Englewood council to review strategic-plan projects ahead of 2027 budget process
A draft list includes housing, infrastructure, safety and sustainability initiatives, some of which could require future budget decisions.
Englewood City Council is scheduled Aug. 17 to review a draft list of projects and performance measures for the city’s new Strategic Plan. The plan has not been adopted, and no post-session changes were available as of Aug. 14.
The council’s 6-7 p.m. study session is expected to focus on final suggestions and measures for each of the plan’s seven priorities, according to the Aug. 17 council packet. Staff plans to begin tracking projects and metrics in the fourth quarter of 2026, pending council approval. The packet does not give a date for formal approval or publication.
The draft priorities are affordability, economic vitality, infrastructure, livability, safety, sustainability and public service delivery. Proposed initiatives include preserving and expanding affordable housing, analyzing missing-middle housing, reforming business permitting, addressing commercial vacancies, expanding homelessness navigation and safe-parking planning, improving public-safety reporting, completing City Ditch piping, installing advanced water meters, adding traffic-calming and safe-routes programs, preserving tree canopy, and expanding recycling and green-workforce programs.
Some proposals could require future funding. Neighborhood traffic-calming implementation is estimated to need at least $250,000 in ongoing 2027 funding, which the packet says had not been identified. The South Broadway Flexible Improvement Grants program could receive an additional $40,000 in 2027. A library maker space could require about $100,000 for a retrofit, $20,000 for heating and ventilation work, and roughly $200,000 annually for one to three full-time positions.
The project list is not a budget or spending authorization. The packet identifies some initiatives as requiring no additional funding or relying on existing budgets or outside funding, but it does not establish that council has appropriated money or that any project is included in the 2027 operating budget or Capital Improvement Program. It says prioritization could guide those budget discussions.
The Aug. 17 materials propose changes including deleting a food-access map project and some transportation and recreation projects, modifying neighborhood traffic calming, retaining a drone first-responder program while removing increased camera use, and revising sustainability projects. Those remain proposals for council discussion. An earlier schedule had contemplated adoption in March, according to a prior staff communication, but the later packet lists the adoption date as undetermined. The final project list, metrics and adoption date will need to be confirmed after the study session.