Adding turn lanes and traffic signals and removing parking spaces along streets near Union Station are among the recommendations for development around the historic downtown train station.
The public will get a chance to comment on those plans and others included in the environmental-impact statement for the project at a hearing today at 5:30 p.m. at the Wellington Webb city building.
A community group is encouraging residents to voice opposition to plans that developer Union Station Neighborhood Co. has for two buildings that would flank Union Station.
Instead, the Open Space Initiative Group wants a public square larger than the 2 acres already allotted.
“It isn’t too late to change the course of how things are planned,” said Stuart Ohlson, a member of the group.
The Union Station project is the centerpiece of FasTracks, the region’s tax-funded, $4.7 billion transit plan. The project includes light rail, bus and Amtrak service, plus commercial, office and residential buildings.
The four-story buildings planned for each end of the station on Wyn koop Street are consistent with the original master plan approved in 2004, said Frank Canon, a partner in Union Station Neighborhood Co. The entire 19.5 acres surrounding the station already has been rezoned to accommodate the plan.
Development of the buildings factors into paying for the infrastructure improvements.
“In a project where TIF (tax-increment financing) and metro-district financing are a critical part of the overall financing scheme for the project, every square foot counts,” Canon said.
Even with the buildings, the project will include more than 2 acres of public space, he said.
Canon said the project is on schedule, with design of transportation infrastructure 30 percent complete. Kiewit, the project contractor, is finalizing costs, expected to be about $476 million.
Xcel Energy already has started utility work at the site.
“If everything goes well and stays on schedule, hopefully by the end of the year we’ll see the first shovels in the ground,” Canon said.
Margaret Jackson: 303-954-1473 or mjackson@denverpost.com
