By Myles Tangalin, Congress Park Board volunteer

Why the East Central Neighborhood Plan Matters to Congress Park

If you are interested in more information about proposals for Transit Priority streets, decreased on-street parking, high-density construction, Bus Rapid Transit and other potential changes and their impact in Congress Park, make sure you look at the East Central Neighborhood Plan (denvergov.org> East Central Area Plan) and attend some meetings to let your voice be heard. Blueprint Denver 2019, which was adopted by city council earlier this year, creates and describes the framework of the Neighborhood Planning Initiative (NPI). Congress Park is one of six somewhat similar neighborhoods that make up the East Central Neighborhood Plan (ECNP) with the goal to create a ‘Small Area Plan’ that will modify and refine the overall Blueprint Denver Plan. Our ECNP plan should allow us to make recommendations based on neighborhood context, knowledge, vision and seems likely to have far reaching implications over the next 15-20 years.

“Transformative Streets” One good example to review is the proposed ‘Transformative Streets.’ This exhibit can be found by searching ‘East Central Area Plan’ after opening the denvergov.org link. Under Mobility, select ‘Map-based Recommendations: Transformative Streets,’ which will open a map and proposed street descriptions. You can click on the map to download an enlarged PDF. The Transformative Streets PDF exhibit shows all east-west arterials within Congress Park, from 6th Ave to Colfax, as pink lines that are described in the top left legend as Transformative Streets. If you look closely a bus icon representing Transit Priority (TP) is shown on 6th Ave, 7th Ave, 8th Ave, 12th Ave, Colfax Ave, York St, Josephine St and Colorado Blvd. This is a category of street that is designed to prioritize transit over vehicle lanes or on-street parking and would allow transit-only lanes to improve reliability and transit speed.

A high comfort bikeway is proposed for York and Josephine and a protected bike lane on 7th Ave and 14th Ave. The high-density corridors of York, Josephine and 14th Ave, could have on-street parking removed for bicycle lanes and/ or vehicle lanes removed for transit only lanes. There are pros and cons to these changes, but does this simplified graphic really explain what is being proposed or the impacts? This is further complicated by the proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on Colfax. The centerrunning BRT will create a long barrier to northsouth traffic with very limited crossing or left turn opportunities, and 14th Ave is expected to have increased traffic due to traffic lane removals on Colfax. How will this impact traffic flow? The ECNP is also recommending more businesses, restaurants and high-density construction along Colfax. Again, we have pros and cons, but has our NPI process clearly described what is being proposed? These proposed transit priority streets surround and cut through our neighborhood. How might these changes impact you? If we compare the new plan to the earlier approved Blueprint Denver plan there is quite a difference. The Transit Priority 4.8 exhibit recommends TP on 6th, 8th, Colfax , York, Josephine and Colorado. Our new plan adds an additional two arterials, which makes five out of seven of our east-west arterials into transit focus streets with associated tradeoffs.

Some of these tradeoffs may be acceptable to neighbors, but does the pink line accurately portray or educate us on these matters? Have we benefited from adequate neighborhood engagement? This also applies to the other sections of the Plan, such as, Economy & Housing, Land Use & Urban Design, Quality of Life and the other portions of Mobility. The two workshops that were held have barely scratched the surface of the plan and presentations generalized topics across six very different neighborhoods. This plan is scheduled to be approved by the end of this year. Members of the ECNP Steering Committee, myself included and the Congress Park Board, do not feel enough time has been dedicated to our individual neighborhoods to understand, review and refine our recommendations on this plan. We will be requesting additional time to review the different sections of the plan. This plan is about our vision of the future— we look forward to hearing your thoughts. Contact any Board member at CPNboard@congressparkneighbors. org, come to the next neighborhood meeting in August or October, sign up for email alerts about issues and check the website for information about NPI meetings.