Did you know the “Original Aurora” area is currently going through a zoning update? It is and I’ve been asked to help find people in the community and surrounding neighborhoods (that’s you Stapleton reader!) that are willing to come to a few community workshops to help shape this new zoning, and ultimately help shape how the Aurora community will evolve.
What is “Original Aurora”? Original Aurora in this case means roughly Yosemite St to Peoria St and 25th Ave down to 11th Ave. In Stapleton language, it’s the Stanley area over to the hospitals and down a little south of Colfax.
Want to have an imprint on this community through influencing the rezoning? The first community workshop is Thursday June 15th from 6-8PM at the Martin Luther King Library at 9898 E Colfax Ave Aurora, CO 80010 and all are invited (no zoning experience required!). I’ve committed to finding a minimum of 5 peopled to join me there so if you can attend please email me at [email protected]. Here are more details on this meeting and the zoning update process.
Big changes in the area in the recent past (think Fitzsimons medical campus, Stanley Marketplace, light rail station, Moorhead Rec Center, 322 new Aurora homes in Stapleton, potential new schools, etc) have made this an area of high priority for the City of Aurora. The rezoning of this area will just allow for quicker redevelopment of the area.
The apparent goals of this rezoning are:
- To promote neighborhood stability, safety and investment through improved zoning.
- To simplify the zoning so the community can move from what it is now to what it could be based on previous visioning projects the City did in the past few years. (For example, the “Westerly Creek Village Plan” from 2013)
- To add mixed use zoning to the area which should facilitate new development and improvement of existing businesses both from developers and small business owners.
- To codify design standards to provide a more consistent overall feel with high quality architecture and design standards that allow flexibility.
Who might be a good fit to come help us on the zoning update?
- A concerned homeowner or tenant that lives in the area.
- Someone buying a home in Stapleton’s Bluff Lake Aurora area which abuts Original Aurora.
- Developers or investors that see potential in this up and coming area.
- Someone who owns a home in Original Aurora that may want to add an “Accessory Dwelling Unit” on their home. (meaning a small second house on the back of their huge lot)
- Someone concerned about all this new development pricing them out of the area.
- A small business owner in the area (or someone who may want to start a business in the area!)
Why am I personally interested in the Original Aurora area?
I’d like to say it is altruism but I initially became interested in this Original Aurora area about 5 years ago because I saw it as a great area for real estate investment. It was crunched between Stapleton, Lowry and the Fitzsimons medical campus. It seemed to have no where to go but up in value so a business partner and I purchased some single family homes as rentals. Then Stanley Marketplace came along and has brought tremendous momentum to the area. Add in the new light rail station, the new $13M Moorhead Rec Center, a 25 acre park on 25th Ave, potential new schools in the area and the City’s willingness to spur new development in and it’s really an exciting pocket of potential! A friend and I then opened Progress Coworking, a small coworking office, a block away from Stanley. That took me from being a passive landlord investor in the area to a more active day to day community member and I’ve really enjoyed seeing what’s happening in the area. I think the area has huge potential and I want to see it succeed which is why I’m involved in the process.
We need your help though! By having as many voices as possible in the zoning update process we’ll get the best outcome. Don’t be intimidated by the process, the group is not made up of zoning experts, just people who care and want to see the community do well. I hope you can join us in this process and be part of helping the area continue to improve. If you have any questions about the meeting on June 15th or the process please let me know.
