Commerce City commission recommends 84-lot Reunion subdivision
Seven speakers opposed the plat at a public hearing. City Council approval is still pending.
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Commerce City’s Planning Commission voted 3–2 on Sept. 1 to recommend approval of Oakwood Homes’ Reunion Filing 39, an 84-lot subdivision near Chambers Road and Heartland Drive.
The commission found the plat met Land Development Code criteria. The draft meeting minutes record Commissioners Shecter, Nelson and VanHeusen voting in favor, with Eggleston and Sanchez opposed. Seven speakers opposed the proposal at the hearing.
Filing 39 would divide about 22.46 acres west of Chambers Road and Heartland Drive into 84 lots and six tracts for open space, utilities and drainage. The subdivision report recommends approval to the City Council. An executed development agreement requires roadway and signal-related improvements, including an additional southbound lane and turn and acceleration lanes along Chambers Road, a portion of East 112th Avenue, and a contribution toward a future traffic signal at Chambers Road and Heartland Drive.
The proposal is part of a broader development area that includes Reunion Filing 40, a 203-lot project. A traffic study evaluating both filings projects 287 homes and 2,796 weekday vehicle trips, including 206 morning peak-hour trips and 277 evening peak-hour trips.
For 2045, the study projects two evening-peak movements at level of service E: eastbound left turns at Chambers Road and East 112th Avenue, and at Chambers Road and East 104th Avenue. It projects those conditions in both background-traffic and total-traffic scenarios and attributes them to background traffic rather than the Reunion filings. The study assumes future widening and other improvements, including a four-lane Chambers Road, ultimate improvements to East 112th Avenue and a six-lane East 104th Avenue. It recommends lengthening several turn lanes at Chambers Road and East 112th Avenue to address projected queues.
The seven speakers raised concerns about traffic congestion and safety near Heartland Drive, the timing of East 112th Avenue improvements, housing density and the piecemeal review of filings, limited retail and amenities, and pressure on schools, emergency services, water and other infrastructure. They also questioned metropolitan-district financing, taxes and transparency.
The applicant said Filing 39 was at the low end of the density allowed under the plan and that schools and parks had confirmed adequate capacity. It said retail development depends on market conditions and cannot be compelled by the developer or the city. Staff said notices went to property owners within 500 feet, beyond the code’s 300-foot requirement, and to two homeowners associations; staff could not confirm how the associations relayed the notice to residents.
On traffic, staff said Chambers Road volumes were too high for a roundabout at Heartland Drive. The applicant’s traffic engineer said the traffic study was approved in May 2025 and that a roundabout had been considered early in planning, while the city’s master planning identified a traffic signal. Staff described Chambers Road widening as phased, with the first phase planned from about 105th to 112th Avenue; a construction timeline had not been finalized.
The study also models a signal at Chambers Road and Heartland Drive. Oakwood Homes’ response to public comments says the city plans to install the signal in 2027 and that the city-approved study found acceptable operations through 2045 apart from the identified background-traffic conditions. The response says Filing 40 would build the portion of East 112th Avenue next to that subdivision. The broader corridor’s design, timing and funding are not specified in the supplied materials.
The city received 20 written comments during the notice period. The public-comment attachment records requests for hearings, delays or denials, and concerns about cumulative traffic, pedestrian and bicycle safety, emergency response, water pressure and supply, sewer and electrical capacity, wildfire safety, school transportation, retail and community amenities, and metropolitan-district taxes and governance. The comments document residents’ concerns and requests, not findings that the cited deficiencies occurred.
Oakwood said water and utility modeling had been reviewed by the South Adams County Water and Sanitation District and that the projects would include water and sewer lines, hydrants and other required infrastructure. The company said fire officials and utility agencies raised no capacity or safety objections during referral review. It also said it had not prepared a separate wildfire-mitigation analysis for dry, high-wind conditions along the Buffalo Run Golf Course.
School District 27J said in an Aug. 20 letter that Turnberry Elementary was expected to have about 540 students during the 2026-27 school year, compared with a building capacity of 874. The district also cited planned additions of 825 middle-school seats and 1,800 high-school seats for 2027-28, along with a possible 675-student kindergarten-through-eighth-grade facility. In its letter to the city, the district said capacity was expected to be adequate depending on construction timing, while acknowledging that some students could be bused more than three miles to Turnberry.
Oakwood said the filings would be included in the Reunion Village or Reunion Ridge metropolitan districts under service plans approved in 2019 and would not affect taxes in residents’ current districts. Questions about district tax levels, governance and existing infrastructure obligations remain matters for the metropolitan districts and the city. The recommendation goes to the City Council; its approval is pending.