Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

She did just get the one-minute call. Oh, okay.

All right. Okay. Oh, okay. Yeah. All right.

Yeah, we got half an hour. All right.

She'll go ahead and say...

Music hold ended.

All right. I call this meeting of Arapahoe County Planning Commission of June 16, 2026 to order. Can we get a roll call, please?

Chair Miller.

Present.

Chair Pro Tem Salve. Present. Commissioner Howe.

Present.

Commissioner Corrin. Present. Commissioner Lassner.

Present.

And Commissioner Saul.

Present.

And Commissioner Wolf.

Present.

We have a quorum.

Thank you very much. All right. Good evening, everybody. It's good to see we have a full board. Thanks. Tonight's planning commission is available in person or live through the call-in number. We also are streaming this meeting on our website at arapahoegov.com. Please note that the website broadcast is delayed by 20 to 30 seconds. If you're not in the meeting room and would like to speak regarding any public hearing item, please use the call-in number to participate live via the phone, 855-436-3656. All right, the first thing for us tonight is the approval of last week's minutes. Does anybody have any changes for last week's minutes? All right, then I will accept a motion to approve the minutes.

Chair Miller, this is Commissioner Save. I motion that we accept the minutes as is.

All right, we have a motion made by Commissioner Suave. Is there a second?

Commissioner Lattice seconds.

Thank you, Commissioner Lattice. Again, any discussion? All right, very good. All in favor of accepting the minutes as they are, say aye.

Aye.

Anybody opposed? All right, seeing none, we will move on. All right. Next on the agenda is our public meeting, our public hearing. The public is invited to participate in the public hearing this evening. Tonight we are scheduled just for the one public hearing. That's a lot of public hearings. And for this case, the staff will introduce and provide a staff presentation. After that, the Planning Commission will receive public testimony on this manner. I'd like to remind anybody that participation and comments and questions are to be directed to the Planning Commission and not the presenter or to the gallery. So the Planning Commission will now consider case number LR25-002. Will our county attorney please confirm that the Board has jurisdiction to proceed in this manner?

Good evening commissioners. Uh, the matter before you case MRR25-002, the, uh, Strasburg sub area comprehensive plan amendment. The record contains evidence consistent requirements of the comprehensive plan itself as specified in the land development code that public notice has been provided. Uh, the board has jurisdiction to proceed this evening.

Very good. Thank you. Staff presenter Gretchen, would you like to go ahead?

Good evening commissioners. I am Gretchen rice Hill, public works and development department, a long range planning section. Uh, Strasburg is in unincorporated is on an unincorporated community of roughly 4,700 people. It's located in both Arapahoe and Adams County. East Colfax is the dividing line. For this plan update, the planning area extends from 48th Avenue on the north, which is in Adams County, to south to East 6th Avenue, which is in Arapahoe County, and then from Yule Road on the west to North Pass-Me-By Road on the East, which is in Arapahoe County adjacent to the Schmidt subdivision. So we are here, uh, this evening to consider, uh, amending the, uh, 2018 Arapahoe comprehensive plan to adopt by reference, uh, the Strasburg 2050 Strasburg sub area plan. So this updated plan provides the visions, goals, strategies for Strasburg over the next 25 years. So it will be used by staff, elected and appointed officials, property owners, investors, private developers for guiding public and private development decisions and investment decisions. The key feature of this plan is an implementation matrix that summarizes the plan's policies and its strategies. And then it also assigns responsibilities for achieving those strategies and policies. And then it also comes with a generalized timeline. This helps to ensure that the plan is a living and actionable document over its lifetime. The first Strasburg plan was approved in 2002. It contains seven strategies and a series of goals and policies that were intended to guide the community as growth for 20 years. The plan estimated that by 2020, uh, Strasburg population would be about 10,000 people. And obviously that level of growth has not occurred in 2024. The, uh, Adams County staff approached Arapahoe staff, uh, with a project update, the Strasburg plan and Adams County would lead that effort. Adams County began by forming a steering committee made up of local residents and businesses. A technical advisory committee was also formed, and both of those groups helped guide the overall planning effort. But community involvement and the community's input in the project was considered a key to this plan, this plan's creation. The key objectives of this planning effort were to create a community-based vision for Strasburg over the next 25 years. Also to build upon the community's existing assets and to identify opportunities. Also to provide feasible growth projections to 2050, and I'll say that, say, a couple things about that here. Using two different data sources, it was determined or estimated that the population in 2050 would be between roughly 6,800 and 7,700 people. That would equate to between 2,500 and about 2,800 households in both Adams and Arapahoe County, so within that planning area. Other goals were to review and to revise the future land use map. This is a key component of this plan. And then also to provide a series of realistic goals, policies, and actions that reflect the community's vision. And finally, again, to create that implementation matrix, which was something that was missing from the 2002 plan. As I said, community outreach, public outreach was key to creating this plan. Adams County started, well, we, staff, started with some background research about Strasburg. And we also looked into the 2002 plans, its goals and policies to see what was achieved and what wasn't, and then what would be carried over into this current, the current 2050 plan. Next effort was again going out into the community to gather opinions about a wide range of topics. Adams County started with two surveys. The first one was a community wide survey. Um, and it was actually a survey that was on the Adams County website. Folks were notified about the surveys availability by postcards that went out to everyone in the, um, eight zero one three six zip code. which is Strasburg. Another survey was the business, a business owner survey, and through both of these surveys, again, that started the discussions about the planning effort and gathering the folks' opinions at an early date. Those surveys were conducted in the, fall and winter of 2024 then adams county hosted outreach in-person events as well open houses were held at tvk bank in strasburg on november 20 and december 2 2024 and there was another one held august 19 2025 and that one The specific goal there was to get folks' opinion about proposed improvements to Colfax Avenue, which is the CDOT right of way. Adams County, as I indicated, created a project website. Arapahoe County also had a project website. But we drove most of our folks to the Adams County website for the more detailed information. Adams had 223 subscribers to their website, so folks received regular project updates and invitations to all the outreach events if they signed up. And then through social media, obviously, people were notified through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter about all the outreach events, in addition to encouraging people to get involved in the project. I mentioned the steering committee previously. It was made up of 12 folks from the community. And those people had specifically were representing diverse backgrounds and ages. So this outreach formed the basis of the community's vision, its guiding principles, and the plan's goals and policies. The vision statement is on your screen, and although it Might be considered a little a little lengthy. It does capture the essence of what this plan is all about and this vision statement was Drafted by the steering the community steering committee, but it was also validated by folks attending the open house events then the plan has seven overarching guiding principles and those are to enhance the community small-town character and to promote a safe community, to steward development intentionally, to support and promote local businesses, and then to maintain and improve roads and to develop mobility options. Foster a strong sense of community and honor the community's shared heritage. And then lastly, actively involve residents in decision making to ensure that all voices are heard. Excuse me. So how is this plan different from the 2002 plan? Well, its foundation, as I have indicated, was based on extensive community involvement. The background data, especially the demographic growth projections, are realistic and based on the analysis from two different reliable data sources. And the plan is organized into five sections. We have land use and housing, the East Colfax Avenue design, transportation and mobility. There's a section on economic development. And lastly, a section on cultural and historical resources. There are also expanded goals, policies, and strategies. And the biggest difference, again, is the inclusion of that implementation matrix. So the Future Land Use Map, as I indicated, is a key component of this plan. It guides the community's future growth, and it helps folks make public and private investment decisions. The map was revised and updated through input from the steering committee, the community steering committee, as well as comments from the general public. We're going to focus in on the Arapahoe County section of the future land use map. The changes from 2002 include adding those properties east of Headlight Road We're taking in the Schmidt subdivision and also some properties along Highway 36. We revised the land use definitions. We added new categories and definitions, first for railroad and the second for recreation commercial, which we have applied to the Comanche Crossing museum, the KOA campground, and also a unique property, which is in that red circle there, which is along Highway 36 that has a model railroad track and associated railroad structures. We also changed much of the downtown area, the land use classification from commercial to mixed use. This allows more flexibility and it actually better reflects the current mix of land uses in that original town site area. Okay, the draft plan. was posted on the Adams County website, and again, links were provided from the Arapahoe County project webpage. The draft plan was available for public comment from late August through September 29, 2025, and all comments were considered by staff. In Arapahoe County, one comment actually resulted in modifying the future land use map. During the public comment period, staff was available for in-person drop-in sessions with folks that wanted to talk with a planner, and so the event was tagged as Coffee with Planner. We held these at two local coffee shops in Strasburg, and I think About eight to 10 folks dropped in for those. Um, the plan in preparation for this meeting, uh, this hearing, the plan was sent to 23, uh, referral agencies and we received three comments and one, no comment. And I'll, I'll get into that in a minute. Then by state statute, we are required to send the plan to the Department of Local Affairs for their review and comments should they choose to do so, and we did that on May 5th. And then obviously, as our attorney indicated, the proper noticing was completed for this hearing. So the comments from the reviewing agencies. We received one comment from Arapahoe County Public Health and they in particular noted the estimated population growth over the life of the plan. So the agency recommended evaluating Strasburg's water and wastewater system capacity and also its performance as part of implementing the plan's goals. And we agree that water availability is key to any growth. The economic development section of the plan actually does contain a strategy or, yeah, a key strategy that identifies infrastructure investment as key to, as key over the life of the plan. That was that was included in the plan the We also note that the Strasburg water and sanitation district when we have development specific or development proposals for specific sites Strasburg water and sanitation district is afforded always afforded the the opportunity to comment to provide their comments about that specific development plan when the project is within their district. So that's just part of normal operating procedures. Colorado Parks and Wildlife also commented on some of their, they provided some concerns about the plan. Their specific concern was about proposed trail development and its potential impacts on wildlife. Page six of the plan contained a map from the Strasburg Parks and Rec District that was created in 2014. And it showed generalized locations of trail development, and they included trails in and through the Comanche Creek and Wolf Creek corridors. So parks and wildlife flagged that as a concern. Um, staff from Arapahoe County and Adams County, um, before this hearing and before the plan was finalized, met with CPW and actually it resulted in, um, additional language in the plan that addressed these concerns. So, um, and like, uh, Strasburg water and sanitation district, um, CPW is afforded the opportunity to comment on development proposals as they occur in and around Strasburg, because a lot of their concerns were more related to construction things like site lighting, weed mitigation, fencing of that nature, which are more site-specific issues. And lastly, excuse me, we heard from the Colorado Department of Transportation that really reminded us that any development within the CDOT right-of-way need to seek their review and comment, which we always do, yes. But it's always good to be reminded. All right, so in summary, staff finds that the Strasburg 2050 Strasburg Sub-Area Plan reflects the aspirations of the Strasburg community. The plan was prepared with extensive involvement of residents, businesses, property owners, and stakeholders. The Arapahoe County Planning Commission, you all reviewed a draft of the plan at a study session on December 2nd, 2025. The plan does set forth a vision, goals, policies, and strategies that closely align with the 2018 Arapahoe County Comprehensive Plan. And the Planning Commission, you all have the authority to amend the Comprehensive Plan and adopt by reference Strasburg 2050 as an element of the comprehensive plan. So therefore, and in conclusion, staff recommends approval of case LR 25002, a comprehensive plan amendment to adopt by reference Strasburg 2050, Strasburg sub-area plan as an element of the 2018 Arapahoe County comprehensive plan based on the findings and analysis in the staff report. And with that, I'll take questions that you have.

Anybody got questions for staff? Please go ahead.

This is Commissioner Save. Gretchen, I think I asked this question when we had our study session. Okay. But I forgot the answer. Sure. What were the key factors that led to the lower than expected 10,000 population? Yes. And actually, I

did not answer that question, but Loretta did. But I think, if I get this correct, that was an estimate from Dr. Cogg, who at the time, and forgive me, Loretta, was it 22,000 that they made that estimate?

Yes, 2020.

Yeah. they expected the growth in the metro area to occur along the I-70 corridor. But as we know, instead, that growth occurred along the I-25 corridor. So that was primarily the reason for that discrepancy. Okay, thanks. Yeah.

I'm curious along those same lines if there are any contingency plans, if there's any sort of, like, gross underestimates or if the growth exceeds the estimates.

Yes, yes, thank you. That's a good point. This plan... As I indicated, it is intended to be a living document. So if a situation like that occurs, we certainly can amend the plan at any step within that 25-year span because 25 years is a long time to project any type of growth. So, yes, we do have the ability to amend it at any point. Great.

Thank you.

Yep.

MS. This is Commissioner Latz. I have a more probably in the weeds question, Gretchen. MS. Sure. MS. So I'm looking at the future land use map, and it looks like the majority of the housing is classified as the estate residential. Is that correct? MS. Yes, that is correct. MS. And so when I cross-referenced that, that looks like residential low, one view per acre? MS. Right. Does that correspond to, it looks like these are platted existing properties or existing subdivisions. Do they meet that criteria or are we overlaying that criteria on something that's developed to a different standard?

They meet. Now, caveat is I'm not look lot by lot, but those subdivisions that you are correct, they are platted already. And it does represent existing land uses. So they do meet that criteria.

Okay. So these are already one deal per acre? Correct. Okay. Great. Thank you.

I have one more question. Sorry. Again, this one's kind of in the details. I was not at the study session because I wasn't on the board yet. But on page six, you outlined the recreation map. from 2014, and I'm just curious what open space trails and urban trails, what those mean.

That's an excellent question, and you know what? I can't with any authority answer it. I can just guess at what it means. The urban trail, my guess would be could be paved. The other probably would be a crusher. More natural surface. Okay. But that's just a guess.

Yeah. No, that's okay. I'm just curious. Thank you.

All right.

So based off of page 10 here that you have, really Arapahoe County is everything below the black line, correct? I mean, so we're talking about the whole area. We really are just talking about half of Main Street and below. And the growth that they're predicting is just based in this map area. Is that correct?

Let me zoom in here. So that big black line across there is actually the railroad right-of-way.

Is that the railroad? Yeah. Oh, that's right, yeah. Oh, thank you. You're right. So Arapahoe, yeah, so Colfax is the next line up.

There you go, yes.

There you go. I was looking at it differently.

So everything south of that is Arapahoe County, yes.

Okay. So any growth within the sub-area plan is just really going to be where we see kind of the green?

Green right now, yep. For Arapahoe County. And those are agricultural properties, yep, right now. Well, there's some that are vacant, for sure, in the purple. But, yeah. I can step up and point you. Sure. So these are mostly, those are vacant. This is also vacant. Yeah, these are all vacant.

We did rezoning on that one to the far left, didn't we, at one point? Wasn't that supposed to be like a mixed-use, age-restricted property at some point? That was like a long time ago. That would actually look like a really good project that just never got the legs.

Yeah, that one, I believe, is there.

Is it right in there?

Was it in the trailer home park?

Yeah, that one's not. No, it was supposed to be like an assisted living, retail. It was supposed to look really nice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just a blank fill. Yep, I'm sorry. Did we hit that? I was like watching for it.

No, I haven't got a minute.

I was just getting ready to, was there any other questions?

Well, I did have a question, but I don't want to run over my minute. Okay, we'll just hold on.

Take your time.

So I guess, so looking at it, as far as growth areas, you know, and I'm thinking residential growth particularly, do all the areas that are marked residential already exist as subdivisions? Yes. So then if there was to be... And we're talking about, what, maybe 30% growth in the next 20 years if the numbers hold? And that's not for the entirety of Strasburg? That's for the Arapahoe County section?

No, that's the entire Adams and Arapahoe, yeah. Okay.

So my curiosity would be if we're looking at adding residential units, you know, because this is future planning, right? So where would future residential go? if these were already plotted and established residential areas?

MS. Well, so they could go in the green areas, which are the properties that are actually on this land use map there. They are classified as agriculture, either large or small, more than 35 or less than 19 or less. And there would be a process to, one would have to go through in order to have that property reclassified for residential use. So it would be a comprehensive plan. An amendment. Amendment, yep. And then also I happen to know that the underlying zoning is also agriculture. So they'd have to go through a rezone and then a platting process.

Okay.

Yep.

Can we just take a break for just a few minutes? We're just going to pause. We're not going to recess or anything. We're just going to pause for a little bit.

Thank you.

We can go ahead and take a recess for up to five minutes. Does that sound good? Thanks. All right, I call the meeting back to order for session. There we go. All right, so I guess the only thing I ask, would you just jump to Map 10 again?

Can I? Oh, yeah, I'm sorry.

Go ahead.

Commissioner Latsis' question. So also, in addition to the agricultural, the green areas on the map, Residential is allowed in the purple areas, which are mixed use. So depending upon... So they would be allowed there, and then obviously the underlying zoning would also affect whether or not residential could be used on those properties.

Okay, so follow-up question, Commissioner Watson. So then is it fair to say... As far as, because this is forward looking, right? It's a 20 year plan that in the Arapahoe County portion of this sub area plan, what we are encouraging for growth is actually in the mixed use area because we would require a comp plan or a sub area plan amendment to have any additional housing outside of the mixed use. So we're kind of discouraging that and probably looking to growth then maybe more on the Adams County side.

I think that's a good summary. And then certainly, obviously, maintaining the growth within the overall planning area and not encourage growth outside of this planning area. Okay. Great. Thank you. Okay. All right.

So Commissioner Miller. So, yeah, if you just back up to page 10 real quick, I think that answers all the questions too. So most of the growth is going to be in that north area where it's kind of already been. Adams County has already kind of made space for new neighborhoods.

Future growth up in that area. Yeah. Yes.

All right. Why do you suppose we've not had a whole lot of growth south of Has there been really much discussion on why growth to the south has not really occurred?

Okay. Jason Reynolds with Planning. I can answer for one specific property. You may recall the Comanche Crossing development that's located at the south side of I-70 right at the interchange. the major impediment to growth and that site was previously zoned for a mixture of commercial and office and perhaps medical office through a PUD process and a few years ago they rezoned it to allow that more estate residential which allows well and septic. water was the main impediment. The cost of getting water across I-70 from, you know, Strasburg Water District really just serves the north side of I-70 and nothing to the south.

So that was the reason on that specific project. I agree. I agree. So that's what I say. So we're probably, if we're going to see anything, it'll be in that little purple strip area because getting across the highway gets a little difficult.

Yep.

All right. That's all I have. Anybody else got anything?

All right.

So this is where we go into public comment. I don't think we've got anybody in the room here. So Ms. Ava, do you have anybody on the line? Mr.

Chair, we have no callers on the line.

Any other follow-up questions? All right. Then at this time, I will accept a motion on this case.

Chair Miller, this is Commissioner Latsis. I'd like to make a motion.

Go ahead.

In the case of LR25-002, Arapahoe County 2018 Comprehensive Plan Amendment to Adopt by Reference Strasburg 2050, Strasburg Sub-Area Plan. I have reviewed the staff report including all exhibits and attachments and have listened to the staff's presentation and any public comment as presented at the hearing and hereby move to adopt this comprehensive plan amendment based on the findings in the staff report and submit the Strasburg sub area plan to the Arapahoe County Board of County Commissioners for approval.

A motion was made by Commissioner Lattice. Is there a second?

Chair Miller, this is Commissioner Howe. I second the motion.

Thank you very much. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Howe. Is there any further discussion? As a person living out there in that area, this is actually a really good plan. I did read through all of it. I mean, I would love to see all this growth in this kind of controlled atmosphere. There's like photos of like Longmont's Main Street that's in here that I just thought was like, that would be so wonderful to be able to see some people doing that, which requires growth, which means we're going to have to approve for some homes, or Adams County is, And we know what that growth looks like because it looks like Watkins and it looks like Bennett. And those are also areas that are just north of the highway and a lot of Adams County. But anyway, I think it looks really good. I think it was very well put together, and I'm looking forward to it. So there we go. All right. Anything else? All right. If there's no further questions, Ms. Ava, can you call a roll?

Commissioner Howe. Commissioner Corrin. Aye. Commissioner Lampus.

Aye.

Commissioner Saul.

Aye.

Commissioner Wolf.

Aye.

Chair Pro Tem Salve.

Aye.

And Chair Miller. Aye. And the motion passes on a vote of seven to zero.

Very good. Thank you. We've got announcements from staff.

Yes, we do. July 7th, we have the Ramona pipe, Ramora, sorry, keep pronouncing it properly, pipeline connections and wireless communication facility dam code amendments. And then on August 4th, we're going to have the group home and daycare land development code amendment. Okay. And that's all we have.

Okay. So we don't have anything for the second half of July? If anybody wants a study session, that would be a good time. So if there's something you want to learn about, staff would be happy, I'm sure, to teach us something. So anything like traffic or any of that stuff that comes to mind, it would be a good chance to have a study session. All right, any comments from the board for staff? All right, very good then.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you. We are adjourned.

The Access Live event has ended. Thank you for calling. Goodbye.