By Brendan Henry
The Surveyor

Berthoud’s Planning Commission convened an emotional meeting on April 11 to hold two public hearings, one to consider a request for a change of zone for Heron Lakes Filing 17 located west of Berthoud Parkway and south of County Road (CR)14, and another to consider a resolution approving the Revere Neighborhood Master Plan and an ordinance amending the zoning map of the Town of Berthoud to rezone the Revere property currently zoned Planned Unit Development (PUD) to Suburban Residential (SR) and Suburban Commercial (SC). Both items have gone through the pre-application and application submittal phases.

Town Planner Lauren Richardson introduced the first item, Heron Lakes Filing 17. The applicant, Jim Birdsall, has requested to adjust the zoning lines to reflect the final design of Filing 17. The purpose for the adjustment of zoning lines is to ensure all residential areas fit within the residential zone area and that the golf course fits within the agricultural zone.

The commission unanimously approved the change of zone request as the criteria for approval outlined in the staff report and the draft resolution have been satisfied.

Following the approval of the zone change, the commission moved on to discuss the Revere property. Tawn Hillenbrand, the town’s senior planner, provided an overview of the Revere Neighborhood Master Plan and the potential rezone, which is located on the northwest corner of Highway 287 and CR 8, with a total size of 38.3 acres. The applicant is Babcock Land Corp.

In 2006, the town zoned the property as a PUD, but since then, the PUD process has been phased out and is no longer a preferred zoned district. The current project consists of two rounds of referral agency review with three total submittals, and neighborhood notification to adjacent property owners. Town staff has found that Revere has met all of the Neighborhood Master Plan criteria.

Staff has now recommended that the applicant rezones to a SC along the lower quarter of the property, and SR along the rest of the property. Staff also recommended that the Planning Commission make a motion to recommend approval of the Revere Neighborhood Master Plan to the board of trustees under the conditions that the applicant address all comments received by the Little Thompson Water District about an existing service line and meter pit near the location of the proposed roundabout and pertaining to an existing three-inch waterline near the CR 8 and Highway 287 intersection at the preliminary plat phase and that the applicant shall submit an annexation request for the remaining portions of the CR 8 and CR 19 intersection as well as the segment of CR 8, east of CR 19 at the preliminary plat phase.

The planning commission opened up the meeting for public comment, and Ruth Rollins, the owner of Rollins Consult LLC and the consultant who performed the traffic impact study on the area spoke of the process and findings of the intersection of CR 8 and Highway 287. Her comment that the proposed project will not negatively impact the intersection of Mountain Avenue and Highway 287 was met with laughs from the large audience in attendance, to which Karen Anderson, the chair of the commission, had to ask for the audience to remain quiet. Anderson asked if the findings met the town’s standards, to which Rollins affirmed that they did.

Rollins also spoke of a future dual northbound left turn from Highway 287 to Mountain Avenue. Hillenbrand insisted that the “nitty-gritty” details for the roundabout and traffic impact will be sorted out during the preliminary plat stage.

The developer will be required to submit an 80% complete construction plan during this stage.

One resident who has a property near the development took to the lectern to voice their concern on the high density that Revere would bring into the area. The resident believes that everything west of Highway 287 is to have a rural feel and a discrepancy lies in that area getting rezoned to SR. The lack of buffer, the resident says, is inconsistent with the rest of the town.

Another resident is concerned that the traffic study is flawed with the current traffic situation at the intersection and the proposal for a roundabout. The next speaker had similar concerns, believing that another development in the area would increase the likelihood of traffic incidents.

The resounding sentiment from speakers was that the intersection is already dangerous without an additional suburban development in the area and that a rural residential area would reduce density and keep up with Berthoud’s traditional rural feel. Multiple speakers specifically asked the commission to deny the recommendation to the town board.
Jeff Mark, the applicant and contact for Babcock Land Corp, said that people running red lights is ultimately unpreventable and that Babcock is checking every box required by the town. He urges residents to trust their town staff but also says that he understands the concerns people have expressed.

During the commission’s deliberation, Anderson urged her fellow commissioners to refrain from using personal preferences when deciding on how to vote, going through each of the five criteria detailed in the Neighborhood Master Plan. During this time, a resident in the audience spoke out against item four of the master plan, this item being “The proposed rezoning is necessary to provide land for a community-related use that was not anticipated at the time of the adoption of the Town Comprehensive Plan, and the rezoning will be consistent with the policies and goals of the Comprehensive Plan…”

“The fact that we’re all here, number four disqualifies that –” the resident said before Anderson interjected.
“Please sir, we’ve already had a public hearing,” Anderson said. “I will have to ask you to leave if you continue.” The resident continued, questioning if the commissioners were elected and how they gained their positions, and accused the Planning Commission of taking a “cop-out.”

This led to momentary unrest from the audience, with many chiming in simultaneously in protest of the development.

The commission was able to return to deliberation after the residents settled down.

The commission had two conditions built into their recommended actions in their information packet, those being “The applicant shall address all comments received by Little Thompson Water District pertaining to an existing service line and meter pit near the location of the proposed roundabout and pertaining to an existing 3-inch AC waterline near the CR 8 and Hwy 287 intersection at the Preliminary Plat Phase,” and “The applicant shall submit an annexation request for the remaining portions of the CR 8 and CR 19 intersection as well as the segment of CR 8, east of CR 19, at the Preliminary Plat phase,” and during deliberation, they added six more.

These conditions are that the applicant shall collaborate with the neighborhood to the north regarding the buffer area and the outcome of these buffer discussions shall be included in the preliminary plat. The second is that the applicant shall update the traffic impact study with the submittal of the preliminary plat. Third, the applicant shall have at least one neighborhood meeting to address the concerns of the residents or adjacent property owners of the neighborhood, and documentation of the meeting shall be included with the preliminary plat application. Condition four, the applicant shall provide a traffic memo summarizing the submitted traffic impact study to the town board of trustees in their packet for the Neighborhood Master Plan and changes. Five, the applicant shall evaluate the safety, placement, engineering and design of their proposed roundabout, and six, the preliminary plat shall include a detailed analysis of alternative access points to the proposed development, traffic control and internal parking.