The Conifer Area Council wants to make sure one of its main projects of the past years makes it into the next community area plan.
“It’s so much more than ‘main street,’ ” said Shirley Johnson, president of the council. “The concept is to have the city on this main street loop concept so you could stay on the loop.”
Conifer’s connectivity is fractured by four-lane U.S. 285, Johnson said, separating commercial centers anchored by large grocery stores.
A main street loop project would ideally build on what already exists, adding sidewalks along roadways, enhanced lighting in some areas and playgrounds along trails to give places for the area’s small-town character to shine.
“We know what people want,” said John Riedel, a council board member. “We’ve done a lot of work around our community character at town hall meetings. Now it’s about what are those objective steps to begin taking.”
Johnson and Riedel both noted that retaining and enhancing community character was a priority among those who responded to the council’s recent survey of the community.
fire mitigation, maintaining a water supply and getting access to urgent care, which are the same top three that have been named in surveys past.
However, those are ongoing issues and are likely beyond the scope of the council’s working groups. The main street loop project is getting a lot of attention from members of the community, Johnson said, and has the benefit of past studies, such as those done for its and help from the University of Colorado on a streetscape for Sutton Road.
Jefferson County senior planner Heather Gutherless said connectivity was also brought up as a need during meetings for the new draft of the area’s community plan. and will go a long way in informing that plan.
“They are a very active group and I don’t know that we typically see a group quite as active Conifer Area Council in other plan areas,” she said.
Johnson acknowledged that the project is just conceptual and faces uncertain funding, and the final plan will not match what most people think when they hear “main street.”
“Maybe it’s as simple as an area where you close off the street for festivals in the summer,” she said. “Like I said, we’ve really got to start thinking outside the box.”
Josie Klemaier: 303-954-2465, jklemaier@denverpost.com
Conifer town hall meeting
When: 7-8:30 p.m. Wednesday
Where: West Jefferson Middle School, 9449 S. Barnes Ave., Conifer
More information: 303-679-0950
