BROOMFIELD, Colo. — Broomfield's long-awaited town square project has hit another roadblock as developers file a lawsuit against the city and County of Broomfield to stop them from revoking the plans for the square.
The plans call for a 39-acre walkable town square near West 120th Avenue and Main Street, with shops, restaurants, lakeside amenities and hundreds of housing units, designed to give the city an actual downtown.
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Broomfield City Council approved the project's site development plan in September 2023, starting a three-year clock outlined in city code for developers to pull building permits for construction. That deadline lapsed this year, after the city refused to grant developers an 18-month extension. The city then began the process to revoke the site development plan in September.
The developers, Broomfield Town Square Alliance, filed the lawsuit on Oct. 23, claiming the city is in breach of its contract. Developers said they applied for permits in March for $30 million in improvements to the nearby swim beach, plaza, streets, sidewalks, trails, and building permits for a boathouse and restrooms. The lawsuit claims the city told them the permits were not sufficient to meet the deadline, and that they needed to show progress on the project's main buildings. Developers claim that uncertainty stalled their financing.
The city said it has been compliant with the development agreement and city code. City leaders also raised concerns about a lack of response from developers over an engineering question regarding changes in the depth of the lake.
Neil Allaire, a Broomfield resident who lives near the proposed project, said he's been waiting for the town square for years.
"It's walking distance from our house, our neighborhood, and it would just be a nice thing to have, go get coffee, ice cream, a beer after work," Allaire said.
Many residents still hold onto the vision, but the delays have made it harder to see it ever being built.
"At this point, people are kind of wondering what the heck the city's doing," Allaire said. "I would ask the city to have a little grace, and you know, an extension if the developer is still interested in working with the city."
Denver7 reached out to the City and County of Broomfield and attorneys for the Broomfield Town Square Alliance for an interview on the lawsuit. Both declined our requests.
At a Broomfield Land Use Review Commission meeting on Monday, city staff said the three-year permit deadline is in place to make sure an approved plan still fits community needs years later. On Monday the LURC voted to recommend revocation of the town square plan.
Broomfield City Council will make the final decision on revocation during a meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 8.
