This coming Tuesday 3/17/15 at 6:00 PM at the Bergen fire station, Jefferson County is hosting a working session for the Downtown Evergreen Activity Center as a part of their rewrite of the Evergreen Area Master Plan. They update the master plan roughly every 10 years and it is informed directly by this public process.

This is a rare and critical opportunity to have our voices heard and we should try to encourage as many people as possible who have a vested interest in downtown to attend and participate in this important public process. I have attended other activity center working sessions and they are well attended, but not necessarily representative of the full spectrum of needs in our comnunity.  We need to make sure we have representation so we can make our interests known.

Issues that we specifically have to face in downtown is CDOT right-of-way issues, problematic building setbacks, and an overall zoning that is inconsistent with the size and shape of parcels that we have downtown (which have existed long before the Jefferson County planning and zoning department existed). Encouraging better vehicular and pedestrian access (sidewalks) and parking are obviously significant objectives. This process does not create a plan to construct anything per se but it does create a guideline that heavily influences all future development applications in the area.

It would be great if we could have as many folks from downtown attend as possible. Please help spread this information to the downtown community so they can attend and participate.

The workshop is well organized and you don’t need to be an expert, or even vaguely knowledgeable in planning or development to participate. Jeffco has outlined the objectives for these workshops such that the average citizen can provide meaningful input to the Master Plan.

Thanks!!

https://downtownevergreen.wordpress.com/2015/03/14/work-session-for-mountain-area-master-plan-update-31715-at-600-at-bergen-fire-station/