AURORA, Colo. — Aurora's Harmony community residents are still celebrating after city council members unanimously rejected plans for a gas station next to their neighborhood earlier this summer.
"It's amazing what less than a dozen people were able to accomplish that will benefit a thousand people," said resident Mark Saxelby.
Watch Denver7's Aurora and Arapahoe County reporter Adria Iraheta's story in the video below:
The proposed All in One Harmony site at E. Alameda Avenue and S. Powhaton Road would have included a convenience store, fueling center, liquor store and restaurant. After more than an hour of public testimony at the July 27 meeting, council members rejected the developer's conditional use plans for a fueling center — sending the proposal back to planning and zoning.
"Gas stations just aren't right for a bedroom community," Saxelby said.
City leaders now want to hear more community feedback like this.
Engage Aurora's Gas Station Spacing Study is asking residents to weigh in on buffer zones — specifically, how far new gas stations should be from other stations and from residential neighborhoods.
"Currently, there's no rules regarding gas stations in relation to neighborhoods or residential zoning," project manager Marisa Noble said.
Under current rules, new stations cannot be built within 500 feet of adult or child day cares, hospitals, schools, or nursing homes, with no more than 2 gas stations allowed per intersection.
"We're definitely seeing higher amounts of gas stations along major arterials," Noble added.
Maps showing several different buffer zone scenarios are available for Aurora residents to review and comment on, with options that could extend up to a half-mile buffer.
"The city is currently reaching out to a lot of gas station owners and gas station developers as well, so we're still gaining a lot of that feedback," Noble said.
Aurora | Arapahoe County
Aurora residents push back against new gas station and convenience store plan
Denver7 reached out to Manraj Singh, the Harmony All-In-One convenience store developer, who weighed in on the study.
"A half-mile buffer makes a lot of sense. One station per intersection is plenty to avoid commercial clutter, but we still need to keep necessities and development close," Singh told Denver7. "If spacing gets too restricted, residents in newer parts of Aurora are forced to travel to other neighborhoods for commercial corridors. This will also help protect real estate values for residential and commercial users."
Harmony neighborhood homeowners are also ready to make their opinions heard.
"It will definitely be a topic that we'll bring up and continue to, you know, raise awareness [at community meetings] and ask them to complete the survey," Saxelby said.
He said the city's outreach is an encouraging sign.
"That tells me that the city cares and they're listening, and I hope they can continue to lean into communities and ask what we want and and, you know, follow what it is we're asking for and what we need," Saxelby said.
Aurora residents have until Oct. 31 to weigh in on the Engage Aurora website. City staff will present that feedback to the Planning and Economic Development Policy Committee by year's end to determine next steps.
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