8th Street to 9th Street.

*Central Neighborhoods Urban Renewal Area*

Central Neighborhoods
The Central Neighborhoods Plan was approved in 2012. It described the area as well-established with single family homes. Ford and Jackson Streets had small-scale businesses and multifamily housing. The Neighborhood Plan hoped for a revitalized commercial area. It described a future with better sidewalks, more shade trees, xeric flower gardens, "street furniture" (such as benches) and possibly water features to make the area more welcoming. It envisioned a street corner design at 19th and Jackson "to create an identity for the area."

It suggested "residential rehabilitation loan programs through Jeffco Housing Authority and other neighborhood investment mechanisms for eligible owner occupied dwellings for seniors and low and moderate income households."

The City held public meetings and invited online comment on the plan. The most frequently expressed concern of residents was "too many rental properties." They were emphatic that no future development should be more than 2 stories high.

In 2013, GURA declared the commercial/multifamily part of the Central Neighborhood to be "blighted," and established a Central Neighborhoods Urban Renewal Area.

The URA plan diverged sharply from the Central Neighborhoods Plan. The ornamental gardens, street furniture, shade trees, and water features were dropped. The loans for owner-occupied buildings were forgotten. Instead, the URA plan focused on infrastructure improvements--particularly turning Ford and Jackson into "complete streets." It envisioned a new generation of mixed use buildings, close to the street, with businesses on the first floor and residences above.

*Changes to the Central Neighborhoods -* *enlarge*

The work on complete streets is slowly taking shape, but the mixed use buildings have been abandoned in favor of tall, dense, low-income housing projects.

*Foothills Regional Housing Projects in the Central Neighborhoods*

Tonight's meeting memo includes a section on Housing and Economic Development (p. 9 in the meeting packet):

Affordable housing is a critical component of the Central Neighborhoods Plan. The plan identifies opportunities for preserving existing affordable housing options and encourages redevelopment projects that include new affordable units. This effort is supported by partnerships with private developers, government agencies, and non-profit organizations to expand affordable housing in the area.

In fact, the Central Neighborhoods Plan does not say this. The only reference it made to affordable housing was the suggestion of rehab loans for owner-occupied properties (p. 23 of the plan).

South Neighborhoods Plan
The South Neighborhoods Plan, approved in 2023, has the redevelopment of Colfax/Highway 40 as its lynchpin. It also anticipates turning the Bachman property into a park.

Since this plan is much newer, GURA's West Colfax Urban Renewal Area goals are more closely aligned with the South Neighborhoods plan. GURA envisions Colfax becoming pedestrian and bike-friendly and hopes to offer economic incentives to encourage development of businesses and affordable housing developments along that street. Their first TIF-funded project is currently under construction.