A proposed 395-unit residential development near West Oxford Avenue and South Navajo Street will come before Englewood City Council on March 6 for a public hearing, providing an opportunity for public comment on the project.

Embrey Partners, a real estate investment company, aims to develop a four-story, multifamily building containing 361 rental units and 34 rental townhome units in seven, three-story buildings. These would be market-rate rental units. 

The development would be located on the roughly 8.6-acre lot where Sam’s Automotive Reconditioning Center was located. Currently, the lot is zoned as I-1, representing a light industrial zone district. Under this zoning, a range of developments are permitted, such as an office building, a hotel, and a warehousing or storage facility, according to the city’s code of ordinances. 

Multi-unit dwellings are not permitted in industrial zoning districts. To be able to develop the proposed townhome and multifamily complex, the developers had to submit an application to rezone the property to a planned unit development. 

In November, Englewood’s Planning and Zoning Commission voted 5-3 to recommend the Englewood City Council approve the planned unit development. The city council has the ultimate decision on whether to approve the development or not. 

In advance of the upcoming public hearing, the development team held a community meeting Feb. 23 at the Malley Recreation Center to share some of its public improvement proposals.

The proposed development was originally scheduled to have its public hearing before the city council on Jan. 17. However, the development team formally requested to postpone the hearing, which was moved to March 6. 

“We made a request for one specific reason,” said Marcus Pachner, president of The Pachner Company, which handles community engagement for the development. “We heard from a number of neighbors, particularly neighbors right by Jason Park, that said in the planning commission (public hearing), ‘These folks can do more. We want to understand some other additional infrastructure improvements.’ So we said, we want to go study those. And that's what we're doing tonight — we're going to share a couple of those ideas.”

One requirement of the developer, if approved, is a $485,430 contribution participation fee to help fund the construction of a pedestrian bridge over Oxford Avenue between Santa Fe Drive and South Navajo Street.

The Oxford Avenue Pedestrian Bridge is a City of Englewood project that was put on an indefinite hold in September due to a lack of funding. Pachner said the development team asked the city how much funding is still needed to get the bridge developed. 

“They asked us to pay $485,000 towards that bridge. They still have another half-million-dollar gap,” he said. 

A concept that the development team is working on with the city is potentially adding a crosswalk and rapid flashing beacon along Quincy Avenue near Jason Park to increase pedestrian safety, said Jeremy Lott, a member of Norris Design, which is part of the development’s design team.

“We're still working through the city with the final designs, and those final designs are gonna be based on the traffic, pedestrian counts in and around Jason Park,” Lott said, adding that these counts will be done potentially in the summer when it is warmer outside. “Those counts will ultimately determine, you know, the final design and locations of these sort of implementations.”

Pachner said about $85,000 has been set aside to implement something like this, and if the cost ends up being less than that, then the remaining amount will go toward the funding for the Oxford Avenue Pedestrian Bridge. He also noted the city may decide a different solution is needed than what the development team proposed.  

“We’re completely open to whatever that solution is,” Pachner said. “What we think is so important is — offer to pay, right? And say we’re gonna do it. And if it doesn’t, if we don’t have the right solution, great — we’re gonna put the rest of it to the pedestrian bridge, right?

“We are going to get some solution here on Quincy, which we think is really, really important for this project. We’re adding traffic. Nobody’s denying that we’re adding that,” he added. 

Public improvement proposals the development team presented on Feb. 23, 2023.

The development is also proposing changes to Oxford Avenue. One proposal is to change the right turn lane from Oxford Avenue onto South Navajo Street into a right turn lane/straight lane that continues just before South Lipan Street, where the two lanes will merge.

“What we’re proposing here … is a secondary through lane at Oxford,” Lott said. “And so that moves the merge point from right here at Santa Fe to a little bit further down the street.”

The developer also proposed installing a new median island on Oxford Avenue so that people exiting the proposed property development follow its right-in, right-out driveway along Oxford Avenue and do not try to turn left at that point. 

Public improvement proposals the development team presented on Feb. 23, 2023.

Other public improvement proposals include adding new crosswalk striping at the nearby intersections and a dedicated left turn lane for drivers turning left from South Navajo Street onto Oxford Avenue. 

On March 6, there will be two public hearings regarding the development. The first public hearing will be held in regard to the planned unit development. The second hearing will be regarding a major subdivision for the proposed project. 

The proposed location of the development is currently split into three property lots. The major subdivision would combine the three lots into one and establish a public right-of-way dedication for the project. 

Residents interested in learning more about the proposed project and how to participate in the public hearing can visit the city’s webpage. 

Comments can be made in person at the public hearings or provided virtually. The meeting, which begins at 6 p.m., will be held at the Englewood Civic Center, located at 1000 Englewood Parkway, in the second-floor council chambers. Written comments can also be submitted to commdev@englewoodco.gov.