West/Central (U.S. 34) Corridor Plan

West/Central (U.S.34) Corridor

Existing Land Use:   This segment of U.S. Hwy 34 (Eisenhower Blvd.) extends from roughly the Greeley Loveland Canal to the western limit of the City’s Growth Management Area (GMA).  The U.S. 34 corridor as a whole is the community’s primary business thoroughfare.  It is also Loveland’s front door to visitors on their way to destinations in the mountains.  The future redevelopment and enhancement of this corridor will be central to the City’s ability to sustain the viability of many of its older neighborhoods and capture a greater share of the potential tourism market.

The predominant land use along the road frontage is strip commercial, a pattern that characterizes much of Loveland’s older corridors.  Many parcels are shallow and lack landscaping, architectural quality and amenities found at the eastern end of the corridor in the newly developing regional commercial center near the I-25 interchange. 

While most sites are shallow commercial parcels, several major retailers are located along the corridor, including Sam’s Club, Home Depot and K-mart.  Additionally, the corridor is home to Group Publishing, a growing primary employer, as well as a number of medical, real estate and professional offices. 

West of Wilson Avenue, the intensity of commercial use decreases and the corridor has characteristics of a more rural commercial strip and much of this area remains under County jurisdiction. There are more vacant and underutilized sites and most of the corridor has not been annexed.  This end of the corridor is anchored by the site of Group Publishing, situated on an attractive campus-style office site.  Behind the frontage, the entire corridor is extensively developed with a wide variety of residential uses of all types.  These include many of Loveland’s older neighborhoods with modest housing, as well as a number of multi-family apartments.

Utilities:  Most of the corridor is developed with a full complement of urban services and utilities.  Improvements and upgrades to utilities may be necessary as redevelopment and infill occurs.  The western end of the corridor is served with water by the City of Loveland.  Sanitary sewer service has not been extended west of Morning Drive.

Road Network:  The primary and secondary road network is in-place and no new collector or arterial roads are planned in this area of the City.  Recent improvements were made to widen a segment of U.S. 34 east of U.S. 287 to eliminate a bottleneck and provide managed center turning lane movements.  The second phase of improvements to widen N. Taft Avenue calls for intersection improvements at U.S. 34 and changes to site access in the vicinity of Taft.  This improvement is currently budgeted by the City. The City’s 2030 Transportation Plan calls for U.S. 34 to have six through lanes to U.S. 287 and four lanes from that point west.    Future intersection improvements are also planned at Madison Ave., U.S. 287, and Wilson Boulevard. 

CDOT is currently conducting an environmental assessment that includes a segment of this corridor east of U.S. 287.  According to CDOT:  “The purpose of the project is to provide an improved transportation corridor in northern Colorado, between US 287 and LCR 3, which would meet the following needs: (1) relieve current and future traffic congestion, (2) improve local and regional access, (3) improve transportation safety, and (4) support approved economic development for this portion of US 34. (Link to CDOT Project Website)  CDOT is proposing widening the study area to three lanes, with bicycle lanes and sidewalks, using context sensitive solutions; and better controlling access by having fewer access points and having all new access points comply with the State Highway Access Code.

Due to heavy traffic volumes on U.S. 34, sections of the corridor are constrained by the City’s Adequate Community Facility Standards.  Infill and redevelopment activity, especially in the vicinity of Taft Avenue and Wilson Avenue, is constrained by requirements to meet the City’s ACF standards. 

Environmental:  The eastern end of the corridor does not include any natural area designations.  The western endof the corridor in the vicinity of Rossum Drive includes portions of several natural areas, including Namaqua Ridge and natural areas associated with the Big Thompson River.  U.S. 34 also crosses the City’s loop recreational trail and open lands purchased for trail right-of-way. 

The corridor features several significant view amenities. These include the southern shore of Lake Loveland and vista of the foothills and Mummy Range to the west. The western end of the corridor is also the gateway to scenic landforms including Namaqua Ridge, and Devils Backbone and entrance to the Big Thompson Canyon outside the City’s GMA.

Development Activity:  Home Depot, opened in 2003, has been the only major retail addition in recent years.  The 110,000-square foot Shopko department store adjacent to Home Depot was vacated in 2005 and is         currently undergoing re-occupancy.  A ten-acre meeting and hotel complex has been proposed on vacant land near the Group Publishing site.  Other smaller office and retail buildings have been built over the past five years.

Future Land Use Plan:  With a few exceptions, the frontage of U.S. 34 is designated CC-Corridor Commercial.  This designation reflects the established strip commercial land use pattern which is unlikely to change.  Beyond the frontage, designations range from E-Employment, I-Industrial, and HDR-High Density Residential at the eastern end in the vicinity of the site of the former Sugar Factory, to MDR-Medium Density Residential and LDR-Low Density Residential in most other areas.  Several of these land use designations are considered mixed-use categories and provide flexibility consistent with the need to encourage development and redevelopment.  This land use framework should be adequate as the corridor changes and improves over time.

 City of Loveland Comprehensive/ Land Use Plan

Section 4.4 Analysis of Major Corridors and Redevelopment Opportunities

Section 4.4 of the Comprehensive /Land Use Plan highlights major highway corridors and the downtown and its surrounding neighborhoods.  Each subsection provides a brief description of the area, likely significant development constraints and opportunities, and a set of recommended action steps.  These areas have been selected for more detailed analysis for several reasons. 

·         Corridors, because of their visibility and role as a focus of commerce, have a significant impact on the image, appearance and future economic vitality of the City. 

·        Many of the City’s older commercial corridors are characterized by strip commercial development which suffers from obsolescence and is at risk of decline as new, higher quality, and more competitive commercial centers emerge at the edges of the City.

·        Recent successful redevelopment projects in the downtown have created the first real opportunity to achieve the long sought after goal of a revitalized downtown.  Encouraging and guiding a “second tier” redevelopment effort will be a crucial step toward achieving this ultimate goal.

Previous Corridor Plans

Major arterial corridors have long been a priority in sub-area planning efforts undertaken by the City.  As a consideration in the following sections, below is a status evaluation of the City’s existing corridor plans. Also included below is an assessment of the City architectural and redevelopment standards since these can play an important role in the future redevelopment of commercial corridors.  In summary, most corridor plans are limited in scope and do not reflect the level of recent commercial development activity along most of the City’s corridors.  Architectural standards are typically limited in scope to a specific developments or districts, or are aimed at only new construction and do not have broad applicability to redevelopment proposals.

·        U.S. Highway 34 Corridor Study, 1993: This plan includes design guidelines applicable to the eastern portion of the Hwy. U.S. 34 corridor from Boise Ave. to I-25.  The design guidelines stress preservation of mountain views and elements of the streetscape. These guidelines do not extend to portions of the corridor west of Boise Avenue nor do they address redevelopment issues common to the western portions of this corridor. Also, these guidelines are outdated because philosophies regarding the character of the corridor are not consistent with the level of recent development activity.  For example, these guidelines do not reflect extensive new commercial, office and residential development within the Millennium project (see comments below).

·        Major Arterial Corridors Design Guidelines, 1997:  This document establishes design guidelines for the US 34, State Hwy. 402, U.S. 287, Taft and Wilson Avenue corridors. Guidelines address urban, suburban and rural design characteristics and address both architecture and site design issues. These guidelines are also out of date in that “rural” zones are established at the outer extents of the corridors that do not reflect recent significant developments in these areas. “Rural” zones designated by the plan include the northern portion of the U.S. 287 corridor and the eastern portion of the U.S. 34 corridor that have also seen extensive development activity in recent years and are no longer “rural” in character.

·        I-25 Corridor Plan, 2001:  The I-25 Corridor Plan was adopted to guide transportation improvements in the interstate corridor that extends from south of Johnstown to north of Fort Collins.  This regional plan addresses the entire northern Colorado extent of the I-25 corridor.  The plan was adopted by the City of Loveland in 2001 as well as by most major northern Colorado Communities.   Design guidelines that accompanied the plan were not adopted by Loveland.  The City primarily relies on design guidelines within the Millennium project that encompasses much of the I-25 area within the City and newly adopted architectural guidelines as part of the Zoning Code.

·        Architectural and Design Standards:   Many newer commercial developments in the City have been approved as planned developments with architectural standards, the most notable being the Millennium development at U.S. 34 and I-25.  The City recently adopted Commercial and Industrial Architectural standards as part of the Zoning Code.  However, these standards apply to newly constructed buildings and do not apply to existing development sites unless new construction is proposed, or existing buildings are substantially expanded.  The only area of the city currently covered by redevelopment design guidelines is the Be-Established Business District, which covers only the core downtown area.  Further, there are few design standards that apply to residential development and none that are tailored to infill development in existing neighborhoods, outside of the Be-Established Business district.  

·        East / West Mobility Study, 1997:  This plan focused on traffic volume issues associated with east/ west mobility.  East / west mobility is constrained in Loveland due to natural features, such as Boyd Lake and Lake Loveland that create barriers to east / west movement in the community, and existing inadequacies in the east / west transportation system.  It included recommendations for several east / west arterials including Eisenhower Boulevard.  Recommendations for Eisenhower Boulevard focused on travel lane and intersection improvements. Intersection improvements were recommended at Wilson, Taft, Madison and Cleveland/Lincoln Avenues.  This study did not address aesthetics or issues associated with redevelopment or infill development of land along the corridor.

·        Tentative West Central US 34 Corridor Timeline:

Oct-Dec 08     Data Collection, Comparative Project Analysis

Feb – Mar 09   Public “Kick Off” Meeting

Mar-Apr 09     Joint Planning Commission and City Council Work Session, Visioning

Dec-Feb 09     Analyze Corridor and Market Conditions

Mar-May 09    Public Outreach (Visioning, Goals and Objectives)

Jun 09              Joint Planning Commission and City Council Work Session, (Visioning, Goals and Objectives)

Jul 09              Staff prepares Draft Design Study, Guidelines and Overlay Zone Recommendations

Aug 09            Joint Planning Commission and City Council Work Session, Draft

Sep 09             Public Outreach – Presentation of Draft

Oct-Nov 09     Staff prepares Final Draft Design Study, Guidelines and Overlay Zone Recommendations, (including implementation strategies (“toolbox”) and funding estimates and options)

Oct-Nov 09     Joint Planning Commission and City Council Work Session, Final Draft

Dec 09            Council Adopts Design Study, Guidelines and Overlay Zone Regulations

Back to Top