The city of Grand Junction and the Chamber of Commerce have asked the Real Estate Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder to evaluate the city聮s development process.
Byron Koste, director of the center, will lead a panel of five experts who will work with Grand Junction-area developers, builders, business leaders and other constituencies that have expressed concern with the city聮s growth plan.
The panel will convene April 12 and 13. After a day of information gathering, panelists will share information and make preliminary evaluations. On the second day, panelists will meet with all stakeholders to report their observations, discuss their findings and help the chamber and city prepare an agenda for dealing with development issues.
"At the end of these two days we聮ll have a clearer understanding of where the real issues are," said Koste. "We聮ll come up with a consensus on a process to resolve these concerns. To my knowledge, this approach has never failed to provide the community with helpful advice on thorny development issues."
Koste said the Real Estate Center agreed to evaluate the issues because both public and private entities asked for their help.
The request from the city and chamber comes after Dallas-based Cinemark canceled plans to build a theater in the area. The developers were reportedly unable to work out traffic issues with city officials.
"There are inevitable hiccups when attempting to manage growth," Koste said. "Our goal will be to help the stakeholders understand what the real problems are and what actions will need to be taken to remedy those issues."
Koste, who is an Urban Land Institute trustee, said the panelists will work to scrape away emotion and to provide perspective and insight. "Some things they are encountering are not unique. Grand Junction can benefit from similar experiences in other cities," Koste said. The Real Estate Center, located in the College of Business and Administration, recently added smart growth as an area of excellence within its programs.
Koste, former president of Westinghouse Communities Inc., will be joined on the panel by Rodney Slifer of Slifer, Smith & Frampton/Vail Associates; Julie Bender, president of the Aurora Economic Development Council and managing director of the DIA Partnership; Andrew Wallach, deputy director of Great Outdoors Colorado and a yet-to-be-named Front Range developer.