Littleton officials have released the first draft of a comprehensive plan that will serve as the city’s guiding governing document for years to come.
The last such plan was done in 1981.
The plan follows two years of gathering public input through the Littleton Inspire campaign and website, surveys and public forums.
Glen Van Nimwegen, director of community development, said what’s significant about this plan is that it doesn’t just offer goals and policies, as is usual in a comprehensive plan document, but it also lays out three transformative actions to shape the city in the decades to come: highlight the river, focus on activity areas and corridors, and direct Littleton’s growth.
“These main transformative actions are critical to making Littleton be a better place, and also sets us apart from a lot of community plans,” Van Nimwegen said. “It is just the beginning of the process, but I think we’re off to a really good start here.”
The South Platte River has come to be viewed differently than in the 1981 plan when it was seen as a back door to the community and not the front door, as the city views it now. The plan calls for public and private investment along the river and for the planning board and council to identify the best spots for development.
“I think (city staff) realized this time around that’s one of those things that makes Littleton unique, and there’s so much more we could do with that corridor if we identified it as part of Littleton and not just a river,” Van Nimwegen said.
The plan calls for identifying areas and corridors, such as the Littleton Boulevard and Santa Fe Drive corridors, and the area near Littleton Adventist Hospital as areas for new development and redevelopment, and utilizing tools, such as small area plans, zoning, capital improvements and other incentives.
Directing Littleton’s growth calls for re-examining land-use regulations, implementing the city’s economic plan and identifying properties best for annexation.
Van Nimwegen said that although Littleton is mostly built out and landlocked, there are still growth opportunities with redevelopment, as well as the growth of transportation, such as through light rail that has become more utilized.
“It’s not just a car transportation system, but a mass transit system and trail transit system,” he said.
He said creating “smart streets” that accommodate foot and bike traffic is essential. The plan also calls for creating a distinctive Littleton by honoring the historic nature of the city with new and old development.
Randy Duzan, chair of the planning board, said an ongoing challenge for the city is to protect Littleton’s historic character while allowing for new development, and that there’s been interest in intensive development around the light-rail corridor.
“The balancing act is how do we allow for that pressure, whether housing or commercial, higher density or having a different look. How do we allow that and manage the quality of that and keep the integrity of ‘old town’ Littleton and the small-town feel,” Duzan said.
He said the planning board will advise the city to review the plan every five years, and hopefully officials won’t go as long as 32 years before updating it.
Duzan said the planning board has sent the first draft back with some revisions, mostly to do with language, but that it’s a good plan for the city.
No member of city council could be reached for comment, and Mayor Debbie Brinkman had not read the plan by press time.
The planning board will have a second public hearing on the plan at its regular meeting Oct. 28. If the board recommends the plan, it will go to council Nov. 5.
To read the plan, go to .
Clayton Woullard: 303-954-2671, cwoullard@denverpost.com or
