Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

It's 630. We can start this study session. We have a presentation this evening on the 2026 Planning Commission work plan. We'll have staff take it away from here. All right. Thank you very much. - This evening we're going to talk a little bit about some of the items that are on the horizon for this year and some potential updates that we can discuss and prioritize. So for our agenda, a little bit of a year in review on 2025, then a three year outlook Lemcke update topics and then quarterly goals. So 2025 overview Planning Commission actions. We had two rezoning recommendations from the Planning Commission seven UL ETC.: text amendment recommendations one. Conditional use approval one Master Development Plan approval one preliminary plat approval five study sessions projects. So I kind of wanted to talk about this a little bit. As you know, the actions by the Planning Commission are one thing, but staff does work on a lot of of other applications that come in. We had 205 applications in 2025. Now the chart to the right is something we share with Council. And I do want to talk about a little bit about the discrepancies in the numbers there between 205 and 114. So when I pulled my metrics I pulled a little different line of metrics that included zoning certificates, a few of those items that were not in the 114, 114 also weeded out a few of the withdrawn applications as well. So just want to make sure that you knew why we had two different numbers there. And then

approximately 2000 new residential units approved since was updated, and we have approximately 2000 more in the pipeline. So a lot of work done by, you know, by staff and of course, our partners in the building division, ETC.: which want to give just a brief overview of the department layout. Senior community development staff presented a number of things before City Council a couple weeks ago, and one of them was just a little bit more about kind of getting to know the department. So if you ever have any questions, ETC.: happy to answer them. But, you know, our director is Matt Knight, and then we have five division supervisors. So about a year and a half or so ago, Engineering Development Review Engineering was brought in-house. And Jessica was hired to oversee to engineers Nathan and Tyler. I supervise six, you know, a great planning team of six there, four senior planners, a planner two and a planner one. Some of them you've probably seen in and out for different items. We do have our business operations manager and she has two direct reports. And then building Tim has two supervisors under him, Hope and Steven. And then Steven is our plans examining supervisor. And there's a second plans examiner. So if you submit something residential in nature, you'll probably get Andrew commercials typically taken by Steven. And then, you know, four inspectors and four permit techs. And then

lastly we do have our compliance team. So Jeremy's the manager and we have two compliance officers as well. That's all within the community development department. We also have our, you know, vision, mission and values here in community development. So some of these were created a little bit ago. We've had some conversations about potentially updating them, but largely it's still still applies, you know, focused, objective, results oriented, well informed, adaptable, respectful and dependable. So forwards really are our vision statement there. So. The City Council a couple of years ago approved a strategic plan, had 30 different items. So community development largely has four of those items. But I'm really going to go over two of them tonight. So initiative 13 was developed a Littleton Boulevard economic redevelopment plan. So we are calling that the Littleton Boulevard Subarea plan. So we have been able to acquire funding procurement of a consultant. And that is beginning and then complete and implement a citywide historic preservation plan. So the historic preservation plan was ultimately. The priority was given to Littleton Boulevard. First, with the understanding that we want to get to a complete historic preservation plan, but in lieu thereof, this historic preservation has been working on a number of items. One is the Historic Survey Plan, which is scheduled to be adopted next week, and that informs where and how much surveying we should do. And so

then we'll be working on conducting that survey, all in preparation for this broader plan. Some notable accomplishments. Kickoff of the Littleton Boulevard Subarea plan. Historic survey plan, multiple ul UC updates, including a number of legislative updates, which of course, all of you were an integral part to, and master plan. And then upcoming agenda items. We talked a little bit last month or a couple weeks ago about EB and gas station updates. Still in conversations with the state on those, and we'll tend to bring back ordinance update at the first meeting in March for your consideration, and then additional updates and quasi judicial items as per usual. So this is kind of a three year outlook. One is the, you know, EV and fuel station update, Q1. Q2 is our our target. There is our target there. Landscaping is an item that started last year. You may remember a couple of the conversations about fee in lieu, mitigation of tree removal and canopy coverage. So those items were taken to city council and they had a number of questions about them. So we're taking a step back, working on a broader update rather than the more targeted update. So that's we anticipate working through the first three quarters of the year. Littleton Boulevard subarea plan that is meant to be an 18 to 24 month item. So currently we have targeted Q3 for deliver deliverable of that. And then really kind of the crux of what

I want to talk about tonight, some of the targeted you see updates. So I have non-conformities on here, but then also target Ulook updates. So narrowing those topics and making sure that we are addressing items that Planning Commission is interested in, but yet being mindful of some of these other larger items and the development cases. And then we look into the future, which, you know, the future on 2027, 2028 are definitely not set in stone. They're just some items that that we feel we might be able to address in those timelines. So broader updates, legislative updates. Of course, we just kind of leave that out there because, you know, who knows exactly what we'll need to address some lighting standards, vehicular mobility, downtown development standards. And then that potential for historic preservation plan. Some of the targeted you see update topics that we've heard. Some of the staff has contemplated, others we did have just a brief conversation on at a previous meeting. Lighting, temporary uses, coordination with the building code. We have a few conflicts there that we'd like to tackle. Landscaping. As I mentioned, Non-conformities transition standards and then sustainability standards as well. A little bit of a quarterly breakdown of, you know what, I feel we can expect EV charging stations and gas stations, of course, mentioned that work plan discussion here. Quasi judicial items. Looks like we have a strong chance of having a few in March.

Potential study session for on UL, UC updates, quasi judicial item. And then I believe we'll you know, I've been working with the Littleton Boulevard team, but I believe it will probably be Q3 as a first touch point for the full planning commission. But those of you on the stakeholder working group, though, you'll be involved earlier and are more than welcome, of course, to give those updates at the Planning Commission meetings after the after the stakeholder working group meetings. - On the Stakeholder Commission. Thank you. Yeah. We've got some case. - And then Q4 Non-conformities and targeted Ulook updates. That's kind of the culmination of one larger Ulook update. As I mentioned last year, we had seven different updates come through. In the past, we've tried to combine everything into one. We're trying to fit into a little bit more of a happy medium there instead of a lot, you know, try to bundle some. Hopefully it makes a little more sense. But yet, for instance, the EV and fuel station running that separately, running those separately before you earlier and then quasi-judicial items. And with that, I'm happy to discuss the priorities of the Planning Commission and take any questions. - I'll start with. - Just question. I didn't see a comprehensive plan mentioned. I think there's state law that comes into effect for water supply and strategic growth planning. I'm just wondering how that fits in with the schedule.

- Yeah, that's a great question. We have engaged both Denver Water. C and Dola in a few meetings to try to figure out kind of what the strategy is there, because we would be able to address some components of the water item, but most of the sourcing availability, those questions are really outside of Littleton's hands. They're really Denver waters for the most part. Secondly, the. The growth boundary. We've also engaged with Doctor Cog on that item to see if there is a little bit more of a regional approach. That is occurring, you know, currently. So we're I think I have to click on this button. All right. So yeah, we're having those conversations first to see if there is a little bit more of a regional component there. And then we're still contemplating with senior staff how to address it. Other smaller updates that can tackle those items prior to a full comprehensive planning effort. But with the Littleton Boulevard Subarea plan, the intent there is to not really split efforts or attention of the public. - Just recently produced their draft guidelines for the Strategic Growth element. So I'm looking at it is available on the strategic growth or housing land use implementation pages that don't last. - What did you. - What is the water portion that encompassed?

- I don't remember the exact words, but basically with Senate Bill 24 174, the legislature said that local jurisdictions, when doing comprehensive planning, must include a strategic growth element and a water supply element in their comprehensive plans. Yeah, absolutely. - And so definitely not off our radar. We're working with some partners to to build a strategy there. - That's great. Yeah. Real quick. So was that like when we're doing new comprehensive to include that or we have to go back and revise it. To revise the. - Existing to to include it. And then they must be updated periodically as well. I remember the exact timeline legislation. - I'm looking at the. Right by December 31st, 2026, Colorado jurisdictions must adopt a strategic growth element in their master plans, referred to Delaware guidance as comprehensive plans, with certain exemptions based on population growth rate per Senate Bill 20 411 74. So by the end of this year, we are supposed to have adopted a strategic growth element into our comp plan, which I don't believe we really have in our. It's more like we have to create it because I don't believe we have such a thing in the comp plan. Then they describe the objectives, the purpose and the benefits of it. That's the that's the strategic growth. So we do, we do get that in. But that's. - Comments or questions.

- On the board. - Yes okay. This is just more of a general question. But is anyone on staff or otherwise pulling data regarding housing units that have been actually built in code. Because, you know, part we keep we've talked about over time that we have these we have housing goals that we've approved all these housing units. We don't really know quite how many without going back and telling it up, or at least I don't. And then how many of those are actually built and not necessarily occupied? But are they built? Are they ready for Co. Because, you know, part of it we have these we always have the housing goals and numbers that we need to achieve, but we never really see numbers around. What's our progress? I would really like to see something like that okay. - I can get some numbers and then my next update I'd be able to provide you with more concrete numbers. - Is that building, is that the building department or do they CEOs or how. - Yeah. Yeah typically they co buildings rather than units. But they should have the number of units you know tallied as well. So I can work with them on what I'll attempt to do is give you a number of, you know, code under construction and pipeline. So I might be cut down to Co and pipeline, you know, okay. Under construction is part of the pipeline. But I'll see if I can give you a more definitive numbers there. - Okay. And another thing, you know, now as you drive around we're starting to see developments that we've actually, you know, approved and they're being built. And in some cases they're not being built. So, you know, I'm curious to see or know if some

of the ones we approved it, they really are going to move forward. Or are they just, you know, they got the zoning or approval. And now we don't know. I guess you just say it's not under construction. That's a sign. But we don't know if it's ever going to be. Yeah. - Yeah. Some of them are you know, they're still in the planning process or. Yeah, I have one master development plan that was conceptual that the plan or the people who are going to execute plans are changing ownership. So that's delayed things. So a few of those that you haven't seen, but yeah, some project status on on that topic, I also, I guess I failed to mention that the new development activity list. So please take a look at that. Let us know if you have any feedback or other questions about it. But I think it's going to function quite a bit better than the previous. - Yeah. - A little while to learn how to navigate that site. - I know the little arrows throw. - Like. - Including me initially. - Is okay. Just a few questions is did historic preservation? Do they have a consultant who's working on that survey or who's doing that work? - So the survey plan was created by consultants with in conjunction with staff and the Historic Preservation Commission. So the next step towards surveying is our historic preservation planner is seeking some grant funding. So the grants are due here in a little bit. And you know, we'll we'll see if we're successful but intends to pursue some

consultants on the kind of the more detailed surveys. But then there's also she's been working on getting some tablets and doing some high level, like window surveys and having members of the public, the Historic Preservation Commission, be able to go out and do those, you know, they're not official, but they can be a gateway into recognizing areas that might need greater surveying efforts in the future. - Okay. - Just on the landscape plan, what are some of the just highlighted points that the council brought up that we should be aware of? - Yeah. So trying to remember that entire conversation. I think. Let's see, they were concerned about, for one thing, there was a presentation the same evening about the tree manual. And so I think we heard from a few people that bundling the tree manual and some of the updates together would be advantageous. They also indicated. I watched the meeting. I'm trying to remember the day. Great detail. - What about the fees? In lieu of what? What was that discussion? - Yeah, I think there. I think there were some conversations about there's definitely conversation about canopy coverage and whether or not they felt that it was the appropriate amount, the increase and then the fee and. Let's see, I don't recall if they had a lot of questions about the fee in lieu. I

remember the canopy coverage being a larger conversation. - What where did you land with that fee in lieu? What is that fee now per tree? I know we discussed or you presented different options. - Yeah. So currently in the code it talks about $500 per tree. Whereas the new proposed ordinance was talking about a fee based on amount of caliper inch. Yeah. Thank you. - That was was certain council members pushing back on that. And in general I infections structure has been. Stated that there's a lot of there was a lot of various there was a lot of different conversations and different council members had different takes. But they but they did push. They wanted staff to come back with some rethink something. So it's kind of in process, I guess. There's a lot. I heard that the tree guide is it's going to become a guide, mostly for Department of Public Works, internal for the city's tree management, but not so much private developers. And it'll be a guidance for more of the way the city manages its own trees, rather than a document that we expect conformity from developers. But this is all yet to be set in stone. This is just a conversation that I've heard. Yeah. - Thank you for that added synopsis, because the conversation did kind of go a few places. So there, there was, there was. - A lot there was a great deal of focus on where the percentage of tree canopy go,

where the tree canopy goal in total came from, and what would that affect? Water. Water is Amanda Henderson was concerned about water usage. And how did the plan doesn't accommodate the address, where we're going to get water for 50 to move to a 50% tree canopy coverage. It's a significant increase in the trees. Council member Stilwell was concerned about the negative impacts on multifamily housing by just 30%. Canopy coverage. There's just a lot of different conversations and comments made, so it might be worth visiting. I do think that there's a lot to be determined on the tree plan. It's kind of a I don't know if there's anything set in stone yet, though. Even even the tree manual. But that's what I heard. - All right. I think that's it for me. Yep. - Jared, I mentioned last week, I'd love to take a look at if we have time and energy parking, parking, the parking minimums and the parking framework in our ETC.: if we're going to do like technical updates, that might be an area that would be worthy. I think in especially in conjunction with the Littleton Boulevard, it's a very I think parking, which is a big issue on what's happening in development along that boulevard. Now. It just seems germane to to maybe, maybe it's only in the subarea plan that we look at NC and CMU parcels parking requirements. Maybe we have a broader discussion about parking minimums, but just because we're going to do the Littleton Boulevard plan, I think we're going to have a lot of thought about parking and development and how those parcels are going to best be treated. We kind of have a one size fits all sort of table with just a bunch of numbers,

and I don't know if we'll end up with a subarea plan will have its own special sort of parking overlay that that's now going to be in that district, produce a certain outcome or we but it just seems like I would love to see parking lot the 2026. It's I know there's a lot going on. So yeah. - So so parking in regards to Littleton Boulevard as you referenced is a part of that plan scope. So but that is is definitely a little more targeted than citywide. You know, we're, we're happy to look into parking. We can also indicate, you know, we can also bring back a conversation about what the code all does allow, because there are a number of. Incentives also, especially in downtown, that allow parking to be provided at a at a greater reduced rates. And then there's some state actions as well that have come out that I believe had to. Yeah. Had to come through a planning commission to city council about near transit nodes and a few of those items. But so we can give an overview and then decide if, you know, give a little more information if we want to tackle parking minimums, maximums and the table. - Not just minimums and maximums, but also, I mean, I think in this Littleton Boulevard plan process we're going to discuss, we're probably going to see managed parking be part of the parking management planning, you know, whether it's fee structures or whatever in that district. I think that'll be in the conversation for the Boulevard. And I think we already are seeing in the boulevard the use of shared parking agreements between some of the larger lots

on the south side for businesses on the north. And these are these are the challenges of addressing parking demand in a development area. And I think those questions are going to be lively and part of the the subarea plan process. So I just thought maybe we should scope it out in general for the within the UIUC and maybe, maybe whatever we're doing in Littleton Boulevard planning process might inform a possible update generally to the plan and also parking minimums and things like that. I think the NC parcels and the parcels in that district might see, like we have in downtown sort of special cases. And maybe so my thinking is maybe the reason we're bending in the special cases there is because we're to make it work. And if we want to just say, hey, this is how it works, maybe we should be treating this globally within the UIUC rather than just for the Littleton Boulevard area. That was my sense of it, but I don't know if it needs to be in the table per se. - But yeah, a part of what staff, I think we had talked about it. And, you know, this part of this conversation. Right. So I think we had targeted. Vehicular mobility because parking would be a part of that vehicular mobility section. So if we'd like to move that up the the list, we can. - How much do you how much contact you have with council. They're going to go this month into the end of the month. They're going to do their prioritization at the retreat. And that's where the number 17 and number 38 come from. Each council has its own sort of they, you know, they they set a set of priorities on their what they want staff to do. Maybe,

maybe this is a question to to lob at them. Do they want us to look at parking. Do they, do they want that question to be addressed by planning Commission as a part? If it's not a political priority to the council? I don't I don't want to push it just because I'm interested in it. But if it's if there's support there for addressing parking, maybe moves it. 2028 is pretty down the road. And it's a good question. - Yeah. Good point. It's not just parking, but it's, you know, all aspects of mobility and curbside management deliveries. That's particularly important in areas like downtown. You may not have good alley access for deliveries. And how do you accommodate that, you know. Unloading the kegs and various establishments downtown. Yeah. - That's what. - In a prior jurisdiction, there was no unloading in the business district after 10:00. And and yes, 10 a.m. and as you can imagine, the citations were given out so. - Well, parking management part of that too is enforcement. How many resources the city Council is going to dedicate to parking enforcement. Understand it's fairly limited now, and that's part of what's causing some of the problems with spillover parking in neighborhoods. You if you're not able to write tickets for people partially blocking driveways, people are going to partially block driveways. Yeah. - By the way, I wasn't advocating for the 10 a.m. just giving it as an example. Right. - That's very restrictive. - Didn't want anybody potentially watching the meeting later to get the wrong impression. - So yes, there are many ways to manage deliveries. That is one.

- Well I. - Was going to yeah I was going to mention parking too actually because I think I've, I feel like I've brought this up a couple times and I think that every time we get or, you know, there's, we talk a little bit about the periodic or, you know, the updates that we had to put into the code for state legislative updates about parking minimums near transit stations. And one of the things that, you know, I've heard and read and, you know, from from other cities where they did eliminate parking minimums or greatly reduce them, is that you've got to have a parking management plan in place, right? Because otherwise you're you're trying to play catch up. Right? So and yeah, I think that includes, you know, that would include enforcement. But I would also, you know, and I don't know that it's necessarily I don't know that this would be necessarily a you all or it wouldn't entirely be a U+ thing or something that came to planning Commission, but it needs to happen in conjunction to say, you know, here's when we start to issue permits for these, you know, and here's the pricing scale for permits, and here's the pricing for street parking. And, you know, and how do we how do we how do we manage that so that such that, you know, if we are able to give businesses, you know, as part of this, you know, some relief in terms of how many parking spots they're arbitrarily forced to build, right, that we can get better investment into Littleton, you know, into the Littleton Boulevard area. Right. And then, you know, that would also need to include things like, you know, the shared parking agreements or ways that the city can help alleviate the liability associated with shared parking agreements. Right to to help incentivize that for the businesses that are already there that have, you know, parking lots but may not be willing to, like, open it up just because of liability concerns too. Right. So. I

think that, yeah, you're absolutely right. It is something that's going to come up as part of the the Littleton, you know, Littleton Boulevard plan. But we need we need more than just what we're putting in in the code for the businesses that are on the parcels of land. We need the city to take a more active role or to at least, you know, sketch out a plan going forward and build and develop on that plan for how the city is going to manage its property, which is the streets down there. Right. Or things like parking too, you know, so that it works best for the neighbor, the neighborhoods and for the, the businesses. So I don't know, it's probably something we need to push them a little bit. I think when they go to their, their focus group to say, look, you know, if you want to we, you know, planning commission and staff can, you know, can definitely start diving into the the parking requirements for businesses and redevelopments on Littleton, you know, on on Littleton Boulevard. Boulevard subarea plan. But, you know, as we've already seen with, you know, with with businesses coming in with, without, without levying, you know, without buying and scraping, you know, multiple buildings around it to meet these parking needs. Right. How do we how do we get these businesses in there and make sure that we're not, you know, hurting or, you know, really, you know, penalizing people who, you know, live near there and have lived near there. So yeah. - Yeah. And I'd certainly advocate for everyone to at least skim the High cost of Free Parking by Don Shoup, which discusses parking management and cities and towns. And I'll just throw out I. I personally would love for the city to investigate charging

for on street parking, including downtown. People don't want to pay. They can park in the RTD lot and walk a little further. If they're unable to walk and have an Ada placard, there's at least one on every block. There may be one on every block face I can't recall. It's been a while since I've spouse's knee surgery. - You know. - If there's one thing I know we were talking about or working, maybe. Take a look at 1-20-1: and making standards. So I think those two things go hand in hand. Yeah. - No, that's a that's a great point. And something that I've observed a lot just reviewing site plans is, you know, people have an unfortunate tendency to stick the, the light pole right next to the tree in the parking lot island. And then in 15 years you have a problem. - Yeah. - Well, I mean, I mean, I feel like. - Yeah, that's. Yeah, that's an excellent point. - All this bringing theoretically require all this screening, maybe some lights. - I would like to see. Yeah some the other thing that would be nice about that is if it moved the lighting standards up a little bit, because it would be nice to see more. I think we see it I think we're seeing it, you know, in the, in the, in some of the commercial. But you know, to really have that effective down lighting that reduces some of that light pollution that has such a such an environmental impact, if we can start to, you know, push that out across the board earlier for anything that gets developed as a consequence, maybe as a subarea plan, right, is that we're doing a more environmentally friendly approach for for lighting as well. - Lighting code does have some

dark sky adjacent elements, but it's not 100% there, and it's kind of reliant on the actual applicant. Like I think the Murphy Express gas station on Littleton Boulevard has very muted lighting. And then you go over to QuikTrip over on Bellevue, and it's a very different lighting experience. That's really just the end users working within our code. And they both fit. One, I would argue, is probably a better than the other. - It's still. - Yeah. - When it comes to other. Any other comments? One of the question here. - With the Littleton Boulevard area plan consultant, public process going forward, who in community development is the lead? Person? Is there a project manager for Littleton Boulevard plan? - Is it you know, we. - Have co-project managers. So I, Susan or Sarah, Susan, Sarah Dusenberry. And so she also is the liaison to the historic preservation. So you might have seen her face there and then Eserine. So we have two senior planners on the item. Yeah, with some support from me as well as our city manager's office. So. - So two of your reports. - So that's that's another rationale for why. For why I kind of wanted to have this conversation and also talk about, you know, I'm, I'm happy to to work with you to, to frame what we'd like to see through Uldc updates with the knowledge that I do have two people who are a little more focused on on a long range

planning item, which we enjoy that work. We really love it. We're very excited to to be. - Leading that effort. - So contract with the consultant runs through Q3 or Q2 of 2027. - It runs through. - Q3, Q3. So. - It's that whole column. Okay. Actually, I think that might even touch Q4 briefly. So the intent, do you do you see the project, the plan being presented for council approval in Q4 of 2027? I believe it's it's unless extended, it's contemplated for October of 27. Okay, okay. Well that's a solid amendment right away. - So remind me, are we doing a transportation master plan update this year? - There's also work on the transportation master plan. Yes. Yeah I believe there's scoping. Not certain if they have finalized, you know, going out for procurement or not. But I know that there's a lot of discussion around that plan. So I'll look to see if I can get you a better update on it. But I do know that that is something that the transportation team is, is really focused on. - This. We had budgeted an hour for this particular presentation, 40 minutes in appear to have reached a conclusion. So thank you so much for presenting this and for kind of taking a look over the next three years. And it's it's definitely a lot. Yeah. In addition to whatever

quasi-judicial cases happen to come through, any other updates? - No, I and I excuse me, I do have one. Just that the second meeting in February is canceled. That boards and commissions interviews. So we've been doing our best items around that. There's a strong chance of a of a pretty good size agenda though on the first meeting in March. So. So 23rd is canceled. Yes. Yep. 23rd is canceled. I can say that with yeah, be very definitive because we're past the posting date of anything anyway. So yep, that one was canceled. Second. Yeah. Thank you all. I understand that, you know, priorities, parking, the potential for landscaping and lighting standards to be integrated. And then bringing back transportation master plan status so I can give you a better update as to those efforts and where they're at. And then providing additional information on built slash pipeline under development, building items or residual units, and then just a few project status updates as well. So should. - I get in with Division of Local Affairs at the state on the obligations that are Senate Bill 24.74. - That was my first. - Okay. - Thank you. Yeah. All right. - Any other updates or announcements. All right. With that we'll conclude the study session at 7:12 p.m. Thank you,

everybody for coming. And there are still cookies. - Yes.