Planned southwest Longmont apartment complex draws ire

A proposed 276-unit apartment complex set to go on the southwest corner of Airport Road and Clover Basin Drive has surrounding Longmont homeowners worried about their home values as well as traffic and space for schoolchildren.

The Renaissance Village apartment complex, being developed by Longmont-based company Actis LLC, would be housed in 16 three-story buildings spread over roughly 21 acres. The complex would feature a clubhouse, pool, pocket parks and pavilion, according to plans submitted to the city.

There have been two neighborhood meetings between the developer and the community and the project will be on a planning and zoning committee meeting agenda once the city planning department staff completes its review.

Kirk Christoffersen, a Clover Creek HOA board member, said the meetings did not go well at all and the community doesn't feel the developer is listening to them or responding to homeowner concerns.

Richard Groves, with Actis LLC, did not return calls seeking comment.

In response to the proposed apartments, the boards of six HOAs in the area — Clover Creek, Kingsbridge, Meadow Mountain, Meadow View, Portico and Renaissance — distributed a survey to their members asking for their opinions on the proposed complex. Roughly 600 people responded to the survey, which required a name and address. Three quarters of respondents said they thought the apartments would have a negative impact on property values and quality of life. The two major concerns were traffic congestion and too many kids feeding into the St. Vrain Valley School District's two area elementaries.

Traffic

Although the developer commissioned a traffic study as part of the submitted plans, Christoffersen said Clover Creek HOA was skeptical of the traffic study because it had been sponsored by the developer and didn't take into account other development occurring in southwest Longmont, like the new mall.

"As it is now, there's a disastrous turning situation where people are waiting for multiple turning lights just to get eastbound out for that rea," said Christoffersen, who spoke for the Clover Creek HOA. "That doesn't include pedestrian traffic and there are multiple kids that are walking to school every day."

Bob Ball, with the city's traffic department said developers always pay for traffic studies and the studies must take into account not only the short-term impact of traffic after a project is built, but what the traffic level might be 20 years down the road.

Additionally, Ball said, traffic studies take into account data from the Institute of Transportation Engineers on how much traffic types of development generate. ITE has found that, on average, a single-family home will generate 10 trips by car a day while an apartment unit will only generate roughly 6.5.

Schools

Comments in the HOA survey say that classes at the three area schools — Eagle Crest and Blue Mountain elementaries and Altona Middle — are already full so they don't understand why SVVSD gave the project the OK.

"Altona, Bl Mtn (sic) and Eagle Crest are all over or near full capacity," wrote one commenter on the survey. "It would be a travesty and a slap in the face to the present homeowners if the city government allows these apartments for transients (renters) to go through."

Christoffersen said that the homeowners in Clover Creek felt that if the area schools became too crowded, it would reduce property values.

"We have active involved parents and putting a large influx of bodies in there from a dense development like an apartment complex will change the school," Christoffersen said. "With the schools already putting in multiple trailers, and it's already overcrowded, that kind of influx of kids will create a difficult environment for kids that are already at Eagle Crest and Blue Mountain."

A 2007 paper out of Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies found that burdens on schools are often cited in opposition to apartment buildings and complexes, but that on average, 100 single-family homes will have 51 school-age children. In a new construction multi-family building, there will be on average, 29 children per 100 units.

When the city asked the school district for comments on the Renaissance Village development, a SVVSD planner replied that they expected it to add 76 kids to the rolls. Those 76 kids, the letter said, would not exceed the district's benchmark of 125 percent capacity for any of the schools.

Scott Toillion, planning director for the SVVSD, said that while some of the schools do have some portable classrooms, the district is aware of the growth in southwest Longmont and is taking several measures to manage it.

First, the 76 prospective kids won't be enrolling in the school immediately, he said.

"A lot of times people see a subdivision come in and think this is all going to hit like tomorrow, but the buildout happens in phases of three to five years and sometimes the student impact is one to two years after that because people might move in and have 5-year-old kids," Toillion said.

Second, the schools in that area used to have empty space and some of the current students came there via open enrollment. To prepare for growth in southwest Longmont, Toillion said that the schools will limit that option, and so as the original open enrollment students age out of the schools, it will free up space for new children who live in the area.

Third, Toillion said the district is planning for a bond election in the near future, to fund capital improvement projects and expand school capacity as people flock to Boulder County.

"In the future in these areas of growth, you're going to see us requesting expansions and new schools in the next five years," Toillion said.

Still, Christoffersen said the HOA board members plan to encourage their members to turn out for public meetings to try to dissuade the city from allowing the 276-unit complex to be built.

Karen Antonacci: 303-684-5226, antonaccik@times-call.com or twitter.com/ktonacci