No vote on Redtail Ridge after contentious public hearing

LOUISVILLE — After four hours of presentations and public comment, the Louisville City Council opted to wait two weeks before voting on a pair of measures that would move forward the Redtail Ridge development.

Redtail Ridge, which has become controversial in recent weeks after opposition from the Louisville Planning Commission, seeks to activate the long-vacant, roughly 400-acre Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) property adjacent to U.S. Highway 36.

Denver-based Brue Baukol Capital Partners, Redtail Ridge’s developer, put forth a comprehensive plan and general development plan amendment request that includes up to 5,886,000 gross square feet of building area and 2,236 multifamily residential units on the nearly 400-acre site that formerly housed the Storage Technology Corp. headquarters.

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Should the project move forward, medical-device maker Medtronic Inc. is expected to be the development’s first major office user. 

The company is planning a $133 million, 500,000-square-foot corporate campus on 90 to 100 acres. The new facility would create 500 to 1,000 new jobs in addition to the existing 500 employees already working in Louisville.

Medtronic would provide “an economic anchor so Louisville can remain a great sustainable community into the future,” Brue Baukol co-founder Geoff Baukol said.

Criticism from residents mostly centered around the same few topics raised frequently during the planning commission hearings: density, traffic, environmental protections, loss of sight lines to the mountains and strain on public services.

“It’s too big and will be a serious blow to the unique small-town character in this town that we treasure,” Louisville resident Matt Jones said. 

Baukol addressed the project’s detractors directly.

“The people who are against the development are saying no to all of these things,” he said in reference to the new public parks, new tax revenues, economic development and senior housing that the developer is promising to bring to Louisville.

“Is it reasonable to turn down what could be a huge economic boost for Louisville?” Baukol asked.

Baukol’s comments didn’t sit well with some of the public speakers.

Brian Topping said his remarks “reinforce that [Brue Baukol] is wrong for Louisville.

Of Baukol, Kate Hope said, “You’re a salesman through and through, and I don’t buy it.”

While the vast majority did, not all of the comments — both those issued during Tuesday’s hearing and those submitted in writing — opposed the project.

Stephen Armstrong, a Medtronic employee, said, “The proposed site for Redtail Ridge is not public open space; it’s fenced private land next to a highway.” 

Currently, the P66 land is nonproductive space that is “providing no value to the community,” he said.

In a letter to the council, Michael Schaller wrote, “It would create jobs in the area, provide an elderly care center that the Front Range desperately needs, improve safety of Monarch schools via better road access, provide increased tax revenue to Louisville and specifically the schools and fire/police departments. And all of this comes from development on the edge of town such that the downtown and historic charm of Louisville is maintained.”

Tuesday’s meeting marked the first time that Phillips 66 has chimed in publicly about the Redtail Ridge plan.

Phillips 66 real estate services manager Greg Cardwell said the firm has had multiple suitors over the past few years, but most of those interested parties proposed mostly residential projects.

“We knew that was not the type of development that Louisville wanted to see,” so conversations with those potential developers didn’t progress, he said.

“We believe our patience has paid off,” Cardwell said. Redtail Ridge “has the right balance of benefit for the community and economic feasibility for the developer.”

Stakeholders in the project repeatedly warned that failure to support Redtail Ridge could result in Medtronic abandoning its plans to expand operations in Louisville.

“After an extensive search of locations … we selected Louisville to meet our needs,” Medtronic global facilities vice president James Driessen said. “It remains a good location, but it’s not the only location.”

He added: “Medtronic can’t wait indefinitely for Redtail Ridge to be approved.”

Public comment will continue during the Louisville City Council’s Aug. 18 meeting and will be followed by a council vote on the site plan and comprehensive plan amendment.