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Festival Plaza Home to the Picnic on the Plaza music lunch hour, an Easter Egg hunt, a fiddle performance, Art Night Out, two summer evening concerts, the Peach Festival smoothie and cobbler tent and an outdoor cinema, Festival Plaza in 2013 continued to serve as a thriving community gathering place in downtown. During the summer months, the Plaza fountain provided hours of entertainment for children as they splashed in the water. In 2013, approximately 22,500 people visited the Plaza. Urban renewal funds and a grant from the state Department of Local Affairs created the popular Festival Plaza area, which is also maintained by LURA dollars. For more information about LURA, contact Executive Director Jenn Ooton at [PHONE REDACTED], ext. 3337or go to www.cityoflafayette.com/urbanrenewal www.facebook.com/ Lafayette.FestPlaza Looking Ahead to 2014 The Lafayette Urban Renewal Authority in 2014 has plans to add seating near the green fencing at the Starkey Building, replace gateway identifier signage for the Old Town area at U.S. Highway 287 and Baseline Road, and continue working toward private-public partnerships for the downtown core. Plans are also in the works to expand Art Night Out’s footprint onto Public Road in 2014. Top Right: Sign design for the southeast corner of 287 and Baseline. Artist, Jen Davis, Davis Creative Inc. Bottom Right: Starkey Building lawn reconfiguration, 309 S. Public Road. Bluesiana/Zydeco band Jockamo entertained crowds at the June Art Night Out. (Photo courtesy ARTS! Lafayette) Annual Report 2013 Lafayette Urban Renewal Authority Graig Anspach Carolyn Cutler Jake Puzio Sally Martin Chair Chris Bosch Vice Chair Jamie Ramos John Ward Lafayette Urban Renewal Authority Lafayette Urban Renewal Authority • 1290 S. Public Road • Lafayette, Colorado 80026 w ith announcements of new retailers and tremendous progress toward implementing recommendations from the Downtown Vision, 2013 was a banner year for Lafayette’s Urban Renewal Areas. During the Visioning process, stakeholders said over and over again that downtown needed more shopping/eating destina- tions and a brewpub. By the end of summer, Lafayette welcomed two coffee roasters, a gourmet cheese shop, two local breweries, a new bakery, a farm and ranch store and a vintage/gift shop. A new brewpub is also underway in the old VFW location. The Lafayette Urban Renewal Authority (LURA) in 2013 announced the opening of 17 new public parking spaces in downtown, replaced and added new signage for the downtown business area, added bicycle parking on Simpson Street and created more usable space in front of the Starkey Building at Festival Plaza. LURA also held a sign design contest, asking artists to submit gateway signage designs using the new Old Town logo. Gateway signs are planned to be installed in 2014 and 2015. The mission of LURA is to encourage revitalization and redevelopment in the Old Town Urban Renewal Area and the South Boulder Road Urban Renewal Area by working in partnership with property owners to improve existing structures, fostering new development, and preventing deterioration of properties within the urban renewal areas. ---PAGE BREAK--- Traffic Counts Urban Renewal By the Numbers In 2013, the Lafayette Urban Renewal Areas saw $1.26 million of private investment, including building and landscaping renovations. LURA invested approximately $53,000 in streetscape and new public parking. *Average daily traffic counts from the City of Lafayette 24-hour traffic counts are based on information from the Denver Regional Council of Govern- ments (DRCOG) and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT). Location Traffic Count Date So. Boulder Road and Dixon Ave. * 7,136 Jan. 2012 So. Public Road * 6,581 Feb. 2012 So. Public Road north of Emma St 8,398 March 2010 Colo. 7 (Baseline Rd) west of Public Rd 16,288 March 2010 The City of Lafayette has been tracking sales tax receipts by square footage in individual commercial areas for the past four years. Based on those figures, the Old Town Urban Renewal Area produced 94 cents per square foot in sales tax in 2009; 99 cents per square foot in 2010; $1.07 per square foot in 2011; and $1.09 in 2012. The So. Boulder Road URA in 2010 generated 68 cents per square foot in sales tax, 70 cents per square foot in sales tax in 2011, and 90 cents in 2012. $0 $2,000,000 $4,000,000 $6,000,000 $8,000,000 $10,000,000 $12,000,000 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 Assessed Valuation Old Town Urban Renewal Base Total Assessment When the Urban Renewal Areas were created, a base tax valuation used to set property taxes was established for the area. Valuation above the base is used to calculate the tax increment distributed to the Urban Renewal Authority. The base is not frozen in time. It is adjusted every two years with the new assessments, meaning other taxing entities (city, county, school district) benefit from improvements to the urban renewal area. Cover photo — “Sky Dance” by J. Lucas Loeffler Assessed Valuation 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 Old Town Events Several events that took place within the downtown core in 2013 were directly supported by the Lafayette Urban Renewal Authority. LURA’s financial support helped put on the Art Night Out series, Picnic on the Plaza music lunch hours, Lafayette Quest and the Home for the Holidays celebration! Old Town Special Events Art Night Out, Third Fridays in May through September Total Attendance: 6,000 Total Volunteer Hours: 350 Lafayette Oatmeal Festival* Attendance: 3,000 Total Volunteer Hours: 701 Peach Festival* Attendance: 23,000 Total Volunteer Hours: 335 *Funded by Special Events In 2013, our “Creative, Diverse & Eclectic” downtown continued to be enhanced through art. The city’s rotating sculpture exhibit, Art on the Street, featured 17 public art pieces that drew people to downtown and served as inspiration for 71 other artists who participated in the See and Respond exhibit in August. The city’s permanent sculpture collection downtown also grew in 2013 — with the addition of “Imagination” by Lucas Loeffler and “Traveler” by Anthony Guntren. LURA asked artists to submit original images for a new Winter Art Banner program. Alley Art Amazin’ — a grass- roots mural project designed to beautify Old Town alleys and discourage graffiti — grew its number of murals to 35 in Old Town and eight in the Old Town URA. The third year of the Halloween Window Painting Contest drew 91 participants and wonderfully ghoulish paintings for the season. Attendance continued to grow at the 6th annual Art Night Out series, as people flocked to visit downtown businesses, hear the music at Festival Plaza and enjoy the event’s beer and wine garden. Art Enhancing Downtown Downtown Vision Progress June 2013 — A mural for Old Town Lafayette was painted at the corner of S. Public and S. Boulder Roads to act as a gateway sign for the downtown business area July 2013 — LURA approved an economic development agreement with The Post Brewing Company for the purposes of redeveloping 105 W. Emma Street into a brew pub/restaurant. September 2013 — LURA completed a public parking project at 103 N. Public Road and also installed bicycle racks on Simpson Street.