To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
From: Bill Detweiler, Director of Development Services
Julie Kirkpatrick, PLA, ASLA, Long Range Project Manager
Title
Resolution Approving the Town of Castle Rock 2030 Comprehensive Master Plan
Body
________________________________________________________________________________
Executive Summary
The Planning Commission and staff are seeking Town Council approval on the 2030 Comprehensive Master Plan. This action follows several years and numerous public meetings to create the document under your review. After extensive work with staff, the Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval to Town Council of the 2030 Comprehensive Master Plan at their October 12, 2017 meeting.
Colorado, particularly the Front Range and the Metro Denver area, has recently grown its population at faster rates than most of the country. State demographers project that those higher growth rates will continue. With this Colorado population increase, Castle Rock is among the many jurisdictions along the Front Range that attracts more residents, particularly because of its welcoming feel and beautiful landscapes.
In 2000, Castle Rock had approximately 20,000 residents and an approximate population of about 64,000 at the end of July, 2017. Just as the state is predicted to grow at a fast pace, the Town may grow to an estimated 90,000 residents by 2030. To help prepare for some of that growth, the current Comprehensive Master Plan is due for an update. After extensive work with community groups, public outreach and examination and extensive review and action by the Planning Commission, the 2030 Comprehensive Master Plan is ready for the Town Council’s formal consideration (Attachment A, Exhibit 1).
Adopted in 2000 and amended in 2002, the 2020 Comprehensive Master Plan and Vison 2020 have served the Town well. The purpose of these documents is to guide the Town’s growth and development through the year 2020. As Castle Rock continues to grow and thrive, updating the Plan is important. The process took several years to produce a strong Plan that aims to address the Town’s vision and goals through 2030. Public comments and community surveys confirm the Vision 2020 and existing Comprehensive Master Plan remain viable and should be carried forward with minor adjustments.
The 2030 Comprehensive Plan included input from a series of online surveys and community meetings. Also, the Plan incorporates data from the 2013 and 2015 Community Surveys. Staff also used other data collection sources such as the future population and land use modeling available from the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG). Based upon community comments, work completed by the working group, Board and Commission input, staff input and advice from the professional consultant team, the 2030 Comprehensive Master Plan updated Vision statement strives to be a document that plans for the Town’s future.
Discussion
The purpose of a Comprehensive Master Plan is to be a guiding, land-use focused document that reinforces the long-term vision of the community. The community revisited the Town’s 2020 Vision and Cornerstones and found that the fundamental ideas remained; however, they needed updating to look towards 2030. The updated Vision statement is, “The Town of Castle Rock is a world class community that embraces its history and heritage and small town charm.” The Vision declares Castle Rock’s common goals, which guide Town decisions, unite the community with a common purpose and motivates residents and leaders to meet the Vision’s goals. The building blocks of our Vision are embodied in the Four Cornerstones. The Four Cornerstones reflect Castle Rock’s key focus areas and serve as the organizing framework for the 2030 Comprehensive Master Plan. To effectively support the community’s vision, principles and policies noted in the Four Cornerstones should be held in balance as part of Town Council policy level decisions and day-to-day decision-making.
Outreach, Notification, Engagement & Feedback Tools
The Development Services and Community Relations teams worked diligently to create a broad communications strategy. The goals for outreach and communications were to educate the community about our long-range planning efforts incorporated in the 2030 Comprehensive Master Plan and to gather feedback on the updated Plan. Extensive outreach occurred throughout the entire process, going as far back as 2014 with the Vision update.
Early participation with the Community Review Team, which included the Planning Commission, members of the Utilities (now Castle Rock Water) Commission, Public Works Commission, Historic Preservation Board, Castle Rock Economic Development Council, Downtown Development Authority, and business owners, was fundamental in establishing key findings and goals for the Plan. The early drafts further included review and comment by all Town Boards and Commissions, the Castle Rock Economic Development Council, and the public. Most of the public comments were gathered from several, traditional open house meetings for the community, including a breakfast presentation to offer a different time from the traditional night meeting. At those meetings, comment cards were made available along with online resources and copies of the draft Plan. In an effort to reach as many people as possible, postcards were mailed to all Castle Rock residents informing them of open houses and online resources. Other face-to-face outreach included presentations at the Castle Rock Senior Center and Neighborhood HOA meetings. Staff also strived to reach various groups of our community by hosting booths at community events such as Trick or Treat Street and Councilmember open houses throughout the community.
In the digital age, staff conducted community outreach by other means including creating a webpage dedicated to the Comprehensive Master Plan on the Town’s www.crgov.com site. Staff updated key milestones, and the link included an online feedback form and an online email sign up for interested parties. From the emails gathered from those interested parties and from all attendees to the various open houses, staff created a weekly email series over the month of August, 2017, with each week focusing on one of the Four Cornerstones outlined in the draft Plan. Online articles were also posted on the Town’s webpage under the “News & Announcements” section. In addition to the webpage, the Community Relations team added informational Facebook posts to the Town’s Facebook page and created Twitter posts. Besides digital medium, Plan updates and information were also included in “Town Talk,” which is an insert in the monthly water bill; and an article was contained in the “Outlook” magazine.
How is this Plan different?
Efforts completed by the working group, Board and Commission input, staff input and advice from a professional consultant team, identified areas that need adjustment within the current Plan. Some of the proposed adjustments include:
• Updating the 2030 Vision and Four Cornerstones to reflect community input received as part of the public process;
• Reorganizing existing Plan policies to align with the updated Four Cornerstones;
• Providing framework to create future corridor and area plans to support future growth;
• Consolidating repetitive policies in the existing Plan;
• Updating technical language to remove outdated policies and reflect department plans and priorities;
• Incorporating a three-mile area plan into this document;
• Updating the Water/Sewer Service Area boundary;
• Creating a reader-friendly document for public use.
Staff Recommendation
Staff and Planning Commission recommends that the Town Council approve the 2030 Comprehensive Master Plan.
Proposed Motion
I move to approve the Resolution as introduced by title.
Attachments
Attachment A: Resolution
Exhibit 1: Town of Castle Rock 2030 Comprehensive Master Plan