Page 16
— Land & Development Quarterly — July 2016
Eric Bergstrom
Bergstrom Capital Advisors, Inc.
(949) 510-6314
Park City / Deer Valley Region
• 87 Acres, Fully Entitled Mixed-Use Development
Opportunity
• All Wet/Dry Utilities& Infrastructure in Place
• Public Financing and Ownership Financing Available
Design
I
n summer 2010, the home-
building and real estate indus-
try was facing its most chal-
lenging times in decades. The
“Great Recession” was upon
us. It was in this difficult climate
that master planning for Leyden
Rock began.
Faith in authenticity.
A memorable
community begins with the end in
mind. Community imaging is not
an ornament to be tacked on at the
end of the design process. It begins
at the opening stages of design and
is incorporated into initial master
plan design concepts. It continues
as the design evolves, changing to
accommodate the qualities of the
site and its context. The result is
an image that forms an authentic,
coherent and organic vision and
theme that helps to forge a strong
community identity.
The image for Leyden Rock was
derived from the history of the site
and the ranching heritage of Colo-
rado and the Rocky Mountain West.
The team worked to create a refined
concept and palette from both.
Preservation of the pastoral land-
scape and the use of metal, stone
and timber beams are consistent
throughout. Jack fencing, a historic
Colorado fence style, highlights
community entries to maximize the
rustic appearance of the land. Com-
munity identity monuments were
inspired by the Monjeau Lookout
in New Mexico and were designed
to be signature landmarks in scale
with the panoramic open space set-
ting.
Embracing the vision.
The Leyden
Rock design team
and city of Arvada
staff collabo-
rated over several
months to create
a master plan that
embraced the col-
lective vision and
goals for the com-
munity.
Anchored by the
panoramic mesa
top views overlook-
ing Leyden Creek,
downtown Denver,
the Flatirons and the Front Range
foothills to the west, the Leyden
Rock master plan offers a breath-
taking experience of the natural
world. Open space permeates each
neighborhood. Parks are visual focal
points and centers of activity, con-
tributing to overall community char-
acter as well as creating a distinct
identity for each neighborhood.
Design goals included:
• Creating a community that is a
gateway from the foothills to the
city of Arvada.
• Accommodating the proposed
Jefferson Parkway as a critical com-
ponent of growth and development
for the city and region.
• Protecting regional watersheds
and water quality by implement-
ing low-impact development tech-
niques.
• Consolidating open space and
preserving native landscapes and
wildlife habitat while simplifying
maintenance.
• Over 600 acres of land (more
than 60 percent) was preserved as
open space.
• Over 95 percent of open space
was preserved or restored to a
native condition.
• Providing open space and trails
that connect to surrounding region-
al open spaces and conservation
areas.
• Using drought- and cold-tolerant
native and naturalizing plant mate-
rials.
• Preserving ridgelines to avoid
impacts on existing vegetation.
The master plan used low-impact
neighborhood design to reduce the
overall development footprint and
increase open space preservation.
The result is a community that
achieves more than twice the hous-
ing density of traditional low-den-
sity residential developments while
preserving three times as much
open space.
Breaking through clouds.
In August
2011, “Weathering the Storms” was
the headline of a local newspaper.
Throughout Leyden Rock’s design
and entitlement process, elected
officials and Arvada city staff dem-
onstrated that they were looking
beyond the wild market fluctuations
and daily “doom and gloom” of the
headlines. With ongoing staff sup-
port and a unanimous recommen-
dation of approval by the Planning
Commission, the master plan for
Leyden Rock received unanimous
approval from the Arvada City
Craig Karn
Principal and
founder, Consilium
Design, Centennial
Jay S. Simon
Consilium Design provided land planning and landscape architecture services for the
Leyden Rock project in Arvada.
