Council approves new vision for northeastern corner

Denver’s northeastern corner has some of the last development-ready acreage in the city. On Monday night, the Denver City Council approved a broad picture for how the area will change over the next 20 years.

The city’s corner has been a suburban frontier, but it’ll become “the middle of a larger eastern suburban metro region” as development fills out near Denver International Airport and in neighboring Aurora, according to the new area plan.

This will be a test case for other suburban stretches of Denver: Residents have larger lots and homes, but it’s difficult to get to retailers and jobs without an automobile.

It also is a trial of a new citywide planning process that could be affected by turnover on the council. While Monday’s vote went smoothly, Councilwoman-elect Amanda Sawyer has signaled some density concerns about a similar upcoming plan that includes her eastern Denver district.

Generally, the 200-pluspage plan for far northeast Denver calls for low-density neighborhoods to preserve their “existing residential character,” although it does hint at new residential development at the current sites of churches and other institutional buildings.

In the existing Montbello neighborhood, that could mean removing traffic lanes from some roads while adding bike lanes and improving sidewalks.

Most of the area’s new development would arrive in green fields and along busier commercial corridors such as Peoria Street. The area plan suggests a new commercial center at Peoria Street and Interstate 70 and also the redevelopment of existing centers. It also details a bigger project, “FreshLo” — a nonprofitbacked venture that hopes to build a grocery store, a cultural center, affordable housing, office and retail, perhaps at the old RTD parking lot near Peoria Street and Albrook Drive.

But the major new development zone would stretch through the empty lots between Peña Boulevard and Tower Road.

“Rather than just getting more single-unit residential subdivisions, people expressed support for higher-density, mixed-use development,” said principal city planner Courtland Hyser.

The document translates some of the big ideas of the citywide Denveright plan into a more specific, smaller area. Its goals will take years to put into action, but some smaller projects are already in motion. Bond money will pay for a new indoor pool in Green Valley Ranch. Denver Public Works is studying flood drainage systems in the area, including the idea of replacing Montbello’s concrete channels with naturalized outlets.