Broomfield Town Square: One Step Closer to Broomfield's Downtown

By Bette Erickson

With a unanimous City Council vote Tuesday, September 13, in favor of developing Broomfield’s library complex, we’re another step closer to creating a “downtown.”

If you’ve lived in the City and County of Broomfield any length of time, you’ve no doubt heard or even sung the chorus, “We need a downtown! We need a gathering place.” And when residents exclaim that or similar sentiments, what they mean is improving the area making up the Civic Center complex.

Enhancing the acreage near the library has been on the City Council’s radar for going on two decades.

Developers have heard the plea.

An enlarged lake offering multiple use recreation, framing the west side of the Mamie Doud Eisenhower Library is just one of the amenities proposed by the Broomfield Town Square Alliance, LLC and City Street Ventures. Also included in the proposal is improving the 39 acres located north of 1 st Avenue and east of Main Street with upwards of 643 residential units phased over time and some 187,000 square feet of commercial development, which may include retail, restaurants, office, entertainment, and civic uses.

At last month’s City Council meeting, the Broomfield City Council Chambers were packed (including overflow lobby seating) with community members and stakeholders, including Broomfield Chamber President and CEO Pat Monacelli along with Board Chair John Waters.

“We believe the Town Square will be good for our community and good for the overall health and vibrancy of our Broomfield business community,” the two wrote to their Chamber membership, encouraging participation and attendance at the September 13 City Council meeting.

Included in the development is the conversion of the vacant Safeway building (over 60,000 sq. ft.) into the Broomfield Central Market. The market may have a mix of chefinspired cuisine and local retailers.

Throughout the years and even more recently, hundreds of community members and residents have spoken out both in favor and against the aggressive re-development of the area.

“I’m excited about the development and disappointed that it may not go through,” explained Broomfield resident Lacey McGinty prior to the council meeting. She and her husband are raising their family here and generally spend a great deal of money elsewhere, outside of Broomfield, she said.

“We ride our bikes, visit playgrounds, walk the open spaces, but when we are ready to shop, dine or enjoy a show, we don’t stay in Broomfield,” she explained. She and her husband, along with other Broomfield families, spend money in surrounding municipalities. Many of the remarks made at the council meeting last month confirmed that others share Ms. McGinty’s sentiment.

With a majority of public comment in support of the project, there were still a few community members not yet 100% on-board with the Broomfield Town Square proposal.

Despite the potential benefits of increasing housing stock in an otherwise housing inventory drought, the project feels removed from its original intent, expressed lifelong Broomfield resident and former City Councilmember Liz Law- Evans in a letter to City Council.

“What the applicant has brought before you is not the community’s vision,” she wrote. “I am, and have been for a long time, in favor of the community’s original vision of a gathering place for all of Broomfield, including unique Mom and Pop restaurants, gathering places, and medium-density housing.”

Understandably, the community, city staff, and others are not happy with how long it’s taken for the project to come to fruition.

The PUD Plan (the custom zoning plan for the property) presented last month sets the development framework for the acreage in terms of uses, building heights, setbacks, and the layout of the development parcels relative to area roadways.

Previously, on January 24, 2022, the LURC (Land Use Review Commission) recommended approval of the proposed PUD Plan by a vote of 6 to 0 with no conditions.

Additionally, the proposal meets City Council’s priorities including affordable housing, economic vitality, and sustainability, all concepts presented in the 2007 and 2016 Civic Center Master Plans, and also meets some long-range financial goals.

For more detailed information about this and other projects going on in the City and County of Broomfield and how you can express your views, visit www.BroomfieldVoice.com.

Bette Erickson writes about people, places, and events. Contact her at bette_erickson@hotmail.com.