Broomfield Town Square: What Does the Dec. 8 Vote Mean?

"Council has been unified in that we all want Broomfield to have a town square and we know our community does too," Ward 1 Councilmember Julie Twiss said at the Sept. 22 council meeting, as reported by the Broomfield Enterprise. "But wanting that vision cannot mean that we stop expecting progress, performance and accountability."

That night, council voted unanimously to start pulling the approval for Broomfield Town Square, the downtown planned for a roughly 39-acre site north of West 120th Avenue and east of Main Street. On Oct. 13 it took the next formal step. A public hearing is set for Monday, Oct. 26, and a final vote is scheduled for Dec. 8.

Revoking the site plan and ending the developer's control of the land are two separate actions, though, and only the first one is on the calendar.

Two Agreements, Two Separate Tracks

Broomfield Town Square runs on two documents. The site development plan, or SDP, is the approved design. Council approved it in mid-September 2023. The redevelopment and reimbursement agreement, or RRA, is the contract council approved in 2019 that made Broomfield Town Square Alliance the master developer, according to the Denver Post. It also sets out the city's financial contribution, which the Broomfield Enterprise reports originally included $20 million in publicly owned land.

City staff and Twiss said at the September meeting that revoking the site plan "does not alter Broomfield's underlying contract with the developers." Under that contract, according to the Broomfield Enterprise, the developer team holds exclusive rights to develop the land until 2044.

	Site development plan	Redevelopment and reimbursement agreement
What it is	The approved design for the site	The 2019 contract naming the master developer and setting city financing
Current status	In the revocation process	Still in effect
Next public step	Land Use Review Commission hearing, Oct. 26	No hearing scheduled
What a "yes" in December does	Voids the approved design	Nothing directly
Key date	Approved mid-September 2023	Exclusive rights through 2044

So the vote in December decides whether the 2023 design survives. It does not decide who controls the land.

How the Three-Year Clock Ran Out

Broomfield's municipal code requires an owner to apply for and be issued building permits within three years of site plan approval. If that doesn't happen, council is authorized to revoke the plan. Three years from mid-September 2023 put the deadline at Sept. 12, 2026.

The only building permit applications on file came in on March 27: a boathouse, a restroom building and accessory structures. City staff said those permits couldn't be issued until the grading and utility engineering permits were approved. No applications had been submitted for the residential buildings, the mixed-use buildings or the former Safeway site, which are the core of the project.

The two sides read that permit condition differently. City materials treat permits for the primary buildings as the milestone. In a Sept. 22 letter to the city, the developer's team argues that the code and the city's earlier interpretation were broader than that.

Before the deadline, the developer had asked for more time. In February it requested an 18-month extension of the site plan, which would have pushed some permit deadlines to March 2028, plus a six-year extension of the city's financial commitments, according to the Denver Post. The Enterprise put the added tax financing at roughly $14 million. The developer withdrew both requests on June 24 and said in a letter that the city's conditions "cannot be feasibly delivered."

The Groundbreaking Date Kept Moving

City Attorney Nancy Rodgers walked council through the project's timeline at a July 16 meeting. Her presentation, as summarized by the Broomfield Enterprise, shows the start date moving back four times:

2021 projection: first construction by early 2023
2023 update: first phase opening in 2025
Early 2025: groundbreaking expected by fall 2026
2026 estimate: groundbreaking in 2027

Fall 2026 is now. The former Safeway building, which the city bought in 2015, is still empty, as the Broomfield Enterprise reported in July.

The lake was still in engineering review as of July 16. City staff were asking about a reported reduction in depth, from 12 feet to 8 at the deepest point and from 8 feet to 6 on average. At the September meeting, Twiss said "significant engineering questions remain unanswered" and that council had "received no substantive work product from the developers in over two months."

The Number That Actually Decides the Site

The track that controls the land is the RRA, and the latest public sign of where it stands is a gap of several million dollars.

In late July the developer offered the city two options, according to the Denver Post: bring back the withdrawn extension request, or pay $6 million to end the agreement. Mayor Guyleen Castriotta said the city turned that down and offered $2 million for a mutual termination. She also said the city had received no documentation supporting the $6 million figure.

The developer's Sept. 22 letter rejected the $2 million offer and said any termination would need to cover at least $5,199,689 in project costs. The letter also claims the city breached the RRA by refusing to promise it wouldn't start revocation before March 2028, and it set Oct. 21 as the date by which the city should cure that alleged breach.

The public offers stand at $2 million from the city and at least $5,199,689 from the developer. Neither the Oct. 26 hearing nor the Dec. 8 hearing is scheduled to settle that gap.

If the site plan is revoked, Rodgers said, the developer team would decide what happens next, which could mean resubmitting the plan or bringing a new one. The city staff memo cited by the Daily Camera says the same: a new site development plan could come forward after a revocation. The Denver Post reports that the 2019 contract keeps exclusive development rights with the alliance through Dec. 31, 2044, which prevents the city and the Broomfield Urban Renewal Authority from seeking another developer during that period.

What Was Supposed to Go There

The approved design is worth remembering, because it's what council will vote on in December. According to the Denver Post, the first phase included 471 apartments, 12 townhomes and about 63,590 square feet of commercial space, with a market hall in the old Safeway. The full buildout called for up to 643 homes, nearly 187,000 square feet of commercial space, an enlarged lake, trails, a plaza, a beach and a boathouse.

For a sense of scale, the March permit applications covered the boathouse and restroom building. The first phase alone called for 483 homes and a market hall.

The Dates Between Now and December

Under the "notice to show cause" resolution council approved on Oct. 13, the developer team gets a chance to speak at two hearings, according to the Daily Camera.

Monday, Oct. 26: The Land Use Review Commission holds a public hearing and makes a recommendation to council.
Tuesday, Dec. 8: City Council holds a public hearing and is expected to make a final decision on revoking the site plan.

The city keeps project documents, including the July status presentation, on its Broomfield Town Square page. Both hearings are public, and the Oct. 26 session is the first time the developer team is formally scheduled to make its case on the record since the deadline passed.

If you live near 120th and Main and you're wondering how a stalled downtown fits into your own plans to stay, sell or buy nearby, we're happy to talk it through. Paul & Kam Real Estate keeps up with these hearings because our Broomfield clients ask about them. Work With Us.