November 22, 2012
Arapahoe County, Colorado • Volume 123, Issue 44
75 cents
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourlittletonnews.com
School district’s needs mount
STRIKING A POSE
Bond election under consideration By Jennifer Smith
jsmith@ourcoloradonews.com
With Santa off greeting hundreds of well-wishers at The Streets at SouthGlenn, his reindeer take a much-needed break from the excitement, posing for pictures in Commons Park. A community tree-lighting ceremony held on Nov. 16 helped kick off the holiday shopping season. Photo by Deborah Grigsby
Developer’s density proposal draws concern Rezone sought for Nevada Place apartments By Jennifer Smith
Bonds continues on Page 20
jsmith@ourcoloradonews.com Littleton’s planning board has rejected the notion that a rezone should be granted to improve a developer’s chances for success. “Financial hardship is not a good enough reason for changing zoning,” said board member Mark Rudnicki, during a hearing on a proposal to increase density for the second phase of the Residences at Nevada Place, 5591 S. Nevada St. Jonathan Miller of Camelback Development owns the project and says it won’t be financially feasible unless the density is doubled from 37 two-bedroom apartments to 72 one-bedrooms. “Necessity is the mother of invention,” he said. “Our intent is to finish what we started.” Five years ago, city council approved the entire project for the site where the old St. Mary school once was. Miller intended to build it all at once until economic disaster struck the nation. He finished the east building, which is mostly two-bedroom units, but the west side has remained vacant. The proposed building features the same footprint, height and materials as what was originally approved; the only change is to density. The plan calls for 103 units total in both buildings, and 144 park-
With the average age of its buildings at 49 and funds running short, Littleton Public School officials are starting to whisper the words “bond election.” “We have about five segments of roof that I’m not sure will make it until 2014,” said Diane Doney, chief operating officer. That’s the year she expects an election to happen, if the school board decides to go that route. She said there’s about $60 million in needs; the last bond question in 2002 raised $80 million. By far the largest expense is in mechanical and HVAC upgrades, estimated at nearly $10 million, followed by roofing at about $7.5 million. Surveying the needs of the district was led by volunteer David Metcalf, who also sits on the city’s planning board and worked on LPS bond elections in 2002 and 1995. He warns that it’s not worth preserving assets the district can’t afford to replace in an emergency situation. “If you have 20 projects and can only pay for half of them, you can either meet half the needs or find not-good ways to meet the needs,” he said. “Maybe you ought to be thinking about doing 10 of them well.” Doney said attention would be paid to
Long-vacant post filled The owner of Nevada Place apartments wants to double the approved density for the second phase of the project. The planning board said no, but city council will make the final decision. Photo by Jennifer Smith
Braaten is Littleton’s new deputy city manager By Jennifer Smith
jsmith@ourcoloradonews.com ing spaces. The parking issue is what motivated about a dozen neighbors to attend and voice their opinion that increased density would worsen an already bad parking situation. They complained that they often can’t park in front of their own homes and occasionally have to call police to remove cars blocking their driveways. Along with the increase in population that came with phase one of Nevada Place, they blame busy restaurants that were granted waivers to minimum parking requirements. “You can only put so many fish in a fishbowl,” said Autumn Gold. Miller said prospective tenants will likely
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be mostly young professionals who want to live near light rail, and their use of transit will minimize parking needs. But the ones who are calling want one-bedrooms, he said. Jessica Alizadeh, who works with Miller, said 366 invitations to an Oct. 3 community meeting were mailed, but only 18 people showed up, none of whom expressed concern. She presented data that indicates at least 30 percent of homes in transit-oriented areas such as downtown Littleton should be one-bedrooms, and said there are only 30 one-bedroom homes within a half-mile of the light-rail station. Board member Jennifer Ranville called that argument compelling and cast one of two favorable votes for the proposal. However, two phone calls placed by the Littleton Independent the next day revealed there are 36 one-bedroom apartments in just one square block of downtown: a dozen at Little Town Apartments and 24 at Main Street Apartments, both near the intersection of Prince and Main streets. “The applicant glossed over a lot of facts,” board member Dave Metcalf alleged.
Mike Braaten will replace Phil Cortese as Littleton’s deputy city manager in early January, a year after Cortese resigned. “Mike brings a wealth of experience to our organization and possesses a skill set that will be of great benefit to our citizens and staff,” said City Manager Michael Penny. “He’s going to hit the ground running on making the city more sustainable, pursuing and managing grants, and helping us with a number of economic-development initiatives.” Penny chose Braaten out of a pool of 129 candidates from throughout the United States. He’s been the government affairs and energy coordinator in the Braaten Western Slope city of Rifle since 2007. Rifle is a 4.3-square-mile city in Garfield County, 27 miles west of Glenwood Springs. Its population was 9,172 at the 2010 census While there, Braaten worked closely with the state Legislature and local, federal and state agencies. He managed projects in-
Braaten continues on Page 20