Despite an outpouring at city hall this week of retirement community residents worried that a nearby light-rail settlement is going to be a nightmare, played right, these developments could be dreams come true for neighbors and all of Aurora.
About 300 residents from Aurora’s Heather Gardens, a sprawling retirement community in central Aurora, poured into city council chambers Monday to complain about plans to build a transit-oriented project at the soon-to-be light-rail station at Iliff Avenue, just east of Interstate 225.
“You can’t drop urban in the middle of suburbia without appropriate transitions,” Heather Gardens resident Anna Spradlin told city lawmakers, according to a story this week by reporter Rachel Sapin.
Hold on. Plans to build high-end apartments, shops and chic cafes, similar to communities in Lakewood, Arvada, Englewood and suburban Denver, are anything but gritty urban ghettos. Aurora has long waited for something, anything, to spur infill development along the central corridor that is anything but the same old strip-mall, three-story walk-up, chain-store plots that do more than their fair share to help keep Aurora property values among the lowest in the metro area. There are shelves at city hall filled with dreamy and unrequited plans to turn the giant prairie dog village at city center into something other than a giant prairie dog village or another expansive half-vacant shopping plaza. After decades, light rail offers the first, real possibility of getting something done almost everyone would like to see.
Now that the city finally has an answer to endless, bland sprawl fall right into its lap, some residents around the development say they don’t like it. It’s not that this project and every other involving these innovative, transit-oriented developments don’t require special attention. A potential fatal flaw at the Regatta Plaza-Nine Mile Station redevelopment looms. If the city does not require additional parking, and most important, a way to move pedestrians across the lethal river of cars that is Parker Road and Peoria Streets — without having them walk across the treacherous roads — longterm disaster will prevail.
Similarly, residents’ concerns about traffic, parking, bike and pedestrian access are warranted. Just a few weeks ago, city officials wrongly recommended that Aurora create a complicated resident-parking-permit program that would have charged residents for permits. Also, it’s unclear whether traffic lights and pedestrian access into the light-rail station and development are going to make inevitable congestion better or worse.
Those are legitimate concerns that the city needs to not only address but be very public about how they’re being addressed.
But worries that high-end apartment residents will be more inferior neighbors than condo owners are baseless. Rest assured that in this market, and for these types of developments, rents will be premium, and residents there will be no better nor worse neighbors that anyone who makes pricey mortgage payments instead of pricey rents.
A greater concern is that developers trying to open these projects quickly and at any cost fail to lure as many unique and compelling businesses as possible to the projects. Failure will be mediocre, common chain restaurants, bars, shops and cafes that already abound in the metro area. Developers need to be innovative and discriminating in who they sign as tenants, instead of anxious to sign any lease they can. That’s a real concern and one the city needs to hold developers to. It’s not enough to create something new and interesting when trains start running, but to create developments that are compelling, vibrant and desirable years from now. Developments that draw visitors as well as residents.
In all practicality only apartments can succeed at this location and at this point in time, as builder liability issues involved in condo construction are still remain unresolved. Also, I believe we have entered a housing bubble, especially for condos, which will not end well in the next year or two. Condo developments are especially hard hit when the bubble pops, resulting in numerous foreclosures and bankruptcies. HOA fees either go unpaid or delayed which hamper condo upkeep and usually results in HOA fees increasing for remaining owners.
This is great news for Aurora! The city has long had a chronic sprawl condition that does absolutely nothing toward making it “worth discovering.” What is desperately needed is infill development – the kind that builds upon and enhances existing communities. Walkable, mixed-use developments would not only serve as a place to bring the surrounding community together, but also as gems within the city that citizens can be proud of.
The reaction from the retirement community nearby is a typical one. Elderly citizens are always wary of changes in their neighborhoods. But if development is done right – like you said, “compelling, vibrant and desirable” – what they will find is a place far superior to what is there now.
We’re probably wary because we can’t remember the last time development ever got it right, especially in Aurora.
Can you tell us, in your opinion, what getting it right would consist of?
Pretty much what was described in the article would be great. Unfortunately I don’t see much in Aurora that reflects development done right. Empty or abandoned strip malls litter the city.
This is indeed great news, and it’s sad to see people resisting positive growth. What, would these folks rather see this vacant plot of land continue to collect garbage and rodent dwellings than develop into a vibrant community?
I truly hope that the commercial development around the light rail stations attracts interesting and unique dining and drinking establishments. Last thing we need in Aurora is another Applebees. It would be great if the station TOD developments near my house (Iliff station) becomes a desirable place to congregate. Something along the lines of a BelMar style outdoor shopping center.
There should be a sound plan in place to get southern Aurora connected to Light Rail but currently there is nothing.