New development authority board drafts plan for downtown Golden
“The Golden Urban Renewal Authority will soon cede its involvement with the city’s downtown area to the Downtown Development Authority.
City Council will review the development plan at an Oct. 23 public hearing. The plan is a guiding document and the draft says it has built on previous documents, such as Golden Vision 2030 and the 2011 citywide comprehensive plan.
Golden’s planning commission reviewed the draft and recommended it for approval by City Council with some minor changes.
However, at the commission’s Oct. 2 meeting, development authority board chairman Ed Dorsey disagreed with the commission’s request to strengthen language regarding sustainability, affordable housing and building design.
Dorsey told commissioners at the meeting that he did not agree with their request to change existing language — which simply encourages these concepts — to language that asks for actual feasibility studies along these lines.
“I think when you put things in a plan that are very specific, you lose some of that negotiating power,” Dorsey said. “Or if you push the developer to do a certain thing, they’re going to look for more incentive.””
Klemaier, Josie. Denver Post 9 October 2014.