East Arapahoe open house set for Monday

BOULDER – The city of Boulder is hosting an open house for community members on Monday to gather input on possible scenarios related to the Envision East Arapahoe project.

The open house will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Nalanda Events Center, 6280 Arapahoe Road.

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Envision East Arapahoe is an initiative begun by the city council last year as a way to set a long-term plan for transforming the corridor into a place that is walkable, better connected to the rest of the community, and which has a variety of uses.

The idea was spurred largely by Boulder Community Health’s expansion of its Foothills campus, which it moved into earlier this month. But the area in discussion is broad. It’s defined as the areas along Arapahoe Avenue from Folsom Street on the west to 75^th Street on the east. It extends a quarter mile to the south of Arapahoe and a half-mile to the north along that stretch.

The process is expected to explore what changes to zoning and land uses might be considered to achieve the city’s desired goals.

The city has developed a list of future givens, such as the hospital, Naropa and Recycle Row as things that are expected to stay and expand in the area. The city also came up with three scenarios to try and project what the area might look like in the future under each.

The first is a status quo model if current trends continue. The second would support some new services and retail along Arapahoe Avenue and 55^th Street, as well as the allowance of new medical-related offices and a possible street connection from 48^th to Walnut streets. Some new housing could also be part of that idea. The third scenario incorporates more of a live-work aspect with a mix of housing types and the possible addition of a grocery store or other anchor retail.

City spokeswoman Ellen Kamilakis said there will be renderings of the various plans at the public meeting Monday. City council will hold a study session on the initiative on Tuesday.

The East Arapahoe visioning, Kamilakis said, is seen as more of a surgical process to alter certain specific parts of the corridor rather than a major scrape and redevelopment of major chunks of land.

“It’s certain pockets or parcels and immediate areas,” Kamilakis said. “It’s actually pretty complicated when you look at it.”

Kamilakis said that following the council study session, city staff will work over the next few months to draft a plan for the area that would then be adopted by city council sometime in the first half of next year.