RTD proposal: Pave over wetlands in favor of parking lot at Englewood Station. (Denver: 2015, city hall)

[Dorthy]

Englewood Residents Fight City Hall Over Open Space Paving Plan - Denver News Story - KMGH Denver

Several residents who live near Englewood’s Cushing Park said RTD wants to pave part of their paradise for a parking lot and that City Hall is being complicit in those plans. <snip> Neighbors have raised concerns about the loss of wetlands.<snip>The neighbors' biggest concern is that the decision was made without public input and without a citizen vote.

For those who use Englewood station, have you ever had problems finding a parking space? Do you think this is necessary? Any other proposed ideas on where parking could go?

[zenkonami]

Has it occurred to them to build a parking garage over the current parking lot? More expensive, yes, but then ask for a small, temporary tax increase to fund it. It will complicate use of the station for a time but will provide a substantial improvement in the long run.

Alternatively, maybe RTD should be inviting Oxford / Sheridan to add a Park and Ride...or build improvements at Evans.

I thought when I read Englewood's latest "city plan" it concentrated on "Growing UP" now spreading out (even if it is within their own city boundaries.) This makes for a disappointing development.

One more parking lot in a sea of Hampden Ave parking lots...

[Dorthy]

According to the article, RTD considered building a parking garage over the existing lot but rejected the idea over concerns about construction issues as the lot sits on top of a culvert for Little Dry Creek. I've read elsewhere that cost was a deciding factor.

That whole area is a sea of parking lots. It seems like they could buy or lease spaces in another lot near Walmart or Hobby Lobby or near the old Blockbuster just east of light rail (The Hobby Lobby lot is never even close to full) and build a garage there or just have some RTD spaces available.

I question the need for more spaces as I've never seen the lot full. I admit though that I rarely drive to the light rail station.

Another option could be to allow parking along Floyd which is a very low traffic street.

[Willy702]

Sorry but if you live in central Englewood to complain about open space seems oxymoronic. I live just down the street from the station and I didn't consider the tiny piece of wetlands as an "amenity" when I decided to live here. If you live out in an area with true open space I could understand the concern, but this area is far from open space friendly and everyone living here knows it. Most of the time the wildlife around those wetlands are just the annoying geese you see all over the place that few people would miss.

That parking lot isn't full now, but exactly as they mention once September comes along there will be plenty of days when its full around 9-9:30 as the student crowd comes in after the work crowd. The other stations could use a parking lot too, but because of the rate zones I'm sure most people drive to Englewood so they can avoid paying the higher fare traveling to downtown.

[TechMike]

As someone that grew up in Englewood, this is highly disappointing. I would consider that section of wetland an amenity. Englewood could use more parks and open spaces. As-is, the city center is such a huge sea of parking lots. Paving over the rest of Little Dry creek would take away such a nice part of Cushing park.

[davidv]

First off, as to determining whether the lots are full, I can say this, the google earth photo of the area shows that virtually all parking spots are full. This was taken on a random day, and probably shows how full the lots are on a typical day.

Secondly, walking from Dartmouth to the platform is 1/3 of a mile (or about 1700 feet). Walking from the Hobby Lobby lot to the platform is about 3/5 of a mile (3000 feet). I don't think people would use the Hobby Lobby lot as overflow parking.

Furthermore, a park and ride at Oxford would have to drive away profitable business (like Meadowgold) whose employees already have to park on the street. A park and ride across the street in Sheridan would displace parking for Costco.

Floyd may be low traffic, but it only has one lane in each direction plus a turn lane. It hardly has the room for street parking.

Unfortunately, taking over the wetlands seems to be the most cost-effective option.

[KaaBoom]

This is no surprise. They are talking about the same city that paved over the very nice Englewood City Park in the 1960s to build Cinderella City (now Englewood City Center). The Englewood City Council has always looked at parks as vacant land ready to be developed. I wonder how Denver residents would react if RTD decided to pave over a part of Washington Park for a Park and Ride lot.

As for RTD maybe they could solve their parking problem in Englewood by dumping the stupid zone fares that encourage Littleton and Highlands Ranch residents to drive to Englewood to catch the light rail. Avoiding an extra $60+ a month in fares. Just saying.

[chilicheesefries]

Originally Posted by zenkonami

Has it occurred to them to build a parking garage over the current parking lot? More expensive, yes, but then ask for a small, temporary tax increase to fund it. It will complicate use of the station for a time but will provide a substantial improvement in the long run.

Alternatively, maybe RTD should be inviting Oxford / Sheridan to add a Park and Ride...or build improvements at Evans.

Who would pay for the temporary tax increase? Englewood residents? All of RTD district? There's enough problem with funding already that it probably wouldn't get done.

Originally Posted by KaaBoom

As for RTD maybe they could solve their parking problem in Englewood by dumping the stupid zone fares that encourage Littleton and Highlands Ranch residents to drive to Englewood to catch the light rail. Avoiding an extra $60+ a month in fares. Just saying.

This is the number one solution to the problem - the zone fares. I have been guilty and know plenty of others that do this. A round trip from Littleton Station to anywhere downtown is $7.00 more for 2 people than from Englewood Station. That's significant and the more people the more. The poor Oxford & Santa Fe Station really gets it because they are in the other zone (and there's not much parking). Make it the same price and the Englewood Station would not be as busy.

[Dorthy]

Originally Posted by TechMike

As someone that grew up in Englewood, this is highly disappointing. I would consider that section of wetland an amenity. Englewood could use more parks and open spaces. As-is, the city center is such a huge sea of parking lots. Paving over the rest of Little Dry creek would take away such a nice part of Cushing park.

I also consider it an amenity. There isn't much open space or parkland in Englewood. paving over what's left just doesn't make sense to me.

Originally Posted by KaaBoom

As for RTD maybe they could solve their parking problem in Englewood by dumping the stupid zone fares that encourage Littleton and Highlands Ranch residents to drive to Englewood to catch the light rail. Avoiding an extra $60+ a month in fares. Just saying.

Excellent idea!

Originally Posted by davidv

First off, as to determining whether the lots are full, I can say this, the google earth photo of the area shows that virtually all parking spots are full. This was taken on a random day, and probably shows how full the lots are on a typical day.

I just looked at the Google Earth view and there are at least 30 open spots in the lot just north of light rail. The lot to the South (top of parking garage) has even more open spots. Of course we have no idea what time or day this photo was taken so it may or may not be relevant.

Originally Posted by davidv

Secondly, walking from Dartmouth to the platform is 1/3 of a mile (or about 1700 feet). Walking from the Hobby Lobby lot to the platform is about 3/5 of a mile (3000 feet). I don't think people would use the Hobby Lobby lot as overflow parking.

According to google maps it is .3 miles from Hobby Lobby to the library and .3 miles from the proposed parking lot to the library. There may be a slight difference in feet to get to the platform but it is negligible. If people are unable or unwilling to make the .3 mile trek then they can take the free ART shuttle that runs along Englewood Pkwy.

[Dorthy]

I walked to the library today and passed through Cushing Park and the RTD lot. I was astounded to see that the overflow lot at Cushing Park was 100% empty. Not one single car. When I got to the RTD lot I was equally shocked to see that it was only about 2/3 full. There were hundreds of empty spaces. I didn't bother to check the garage. I don't see a need for this new lot at all.

In another news article it said that the city could get a little more then 200 spaces from the parking lots just east of the library (Hobby Lobby, Walmart area). The lot that they are proposing will get between 200 and 300. Even if there is an increase in ridership during the school year I think that the additional 200 spaces from the Walmart area will be sufficient.