Recent submissions to the SDI Design Review Committee (DRC):
- Kappa Tower II Phase 2 Design Sketch: Kappa Tower II Phase 2 Design Sketch: The DRC recently approved phase 2 of Kappa Towers at Northfield Blvd and Central Park Blvd. This phase will complete the project with a second building in the area that is currently native grass. Thirty additional units are being built, and at completion, the site will have a total of 80 units. This is a senior 62+ income-qualified project. No additional parking will be added for Phase 2, as the current lot was built with Phase 2 in mind. The site currently has 74 parking spaces.
- Hangar Apartments Revised Design Sketch: This project will redevelop the current hangers west of Central Park Blvd at 22nd Ave. The project plans 259 apartments and 324 parking spaces. The parking garage will be shielded by the building with additional surface parking. This is a market rate project. The linked plan has been conditionally approved by the DRC, with revisions required to address alley access issues. These plans follow previous submissions where the committee asked for revisions.
Sooooo….. where will they be building the new schools to accommodate almost 5000 new units?
Assuming a conservative estimate of 1/4 of these units will likely be at least 2 bedrooms possibly including at least one child, possibly more, that’s +-1500 new children to the neighborhood. Is CP/DPS still guaranteeing the enrollment zone? This is serious business for the schools in the neighborhood, esp seeing so many if not all schools are at capacity already.
Not to mention saturation of existing infrastructure–driving over the bridge in the afternoon is as bad as i70.
DPS actually owns a parcel in the North End neighborhood of Central Park. When we asked about plans for that land last year, we received a response that DPS’s analysis on growth projections did not indicate a need for it to be used for a school. But issues of growth/enrollment zone capacity are definitely top of mind for our Education committee. We’ll continue sharing out information on the committee’s engagement on this issue, and you are welcome to participate as well. The next meeting will be on October 8 over Zoom: https://centralparkunitedneighbors.com/event/cpun-education-committee-meeting/
What are the plans for managing traffic on Central Park Blvd? The new units being built at 22nd Ave and CBP will add more difficulty to turning onto CPB from to Montview.
Our Safe Streets committee has been taking this concern to city agencies for months, and they recently heard back from the city’s Development Review team about how traffic planning interacts with development and planning in Central Park; it’s pasted below in full. CPUN’s Safe Streets and Sustainability committees are also working with RTD to improve public transit frequency/stops along the CPB corridor in order to also help relieve single-occupancy vehicle congestion. Our Safe Streets committee’s next meeting will be on October 2 if you’d like to participate in their follow-up discussions on this: https://centralparkunitedneighbors.com/event/safe-streets-committee-meeting/.
Development Review response:
“Central Park is a master-planned community with the uses and density set by the zoning code and the neighborhood master plan which have all been approved by City Council. When an area in Central Park was subdivided and the streets were constructed, the street design is based on the uses and density allowed in the master plan. So it is actually pretty rare to require individual buildings/projects to do additional traffic analysis because the development has to follow the master plan.
“Sometimes we have a mobility memo or more analysis when there is something unique proposed with the individual building (like the In and Out access of CPB) or if something is proposed that we think might be more impactful than the assumptions made in the subdivision level traffic studies. Even in those cases, all we typically get is an estimated about of vehicle trips so that we verify that we do not have order of magnitude changes. In general, the roads were constructed conservatively because all development projects do not always build out to the full extent of their zoning. For example, when CPB was built south of 36th the area between MLK, 36th, Syracuse, and CPB was allowed to be an office campus, but market conditions led the developer to construct most of that area as single family.
“The design of the 40th and Central Park intersection, that was mentioned in the letter was done as part of the City-led Interchange CIP project and based on the planned full build-out of the entire Central Park master plan. At that time, the developer was still hoping to get an 855,000 SF office campus and that was what was assumed in the interchange analysis.
“The residential and grocery store (to go with the existing credit union), if they come to fruition, have will do some traffic analysis to set the internal intersection control for the new roads and will verify that the turn lanes already constructed at the intersection are sufficient for the project, but are expected to generate less traffic than the office build-out assumptions used in the interchange study. For reference, the interchange study planned on 55,000 daily trips on Central Park Blvd with full build out and the traffic counts done with the credit union project in 2023 had the existing daily traffic under 25,000 daily trips.”
I understand housing is needed, but what will be done to ameliorate the increased traffic congestion that already plagues Central Park as it grows? And where will DPS be guaranteeing a spot in school for the new children that will reside in these units?
Please see our responses to the two comments above!