WINDSOR, Colo. — As Windsor’s population continues to grow, town leaders say they are committed to protecting the charm and identity residents value — from supporting local businesses to improving traffic safety and ensuring community voices are heard.
Mayor Julie Cline told Denver7 she sees Windsor’s strategic plan as key to balancing growth with preserving the town’s small-town feel.
“Going back to our strategic plan, is definitely one of the items that we have foremost out there, is that we want to maintain a small town feel,” Cline said. “If you can foster your downtown that helps with that community feeling.”
Part of that strategy includes encouraging and supporting locally owned shops, such as High Desert Chocolates, which renovated an older downtown building.
“They were renovating an older business downtown, older building, and so the town was able to help them a little bit, you know, kind of push them along,” Cline said.
Town officials say knowing your neighbors — and your shop owners — strengthens connections in ways that big-box retail cannot. According to the Town of Windsor’s economic development department, downtown businesses help sustain a walkable core, create jobs and serve as gathering spaces.
Keeping residents’ voices in the conversation
Windsor’s leaders say transparency and communication are central to decision-making.
“I feel that we're extremely transparent here in Windsor,” Cline said. “We have a coffee with the mayor once a month, and that gives everyone an opportunity to come out and say what's on their mind.”
The town also hosts public meetings, maintains an online community engagement portal and offers monthly open houses where residents can weigh in on projects.
Chief of Police Stephen Garrison says that partnering with residents is critical to curbing crime.
“We have to find ways that we're connecting with people in different venues,” Garrison said. “For example, we started a teen Police Academy this last summer. Super successful.”
From a policing standpoint, Garrison said, “What they've done here, and we continue to do, is we engage the community into a partnership, so everyone's invested in public safety and how they want to live and feel comfortable in it.”
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That partnership includes Windsor’s district policing program, where the same officers serve the same neighborhoods to build trust and familiarity.
“As we have growth residentially and commercially, then there's a larger demand on public safety,” Garrison said. “And that means we also don't want to lose that partnership by having more people coming in that we're not connected with.”
Transportation Engineer Scott Pearson said input from residents, combined with crash data, shapes the town’s safety action plans.
“Engineering interacts with the public,” Pearson said. “We have public events and outreach opportunities to engage with the public, to gather input on problem areas, and we use that input to help define our safety action plans.”
One of Windsor’s newest projects is replacing the intersection of Colorado Boulevard and Crossroads Boulevard — identified as a high-crash area — with a multi-lane roundabout.
“Through that safety observation, we've identified that signal as a location where we can change the configuration to a multi-lane roundabout and reduce the potential for high-speed accidents,” Pearson said.
The Town of Windsor’s transportation department notes that roundabouts can reduce severe crashes by lowering speeds and eliminating certain conflict points found in signalized intersections.
Cline said that as towns grow, there’s a risk they blend together.
“I think one of the bad things about when towns grow, they grow into each other, and you don't know where one starts and one ends,” she said. “We want to maintain that so it also helps us keep our identity.”
Windsor’s official website highlights its vision of “preserving small-town character while embracing innovation,” with initiatives aimed at protecting open space, fostering community events and encouraging sustainable development.
Residents can learn more about Windsor’s plans by visiting the town's website or attending the monthly “Coffee with the Mayor” sessions.
Denver7’s Your Voice series invites community members to submit questions, concerns and story ideas. Email Colin Riley at colin.riley@denver7.com to share where Your Voice should head next.
