Planners approve highway design

Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008 | 12:03 p.m.

Boulder Highway Corridor on the City of Henderson Web site

After years of preparation, Henderson's plan for the future of its stretch of the Boulder Highway Corridor is nearing completion.

The Planning Commission gave the Boulder Highway Investment Strategy a thumbs-up Nov. 20, along with recommending two ordinances that would create new zoning standards for along the corridor.

The City Council is scheduled to consider the three items for a final vote Dec. 16.

The city hopes to revitalize the aging area with new zoning standards for mixed-use developments — projects that combine living, working and shopping places in one — that will complement a bus rapid transit system the Regional Transportation Commission plans to build along Boulder Highway.

The RTC's project has been delayed to 2011, and city planners said they have adjusted the strategy.

Measures to establish landscaping guidelines and rezone property along Boulder Highway to the new Corridor Mixed-Use Standard are expected to be introduced early next year.

When members of the City Council and Planning Commission saw a draft of the plan in June, they gave it a cool reception, saying it needed to take a second look at how it was treating open space. The renderings, which showed a linear park down the highway's wide median, raised concerns over finances and water usage.

City planners are still working on the median plan, which is expected to be a part of the landscaping guidelines that will be introduced next year.

Jeremy Twitchell can be reached at 990-8928 or jeremy.twitchell@hbcpub.com.