AURORA | With development officially coming to the land around Denver International Airport, city and state stakeholders are now making plans for what that development could look like.
At an Aurora City Council study session Monday, Aurora City Council members reviewed the latest economic projections to come out of a study funded by a Federal Highway Administration grant and administered by the Colorado Department of Transportation.
An aerotropolis is an urban plan in which the layout, infrastructure, and economy is all centered on and around an airport.
The CDOT vision study shows 18 to 32 million square feet of new commercial development could occur to the areas west and south of DIA in coming years. That development could bring with it up to $630 million in tax revenue. By 2040, the study predicts there could be 74,000 new jobs at DIA. It also projects that an aerotropolis around DIA could attract 210,000 new residents and create up to 9,000 direct and 3,200 indirect construction jobs over 25 years.
“Think in terms of the way we build cities along waterways or ports and harbors. We then focused around railroad depots, and then the interstate system. The next couple centuries are going to be around airports,” said Rick Pilgrim, senior vice president of HDR Engineering, Inc., a consultant on the study.
Pilgrim said such rosy economic projections could only come to fruition if the municipalities surrounding the airport — which include Adams County, Aurora, Brighton, Commerce City and Denver — come together with DIA to form a form a regional governing entity to oversee the aerotropolis.
After decades of bitter negotiation, last year Denver and Adams County approved ballot measure 1A. That measure gave Denver the right to allow commercial development as part of a pilot program on up to 1,500 acres of land around the airport. The measure amended a 1988 intergovernmental agreement between Denver and Adams County that stalled the notion of an aerotropolis near DIA because it only allowed airport-related development on Denver’s DIA property.
As part of the new IGA between municipalities surrounding the airport, Denver will pay $10 million — of which Aurora is set to receive $2.7 million — and Denver also has to evenly split tax revenues that come from new businesses with surrounding cities.
Pilgrim said during the meeting that even with new development, the most important part of an aerotropolis would still be DIA’s ability to expand.
“The airport area is about importing and exporting globally. We’re no longer competing among ourselves or even regionally. But we’re competing with entities that are in Europe or Asia, even Africa. Putting us on the map in a competitive format is key,” he said.
The study concludes that DIA could add six more runways in the coming years to an airport that is already the fifth busiest in the nation and the thirteenth busiest in the world. Currently DIA supports about 200,000 direct and indirect jobs and pumps $26 billion into the regional economy. It opened in 1995.
Under the agreement, Aurora does not have to pay for any of the possible infrastructure costs incurred by any new businesses. But Pilgrim said creating infrastructure around DIA would be crucial for future development.
According to the study, $1 billion will need to be spent on creating roads near DIA. The study is also taking into account 25,000 acres of planned development near the airport, not just the 1,500 acres included as part of the revised IGA.
Pilgrim said CDOT officials envision a complete build-out of DIA’s aerotropolis between 2070 or 2080.
“If a foreign company comes here, are we energized to make Aurora look as great as we are?” asked Aurora City Councilman Charlie Richardson.
He said he wanted the Aurora Economic Development Council to devote staff members to making sure Aurora is a leader in decisions involving the future aerotropolis.
— Aurora Sentinel Staff Writer Quincy Snowdon contributed to this story.