Lakewood – Coffee shops top the lists of residents’ land- use preferences around west- corridor light-rail stations at the first in a series of comment sessions.
It was the first time Tim Scaturro had seen plans for the stations and what has been designated for “station-area planning.”
“I’m right under the footprint of the station,” said Scaturro, who owns Premier Financial Benefits LLC. Scaturro figures his business site at West 13th Avenue and Wadsworth Boulevard is a goner. “I just want to be treated fairly,” he said.
Others, including Tracey Brisch, wondered what future the stations and associated development would bring. “You don’t want to put money in our home,” Brisch said. “It’s like living in limbo.”
The west corridor will be the first transit line built under the $4.7 billion FasTracks plan approved by voters a year ago. The measure hikes the Regional Transportation District’s sales tax to 1 percent from 0.6 percent.
The 12.1-mile, $500 million light-rail line, scheduled for completion in 2013, will run west from Union Station in downtown Denver to the Jefferson County Administration and Courts Facility in Golden.
The trains will follow the former Associated Railroad right of way along West 13th Avenue then turn south at Oak Street to the Denver Federal Center. The line then crosses to the north side of West Sixth Avenue to Golden.
Lakewood officials are developing plans for transit stops that have parking, including stations at Sheridan Boulevard (800 spaces), Wadsworth Boulevard (1,000 spaces), Oak Street (200 spaces) and the Federal Center (354 new spaces for a total of 1,000 spaces). The plans include areas within a quarter-mile to a half-mile around the stations.
Meetings that focus on the four stations are scheduled through June. At the debut meeting on Nov. 16, planning officials told the standing-room crowd that the city intends to keep properties outside of the station areas stable and not change zoning and uses.
“I’d like to see retail on the first floor of the parking garage (at Wadsworth) so it isn’t a monolithic structure,” said area resident Susan Aldretti.
Others voiced support for small markets, theaters, hair salons, professional services, pedestrian-friendly plaza areas, child-care facilities and bookstores. Discouraged development included adult entertainment, tall buildings, liquor stores and “big box” retailers.
Staff writer Ann Schrader can be reached at 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
