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Planning Northglenn's Future with Citizen Input

Contributed by: Luciana Hall on 6/2/2006

The Mayor and City Council have recently made citizen engagement one of their highest goals. What is citizen engagement? It is encouraging, inviting, actively seeking and honoring the involvement of citizens in governance. In addition to the vital ongoing work of the City's boards and commissions, issue-based involvement is flourishing! Staff is working to invite residents, businesses, local organizations and stakeholders to participate actively in a variety of planning processes. From one-time meetings to long-term task forces, citizens are involved in numerous activities. "Our long-term goal is to make sure that all voices are heard on a variety of issues," said Kae Madden, Community Engagement Manager. "We want to hear from all age groups, all ethnicities, and all income and education levels. We are a great city with gifted citizens and we want to hear all the voices in the choir."

New opportunities to be involved in your City's governance are posted on the City's website www.northglenn.org and listed in each issue of the newsletter. Currently, there are several exciting engagement opportunities and processes for you to choose.

120th Avenue Development Design Guidelines:

Now that the developer was selected by City Council for the120th Avenue development, it is important for the citizens to provide input into the future site character and design elements. You are invited to a Design Guideline Workshop on Tuesday, June 6th at 7:30 p.m. in the D.L. Parsons Theatre at the Northglenn Recreation Center. At the meeting, the City Planning staff will explore resident preferences on the "look" and functions of the site. Participants will respond to elements such as signage, lighting, public art, public furniture, general uses, building colors, building materials, and landscaping/vegetation.

Based on the expectations of the community and staff, of what they would like to see in this unique location, the Planning Commission will consider amending the City's Comprehensive Plan to include character guidelines for the 120th Avenue site. Staff and Council will work together to develop an overall theme to insure cohesive development and consistency as the project unfolds over time.

We hope that you will attend the workshop because the education and interaction will be the best preparation for your recommendations. If you are unable to attend the worshop, an online survey will be available on the City's website and must be completed by June 10 to be included in the study.

Housing Task Force:

The Housing Task Force was created in November of 2005 for the purpose of bringing together citizens, City Council members and staff to come up with a series of recommendations to Council on Northglenn housing issues. Two phases of work were planned. The first phase was research and immediate recommendations involving housing code violations, the Clean Sweep program, and ways to assist residents in need. Care was taken to assure that the program is fair, successful and sustainable over time. These recommendations were made to Council in March and Council unanimously passed all recommended ordinances and resolutions.

The Housing Task Force is now entering the second phase of their work and the focus will be on three to five year and long term recommendations. Staff is currently researching a housing report that will provide statistics on the current housing conditions in Northglenn. Once the housing report is complete, the number of citizens on the Task Force will be expanded. A deep review of current housing conditions will lay the groundwork for the creation of a strategic plan for the future of housing in Northglenn. This group will work hand in hand with the overall Master Planning Process for the City.

Design Workshops:

Residents have been involved in shaping the design of two major renovations planned for 2006-2007:
* Northwest Open Space Recreation Area
* Croke Reservoir/Huron Street.
Three design workshops were held over six months, October 2005 - March 2006, to work on planned improvements at the Northwest Open Space Recreation Area. Residents and users of the facility seized the opportunity to influence the ultimate design and amenities. 123 residents participated in the three meetings.

Meetings are currently underway to shape the future improvements for Huron Street from 106th to 112th and the Croke Reservoir area. At the March meeting, 60 residents participated and voted overwhelmingly to keep the area surrounding the reservoir "natural" areas. A follow-up meeting was held on May 16th. Approximately 35 residents were in attendance. Resident comments encouraged City staff to place the primary focus on Huron Street and shoreline restoration. Feedback on the nodes and the areas around the reservoir again varied. Discussions focused on cleaning up the area around the reservoir, wildlife habitat concerns, and streetscape improvements. During both design planning processes revised site plans were posted on the City's website to give residents the opportunity to review plans in advance of each meeting.

Master Plan 2030 Visioning Process:

Outlined in previous issues, plans are underway to engage citizens in a visioning process for Northglenn in 2030. On April 22nd, members of various City's boards and commissions participated in the pilot Northglenn Vision 2030 exercise. City Officials were invited to participate and provide input on the process before the public visioning exercises begin this fall. Participants were split into small groups and asked to allocate growth of jobs and people to various areas within the City of Northglenn. Staff is currently reviewing the results of the exercise and preparing illustrative maps showing the City's growth allocations by zone.

Participants also provided comments on how to improve the 2030 Visioning exercise. Staff will use the input to make the necessary alterations before broad public participation begins. In the fall, watch for opportunities to participate and express your ideas for land uses, residential growth, and job growth. "A big Thank You goes out to all City Officials who participated," said Terence Quinn, the City's Planner.

FasTracks Station Task Force:

Formerly called the TOD Task Force, over thirty residents, business partners, Council members and staff are gathering over the next 12 weeks to study and make recommendations for the City's FasTrack station location. Consultants from RTD will be actively researching various proposed sites for stations and the task force members look forward to interacting with the consultants in an informed manner.




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Showing 1 of 1 comments
Submitted By: DR. SEAN REIF D.C.
posted on 6/8/2006 @ 3:03:47 PM
Rated Story
In most local areas, 3 or 4 entrepreneurs provide the creative force behind real estate development in their area. The role of these individuals cannot be minimized. These men and many more like them, are individual entrepreneurs with vision and imagination, who creatively marshal the necessary components of development into building projects that have changed the shape of their communities.
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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Luciana Hall

Northglenn , CO

Luciana Hall has posted 74 stories and 0 comments since joining on 11/4/2005. Luciana Hall 's average story rating is 4.72.
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