When Windsor, Colorado set out to reimagine its downtown, the community wasn’t starting from scratch. They already had history, character, and plenty of passion for what their downtown could be. What they needed was a clear vision, and a way to turn that vision into reality. That’s where RVi came in to help shape Colorado’s first Downtown Master Plan.

Phase I: A Vision That Won Hearts (and Awards)

The goal for Phase I of the Windsor Downtown Master Plan simple but ambitious: partner with the Windsor Downtown Alliance (WDA) and the Town of Windsor to create a plan that reflected the community’s aspirations for an active, walkable, and vibrant downtown.

RVi Director of Planning Will Wagenlander and his team brought together foundational planning, design strategy, and a fresh creative approach that resonated with Windsor’s leadership and community members.

“From the start, listening was key,” said Will. “Previous projects had left some residents skeptical, so we focused on rebuilding trust, engaging the community in conversations, capturing their ideas, and shaping them into a plan that felt both bold and realistic.”

Instead of a dense, text-heavy document, the RVi team reimagined how to tell Windsor’s story through a visually engaging and easy-to-understand plan. This approach not only connected with Town staff but also energized residents and business owners.

At the heart of the plan was an exciting idea: transforming 5th Street into a pedestrian plaza that could serve as the true hub of downtown. The one block plaza would provide a safe, family friendly gathering space and a north south connection linking residents to nearby parks and Windsor Lake, an especially meaningful improvement given that Main Street, a busy state highway, intersects with 5th Street.

The plan also identified underutilized parcels, analyzed their redevelopment potential, and demonstrated the economic and community benefits of reinvestment. This gave property owners a clearer picture of how their sites could contribute to the larger vision while creating opportunities for growth.

The final plan, full of color and accessible graphics, was met with overwhelming positivity and went on to win the “Colorful Colorado Award: Best Small Town Downtown Plan” at the Downtown Colorado Inc. Annual Conference.

“We’re especially proud of this recognition because it validated Windsor’s vision on a larger, statewide stage,” said Will. “This is one of the fastest-growing areas in Colorado, and I’m glad we were able to capture its potential in a way that resonated.”

Phase II: Transforming the Vision Into Code

It’s one thing to imagine a more vibrant downtown, it’s another to translate that vision into zoning, regulations, and standards that guide real world development.

Thanks to the strong community trust built during Phase I, Windsor invited RVi to continue into Phase II: rewriting the downtown land development code.

For this stage, RVi Senior Planner Courtney Levingston drew on her deep experience in municipal planning and entitlements. Over six months, she led the RVi team in aligning Windsor’s code with the community’s goals, such as allowing residential uses on upper stories to bring more people downtown and enhancing design standards to ensure that new development adds character and energy. Importantly, these design expectations became requirements embedded in the code rather than suggestions in a manual.

“To translate the vision into effective code, we had to stay focused on the big picture,” said Courtney. “Our role was not only to draft regulations but also to empower Windsor by ensuring the code truly reflected their vision. We wanted the Town and community to feel ownership of what we were building together.”

Through this process, RVi helped balance the needs of the Town, the WDA, and community members, building consensus and embedding it into policy that will guide Windsor’s future.

The RVi Difference: Partnering with Communities Every Step of the Way

The Windsor Downtown Master Plan shows how RVi supports communities from start to finish, not just with inspiring ideas but with practical tools to bring those ideas to life. From planning and entitlement to community engagement and design, our team is committed to delivering results that set communities up for long term success.

From award winning vision to real world code, Windsor’s story demonstrates what’s possible when creativity, collaboration, and community come together, and we’re proud to have been part of it.