The Town of Norwood has submitted a Letter of Intent to purchase the current site and facilities from the Norwood School District. With support from the Colorado Brownfields Technical Assistance Grant, the town has developed conceptual ideas for potential reuse of the property.
Below are some of the ideas that have been proposed. Please note that these are preliminary concepts, and any direct questions or concerns should be directed to the Town of Norwood. These plans are not finalized and are intended only as initial suggestions from the technical assistance grant process.
To see the full plan and supporting information please go to https://www.norwoodtown.com/codes-plans and review the Norwood School Site Reuse Study.
COMMUNITY CENTER-HUB
This concept shows the site continuing in primarily public uses as a new civic community
center, which the Town has proposed if funding can be secured. In this concept, all the
schools move to an integrated campus on the District’s new site. While the high school
buildings are demolished, other existing buildings are renovated and reused to house public
and civic uses as well as some workforce housing. The ballfields and basketball courts
remain for District and public use.
The elementary and middle school buildings comprise approximately 27,250 sq. ft. They are
structurally sound and could be remodeled to house all of the following uses:
● Town Hall offices (~ 2,000 sq. ft.)
● Town shop with a garage for up to 4 vehicles (~ 2,700 sq ft.).
● Fire station (~ 6,000 sq. ft.)
● Post office
● Food bank and other local non-profits
● Private daycare (leased space)
The existing 4,800 sq. ft. weight room building could be renovated and expanded up to
6,750 sq. ft. into a small recreation center/public gym that could include locker rooms and
concessions to serve sports competitions at the ballfields. A small enclosed pool could
potentially be built near the play area and basketball courts, if a funding stream for
maintenance is identified.
The existing preschool building could be renovated and reverted back to a 5-7 unit
apartment building. There is also space for a new 3-story, 24 unit workforce apartment
building where the high school was. This
could potentially be Town- or Housing
Authority-owned, or a joint public-private
development.
RESIDENTIAL REDEVELOPMENT
This concept is one of three that shows a market-driven redevelopment opportunity, in the
event the Town does not get support or funding for a Civic Center. The strongest market
demand in the area is for housing from both locals and the commuter workforce, depending
on price points. In this concept, all schools and the ballfields are rebuilt at the new site, and
all existing buildings on the site are demolished.
To address a community need for affordable housing, the District could give the site to the
Housing Authority or affordable housing developer with conditions on the type and pricing
of homes, which could result in all affordable or a mix of market rate and affordable units.
This concept is shown using the entire site (versus leaving the ballfields in place) as that
would help create economies of scale to keep per unit home prices down.
Alternatively, the District could sell the site to a private housing developer, possibly with
conditions on the type and number of homes. Selling the site would earn some funds to use
toward rebuilding the schools and ballfields. Without subsidies, housing built by a for-profit
developer would cost more than most locals can afford.
Many different layouts and mixes of the types of housing are possible. The concept sketch
illustrates a mix of single family lots, townhomes, and a 3-story, 24 unit multi family
apartment building, creating a range of housing types and prices. All of the housing types
could be either modular or on-site construction.
For parking, the concept assumes single family homes with garages, townhomes with
“tuck-under” parking on the ground floor of the units, and apartments with a combination of
surface and tuck-under parking. On-street parking should also be provided on all public
streets. The site should also include central shared green space for the entire development.
LODGING REDEVELOPMENT
This concept is one of three that focuses on a market-driven redevelopment opportunity, in
the event the Town does not get support or funding for a Civic Center. In this concept, all
schools and the ballfields are rebuilt at the District’s new site, and all existing buildings
except the Pre-K building are demolished. The entire site, or the portion not including the
ball fields, could be rezoned and developed as an RV campground and motel.
The pre-K building could be renovated and reverted back to a 5-7 unit apartment building.
The existing elementary school and a portion of the middle school could be scraped down
to the foundation, enabling a motel to be built there cost-effectively as the footprint is
similar. Depending on ownership, either the Pre-K building or a portion of the motel could be
renovated as a visitor center/general store for the campground.
The campground could have a variety of sites to accommodate large recreation vehicles,
fifth wheels, smaller campers or vans, and tent sites located at the northern edge of the site
under the large existing trees. In addition, some sites could include tiny homes or camper
trailers for short term rentals. Some of the grass areas from the existing ball fields can
remain as green space for the campground. The site could be designed with pedestrian
access to the fairgrounds.
One option would be to rezone the site and sell it to a private campground developer.
Alternatively, the Town could build and run this, likely at a profit, creating more local control
over the visitor amenities in the area and a new revenue stream to support public services. If
the Town owned and operated the site, rezoning would be unnecessary.
Examples of Town-owned RV parks include Clear Creek RV Park in Golden and Telluride
Town Campground Park. A comparable example of a recently developed, privately owned
campground can be found in Grand Junction at Camp Eddy.
BUSINESS PARK REDEVELOPMENT
This concept is one of three that focuses on a market-driven redevelopment opportunity, in
the event the Town does not get support or funding for a Civic Center. In this concept, all
schools and the ballfields are rebuilt at the new site, the entire site is rezoned for
commercial mixed use, and it is sold to a private developer. Selling the site would earn some
funds to use toward rebuilding the school facilities.
The preschool building could be renovated and reverted back to a 5-7 unit apartment
building. The existing elementary school and a portion of the middle school could
affordably be converted to self storage or flexible commercial/light industrial buildings.
This concept illustrates a variety of small pad sites ranging from 2,500 sq. ft. to 6,000 sq. ft.
that could be used for auto oriented service or light industrial uses with high parking
demands that are not a strong fit for Grand Avenue. The larger flex space buildings ranging
from 10,000 – 19,200 sq. ft. are easily subdivided into smaller or larger modules that could
include small business warehouses with garages, laundry facilities, showroom, office, and
light manufacturing. A comparable example of this type of use can be found in the new
Montrose Colorado Outdoors Campus (shown below) and examples of the flex space in this
development can be found here. Other examples of flex space developments can be found
at flexshops.com.
A private developer would typically be interested in acquiring the entire site, and phasing
development over time to meet paced demand for business flex space. However, this
concept could also be accomplished at a smaller scale by selling only a portion of the site,
with the Town or District retaining the Pre-K building, ballfields, and access to the ballfields.
Friends Supporting Norwood Schools 