New Development on Larimer

[Jennifer carr]

Hey Guys -

I don’t know if you got a note from the developer Edens representative in your mail boxes but I did. It basically said we have an issue and would like to figure out a mutually beneficial solution. Tom Klie explained the situation to me. We are to meet Thursday at 3p if anyone wants to join. I did tell Tom I would reach out to all of you and invite you or get your initial thoughts and concerns to share with him.


Here is a brief summary of "the ask” and our conversation. - we all know I am not good at being brief but I will try.

The telephone pole in front of Cal’s garage contains the transformers for all of our townhouses. It is big and unsightly. Edens wants to remove it and put the wires underground at their expense. They want to put it in our fenced in side yard which they thought the city owned. (Do your homework before the ask). I explained it is owned by all the townhouse owners. We have HVAC equipment there and have entertained storing things like a camper there so we do use it. Therefore, we are not willing to give it up without detailed agreement and understanding of what is involved. Thus the initial meeting with Tom on Tuesday. During our conversation I was nothing but pleasant although I am so against a five story building and would love to but any road blocks in the way of that happening. Pipe dream. But as I proceed with Tom I’ll follow my momma’s rule of law “you attract more bees with honey” Tom did mention he was going to have construction people along with him. I don’t know if he meant of the engineering type.

If you do not, or can not attend please share your thoughts by replying to this email or on our group text.

My immediate concerns and questions -

How much physical space are we giving up
Maintenance - the battle of those trees will now include keeping them out of the transformer
Loss of power during work
Access - the gate is locked for a reason -will we have to give that up
Health - moving the transformers closer to our living spaces
Noise - are we going to hear a constant buzzing
Visual - most impactful to me

The pole in question oddly attracts addicts. Remember the summer I spent pouring molasses around it to fend them off and it worked. Well they are back. If they pole is gone there is no reason to hang there! Go find another pole. I believe Cal will have more room to exit his garage.
I have a list of benefits rattling around but I am going to wait to see what he has to say. I also have a list of demands should we proceed - like put concrete down, fix the fence, provide a better/smaller storage shed. But let’s just see what transpires Thursday. I am only taking Tom’s information in, not asking for anything yet. I will share what is said.

Let me know what you all think or I’ll see you Thursday.


Your Neighbor Your Friend

Jen Carr

[Julia Ann Wilder]

Hi Jen

Thank so much for the info and for fielding the request. I think you have a lot of great questions to ask and learn more about. I like the idea of that pole going away and have a vivid memory of weirdos that loved to hang by it. 

If they present a compelling case I’m open to whatever is preferred by the group. 

Julia, 1240 

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[Jennifer carr]

I am very very concerned about the interruption of service as I know many work from home even my hubby when we are there.   

 Richard - 

I did see a group of city planners and the developers walking the neighborhood with the RiNo Arts people and local business leaders.  So I just joined in the Frey like I was one of them.   It is a love feast although I was furious.   I just smiled and acted like I belonged.   Richard is not wrong in saying we and those poor townhouse owners along our alley should have been included.    

I’ll take notes and keep u posted 

Jen 

Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 13, 2022, at 6:04 PM, Richard Koseff <richa...@icloud.com> wrote:

Hi Jen,

Thanks very much for putting all of this detail together so clearly. I would really love to join the meeting, but have a board meeting that I can’t miss that conflicts. If there’s any chance of doing it another day, it would be great, but please know that I support a tough line with them. Here are the points I would make if I were there:

1. How much are they going to pay us in exchange for this? I’m a hard “no” if that is not part of the consideration. Considering the value of real estate in Denver and how much $$ they are going to make from these developments that will ruin our lives for a couple of years, and will bring down the value (life-value) of our homes by taking our views, it needs to be a substantial consideration.See point 3 for why they don’t get any friendly freebies in my book.
2. I share your concerns about the 5 story building, to put it mildly.
3. I also don’t like the fact that this is their first attempt to talk to us at all, who will be there closest neighbors to both buildings. I was especially offended by their shenanigans with the planning board (brining in fake non-resident speakers from all over Denver, rather than trying to talk to anyone who actually lives near the proposed buildings, characterizing us as NIMBYs without ever once talking to us to hear our concerns, paying influencers to pose as actual neighbors, focusing on Curtis Park neighborhood association because the leader of the board lives there, etc.). 
4. I’d also like to hear how they will manage the disruption of our lives during construction.
5. Finally, I work from home, every day, as do Julia’s renters, as does Doug. Losing any utilities for any amount of time on weekdays will not be tolerable without significant notice and effort to manage the impact. 

Thanks again for this, and if there’s any way to move the meeting, that would be great.

Richard 

1230

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[Cal Crawley]

Thanks Jen. We will be in town this week (Wednesday) and plan to join you. Let's get together and discuss more.

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

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[Jenna Edwards]

I just blocked off my calendar and I will be at the meeting on Thursday. 

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[Jenna Edwards]

All,

I did a little light digging this afternoon in preparation for the meeting with Edens on Thursday.  I work for a commercial real estate developer in town and one of my colleagues is on the RiNo Business Improvement District ("BID") board with Tom Kiler.  He said he seems like a pretty reasonable person.  Hopefully that will be the case. 

I have attached the Site Development Plan (SDP) submitted to the city on 10/31/2022 after their Concept Plan/Comments were improved to move forward with their SDP.  If you take a look at Page 5 of the plan, you will see a comment in the Alley area nearest to 26th Street.  According to the SDP, they have stated that utility poles and overhead utilities adjacent to the project to be removed and relocated.  This is our pole in question.  Since the relocation made it (or was required to) into the SDP without any dialogue with us makes me think they really did misunderstand the ownership of our side parcel.   Right now, it does appear we may have some leverage.  However, we will know more after our meeting on Thursday. 

Additionally, I pulled a survey done in October 2012 which provides detailed legal descriptions of our units (including the side parcel).  I noticed that in this survey, the alley is 16' wide vs. 18' wide shown in Edens' SDP.  I am not sure if they plan on setting their property further back to provide for a wider alley or if moving this pole will help assist with this effort.  These are all questions we need to ask Tom on Thursday.  I will have one of our construction folks take a look at the SDP and provide some comments and further questions prior to the meeting as well.  

Other questions I had:

• When will construction commence?  How will the project be phased? The project includes two levels of underground parking, one level of retail and four levels of apartments. 
• A new sanitary sewer is contemplated in the SDP, when will this work be performed?  This will go through our alley.
• Can they provide a Site Logistics plan? (Where cranes will be placed, dump truck/construction equipment move around the site, where will construction workers be required to park, etc.)

Here are some details around their parcel assemblage.  Just so you know what they paid per square foot of land.  There may have been more side deals made that the public was not made aware of that I didn't add to the all-costs.  Right now, I show they paid $300/sf for the land.  I have been told our land should be valued in the $500/sf range.  

I will continue to reach out to some folks so we are all prepared.  

See you guys on Friday!

Jenna

On Mon, Nov 14, 2022 at 4:30 PM Jenna Edwards <jenna.k...@gmail.com> wrote:

All,

I did a little light digging this afternoon in preparation for the meeting with Edens on Thursday.  I work for a commercial real estate developer in town and one of my colleagues is on the RiNo Business Improvement District ("BID") board with Tom Kiler.  He said he seems like a pretty reasonable person.  Hopefully that will be the case. 

I have attached the Site Development Plan (SDP) submitted to the city on 10/31/2022 after their Concept Plan/Comments were improved to move forward with their SDP.  If you take a look at Page 5 of the plan, you will see a comment in the Alley area nearest to 26th Street.  According to the SDP, they have stated that utility poles and overhead utilities adjacent to the project to be removed and relocated.  This is our pole in question.  Since the relocation made it (or was required to) into the SDP without any dialogue with us makes me think they really did misunderstand the ownership of our side parcel.   Right now, it does appear we may have some leverage.  However, we will know more after our meeting on Thursday. 

Additionally, I pulled a survey done in October 2012 which provides detailed legal descriptions of our units (including the side parcel).  I noticed that in this survey, the alley is 16' wide vs. 18' wide shown in Edens' SDP.  I am not sure if they plan on setting their property further back to provide for a wider alley or if moving this pole will help assist with this effort.  These are all questions we need to ask Tom on Thursday.  I will have one of our construction folks take a look at the SDP and provide some comments and further questions prior to the meeting as well.  

Other questions I had:

• When will construction commence?  How will the project be phased? The project includes two levels of underground parking, one level of retail and four levels of apartments. 
• A new sanitary sewer is contemplated in the SDP, when will this work be performed?  This will go through our alley.
• Can they provide a Site Logistics plan? (Where cranes will be placed, dump truck/construction equipment move around the site, where will construction workers be required to park, etc.)

Here are some details around their parcel assemblage.  Just so you know what they paid per square foot of land.  There may have been more side deals made that the public was not made aware of that I didn't add to the all-costs.  Right now, I show they paid $300/sf for the land.  I have been told our land should be valued in the $500/sf range.  

I will continue to reach out to some folks so we are all prepared.  

See you guys on Friday!

Jenna

[Jenna Edwards]

I will definitely make sure to ask again about the widening of the alley.  

On Nov 14, 2022, at 5:07 PM, Richard Koseff <richa...@icloud.com> wrote:

Jenna,

Thanks so much for all of this- more than a little digging ! 

One neighbor who lives in the houses facing the alley behind us brought up the width question during the planning board meeting, and they definitively stated that they were not going to widen it. The planning board didn’t pursue the question. Follow up would be appreciated. 

Sent from my iPhone

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[Jennifer carr]

Jenna that is awesome info.  My question to all is did you get a communication in your mail boxes or was it just me?

Jen

On Nov 14, 2022, at 5:07 PM, Richard Koseff <richa...@icloud.com> wrote:

Jenna,

Thanks so much for all of this- more than a little digging ! 

One neighbor who lives in the houses facing the alley behind us brought up the width question during the planning board meeting, and they definitively stated that they were not going to widen it. The planning board didn’t pursue the question. Follow up would be appreciated. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 14, 2022, at 9:04 AM, Jenna Edwards <jenna.k...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Jenna Edwards]

I did not receive one. Doubled checked yesterday. 

On Nov 14, 2022, at 5:20 PM, Jennifer carr <Lazybu...@comcast.net> wrote:

Jenna that is awesome info.  My question to all is did you get a communication in your mail boxes or was it just me?

[Cal Crawley]

Jen,

We did not receive any communication regarding this. Is a meeting still planned for today at 3pm and is there any other detail ( outside or a place)?

Thanks for all the information. Looks like the plans Jenna provided show the developer plans to cede 2 ft of their property line to the city to create the 18' alley.

cal

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[Cal Crawley]

Our neighbors, Sondra and Jose, weren't home, so I was unable to discuss anything regarding the utility options impact to them. One additional option that they didn't discuss was locating a transformer on their property!

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