YALE Development - Neighborhood Feedback
Re: TRAFFIC & CARS PARKING IN NEIGHBORHOOD
Yes but with that kind of activity that does not prevent people from still parking on side streets,
Glencoe, Forest, Elm street. We need restrictions of parking in front of our house. Not everyone
has a drive way and we have various people working different hours. We need
to keep the traffic on the north side of Yale. Plus it encourages people to have their cars broken
into easy excess to light rail. Good example we have a bronco game tonite (8/21/08), so guess
what we have the AND THE TIME IS 7:00pm, cars parking in our area and tossing beer bottles and
garbage even before they get to the light rail.
- E
I was in attendance at the June 24th meeting, and wanted to address some points directly to the city officials involved. I have written to the city before, mainly to ask why certain things are allowed to occur in this neighborhood, (University Hills) that would never be allowed to continue in a neighborhood like Washington Park or Country Club, i.e., perpetual trash piled up on lawns, excess cars, weeds, etc. It is painfully obvious that the City & County regards University Hills as a place that is clearly 3rd rate. With the ongoing decline of neighborhood enforcement, and city apathy it is no surprise that people think we don't care what happens here.
It really is baffling to me how a six story building that is going to be shoehorned on to a 13,000 sq. ft. lot
will be a benefit to our neighborhood. I have neighbors that have lots bigger than that, can I tell them to try to
get zoned for their buildings, as well? I heard at the meeting, that in concept, it fits nicely with the city's
TOD plans, but how does a building with no setback and no open space requirement fit in with Green Plan Denver?
Fifty new units and their resident’s cars in one big new building fulfills what need in the community?
It certainly can't be affordable housing, since there are many, many single-family homes currently available
in the neighborhood, at or below market rental rate. I have no problem with a property owner wanting to maximize
his value, but this is the wrong use for that land.
Pedestrians risk their lives, literally, trying to cross Yale Ave. to access the light rail. This past Winter I saw a woman in a motorized wheelchair almost hit several times trying to navigate the crossing.
The addition of all those new apartments would only make the situation much worse. In addition, RMU zoning and the retail development that goes with it would bring in yet more vehicles, and, what merchant could survive without adequate parking for customers? As you may be aware, light rail parking is already a contentious issue, how will this project improve that? It seems clear to me and many of my neighbors that the deeper you go into this proposal, the worse it gets.
What makes much more sense is more parking for light rail and safe pedestrian access to it. With gas prices where they are more and more people are using the light rail. What about a pedestrian bridge over Yale, from the Highline Canal trail area, such as S. Grape Way? This would link the station to a well known and well used pedestrian trail, relieve some neighborhood parking concerns, encourage people to leave their cars at home and be safer for everyone.. If the city truly cares about the citizens in this area, and wants to do the right thing that would benefit the city and the people already living here, they should consider the highest and best use of that land for the whole community, not just the economic interests of the site owners.
Thank you for your time,
- J
I am a resident in the University Hills neighborhood. I live on Forest street. I have many concerns with the building proposed at
I25 and Yale. I am not against development that will make our neighborhood better. I am against development that
changes our neighborhood for the worse. Here is a list of my concerns that I would like added to public record and be
presented when rezoning.
1. I am against 'Affordable Housing' or 'low income' proposal. I have lived in the neighborhood for 10 years and have
2 small
children. In the time that I have lived here, I have seen such great improvements to the neighborhood. I am afraid that
offering low income housing will put a halt on that. Since light rail we have seen an increase in neighborhood crime.
In fact,
3 out of 4 houses on the corner of Yale and Cornell have been broken into. I own a rental on the corner that was
broke into
last summer. I think the increased crime is due to the increase traffic from light rail.
2. Bradley Elementary is now an international school, has new landscape and a principal that is the best of the best.
However, if this building gets built with 'low income' housing, I feel it will hurt Bradley. Bradley already experienced vandalism
this summer. I feel this would increase and the attraction that people feel towards Bradley would decrease. People will not put their
kids there if things don't continue on a positive basis. My kids are young and I choice my daughter in another DPS but plan on
putting her at Bradley for first grade because I like what I see.
3. Parking. I can't even believe this isn't being considered. Its already a problem. I live on Forest and already experience the overflow from the
light rail. The people park up and down the street and jay walk to the light rail. WHich is dangerous. If the building gets built as
projected, people will use Forest and Glencoe as a parking area even more than they are now. I heard that there is not a concern
for parking because they don't anticipate the people who live their will have cars. That's absurd. They will also park at the 2 businesses
on that side. Kobel being one of them.
4. Height of the building. There just is no way that tiny corner can handle such a big building with the traffic that the building will bring.
5. Vandalism. Since light rail has been put in, Tagging has increased in our area. If we have denser, lower income housing that will be sure
to increase.
I feel what is proposed will only hurt our neighborhood. I know the same type of thing was proposed for southmore at Hampden and I25. I
know it was put on hold because of the concerns of the neighborhood. We in University Hills have the same concerns and want the
same consideration.
- S
With respect to the proposed development at the Total gas station site at I-25 and Yale.
I support high density housing. I think it is a necessary part of living in an urban environment.
HOWEVER I CAN'T IMAGINE THAT 56 UNITS WITH INADEQUATE PARKING IS GOING TO BE AN ASSET TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD.
I would like to see a compromise proposal with fewer units, limited retail, and more parking.
As it is, the parking at the Yale station is inadequate. Only the earliest arrivals find a place.
I know because I frequently walk my dog down Yale early in the morning and observe commuters dashing
across Yale toward the station. These folks clearly were unable to find parking in the lot and are
using the side streets south of Yale. Which creates a dangerous situation. I would hate to see this
current danger compounded by the proposed project. Traffic down Yale moves at a sufficient pace and
visibility is sufficiently obstructed by the overpass that drivers cannot always see a pedestrian in time.
I have sucked air on several occasions hoping the people get across safely.
I don't want to see someone needlessly killed.
- C
K's response was well stated!
I echo both her affirmation as well as her concerns regarding this project.
- D
Michael's right, that more people living nearer the lightrail stations is the kind of thing that should and will happen as lightrail use increases. In the abstract it makes sense, and we UHills residents can't expect to maintain our postwar paradise forever. Landscapes change, and improvements in public transportation are one of the things that speed that change right up.
Nevertheless, there must be balance between the planners' visions for our neighborhood's future and our neighborhood as it exists. Speaking for myself, I think some factors in the plan for the site seem to beg addressing. One of those is the size of the proposed building: at present the design has an edge-to-edge footprint, which will impact visibility for drivers coming and going from the station. And common sense dictates that a 56-unit building will impact parking. Even with the designated one interior space per unit and spaces for retail customers, it's just gonna happen.
Parking problems at the station already exist aplenty, apparently due to the planners' underestimation of demand, which says great things about the success of the lightrail system. Still, the city needs to do something address this. When the lots are full (usually by 8 or so), people park in the residential area south of Yale and jaywalk to the station. The proposed building is probably going to exacerbate this situation more than it will help it.
UHills residents aren't a bunch of "nimbys" who oppose affordable housing. But we are, many of us, frequent users of the Yale station and know the patterns and problems inherent there. A building that contains this many units and no setback is probably going to be problematic for the neighborhood. But the lot is inevitably going to be developed, and it's not doing anybody any good just sitting there. If all sides are willing to listen, I'm sure some kind of balance can be struck.
- K
I support higher density housing at this site.
One of the selling points for light rail was that the stations would create nodes of urban activity
making it convenient for more people to use light rail through proximity. This is exactly the kind
of project that would fulfill that goal. This puts more people living closer to light rail instead
of adding more parking that would encourage driving to light rail. Light retail should be part of
this project as well, making the station even more of an attraction. Things that light rail patrons
might actually use (coffee shop, dry cleaner, bakery, newstand) would be ideal.
- Michael
As you know we had another UNHA meeting this past Wednesday, August 13, 2008. This meeting was poorly attended because of a break down in the communication process and you were at another meeting. Your aid, Sunni Rodgers, was very help with answering questions and giving us other resources from which to draw. I really appreciated Sunni’s helpfulness, thank you for having her attend the meeting.
I have many concerns about this project, which I will list below. In the discussion the other night it was noted Mile High Development will be filing their application with zoning and planning by the end of August if not sooner. It was also mentioned if we had any concerns about the project we needed to voice those concerns in writing to you before the application was filed so they would become part of the approval process; that is the intent of this email.
I respectfully request my concerns be entered into the public record as well as the zoning and planning office be notified officially of my concerns by your office. I would also request that I be notified by the appropriate city official of the dates and times of any meetings connected with this project.
Here is a list of my concerns as it relates to this proposed project:
Total Building Height
- Proposed project currently is for 6 stories 70 feet – after approved by zoning could be amended or changed to 14 stories 140 feet.
- Would prefer even smaller building in the 4 story range.
- Would like to consider pros and cons of an office building project.
- Landscaping improvements on both sides of Yale from I-25 west to west side of Yale Circle as suggested by the renderings shown at the past two meetings paid for by the developer and not the tax payers. Especially since the project is 50% funded by Federal Tax credits, $5 million.
Overall traffic safety concerns
- Traffic flow and patterns
- North bound off ramp pedestrian safety, poorly lighted, needs flashing lights for cross walk area.
- Being able to safely get across Yale to get out of the neighborhood, left hand turn from north bound Glencoe or Forest.
- Traffic calming (pedestrian staging areas) in median areas.
- Possibly adding an additional turn lane on West bound Yale onto South bound I-25 (this was the original thought when T-REX was developed) using the existing public easement available on the south side of Yale.
- Project ingress and egress issues as it relates to the overall traffic flow with the other townhouse project next to RTD lot.
- South Forest Street from Cornell Avenue to Yale has become a speedway do to the increased traffic from the RTD Light Rail station. Traffic enforcement for speeding and four way stop sign running.
Parking Issues
- South Glencoe and South Forest suffer the most from this problem.
- Yale station RTD fills every weekday and on special event days such Rockies, Broncos, Parades, Taste of Colorado etcetera.
- Over flow ends up in the lower 25% - 40% of South Glencoe and South Forest.
- The majority of weekdays these “over flow parkers,” park in an unsafe manner way to close to the corners, impairs vision to see traffic flow on Yale; additionally it makes much more difficult for a safe right hand turn into the neighborhood. Need to have installed “NO Parking Here to Corner Signs,” on both sides of the street Glencoe and Forest.
- Parking enforcement daily
- Need to discuss possible solutions to help mitigate the parking problems; considering the intended and unintended consequences of each possible solution, i.e., Permitted parking which solves some problems and creates others, Time restricted parking also some of the same issues.
- What happens when RTD starts charging for parking in their lots and pushes more cars into the neighborhood?
I have live in the U-Hills neighborhood since 1975, 33 years, raised my two children here and I am not going to
stand still for any developer or politician ramming this so called “great project” down my throat, without
my concerns be heard and addressed.
- P
This does seem like a big issue for this neighborhood.
I am in favor of a parking facility at that spot. The need is greater to support the
light rail system rather than cram in a few tight apartments.
- J
We will be out of town most of Aug. But we are against any housing on that site as we live on
South Forest and the zoning as we saw it covers even more than the old gas station any of
the others would be better but even a gas station would increase the chances of accidents
coming off the I-25 ramp.
- C & B
It is important to demonstrate how the light rail changed the parking situation and
question how an additional 50 resident cars, guest cars, and retail customers might
impact the situation.
- D
In regards to visitor parking, George stated that there is none planned for the project.
He stated visitors should be visiting in off hours so they should be able to use RTD's
parking. I imagine if we got the right person at RTD they would definitely not like to
hear the plans are for the development to use the light rail lot. If RTD turns Yale into
a pay lot then where are the visitors supposed to park?
I was also wondering if there was a way we could get a report of all traffic incidents - vehicle,
pedestrian and bicycle - from I-25 to Dahlia? including Yale Circle. If we could compare those
figures to a time period before the light rail station it would be interesting to see if
accidents have gone up. If so that could be used as a safety concern.
- L
We need to see architectural renderings from all perspectives. We need traffic studies
conducted and reported on. We need to address the parking issues.
- P
1. I know the question of children was brought up but my more specific concern is the safety of these
children due to the proximity of the southbound off ramp from I-25 and the whole intersection in general.
I know to look and I've almost hit someone as I was exiting from I-25 onto westbound Yale. It is a very
dangerous intersection and with kids living there I would hate to think what might happen. Will there be
anything done to increase the safety of this intersection?
2. We know that some sort of development will go in there, if this project doesn't work will access be allowed onto the site from Yale Avenue or only from Yale Circle?
3. Parking for the residents and businesses was brought up but where are the visitors to the residents supposed to park?
4. The Yale station condo development told the neighborhood they were required to have 1.5 spots per resident, why is this only going to have 1? Can they be required to have more parking for the larger units?
5. Does a 7 story building really fit into the character of the neighborhood? It would tower over all the existing office buildings in that location not to mention the single family homes.
- L
Got questions? Got answers?
How would you like to see the Yale & I-25 (former gas station) developed?
We can always use your help to keep our neighborhood safe.
Please contact UHNA Board Members: Debbie Allen, 303-782-4842 or Lee McDonnell, 303-691-2862
to share your views and concerns.
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