Walking the Distance for Smart Growth — 2225 Midland Ave Should Not Be High Density. Please Listen, City Council.
According to many city planners, most people will choose to drive their cars to do errands and to work rather than taking a bus if they have to walk more than a quarter mile or for more than ten minutes to get to the bus stop. The developer says the distance from 2225 Midland Avenue to the bus stop is more than twice that quarter mile, and he also believes it will require more than 10 minutes to walk it. He recently acknowledged that the distance is over half a mile (six tenths of a mile, he said at the last City Council meeting). He also now asserts that it is a 12 minute walk. Nonetheless, he still wants us to believe that his project will reduce traffic in our town. But it won’t do that.
The developer is correct that the distance from the front doors of his proposed four story apartment building to the bus stop is more than half a mile. According to my GPS watch, it’s seven tenths of a mile. There are also three traffic light controlled streets to cross along the way. Hence, the likelihood of always making that trip in only 12 minutes is quite small. In order to make that trip in under 14 minutes, it would require any pedestrians wishing to do so to walk faster than the national average 3.1 mph pace, and for them to not wait at any of the three traffic lights, one of which controls seven lanes of north-south highway 82 traffic and five lanes of east-west 27th Street traffic.
Many city planners realize that only a very few people will walk with groceries for more than about five minutes. Safeway is the nearest grocery store to 2225 Midland Avenue, and it is fully 1 mile away. My brother was a national class high school miler, and I can still remember when Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile barrier. But he wasn’t carrying any groceries.
In the December 12 edition of the Post Independent the developer claims that “Upon completion of the 14th Street pedestrian bridge, it {the development at 2225 Midland} will be less than 1 mile from the majority of jobs and amenities, including the high school, hospital, both grocery stores and Wal-Mart.” Thankfully, he hasn’t claimed that either City Market or Safeway will be only a five minute walk away! I say that not only because of the five minute standard, but also because the developer is underestimating those distances. Based again on data collected by my GPS watch while walking as much of the route as possible, when the 14th Street pedestrian bridge opens, Safeway will still be a mile away via the 27th Street bridge, and City Market will actually still be over a mile away. In fact, City Market will be over 1.5 miles away via the Midland Avenue sidewalk, the new 14th Street pedestrian bridge, the new bike path connected to the east end of the 14th Street bridge, Coach Miller Drive(which has no sidewalks or bike lanes) and 14th Street. Even in his prime, Roger Bannister couldn’t run that distance in 5 minutes (with or without groceries).
Also, the hospital will still be 1.1 miles away via the 27th Street bridge, and the High School will be about a mile and a quarter away via the Midland Avenue sidewalk, the new 14th Street bridge, the new bike path, and Coach Miller Drive. Sure, maybe a few future residents of 2225 Midland Avenue would decide to bike to and from the High School. I used to bike a couple miles to and from Junior High; and years later, so did my son. But the reality is that most people won’t do that, especially without a safe bike path to follow the entire way.
I haven’t yet measured the walk to Wal-Mart from 2225 Midland Avenue, but I’m pretty confident that few people would choose to walk there from 2225 Midland Avenue to shop. I also suspect that walk may be a little over a mile in length.
Just a little more than four years ago, my wife and I lived in a Colorado Plaza condo within easy walking distance to City Market and downtown Glenwood Springs. There was a bus stop only a block away. I walked, took the bus, and/or rode my bike for most errands (even grocery shopping). But now we live across the street from 2225 Midland Avenue, and we do all our errands by car - like nearly everyone else who now lives in this neighborhood, including the good folks who live at Cottonwood Landing and The Terraces.
And so, based on the behavior of people now living in this neighborhood, as well as its actual distance from grocery stores, public transit, schools and employment opportunities, along with the lack of weather protection, good lighting, benches, and separation from traffic along Midland Avenue, I say that 2225 Midland Avenue is not a location from which more than a few residents will do errands or go to work on foot or by bicycle. Hence, it’s not smart to invite yet more automobile traffic into our town by approving an exception to our zoning regulations to allow higher density development at that location.
And finally, with regard to the character of whatever development might one day be approved at that location, please understand that it is bounded on all three habitable sides by single family homes on acre lots. Nonetheless, on at least three occasions, I have heard the developer state that the edge of the property at 2225 Midland Ave. lies “catty-corner” to Cottonwood Landing. But the reality is that there are five single family homes on acre lots between the edges of the roughly 6 acres at 2225 Midland Avenue and Cottonwood Landing. Their addresses are 2301, 2308, 2309, 2387, and 2408 Midland Avenue. There are also three other single family homes on acre size lots on the east side of Midland Avenue between the proposed entrance to 2225 Midland Avenue and the previously identified five single family homes. And there are at least two other single family homes on large acreage lots on the west side of Midland Avenue between 2225 Midland Avenue and the northernmost entrance to Cottonwood Landing. That adds up to about ten acres of single family homes in the spaces between the entrance to the six acres at 2225 Midland Avenue and the nearest entrance to Cottonwood Landing.
So, yes, sort of like Colorado is “catty-corner” to Idaho, the Cottonwood Landing Townhomes are “catty-corner” to the proposed Fox “Loft” rental apartments at 2225 Midland Avenue. Just ignore Wyoming, Utah and those ten single family homes on acre lots and you’ve gotten the whole “catty-corner” picture. And, speaking of cats and ignoring things, as you consider this request for higher than normal density in an R4 zone, I hope you won’t completely ignore the young mountain lion who roamed our neighborhood this Christmas season.
Please vote to deny higher density at this location. It’s completely inconsistent with the existing character of the neighborhood, and it will only make our traffic problems worse, not better (as the developer hopes you will think).
And in case you missed it, here is a link to my previous article concerning this proposed development: https://medium.com/@Nick_Kelly/the-proposed-midland-avenue-lofts-are-not-smart-growth-for-glenwood-springs-114f57b64d0a#.255byb351
Thank you for your service, and Happy New Year.
