The Denver Metropolis Council’s members will be a part of elected leaders in neighboring Lakewood early subsequent yr in deciding in the event that they need to considerably clamp down on the place new fuel stations might be constructed inside the borders of their respective cities.
The Denver Planning Board voted 5-0 on Wednesday to advocate a proposed package deal of latest restrictions on fuel stations to the council. The purpose, in accordance with the coverage’s backers, is to go away extra room within the metropolis for wanted housing and different community-serving improvement that’s too scarce.
The brand new guidelines would prohibit any new public-serving fuel stations from being authorised inside a quarter-mile of an current fuel station, inside a quarter-mile of a rail transit station or inside 300 toes of low-density residential neighborhoods. Tasks that will construct a fuel station in reference to a large-scale retail enterprise — like a grocery retailer — can be exempt beneath the foundations.
The council’s course of will start with a listening to earlier than the Land Use, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Jan. 7. That panel may advance it for a public listening to and remaining vote by the complete physique on Feb. 18, in accordance with metropolis paperwork.
The measure is being co-sponsored by council members Amanda Sawyer, Paul Kashmann and Diana Romero Campbell. Council members first mentioned concepts for the zoning modification earlier this yr.
An organization consultant from QuikTrip Corp., the Tulsa-based fuel station and comfort retailer chain, urged the board and the council on Wednesday to delay their consideration and fine-tune the proposed laws. The corporate, which has two places in Denver and others in planning phases, warned of unintended penalties, together with value inflation because of decreased competitors.
However that argument didn’t resonate with Planning Board members. The 5 sure votes represented only a portion of the 11-member board. 4 members have been absent for the listening to, and board chair Caitlin Quander and vice chair Fred Glick each recused themselves from the matter.
Kashmann, talking on the listening to, emphasised that the central motivation for the restriction was to protect extra land, significantly on main corridors, so it may be used to deal with Denver’s housing scarcity. He didn’t need to decrease the impression of gas value will increase on low-income residents, however he mentioned working to convey down housing prices by growing provide was a way more impactful purpose.
“(If) fuel costs go up, there are people who it’s taking their final couple of dollars. Completely, any payment goes up, it’s taking their final couple of dollars,” he mentioned. “However the alternative to make a change — an actual broad change — in the price of dwelling in Denver is what we’re aiming to do.”
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