The Parker Town Council will consider the adoption of an urban renewal plan for the Parker Road area on Oct. 15, 2012 at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 20120 E. Mainstreet. The Parker Road Urban Renewal Plan area can generally be defined by Plaza Drive on the south, Lincoln Avenue on the north, Parkglenn Way on the east and Twenty Mile Road on the west.
Urban renewal is a tool authorized by State statute that will allow the Town and the Parker Authority for Reinvestment (PAR), the Town’s urban renewal authority, to enact positive change by facilitating the redevelopment and revitalization of the aging Parker Road corridor. The approval of an urban renewal plan will allow the PAR to fund public private partnerships and public infrastructure, as well as marketing and business development efforts in the area. The goal of urban renewal and these initiatives is to eliminate and reduce blight and the spread of blight.
This main corridor was the center of commerce in the Parker area starting in the 1970s. As Parker residents continue to be attracted to shop at newer locations with updated architecture and landscaping, these older areas have become less competitive. Parker Road today continues to have the highest traffic in the Town and is a thoroughfare from Denver to areas south of Town. Thousands of visitors each day use this transportation corridor and the quality of the development in this area can reflect heavily on their perception of our Town.
Some properties in the area lack public infrastructure, have deteriorated infrastructure, insufficient lot sizes or aging buildings. Redevelopment and development of these properties are both more complicated and more expensive than new development on vacant lands. Urban renewal, which is funded through Tax Increment Financing (TIF), provides tools for property owners to overcome constraints that prevent projects from being feasible. TIF is not an additional tax, but rather the new property tax revenues (tax increment) associated with new development or redevelopment that, without urban renewal, would not otherwise be available.
Additional desired outcomes of the revitalization effort are to retain existing businesses and attract new businesses with a focus on businesses that will create new employment opportunities at or above the Douglas County median wage. If approved, the Plan will be an important step for the Town and the PAR to facilitate the alleviation of blight through attracting private capital to redevelop and make improvements throughout the Plan area.
In developing the Plan, Town staff conducted outreach to property owners and businesses in the Area in order to better understand the needs and issues, and to answer questions about urban renewal. For more information, please call Bryce Matthews at 303.841.0353 or email bmatthews@parkeronline.org.