How do you usually get around Littleton?
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How do you usually get around? (choose all that apply)
What is your preferred way to get around? (choose all that apply)
If more destinations were bicycle friendly (secured bike parking, shower facilities, tool stations) would more people bike?
I think more people would use the bus or light-rail if:
there was more housing close to transit. This allows people to walk a short distance to transit instead of a long walk, or drive. This should also be paired with mixed use developments, which allow residents to walk or bike to desired stores instead of having to take a car or public transit. If housing density is increased near transit stations, but small commercial shops are still not allowed within a short walk, residents will still have to take a car to run errands.
Currently the Mineral station is poorly accessible by foot or bike. The Palisade neighborhood northeast of the Mineral Station is entirely single family housing, which has a low density and limits the number of people who can walk to the Mineral station. The western side of the Southpark neighborhood, to the south east of the Mineral station, consists of townhomes, and I frequently see a decent number of people from this area walking to/from the Mineral Station. While this is an improvement over the Palisade neighborhood, greater density will allow for even more people to access the Mineral Station by walking or biking.
There is a huge opportunity to increase the Mineral Station's utilization by allowing high-density housing on the empty lot to the south west of the station.
The Downtown Littleton Station obviously has greater housing density and less parking than the Mineral station, but there are still many opportunities to increase housing density and transit utilization. Allowing higher buildings in downtown can fulfill this purpose. Downtown Littleton is a great area, which the city is understandably eager to preserve the character of. While all of the buildings along Main Street and Alamo are 2 stories tall, taller buildings can also fit the character of brick store fronts. A great example of a higher density area that still preserves its historic charm is LODO around Union Station in Denver. Almost all of these buildings are at least 5 stories with red brick facades, which preserve the area's brick aesthetic. Allowing taller buildings downtown also has the added benefit of increasing the number of customers who visit the shops downtown.
By increasing the density around transit stations there may be fewer cars on the road and in the RTD parking lots, which are unattractive and a poor use of the space they occupy. This has the potential to allow RTD to repurpose a portion of the land for a purpose that is more beneficial to the community and provides more tax revenue to the city, like an extension of Aspen Grove.
I am unfamiliar with transit options along University or Broadway, but assume that it is a commonly used bus route. If this is the case, housing density should also be increased along these routes to increase utilization.
I am comfortable getting to a bus-stop or light rail station, grocery stores, health care, shopping and entertainment, employment opportunities in Littleton.
Here are my ideas for making getting to places in a more comfortable way.
I currently work downtown and live approximately one mile from the Mineral RTD station (the far eastern end of the SouthPark subdivision). On days with nice weather it is significantly faster for me to bike to the RTD station than it is to drive. I am comfortable with this bike ride, and biking downtown for entertainment purposes. I am also comfortable biking downtown on occasion for entertainment, but the ride is too long to do on a regular basis. Related to the above, decreasing the distance and time needed to get to an area is the best way to make transit more comfortable. This should be accomplished by allowing higher density housing near areas people frequent like Downtown, Aspen Grove, along Littleton Blvd, and near parks.
For people who still live far from these areas, increasing safety for bicyclists would be helpful to encourage cycling. I occasionally bike along Prince St. with my son to Charley Emley Park. While this route isn't too dangerous due to the bike lane and relatively low number of cars using the road at that time of day, the bike lane is pretty narrow and cars can be quite fast. Protected bike lanes along S. Prince, Littleton Blvd, W Bowles, Mineral, Elati, Windermere, and Gallup would make my wife, son, and I feel much safer biking around Littleton.
I would shop local if I could walk to neighborhood stores and shops if I could walk to them.
Is there any way that the Unified Land Use Code can support getting around more easily?
Allow for high density housing within half a mile of the Mineral and Downtown RTD stations.
Allow for more mixed use developments, which allows residents to walk to a shop downstairs rather than drive.
Install protected bike lanes on S. Prince, Littleton Blvd, W Bowler, Mineral, Elati, Windermere, and Gallup.
Eliminating unobscured open space requirements, which I interpret to be parking minimums allows for greater density of businesses, which makes walking between businesses easier