Massive change is in store for the original terminus of Denver’s first light-rail line as the city and developers make plans for a dense new urban neighborhood near Interstate 25 and Broadway.

But as mid-rise apartment and office buildings sprout in coming years — in part on the now-cleared Gates Rubber Co. plant site — the city faces a tension that’s unique in scope among several big opportunities for development near transit.

The land likely to be most prized by developers now is covered by many of the 1,300 parking spaces for commuters who park at the station before catching trains downtown and to the suburbs. The tension has been underlined by some commuters’ reaction to a new 20-year city plan that’s meant to guide development.

Although the I-25 and Broadway Station Area Plan gives a nod to maintaining parking in some form for commuters, they say their interest — as avid transit users — is sidelined in the plan’s vague assurances.

“It’s not as specific as (plans for) other modes of transportation and access are,” said Kara Choquette, who lives near Washington Park and sometimes parks at Broadway on her way to work downtown when the University of Denver station’s parking is full. “It could be improved to at least that level of specificity. I think that’s what makes a better plan.”

The Planning Board and City Council also received e-mails from commuters who drive from as far away as Highlands Ranch to park at Broadway, citing inadequate parking at closer stations or inconvenient bus service.

City planners caution that the plan looks ahead decades, and its recommendations depend on the uncertainty of developers and city plans and funding, making specific predictions difficult.

But the plan does offer some guidance. Future parking — now mostly in lots owned by the Regional Transportation District, including some underneath the I-25 viaduct — more likely will be in new garages as part of developments. And some commuters may have to walk farther to catch the train.

The station’s 22-year history of offering extensive parking is a challenge not faced by another big upcoming transit-oriented development opportunity, that one near the 38th and Blake Station on the East Line, which opens April 22.

But the 97-page I-25 and Broadway plan, which city planners presented this week to the City Council, envisions the station at a turning point.

As RTD’s second-busiest transit station, after Union Station, it’s on the cusp of a years-long transformation from a disconnected park-n-Ride to a vibrant, walkable neighborhood that accommodates pedestrians and bicycles as much as cars.

“Again, we’re really trying to maximize transit access, while balancing the place-making potential of the station area as an urban center, eventually integrating the commuter parking into the larger development area,” principal city planner David Gaspers told the council’s Neighborhoods and Planning Committee on Wednesday.

That, he said, will require a parking management strategy that evolves over 10 or 20 years, working with RTD — whose board must publicly decide station parking matters — and property owners and neighborhoods.

RTD has lots with roughly 1,000 spaces, and about 300 are on adjacent private property.

“Our goal is to maintain the parking that we control” in some form, said Bill Sirois, the agency’s senior manager for transit-oriented communities.

Before the council votes to adopt the plan, it will have a public hearing at its April 4 meeting.

Planners drafted the plan with help from a half-dozen neighborhood groups and developers who own land in the area — including one making plans for the expansive 40-acre former Gates property, which covers most open land south of I-25 between the South Platte River and Broadway. Broadway Station Partners has begun presenting plans for a roughly 10-year build-out to neighborhood groups.

Environmental cleanup is underway, and soon it likely will begin selling parcels to vertical developers to build a blend of office buildings nearest to I-25 and roughly 2,600 residential units south of the station.

“This is an area that, between some major land owners around this station and Alameda station, has the potential to really be midtown Denver,” said Councilman Jolon Clark, who represents the area. “A place to live, work and play that … really fills a need that we have in the city as a job base but also a place to put a thriving urban community.”

The plan calls for maximum building heights ranging from five to 16 stories. None likely will reach quite that height because the city restricts any buildings from blocking the mountain views from Washington Park, which is directly east of the station.

A half-dozen nearby neighborhood associations lobbied heavily for project ideas in the new station plan that would connect the disjointed area from east to west.

Light rail and freight railroad tracks slice through the area, while residents west of the South Platte River face that additional barrier in reaching the station.

The plan calls for a series of “transformative” projects to address connectivity. Those include pedestrian bridges, similar to those that knit together the Central Platte Valley to Highland, to cross those barriers and also connect with the river path and Vanderbilt Park West. Those pose a future funding challenge to the city.

The projects also include a grand public plaza near the light-rail platform. A pedestrian-friendly “shared street” parallel to Broadway would provide a fresh gateway from new buildings south of the station and the fast-revitalizing South Broadway corridor.

Luchia Brown, president of the Baker Neighborhood Association, which includes the station, said the density of development envisioned by the plan is appropriate, given the transit access.

The group supports the plan, despite some concerns from members that include the potential of using tax-increment financing to support development. Another centers on the city’s upcoming widening project for Broadway, which predates the plan and seems, to some, counter to its vision.

“Widening Broadway in an area you want to make more pedestrian-friendly doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense,” Brown said.

Jon Murray: 303-954-1405, jmurray@denverpost.com or @JonMurray