Citizens for a Better Centennial
We are a group of citizens monitoring issues in the City of Centennial, Colorado
2018 Referendum Petition
against additional auto dealerships on Arapahoe Road
Thank you to all of the petition signers, volunteers and supporters!
City council voted 7-1 (NO vote was from Weidmann, District 4) on December 3rd to repeal the ordinance
that would have allowed additional dealerships on Arapahoe Road:
ORDINANCE NO. 2018-O-24 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CENTENNIAL, COLORADO
REPEALING ORDINANCE NO. 2018-O-13 CONCERNING NEW RETAIL AUTOMOBILE SALES BUSINESSES
ALONG THE CENTRAL ARAPAHOE ROAD CORRIDOR
Please Note: This repeal ordinance also includes the wording below:
Section 2. This Ordinance is neither intended to nor shall be interpreted to prevent or preclude the City Council
from the exercise of its legislative authority to enact provisions identical to or substantially similar to
the provisions of repealed Ordinance No. 2018-O-13.
The issue of allowing additional car dealerships
should have been a settled question.
In 2016, 5,000 Centennial residents signed a petition and the Centennial
City Council honored their request to keep the ban on car dealerships on Arapahoe Road. A Referendum Petition was filed and was successful. However, in 2018, the City passed a NEW ordinance allowing dealerships on Arapahoe Road. For more history on this issue, click here.
This ordinance would have allowed any previously developed parcels to
REDEVELOP into DEALERSHIPS.
Even Rahal Motors doesn't think dealerships should be close to neighborhoods.
A recent message from a citizen of Centennial:
The Centennial Petition is NOT a property rights issue for car dealerships
They are out there with the fancy local newspaper ads and robo calls and junk mail. The car dealerships that would like to invade our community are claiming the petition will take away their 'property rights'. Guess what? Property owners do NOT currently have the 'property right' to build additional car dealerships along Arapahoe Road between Quebec Street and Parker Road. In fact, the property owner near Blackhawk and Arapahoe Road, purchased the properties in 2016 with the knowledge that those lots nave NEVER been zoned for a car dealership use.
If Centennial City council allows just one more car dealership on Arapahoe Road, they will HAVE to allow many more. We do not want our future Arapahoe Road to look like tacky car lots with tall light fixtures, loud car washes and car repairs centers, test drivers in our neighborhoods and glass buildings that do not belong here.
In 2005 Centennial City Council passed an ordinance to protect the residents from that type of use. I was sitting in the meeting when that ordinance was approved by city council. Their discussion was all about protecting residential areas.
In 2016 and 2018 Centennial City Council (not all but a majority of them) do not seem to understand or realize that homeowners have property rights too. We have been fighting this issue for over a DECADE when another car dealership proposed to build at Blackhawk and Arapahoe Road. WE WON THE FIGHT BECAUSE OUR COMMUNITY STOOD UP AND VOICED OUR OPINION.
The Centennial Petition is intended to protect the property rights of the nearby homeowners that have owned their property for many decades. The vacant parcels and possible redevelopment parcels along Arapahoe Road have NEVER been zoned for car dealerships.
PLEASE STAND UP AGAIN TO PROTECT YOUR HOMEOWNER PROPERTY RIGHTS and consider signing our petition.
– Rhonda Livingston, Algonquin Acres
On August 13th, 2018, the CITY VOTED IN A NEW ORDINANCE (5-4 vote, NOT unanimous) that would have immediately cleared the way for a Mercedes dealership at the corner of Blackhawk and Arapahoe next to the Centennial Medical Center and several neighborhoods.
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Who told Rahal to go ahead and purchase the property even though the zoning was not approved for car dealerships? Rahal Motors purchased the property at Blackhawk and Arapahoe BEFORE it had the zoning it needed for a car dealership.
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Land Development Code tells a land owner what they can and cannot build. If a property is not zoned for what the land owner wants to build, they are not allowed to build it. Period. This is NOT taking away property rights!
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Why would Rahal Automotive, 1500 miles from Centennial and based solely in Pennsylvania with at least 12 facilities start looking here? It is very likely that once this dealership is approved then they will look to expand in the same area!
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This was CUSTOM ZONING for a Mercedes dealership, AND it opened the door to MORE dealerships on Arapahoe Road. The CEO of Rahal Motors said Centennial citizens are "stupid peons."
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The citizens made it clear in 2016 they don't want more dealerships.
When a vehicle is purchased, the tax from that sale goes to the city where the purchaser lives, NOT to the city where it’s sold, unless the purchaser lives in that city. The only tax revenue that comes directly to the city comes from the service/repair centers within those dealerships, on taxable items such as oil, brake pads, and other car parts. But not on labor. Therefore, because dealerships generate relatively little revenue per acre, most cities seek more community-friendly, higher revenue generating businesses for their main transportation corridors, like those along South University Blvd. in Centennial.
An out-of-state auto dealer had already purchased and assembled six lots totaling 5+ acres at Blackhawk Street and Arapahoe, immediately west of Centennial Medical Plaza - across from several neighborhoods. Centennial’s current auto dealerships are NOT located near residential neighborhoods, but under this new ordinance, new dealerships are allowed near neighborhoods.
This ordinance would have allowed MORE dealerships to be built on Arapahoe – not only on undeveloped parcels, but on ANY 5-acre piece that can be assembled by combining several smaller lots, or by redeveloping older commercial areas into dealerships, anywhere from Quebec Street to Parker Rd – this would include the Safeway Center at Quebec and Arapahoe, and with minor zoning changes, the retail area between Yosemite and I-25, just south of Arapahoe Road.
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Doesn't Centennial deserve something other than car dealerships? The citizens have said over and over that they do not want more dealerships.
