Despite its desire for completion of the Broomfield Town Square development, the City Council unanimously decided to pursue revoking an approval officials had given the project years ago — a move proposed “with heavy hearts.”
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“It is with extremely heavy hearts that Councilmember (Katie) Peterson and I, as representatives of Ward 1, home of the planned Broomfield Town Square project, bring this request to you tonight,” said Councilmember Julie Twiss in a Tuesday meeting, citing a lack of progress on the project.
According to Broomfield’s municipal code, an “owner” is required to apply for and be issued building permits for construction within three years of receiving approval of a project’s site development plan. If they miss the deadline, the Broomfield City Council is authorized to revoke the site development plan.
The plan was approved mid-September 2023 — so time has run out.
“The project remains in construction plan review and significant engineering questions remain unanswered,” Twiss said in the meeting, adding: “We have received no substantive work product from the developers in over two months.”
The Broomfield Town Square was envisioned as a potential walkable gathering place for the community that could act as the city’s downtown area, near 120th Avenue and Main Street. The project has been in the works for more than a decade, according to city staff.
The project has seen significant delays, with initial projections in 2021 estimating that the first of the construction would begin by early 2023. Then, a 2023 update pushed the opening of the first phase of the project to 2025, according to a presentation in a July 16 council meeting this year from Nancy Rodgers, the city attorney.
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In early 2025, the developer team moved the timeline again, saying a groundbreaking was anticipated by fall 2026. This year, the development team estimated groundbreaking would occur in 2027, according to the presentation.
The developer team sought an extension to the site development plan deadline earlier this year, as well as an extension of tax financing from the city, estimated at an additional roughly $14 million. The group ultimately withdrew those requests.
The development involves the companies Outpost Partners and City Street Investors, according to council information. Representatives from the companies did not respond to a request for comment from the Broomfield Enterprise before deadline for this story.
Twiss and city staff said in the Tuesday meeting that if the site plan is revoked, it does not alter Broomfield’s underlying contract with the developers. According to a city agreement, the developer team has exclusive rights to develop on the land, north of 120th Avenue and east of Main Street, until 2044.
The council is expected to vote on a resolution to continue the revocation process in its Oct. 13 meeting, and a final vote that would revoke the plan is expected later this year or early next, according to Rodgers in the Tuesday meeting. If the plan is revoked, the developer team would need to decide what comes next, which could include resubmitting the plan or submitting a new one, Rodgers said.
“Council has been unified in that we all want Broomfield to have a town square and we know our community does too,” Twiss said. “But wanting that vision cannot mean that we stop expecting progress, performance and accountability.”
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