We had an exciting ''kick off'' meeting on the 24th.

A couple of quotes:

''What a great neighborhood!''

''Those folks were so great, so positive, so full of good ideas,'' and ''I wish we got that kind of participation from other neighborhoods.''

This from Barbara at the City:

''In late summer 2008 (after the three public workshops) we will begin writing our draft plan in a type of software called Limehouse. Once completed, the draft plan will be available for all of the public to review via the web. Limehouse allows the public to easily comment on specific components of the plan, such as maps, drawings, individual paragraphs, or entire sections. The software helps us to manage these comments and allows the public to see other people’s comments. So the software is not related to the focus group.''



By Kevin D

The first followup meeting was held March 19.

Two versions of a proposed  area plan were shown.  These were very rough drafts, just showing some ideas for feedback.  I thought there were many great ideas to activate and transform the neighborhood.

Just my opinion, but the most important aspect was the emphasis on energizing the  pedestrian connection between the Evans station and Broadway.  The vision is to allow development that will make the area resemble what is happening on University between Evans and Asbury.  To me, that area works well for the pedestrian even though both streets are very busy.  I personally bike there and get many errands done really efficiently.

Since Catherine Sandy's business is right there, I'm wondering what she thinks of that vision.

Although it means that commercial development will  encroach in the residential neighborhood, those buildings will also "shield" the neighborhood from Evans.  The "encroachment" will be about 100 feet.

Should I start thinking about selling my house then?  I live a few doors south of the corner of Evans on Cherokee.

100' of encroachment to the north would eliminate Catherine's historic property entirely, and put mine right on Evans.  Personally, I think it sounds like a horrible idea.

What about the other side of Evans?  It already does a lamb's leg to the north at the point where the bridge underpass connects to Evans.  None of the units on that side are  historic landmarks.

I also don't particularly like the idea of driving down Evans or Broadway flanked by 4 - 7 story buildings.  Lodo was built at an angle so that sunlight could still penetrate into the city and melt off the snow during harsh CO winters.  Using either Plan A or Plan B, the building arrangement would result in mass snow accumulation on those heavily trafficked streets.