Shaping future development in Golden

Golden created a number of visionary documents over the past decade that were based on extensive community outreach and citizen input. The most visionary of these documents is Golden Vision 2030 (created in 2010), which contains the community’s “Heart and Soul” values. This two-year public engagement process netted a set of value statements that were used as the basis for the City’s Comprehensive Plan (2011), which contains the City’s policies related to land use and future development. Following the adoption of the Comprehensive Plan, Planning Commission and staff embarked on a number of new neighborhood plans in the community, which are considered enforceable. In order to carry the force of law, the important elements of these policy documents must be translated into zoning regulations. Zoning is what Planning Commission and staff use to review new development applications and decide whether or not the applicant/ developer is meeting the requirements for Site Plan approval. If the zoning regulations do not adequately match the community’s visionary documents, then the focus for change should be on revisions to the zoning regulations.

• The acceptance and processing of applications for, and the issuance of, any building permit for new two dwelling unit structures in the R2 and R3 zone districts.

• The acceptance and processing of applications for a

Special Use Permit to allow more than 75 percent of a building in C1, C2, M2, and CMU zone districts to be used for residential purposes.

• The acceptance and processing of applications for site development plan approval for multiple household dwelling buildings.

The duration of the moratorium imposed by the ordinance is reasonable in length and is no longer than is required for the City to properly develop, adopt and implement an initial phase of potential amendments to the Golden Municipal Code pertaining to regulations for the affected uses. It is our goal that owners and developers of real property affected by this ordinance, and who desire to construct new structures, will not be unfairly prejudiced by the imposition of the short, temporary moratorium proposed by the ordinance. To stay up-to-date on growth-related information, visit the Guiding Golden page www.GuidingGolden.com.

How Can Golden Shape Future Development?

A good example of how neighborhood plans have been translated into zoning regulations in the past can be found in the Central Neighborhoods planning process. This outreach effort involved

the neighborhoods between downtown Golden and Golden High School, and the focus was to plan for the future of the commercially zoned areas along the Ford and Jackson Street corridors. These stretches were termed “Areas of Change” because they were likely to see redevelopment in coming years due to the age and condition of many of the properties. This prediction has largely come true, as we've seen structures such as the bowling alley which was redeveloped into a Natural Grocers, although there have been a number of renovations of the existing buildings in the area as well. The majority of the feedback that staff and Commission received from this neighborhood plan related to transforming these commercial and mixed-use areas into more walkable places, and to lower the allowed building height from up to 50 feet to a more contextual approach where these commercial areas border more sensitive residential areas along Ford and East Streets. The result of this feedback was the adoption of Community Mixed Use (CMU) zoning for these commercial corridors, and this zoning designation continues to be refined over time as needed. In this instance, the Central Neighborhoods Plan highlighted the goals of the neighborhood, and the CMU zoning was created to translate these goals into new regulations used for Site Plan review going forward, and this illustrates how community values can be converted from policies in a plan to a related set of enforceable regulations.

WHERE SHOULD WE FOCUS OUR ATTENTION?

If Planning Commission, Council, staff and the community want to address concerns related to development, we should focus on efforts to evaluate the neighborhood plans and use them as inspiration to revise zoning regulations to more closely correlate to community

values. A number of efforts are currently underway, and your feedback is important in shaping the future of these areas.

• Commission and staff is currently engaging with the R-2 zoned property owners on the north side of town in an effort to amend this long-established zoning and create outcomes that more closely match the neighborhood character. Staff used input from a neighborhood survey posted on GuidingGolden. com to create a set of recommended zoning changes for consideration. These initial recommendations were discussed with the neighborhood and Commission in March, and the discussion will continue until a set of agreed-upon zoning code changes can be created and approved by both Planning Commission and Council.

• Commission is also working on a new

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neighborhood plan referred to as the West Downtown Plan. As this plan takes shape through the spring after another round of community input, staff will look at the potential for new zoning recommendations as an outcome related to this plan.

• Commission and staff opened up an additional zoning evaluation process. The most recently adopted neighborhood plan, the North Clear Creek Neighborhoods Plan, has not yet been evaluated for potential zoning changes. This plan area essentially includes all the areas in town between Clear Creek and Highway 58. Staff began the process of going back through the recommendations and goals of this plan to identify where potential zoning changes may be warranted based on community input.

• The Transportation Master Plan process began in September 2018, and will be completed by the fall of 2019. While transportation does not directly impact the nature of development, there is a strong connection between land use and a city’s transportation network. The policies and tools recommended by this plan will also factor into future zoning discussions throughout the community in coming years.

HOW DO I GET INVOLVED?

City staff and elected officials continually strive to guide future development, considering the careful balance between preserving character and the freedom to evolve as a community over time. Get involved by signing up for our community engagement platform, www.guidinggolden.com. Several neighborhood-level planning projects are occurring, case information and site development applications are available for review and comments, and the development review process is outlined in more detail at www.GuidingGolden.com/ planning-projects.

City Council is (at the time of printing) considering a 120 day moratorium on several key residential growth-related applications. As a result of recent increased development activities throughout Colorado and specifically in Golden, we’ve seen the construction of new structures within existing neighborhoods that are of a larger mass and scale than the surrounding homes, and are felt by some to be out of step with the neighborhood character goals outlined in Golden Vision 2030 and the Comprehensive and Neighborhood Plans.

A group of concerned residents requested that staff look at existing zoning regulations, and Planning Commission and City staff are now in the process of reviewing potential amendments to the Golden Municipal Code that seek to address the bulk, mass, and scale concerns raised by the community. The 120-day moratorium will preserve the status quo and allow City Council the time needed to investigate, consider, and adopt amendments, if advisable, to the Golden Municipal Code. The moratorium will prevent the following applications from moving forward until it expires: