AURORA | After years of debate, the fate of Century Communities’ planned Gardens at East Iliff project nearly saw its chances cut down by a single, felled tree at Monday’s Aurora City Council meeting.
While the development scored three separate victories at the March 14 meeting, the much-discussed and controversial proposal for 94 single-family detached homes at the northwest corner of Toledo Way and South Troy Street and the northeast corner of Tucson Way and Troy Street got more scrutiny for a tree cut down in recent weeks than for any other issue.
Danbury Park HOA board member Frank Gunn provided the spark for the discussion during a combined public hearing for updating the area’s development plan and appealing the Aurora planning commission’s earlier denial of the Gardens at East Iliff site plan. He noted that of many trees on the property that Century wishes to build, only a single tree was cut down in the past two weeks: A tree that had been home to a raptor nest in recent years.
“Is this really a developer the City of Aurora wants to grant a favor?” Gunn said.
Diana Rael, a principal with Norris Design speaking on behalf of the Century proposal, said the nest had been ruled inactive and thus it was permitted to cut down the tree.
But as council members rounded up their final questions on the project, Ward II Councilwoman Renie Peterson raised the issue of the lone tree being brought down, saying it put a knot in her stomach. Similarly, Mayor Steve Hogan said he was uneasy about the revelation.
“As somebody who was in charge of moving a highway five miles because of an eagle’s nest … it just doesn’t feel right,” Hogan said. “It doesn’t feel right at all.”
The environmental concern was the most pronounced issue of the council’s attention to the Gardens at East Iliff project, but it did not stand in the way of approval of the three items discussed:
- An ordinance to update the Strafford Village development plan to allow the new type of housing, which resembles a detached townhome with parking on the ground level and two upper levels for living space and bedrooms. The ordinance passed 7-2, with council members Peterson and Sally Mounier opposed.
- An appeal of the planning commission’s denial of the site plan, which occurred Jan. 27 due to a tie vote. The appeal passed 8-2, with Peterson and Mounier opposed and Mayor Hogan adding his vote to the yeas.
- An ordinance to vacate the cul-de-sac on Troy Street. The area is likely due to be conveyed to Danbury Park, which owns and maintains the landscaped tract in the center of the cul-de-sac. The ordinance passed 7-2, with Peterson and Mounier opposed.
Rael noted that the team behind Gardens at East Iliff had reached out to the Chateaux and Shamrock Park homeowners associations and reached agreements wherein the boards approved letters of no objection, contingent upon Century Communities going so far as to maintain six-foot-high vinyl privacy fences, among other terms.
Multiple council members said they were intrigued by the new style of housing, which Rael said had proven popular in the Littleton Village project and the North Denver Midtown development that “are selling like hotcakes.
“Times change, housing changes, markets change and buyers change, and that’s exactly what’s happening this evening,” Rael said.
But Philip Volk, vice president of the Shamrock Park HOA, expressed reservations about Rael’s confidence in the project.
“Century is betting this is the right design for this location, yet the success of this design is still unknown regardless of Century’s assurances that sales are strong,” Volk said. “Because the Lowry neighborhood and the South Troy Street neighborhoods are two completely different neighborhoods.”
Ward IV Councilman Charlie Richardson, whose ward encompasses the proposed Gardens at East Iliff site, bluntly expressed his insistence that Century Communities follow through with their promises.
“I’m putting you on notice,” Richardson scolded. “I will do everything legally within my authority to make your corporate life miserable like you’ve never seen it before if you screw up this project.”