About SUN
Stapleton United Neighbors (SUN) is the registered neighborhood association for the Stapleton area. Our mission is threefold: to provide a forum for our residents; to maintain a communication network between ourselves, our neighboring Denver residents, and the city of Denver; and to act on issues of importance to the community as a whole.
SUN is comprised solely of volunteer neighbors and serves as the registered neighborhood organization for Stapleton, discussing key issues with neighbors, representing their interests, engaging in proactive problem-solving, and organizing neighborhood-building activities. See the latest news about SUN below, or click on one of the links to the left to find out more about our various committees.
The SUN Board Meetings are normally held on the 3rd Tuesday of each month, except in July, November, and December. The SUN Outreach Committee usually meets at 6:30 pm, followed by the SUN Board Meeting at 7:30 pm. The meetings are held at the Central Park Recreation Center at 9651 E. Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Denver 80238. The community is welcome to attend both meetings. Check the calendar section for the next meeting.
Board meeting agendas can be found here.
Our next Outreach/Block Captain Meeting is scheduled for August 19, 2014, 6:30pm followed by a SUN Board meeting at 7:30. Both meetings will be at the Central Park Recreation Center. Stapleton Community Input
SUN is always looking for input from the community. If you have questions about the community, please send an email to StapletonUnitedNeighbors@gmail.com or complete the form below. We will do our best to answer your questions. It is important to provide an email contact so we can answer your question. The latest Stapleton Community Survey by SUN has just been opened to responses. Click here to take the survey.
Stapleton Park Update from City of Denver SUN received this letter from the City of Denver regarding parks in Section 10. Dear Stapleton Neighbors,
Thank you for taking the time to write and share your concerns about the city’s future plans in Stapleton.
Unfortunately, there has been some incorrect information regarding the
sports complex that was proposed to be located in Section 10 of the
Stapleton development.
Please let us reassure you that the city will build a sports complex in
this part of the Stapleton neighborhood. Early plans for the complex
called for it to be located north of 56th Ave., within a series of
parks/open space that are being developed. After looking closely at
those plans and discussing them with the community, including the
Stapleton Citizens Advisory Board (Parks Advisory Group) and the
Stapleton Development Corporation, it was decided that the build-out of
the sports complex would have less of any adverse impact on the
residential neighborhood in Section 10 if it were located to the south
of 56th Ave.
With that suggestion in mind, planners began to evaluate a location to
the south of 56th. What they found was an incredible opportunity to use
the location of the Stapleton High School, currently under
construction, as the anchor for the planned Stapleton Sports Complex.
By planning the sports complex in this location, the adverse impact on
the immediate neighborhood in Section 10 from lighted ball fields and
parked cars is severely reduced or eliminated. As the high school is
built out, fields for football, baseball and softball are part of the
current plans. Those fields will serve as an anchor to the additional
sports fields that the city will work to have built as sources of
funding for the complex become available. This location also includes
space for off-street parking and is adjacent to a large commercial
warehouse, where noise and lights from evening activities won’t be mere
steps from residents’ homes.
What has yet to be determined is what amenities will be delivered at the
site. In addition, back on the north side of 56th Ave., where future
parks/open space are currently being planned, Denver Parks and
Recreation will also determine if it is appropriate to add more
multi-use sports fields within those parks that can be permitted for
daytime activities. I can assure you that we will absolutely involve the
community as we move forward with the planning process and need to make
more specific decisions about the facility.
Again, we want to thank you for taking the time to write and for
bringing this to the administration's attention. We agree that Section
10 is an important part of the Stapleton neighborhood and we share your
commitment to the benefits the Stapleton Sports Complex will bring to
the community.
Regards,
City Leadership Team
Information from the Community Forum Held on May 19th
SUN, CAB and the MCA hosted a Stapleton Community Forum on May 19th. Click here for minutes from the meeting. Slide decks from the May 19th meeting are available here, The SUN Board deck and the CAB deck.
Eastbridge Town Center Update - May, 2014
Below is the latest update from Forest City on the grocery store in Eastbridge. Forest City will be presenting an update on the Community Forum on May 19th, 6:30pm at Central Park Recreation Center.
SUNs response to Forest City on the Eastbridge Town Center development Plan is post here. Please continue to submit your questions in advance in the box on this page below. Questions provided in advance will be given priority at the Forum.
UPDATE: A meeting was held on June 13th with King Soopers. Details of the meeting are posted here.
Forest City Response to SUN Comment Questions (including additional questions answered on May 27th) are posted here.
From April 22nd.
We provide the following narrative to clarify misunderstandings about the development of Eastbridge.
As reported by the
Front Porch on Friday, Forest City is working with King Soopers to bring
a grocery store to Eastbridge. This has led to some misunderstandings
about what is planned for the balance of the property, specifically
with respect to a gas station and the ability to develop a town center.
The following summary is designed to provide updated and factual
information about that proposed development.
King Soopers is
evaluating the feasibility of building a store of about 58,000sf, which
is about the size of their current store at Stapleton. They
would also like to provide a gas station. The store would be located
between west and eastbound MLK, adjacent to Havana and facing west. The
gas pumps would be located on the block to the east, across Havana,
adjacent to the car wash. This location does not
compromise the ability to bring a town center to Eastbridge.
A town center has always been planned for Eastbridge and still is. Town centers take on different forms. E.29th
is organized around a street.
The center in Eastbridge is planned to be organized around a plaza
intended to be a community gathering place. The total square footage of
retail space in the center is expected to be 15,000 to 18,000sf, large
enough to accommodate restaurants and neighborhood
services organized around the plaza. This is also of a scale that
increases viability. A center too large risks failure and empty
storefronts. Viability is also directly dependent on a grocer
anchoring the site.
In 2009 King Soopers
proposed building their first Fresh Fare store of about 35,000 sf. The
investment committee that reviews all new King Soopers projects
did not approve the store. The current Fresh Fare located at Hampden
and University is not performing to King Soopers’ expectations and as a
result, King Soopers does not plan to build this type of store again. In
addition to the King Soopers Fresh Fare store,
Forest City has approached numerous other smaller grocers on multiple
occasions before and after 2009. These include Lucky's Market, Tony's
Meats, Natural Grocers, Whole Foods, Alfalfas, Sprouts, Marczyk's, and
Trader Joes. None of these stores felt Eastbridge
was a viable location for their business.
As the process for
bringing a grocery-anchored town center to Eastbridge moves forward,
Forest City will work with Stapleton United Neighbors to provide
our community with continual updates as new information becomes
available.
Updated Site plan information from April 24th. Click here for the latest site plans.
In
response to numerous requests, attached is a "concept
plan" for the Eastbridge retail development. It is called a concept
plan because it is just that, a concept for the development providing a
direction for final site planning and design. In this case the concept
is to locate the grocer to the east end of the
site and a town center organized around a plaza to the west. A gas
station would be located east of Havana adjacent to the existing car
wash. This plan suggests a town center of 22,000sf with shops and
services located in two buildings.
The grocer will execute the development of their store and a third party
developer selected by Forest City will execute the development of the
town center based upon this concept plan. The third party developer will
make the final determination about variables
such as the total square footage, types of uses, number of restaurants,
number of buildings, building heights, organization of buildings,
configuration of the plaza and what, if any, amenities may be in the
plaza, such as a water feature, play area, etc. However,
the conceptual direction of the grocer to the east, town center
organized around a plaza to the west, with shared parking in between, a
pedestrian linkage from the town center to the grocer, and the number of
parking spaces will not materially change. Also
under evaluation is a pedestrian connection along the drive aisle on
Geneva Court.
The goal for this development is for the grocer and shops to open at
roughly the same time. This will be subject to the grocer's final
approval of the store and the third party developer's success in
preleasing a majority of the shop space, as no lender will
provide financing for a speculative, (i.e. little to no preleased)
center.
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