A new residential development of 190 condo units and 80 townhome units will be coming to the City of Lone Tree, despite some concerns about its proximity to Centennial Airport and the Federal Aviation Administration’s opposition.

The development will be located east of Interstate 25 near the southeast corner of the intersection of RidgeGate Parkway and Lyric Street.

Construction is already happening in the area as part of the RidgeGate East development, which is south of Lincoln Avenue and east of I-25. Planned development includes a city center, commercial districts, a regional park and three residential villages. 

The City of Lone Tree's land use and density framework plan for the RidgeGate East development, which is south of Lincoln Avenue and east of …

One of the residential villages is the Southwest Village, which is also referred to as Lyric. The condominium and townhome units will be within this area, according to a city staff report. 

The currently undeveloped land will consist of 19 condo buildings, with 10 units in each building, as well as 20 townhome buildings with four units in each. 

The developer of the combined 270 dwelling units is Lokal Homes. According to the developer’s website, building will begin around the summer of 2024, with the goal of the townhomes and condos being ready for residents to move in starting in early 2025.

The airport traffic control tower, which opened in 1985, at Centennial Airport.

FAA strongly opposed development

The townhomes and condos will be located southwest of Centennial Airport, prompting concerns from both the airport and the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, about potential impacts for future residents.  

In a letter sent April 24, the FAA said it “strongly opposes” the development because of its close proximity to Centennial Airport.

The FAA said the northern boundary of the development is less than 2.5 miles from the end of one of the airport’s runways. 

“This means residents of the proposed development will be subject to ongoing aircraft noise and overflights of aircraft at low altitudes as aircraft approach and depart the airport, including training traffic using Runway 17R/35L,” the FAA said.

Dozens of community members attended the Centennial Airport Community Noise Roundtable meeting on May 3.

The FAA noted that the City of Lone Tree is a member of the Centennial Airport Community Noise Roundtable. 

For months, residents have been attending the noise roundtable meetings to raise concerns about increased aircraft traffic, noise and lead pollution impacting the community, specifically those living north of Arapahoe Road. A group of residents even created an organization to pursue legal action. 

“To prevent further conflict, it would seem in the city’s best interest to protect the welfare of its citizens by restricting residential development in Centennial Airport’s approach and departure areas,” the FAA said.

The development is in-line with the flight path established by the FAA-owned “instrument landing system” for one of Centennial Airport’s runways, the FAA said. 

An instrument landing system is a ground-based instrument approach system that helps a pilot approach and land safely on a runway during times of poor visibility. The FAA said many pilots use this approach, resulting in it being “one of the more popular and busy flight paths” into the airport.

In an April 26 letter, Centennial Airport also said it has concerns about having a high-density residential development directly under the instrument landing system approach.

An image provided in the April 26, 2023, letter from Centennial Airport to the City of Lone Tree, showing the instrument landing system approach.

The airport warned that this approach will see overflights at all hours of the day regardless of weather conditions. 

Centennial Airport said the development is within the buffer zone of the “airport influence area,” and that no new residential or noise-sensitive developments are recommended in the buffer zone. 

“We feel that it is imperative that future homeowners be made aware of this prior to the purchase of a home through both the avigation easement … license and overflight disclosures,” the airport said.

Responding to airport concerns

In response to the concerns, a Lone Tree city staff report said there will be numerous notices to future residents of the potential impacts of purchasing property near the airport. 

For example, the report said a note has been added to the development’s site improvement plan putting future owners and occupants on notice that the property is subject to a recorded “avigation notice.” 

The avigation notice is a document recorded against the property, so it will be included in any future title work associated with any transfer of property ownership, per the report. 

The report said, in part, that this “will ensure future buyers and residents are provided record notice of the potential impacts of living in the vicinity of the airport.”

These impacts may include aircraft noise, vibration, fumes, fuel particles, exhaust, and the operation and passage of aircraft above or near the property, per the report.

An airplane takes off from Centennial Airport, located in Arapahoe County.

During the city council public hearing for the development, held in August, the city staff presentation noted that there is an avigation notice recorded “over (the) entire RidgeGate property east of I-25.”

The city’s municipal code also requires for aircraft overflight disclosure notices on the plats and the site improvement plans, according to the presentation.

“The applicant has provided determinations of no hazard to air navigation for the site,” said Chuck Darnell, a city planner.

Lokal Homes also responded to the FAA’s comments in a letter, providing an engineer’s certification and attestation that the development has followed the FAA’s notice and development review processes.

At the public hearing, Tommy Pucciano, a Lokal Homes employee, described how the development team plans to address sound concerns, such as by having a sound engineer consultant and using certain insulation materials. 

“We don’t feel like the sound issue is going to be a problem at all,” Pucciano said. “We’ve built in other areas that actually have some more stringent conditions.”

Lokal Homes will complete noise testing after construction to verify that the interior noise attenuation is at or below 45 decibels, according to the city staff report. 

Pucciano said there will also be language in the sales contracts that discusses the development’s proximity to the airport. 

The city’s planning commission unanimously recommended the city council approve the development application. 

Following the public hearing, the Lone Tree City Council unanimously approved the site improvement plans for the townhomes and condos.  

A rendering of Lokal Homes’ proposed development in Lone Tree, consisting of 190 condo units and 80 townhome units. The development will be located …

Lone Tree’s first condo development in years

As previously reported by Colorado Community Media, with the dominance of single-family homes, many communities in Colorado face a “missing middle,” meaning there are not a lot of diverse housing options such as townhomes and condos. 

Lone Tree Mayor Jackie Millet said that, to her recollection, Lone Tree had not seen a condo development in roughly 15 years.  

“We are so, so excited about this opportunity coming to our city,” Millet said.

Lokal Homes plans to build 190 condo units and 80 townhome units in Lone Tree. The development will be located east of Interstate 25 near the …

The condominium development will be built on 11.83 acres and include five stand-alone garage buildings, according to the city staff report. In total, there are 428 planned parking spaces — including residential and guest parking — for the 190 condo units. 

There will be two different types of condominium buildings, with a maximum height of about 41.5 feet for one type and 42.5 feet for the other. 

The townhomes will be built on 3.71 acres and parking will be provided primarily in the garage spaces attached to and within each townhome unit, according to the staff report. There are 190 parking spaces planned for the 80 townhome units. 

Similar to the condos, there are two different types of townhome buildings. The maximum heights of the buildings will be about 40 feet.

A rendering of Lokal Homes’ proposed development in Lone Tree, consisting of 190 condo units and 80 townhome units. The development will be in the …

Pucciano said there will be two homeowners associations, also referred to as HOAs. One of them — most likely the condominium HOA — will serve as the master association, and the townhome HOA will pay a cost-sharing portion into that, he said.

Millet raised some concerns about snow storage and plowing in the development. 

The snow storage for the condos was proposed to be located in smaller areas throughout the site, primarily at the end of drive aisles and surface parking lots, according to the staff report.

For the townhomes, snow storage was proposed to be located at the southern end of the north-south drive aisles throughout the site, per the staff report.

Millet said she would like for the HOA covenants to address snow storage by ensuring that snow from the property is not placed on city rights-of-way, such as city roads. 

When the city council voted to approve the development, the council members added the condition that language be added to the site improvement plan and HOA documents stating that snow from the private roads will not be placed in the city rights-of-way.

Those interested in learning more about the development can visit cityoflonetree.com/projects/lokal-homes-lyric-condominiums-townhomes/.