ARVADA — The Arvada City Council on Monday night approved a revised development plan for a massive mixed-use project south of Rocky Flats Wildlife Refuge.
Called Candelas, the nearly 1,500- acre site — surrounded by Colorado 93, Indiana Street, the refuge and Colorado 72 — was initially approved for development in 2005.
Testimony was divided over changes sought by the developers — Cimarron Commercial LLC, Arvada Residents Partners LLC and the Jefferson Center Metropolitan District.
The council approved a requested exception to Arvada’s 35-foot height limit to allow 180-foot-high buildings in the western, central and eastern edges of the project.
The exception is needed, developer Bruce Nickerson said, “to bring quality development to Arvada as other cities have.”
Resident Terry Ten Eyck urged approval of the exception, saying, “If you don’t like sprawl, you have to get comfortable with density.”
“I understand the need for development, but leave a pristine view at Colorado 72 and 93,” Dwight Berryman argued about tall buildings at that intersection. “The view is why people live here.”
About 100 people attended Monday night’s meeting.
The developers also want to increase the amount of land allocated for homes by 38 percent and decrease the land for commercial/office/industrial space by 36 percent.
Zoning has been approved for 2,218 single-family and multifamily units while the new plan seeks from 3,716 dwellings to 4,674 dwellings.
Most of the housing is in a “town center” where there will be an average density of 18 dwellings per acre.
Commercial/industrial/office space has been cut from 10.6 million square feet to 7.1 million square feet.
Candelas will create about 30,000 jobs, Nickerson said, and produce $12 million annually in sales tax for Arvada.
With several educational and research institutions nearby, Nickerson said, the location is ideal for high-tech companies.
Cutting through Candelas is the proposed future “missing link” of the metro beltway. The developers agreed to donate the right-of-way to Arvada.
The city would donate the land to a public highway authority which is being created by Jefferson County, Broomfield and Arvada to build the long-studied roadway.
Ann Schrader: 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com
