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City looks to revamp bus stops
  
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By Peter Jones
The Centennial City Council is trying to develop a comprehensive plan for constructing new bus benches around the city in ways that would likely generate at least modest city income.
One thing is certain, so far, according to recent council consensus. The relatively unattractive concrete advertising benches that currently dominate the city’s RTD bus stops have got to go.
According to Mayor Randy Pye, Centennial’s current bus benches are more unsightly than those in many of the surrounding cities. At the July 6 council meeting, Pye recalled surveying benches on the east side of the city.
“We looked at the Aurora bus benches across the street and our bus benches and realized just how bad it looked,” the mayor told colleagues. “Just look around at all the surrounding communities and how ours look compared to everybody else’s.”
New, more attractive bus benches would help create a better impression of Centennial, according to Jeff Brasel, the city planner spearheading the move to revamp Centennial’s bus benches.
“One of the points of discussion in that process is city image and how these various elements in the streetscape contribute to the city’s image,” he told the council.
Centennial officials are considering two options — a traditional advertising-based system for bus benches and one that would rely more on grants through the Denver Regional Council of Governments.
“What it boils down to is timing versus revenue versus appearance and how important each of those are to city council at this time,” Brasel said.
In any case, plans would call for decorative benches at Centennial’s “gateways” and possibly “news rack furniture” in place of the plastic periodical vending stands that proliferate the city’s rights-of-ways.
The balance between aesthetic issues and financial prudence was of particular concern to District 3 Councilmember Rebecca McClellan, who argued that residents’ property values should take precedence over advertising revenue.
“I would want to make sure that whatever we do, we leave flexibility within the contract so if a neighborhood is expressing heartburn on a property-values basis regarding the advertising benches, that we allow them to have the power to have them removed,” she said.
According to Brasel’s staff report, any benches supported by advertising would be limited to high-profile “gateway” locations, such as Arapahoe Road, and “residential collector” streets on the outskirts of housing developments.
The city has received four proposals from potential bus-bench vendors. The bids fall into two categories — advertising-based and a “hybrid” approach that would offer benches with no advertising, but in conjunction with advertising on bus shelters and on-site kiosks.
“We think with the [proposed] grants, that the [hybrid] proposal would offer us the most bang for the buck,” Brasel said.
The staff has encouraged the council to consider bids from two firms, Creative Outdoor Advertising and Outdoor Promotions, both of which are proposing 10-year contracts.
The Creative Outdoor proposal is for an ad-based system. In addition to benches, the company’s design calls for trash and recycling receptacles, news rack dispensers and advertising panels. Due to ad revenue, such amenities, including decorative benches, would come at no cost to the city. Creative Outdoor would pay a flat $75 per-bench fee to the city.
In comparison, the bid from Outdoor Promotions is a “hybrid” model, in which the firm would use revenue from its existing shelters to cover maintenance and the purchase of benches that would carry no advertising. Centennial would participate in a revenue-sharing agreement with Outdoor Promotions that would net the city about $30,000 a year, according to Brasel’s staff report.
A possible temporary roadblock for immediate construction of new city bus stops is an unfinished study on ways future signage in Centennial may help define the 8-year-old city’s identity in the Denver metro area.
Some on council said the city should wait for that research to be completed before pursuing a major effort to rebuild the city’s highly visible bus-bench system.
“We need to get input on the bigger picture of how we’re going to have signs throughout the city before we move into a particular subcomponent of that,” District 1 Councilmember Rick Dindinger said.
Still, others felt the disrepair of some of the city’s current benches warrants action sooner than later.
“[A bus bench] isn’t just an ornament on the side of our street. It’s for people to use,” District 3’s Patrick Anderson said.
The situation is somewhat complicated by Centennial’s current contract with Outdoor Promotions , which will expire in five years. Renegotiation of that contract would be part of any action the council would take in the meantime.
One thing is certain, so far, according to recent council consensus. The relatively unattractive concrete advertising benches that currently dominate the city’s RTD bus stops have got to go.
According to Mayor Randy Pye, Centennial’s current bus benches are more unsightly than those in many of the surrounding cities. At the July 6 council meeting, Pye recalled surveying benches on the east side of the city.
“We looked at the Aurora bus benches across the street and our bus benches and realized just how bad it looked,” the mayor told colleagues. “Just look around at all the surrounding communities and how ours look compared to everybody else’s.”
New, more attractive bus benches would help create a better impression of Centennial, according to Jeff Brasel, the city planner spearheading the move to revamp Centennial’s bus benches.
“One of the points of discussion in that process is city image and how these various elements in the streetscape contribute to the city’s image,” he told the council.
Centennial officials are considering two options — a traditional advertising-based system for bus benches and one that would rely more on grants through the Denver Regional Council of Governments.
“What it boils down to is timing versus revenue versus appearance and how important each of those are to city council at this time,” Brasel said.
In any case, plans would call for decorative benches at Centennial’s “gateways” and possibly “news rack furniture” in place of the plastic periodical vending stands that proliferate the city’s rights-of-ways.
The balance between aesthetic issues and financial prudence was of particular concern to District 3 Councilmember Rebecca McClellan, who argued that residents’ property values should take precedence over advertising revenue.
“I would want to make sure that whatever we do, we leave flexibility within the contract so if a neighborhood is expressing heartburn on a property-values basis regarding the advertising benches, that we allow them to have the power to have them removed,” she said.
According to Brasel’s staff report, any benches supported by advertising would be limited to high-profile “gateway” locations, such as Arapahoe Road, and “residential collector” streets on the outskirts of housing developments.
The city has received four proposals from potential bus-bench vendors. The bids fall into two categories — advertising-based and a “hybrid” approach that would offer benches with no advertising, but in conjunction with advertising on bus shelters and on-site kiosks.
“We think with the [proposed] grants, that the [hybrid] proposal would offer us the most bang for the buck,” Brasel said.
The staff has encouraged the council to consider bids from two firms, Creative Outdoor Advertising and Outdoor Promotions, both of which are proposing 10-year contracts.
The Creative Outdoor proposal is for an ad-based system. In addition to benches, the company’s design calls for trash and recycling receptacles, news rack dispensers and advertising panels. Due to ad revenue, such amenities, including decorative benches, would come at no cost to the city. Creative Outdoor would pay a flat $75 per-bench fee to the city.
In comparison, the bid from Outdoor Promotions is a “hybrid” model, in which the firm would use revenue from its existing shelters to cover maintenance and the purchase of benches that would carry no advertising. Centennial would participate in a revenue-sharing agreement with Outdoor Promotions that would net the city about $30,000 a year, according to Brasel’s staff report.
A possible temporary roadblock for immediate construction of new city bus stops is an unfinished study on ways future signage in Centennial may help define the 8-year-old city’s identity in the Denver metro area.
Some on council said the city should wait for that research to be completed before pursuing a major effort to rebuild the city’s highly visible bus-bench system.
“We need to get input on the bigger picture of how we’re going to have signs throughout the city before we move into a particular subcomponent of that,” District 1 Councilmember Rick Dindinger said.
Still, others felt the disrepair of some of the city’s current benches warrants action sooner than later.
“[A bus bench] isn’t just an ornament on the side of our street. It’s for people to use,” District 3’s Patrick Anderson said.
The situation is somewhat complicated by Centennial’s current contract with Outdoor Promotions , which will expire in five years. Renegotiation of that contract would be part of any action the council would take in the meantime.
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