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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - Urban Renewal Authority - Joint Session 1986-01-07BRADFORD PUBLISHING CO. RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Board of Trustees/Board of Directors, Estes Park Urban Renewal Authority - Joint Session DISTRIBUTION OF MINUTES: Original/Town of Estes Park; One copy/Estes Park Urban Renewal Authority January 7, 1986 Board of Trustees: Board of Directors: Also Attending: Absent: Mayor Dannels, Trustees Aldrich, Brown, Graves, Hix, Laing and Wood Chairman Phares, Members Ericson, Frantz, Moss, Pauley, and Pohl Town Administrator Hill, Executive Director Anderson, Clerk O'Connor Trustee Graves MASTER PLANS - STREETSCAPE III and RIVER: Director Anderson advised RFPs to prepare Master Plans for the River and Streetscape III were received in December. Eight firms submitted proposals on the River; 5 - 6 firms submitted quotes on Streetscape III. Considering experience and dollar amount bid, the contract was awarded to Design Studios West (DSW). DSW will proceed with the project within the week. Announcements of Public Workshops will take place by use of the news media in an effort to encourage a great deal of participation. Design for Streetscape III should be finalized by April 15th; construction could take place in October. Design for the River should be completed in mid -July PROPERTY ACQUISITION - "HUSKY" SERVICE STATION, EAST ELKHORN AVENUE: The Authority recently acquired the "Husky" Service Station Property for $150,000. Redevelopment of this property, which included the "Conoco" Service Station Property, was addressed in the Urban Renewal Plan - "Joint Development Project F." Uses for this property include: plaza/information center; transit dropoff/pickup location for tour buses; off-street parking; and ion plazalandatransit dropoffn wouldf best serve the ovis toroofminatin spce. In the to Estes Park. The Town transferred $290,000 to EPURA in 1984 which was to roxbe used for parking lots and greenbelt. Of the $290,000, approxi- mately $257,000 is available. Following discussion, the Board of Trustees stated acquisition of the aforementioned or Ypertate ,use which includes the "Conoco" Property, would be an app p the funds which were transferred in 1984. A lengthy discussion also took place concerning the development and funding of a "transfer system." "Stanley Various St systems coucould include uses such as trollies, however, the vehicle must be unique to the area. The "shuttle system" would most likely not be used unless incentives were provided such as: establishing a strict "fine schedule" for parking in certain designated areas with strict enforcement keep nt performed. Other avenues will be ns ted toternative me parking areas open to tourists by providing employees and merchants to park elsewhere. The "Husky" Property should he cleared by April 1st; a transit stop for charter buses will be designated to stop on this site. BRAOFORD PUBLISHING CO. RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Joint TB/URA Meeting, January 7, 1986 - Page two A request will be made to the Police Department to enforce this designation so as not to allow the area to become a parking lot. Executive Director Anderson was directed to contact private enterprise firms seeking a "statement of interest" in providing a transit system for Estes Park. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned. 4,e(9-� Vickie O'Connor, Town Clerk PLANNED PROGRESS TO: URA Board FROM: Art Anderson I Bob Joseph DATE: January 3, 1986 RE: Position Paper - Husky/Conoco Stations Background The Urban Renewal. Plan discussed the redevelopment of these two service stations as Joint Development Project F. The Plan states (p. 9); "Joint Development Project F encompasses the area immediately south of the Municipal Building, including the two service stations and parking lot, area, east of the Municipal Building. Within this area, facilities which require easy auto access to the community resident should be developed. These alterna- tive uses could include the post office, a transit center, and new retail shops and/or office development". These stations are also identified in Figure 6, Acquisition Plan, in the URA Plan. Proposed Uses From an urban design viewpoint, this property (290' x 80' deep) has high visibility and can have a strong impact on the image of downtown. There may be several uses for this property: Use 1 - A :plaza/information center which will be a visual indicator s_o visitors that they are entering the downtown core area. The Authority can install and consstrucctt impRA rovements such as plaza and landscaped areas (p. n). Use 2 - A transit dropoff/pickup location for tour buses when they enter Town. This location could also be used as a dropoff/pickup area for a parking lot shuttle system as called for in Phase II of the Plan (page 8). In combination with these uses, this could be a good location for a public restroom (p. 6 of the Plan - - the Authority can install and construct improvements such as transit facilities). Use 3 - This area could be developed as off-street parking with a potential of thirty to forty spaces. Use 4 - This area is proposed in the URA Plan as a site for redevelopment into retail space. This could be very successful retail space, with its access from the footballafithe eldupa cues to lot. Development into retail would also g the visitor that he is downtown. I Discussion These proposed uses, and there are more that could be envisioned, can be evaluated from a political and economic basis. Use 4, retail redevelopment, if developed, could add substantially to the tax base. However, additional downtown retail space is presently unacceptable to the downtown merchants. Use 3, parking, would be endorsed by the downtown merchants. However, from an urban design viewpoint, creating a strong pedestrian entry point from the football lot and using the area for parking are conflicting objectives. The downtown image (Streetscapes 1 & 2) is very important; therefore, the first impression of the pedestrian should be free from unnecessary pedestrian/auto conflict. Use 2, transit dropoff, has the greatest potential to have an impact on our tour visitor. However, there may be little support for this among the downtown merchants. From data presented by the Chamber of Commerce, it is obvious that tour travel is increasing in our community. If indeed, a portion of the area could be dropoff/pickup, I believe our Town image would be enhanced. Dropoff now takes place in the back of the football lot, in front of the library or on Park Lane along the side of the library. A pulloff location is being designed into Tregent Park, but from a traffic viewpoint, it would be better to keep the buses from entering the downtown area. The accessibility of this location to the bypass, by way of MacGregor Avenue, provides a convenient route into the National Park without entering the downtown area. Use 1, a plaza area, would be the best use of this space, fromwanown an image viewpoint. However, this may not be perceived by the domerchants as being useful to them. Staff feels that a combination of Uses 1 and 2, plaza and transit location, would besserve visitor desireEstes visitkthistareais tagain. visitor we want to impress with It is the return visitor who gets to know the shops and sndctheirift. r merchandise and will make a trip here to p The use of this land for retail devstaffent is not feels thatfredevelopment le at this time or in the next ten years. of the-southside of Elkatherrn Avenue thewill developmentmofrnewtretaal at should be encouraged) r this location. the merchants. Parking is seen as the largest downtown pproblem lmtbys now lrs ttan However, utilization of the football parking 60% for most of the summer. arkinaddition usageParHowever,this creationtofn will not help the football parking which cwillreation be the entry image will increase the usage of this lot, equivalent to adding more spaces. -2- J Problem The problem, as usual, is money. The removal of these two service stations has been one of the primary goals of this Board and Staff. It was felt that this nonconforming use did not enhance the entry experience of our visitors. This will be especially true when the east entry work (Streetscape 3) is completed. We have available approximately $257,000 of the Town's funds which was transferred to EPURA in December 1983 under the following conditions: "and transfer $290,000 in funds budgeted in 1984 for Parking Lots and Greenbelt on or about October 1, 1984. The only condition is that the $290,000 be used to help finance public parking and reduce future General or Special Improvement District Bonds". This quote is from a letter to Chairman Phares from Mayor Tregent. The letter was read into the Town record; however, it was not voted on as a formal action of the Town Board. If the best use of this block of property is considered to be the transit/plaza, Staff feels that the use of the Town money for property acquisition does not violate the spirit under r which the money was transferred to EPURA. The transit/plaza usfacilitate transit/bus passenger unloading/loading, and will have its greatest impact with increase usage of the football lot. If this money is used for this acquisition, then EPURA should state that the space will not be converted from this proposed use to retail space for at least fifteen years. If histdesignatTownBdamoney cannot be used to purchase this property because feels it is not an appropriate use, then I feel we must find other funds for the purchase. Our existing funds are limited and have been obligated in the budget. I would recommend that, if the Board considers this an important aspect of the strbudget anet Pheestrin initialephasenofnStreetscape , we could reduce our construction fo 3 and use these funds for these acquisitions. Conclusion The Husky -Conoco block is an extremely important piece of property for downtown redevelmand•It builtCanThisgreatly locationnis idealnew asdowntown image we have designed to use Town transit/entry plaza area. Staff feels it is justifiable designated parking money for this application for the following reasons: 1) It will cause better utilization of the footballlot cbyrtical creating an appealing entry experience and providing pedestrian link which is free from auto conflict. -3- I 2) It will enhance a bus visitor's entry experience and will encourage the use of alternative transit systems (tour buses and local shuttle service), thereby alleviating existing parking and traffic congestion. 3) It will give a better visual image to those people arriving in autos, signaling arrival, thereby increasing use of the football lot. /dh 1/3/86