AURORA | About 300 residents from Aurora’s Heather Gardens neighborhood filled city council chambers Monday to protest the city’s first transit-oriented residential community, which should be breaking ground by 2016, according to developers.
“You can’t drop urban in the middle of suburbia without appropriate transitions,” said Heather Gardens resident Anna Spradlin. “The original TOD [transit-oriented development] plan called for both rental and ownership housing. There are no current plans for ownership … We are not just a bunch of old people griping about progress. We are citizens, taxpayers and may I remind you, voters who want a voice in the shaping of that progress.”
Spradlin was one of several residents who cited issues with a 424 multi-family apartment complex that developers and city officials hope will attract young professionals, as well as those looking to live near the Iliff Station light rail.
The issue was not part of the city council’s agenda for the evening, but caused city council chambers to overflow with concerned residents Monday.
Heather Gardens resident Winnie Jennings said the city needed to address traffic issues in the area before moving forward with more housing.
“The intersection at Yale and Abilene is a disaster,” she said. “During rush hour, cars stack up 10 to 12 deep. Our north townhouses can’t even get out of their driveways.”
Jennings also cited concern with a traffic report prepared by SteelWave, LLC, the developer of the complex.
“Respond to our repeated request. Conduct your own unbiased traffic study of streets in Heather Gardens,” she said.
That report showed Blackhawk Street, located just east of the apartment complex would see the biggest traffic bump. According to the report, the intersection of Iliff Avenue and Blackhawk Street already serves 4,600 vehicles per hour during the peak evening rush hour. Blackhawk Street south of Iliff Avenue, is anticipated to receive the brunt of new traffic when the apartments are completed, and serve approximately 145 vehicles per hour during peak evening rush hour.
The site where the apartments will go sits on nearly 10 acres of vacant land on the northeast corner of South Anaheim Street and East Yale Avenue, south of the Regional Transportation District’s future Iliff Station light rail station. When built, the complex will have 424 multi-family apartments spread across 18 buildings. Some buildings will be three stories, and others four, according to design plans. The complex will include 182 one-bedroom units, 182 two-bedroom units, and 60 three bedrooms apartments.
Residents of St. Andrew’s Village, a large senior living facility that abuts the future light rail station, have also voiced concerns about the traffic that will be generated by a new 600-space, two-story parking garage set to open next to the light rail in 2016, near the future apartment complex.
Before residents started testifying against the project, Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan said city council only had so much control over its progress.
“It’s not up to council, it’s not up to staff to dictate how quickly a project moves forward. The developer retains that right,” he said.
Oh brother! Someone spun up the old cronies again… What part of the sky is falling this time?
try reading the article sparky
I guess that means the whole sky is falling… No surprise…
Drive in the traffic now, and then add nearly 500 apartments to that mix and see for yourself, you don’t have to be a ‘old’ to realize it’s a mess.
LOL – Like 500 is a big deal… Let’s see 300,000 + people living in Aurora, what’s another 1000… Change is tuff for us old cronies… But it gives us something to complain about. The weather has been too nice to complain about. 😉
I leave at Heather ridge and I’m glad we have progress going on, the traffic will soon come back to normal once the contraction is done, my only worry is probably the noise from the light rail once it’s operational other than that I believe the tax payers money is being put to good use.
So do your part, and take transit when you can. Roads don’t scale! I am not sure why people don’t understand that!
So, instead of building next to the transit, lets build the apartment in the middle of nowhere so EVERYONE has to drive. That is, the answer right? Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb… jesus listen to yourself!
Look, there was NO ‘transit’, we don’t need no stinkin’ transit, and we surely don’t need more intensified housing to use that transit. You may call it anything you desire, I call it mass insanity. These neighborhoods were not built to withstand mass transit, mass housing, mass anything. Planners at the time used numbers available to them, even taking into consideration future growth, but not this. When they re-routed the traffic from Yale through Xanadu And Vaughn Way, during the bridge overpass reconstruction (done, so we could make way for that transit system you keep talking about,which btw has been going on for three years now and isn’t nearly complete) the traffic through those streets was overwhelming, and that’s just what you’ll see when they complete these housing complexes and ‘transit’ systems.
We have two options, put people in the city, or build more suburbs. The later is only going to increase traffic problems as compared to the former and this is a fact regardless if you want to believe it or not. Roads do not scale and as CDOT as mentioned, we don’t have room for any more… If anything, more housing on transit is good for people who don’t even use it, so please stop being stop so elitist with the: ‘I own a car and I am better than you attitude.” (I don’t need no stinking transit) Its really childish.
Also, Denver didn’t use to be a major city, now it is, things change. I am guessing while sitting in traffic you have noticed…. Cheers!
🙂
I wasn’t aware my feelings about traffic congestion make me seem privileged, do I like it, no, not at all. I did think every family owned at least one vehicle however. As far as the homage to ‘The Treasure of the Sierra Madre’ and Bogart, ‘we don’t need no stinkin’ badges’, thought everyone would ‘get’ that one, it’s been used in every conceivable way for years now. Denver of old, was so quaint, friendly and clean, you wouldn’t know it today, and better, much better.
They’re definitely not speaking for everybody who lives near that intersection. I also live at Yale and Abilene and I am thrilled that they will finally be developing that plot of land!
Why? A bit of open space bothers you? Do you think every square foot of land has to be developed? Perhaps you should have moved to NYC.
If you don’t like people living next to you, buy the vacant land. The guy that owns it has a right to develop the land. Change is tuff for us old cronies.
Sure, take no heed of the character of the community or the impact such changes will have on their quality of life. The limits of scale never apply and uninhibited development is always good!
Let’s face it, HG is an elite group of old white people that do not want the young, low income, working class or minorities living in or near “our community”. Renters are the scourge of the civilized society (20% is enough?). Why don’t we get off our high horses and get along with community. What a bunch of snobs we are!
Whitey-Tighty!
You work your entire life to live your remaining life with others who have attained a certain status, a way of life, a nice life, a better life. So no, I don’t think they, or I, should be surrounded by section 8 dwellers and their habits, I left that long ago, and believe I earned the rewards that come from a life of hard work and industry, away from the madding crowd, okay with you?
Yes, those evil old white people, that are responsible for creating and funding for the last several decades all the social welfare programs that subsidized the existence of the “young, low income, working class, or minorities.”
At least you’re self-aware enough to recognize your snobbery, if not your solipsism, general lack of perspective, and unwarranted sense of self-regard.
If we don’t develop the land ‘in’ the city, sprawl ensues. So yes, its
important to fill in the city instead of expand out. Sprawl increases
traffic, not density and reduces traffic efficiency and increases
municipality costs due to increased infrastructure. If there was ever a
place to put a 500 unit apartment complex, its near a train station.
Also TOD land is not easy to find compared to none TOD land.
obviously you are in the minority – over 300 residents of Heather Gardens disagree.
Stop being so selfish. People need places to live near transit and don’t want to be subject to traffic if they don’t have to. Let them build! We need as many housing units in the front range as we can get, especially along transit lines.
Yes, if it’s one thing we need to insure, it’s that John Calhoun’s rat experiments are implemented on a human scale.
how many total residents are there in HG?
Shouldn’t the light rail help alleviate some of the warranted traffic concerns? I mean isn’t that why they are building this development because it’s close to the new light rail?
Not everyone is going to be riding the light rail at all times. There’s also the issue of how the placement of the rail will impact traffic flow.
The mere fact that the city is relying on a traffic study put together by the developer of the project should send up alarms; an entity that stands to make a lot of money if the project is approved is hardly an objective source.
If you want us to do this, we need to raise taxes so we can pay for these studies. Convince your friends to do that and we can do a traffic study on our dime, otherwise we have bigger things to spend that money on.
“If you want us to do this, we need to raise taxes so we can pay for these studies”–The city of Aurora or Arapahoe County don’t already have tax dollars paying a Public Works division that has hired personnel with the expertise make these analyses and a budget to execute them? Pretty telling that you don’t seem aware of that what you’re demanding more spending for already has a bureaucratic office with the means to address it.
Traffic in Aurora is awful, all over. If drivers are unable to drive across Yale from Marina Drive, they should go west on Linvale to the light on Yale and Abilene. I’ve never seen traffic bottled up there. What are people afraid of? Those that crowded council chambers last night got up and left when their “pet project” was no longer discussed. Why didnt the stay and listen to the other items? .
We were asked to leave so that other groups could come in.
“Too bad”, say the Professional Planners. Transit-Oriented Development trumps any concerns of private property ownership and usage. The Planners have determined what is best for you and your property because…you know…like…climate change or something.
It is the new way of Eminent Domain: if government takes your property it’s supposed to compensate you; if they affect its usage and value, they can run you out without having to pay. They even get to wash their hands of it by blaming the developers.
TOD’s increase land value. Be happy 🙂
Perhaps initially. However, they will eventually fall into disrepair and blight (real blight, not Gaylord-type blight) because they are artificially valued by government decree or influence.
Yeah and the moon is brighter than the sun. I can make stuff up too! This is fun!
Ok. Buh-bye.
If you view land and your home as an ATM machine, I’m sure it’s awesome!
Also, from my recollection. When you buy property you don’t control adjacent parcels? What world do you live in?
No, the private owner of that property controls his parcel, not government.
Private ownership with government control is an economic system known as Fascism, aka Transit-Oriented Development.
Same world as you, just see it in a different way.
Based on your analysis, roads should be built by the people who live on them. Are roads not transit? We should only cater to people who can afford cars, and if you can’t own a car your worthless? Should we let private entities own all the roads? What are you talking about/advocating?? From my vantage, your vision is skewed.
Not all Heather Gardens residents, both homeowners and renters, agree with the protesters, as it seems
the issue is not cars or traffic but multi families and riding the rails, something these HG residents know little
about — especially with the loss of the RTD 130H bus on Marina Drive. These protesters perhaps dislike
apartments of multi families and possible diversity of those who ride the rails, take buses, use transit opportunities
and do not use their birthright cars but go green.
Or, go for free on the taxpayer.
Alas, the number of people increases but the amount of land stays the same.
There are about 3000 people live in Heather h
Gardens. that’s a small city in itself. Traffic for these residents can be plenty let alone all the outsiders who drive on Heather Garden Way. When leaving the parking lot at the club house at going home traffic, one needs to waits considerable time to get out on street. And the speed of the cars is overwhelming and dangerous.
As a heather gardens resident, I’m all for it, It would make they city finally take notice of the area, plow sidewalks sooner than 4 days after it snows, and address the traffic issues…