The Denver Connection and the Pena Blvd buffer

The area just north of I-70 on either side of Pena Blvd, is called the "Denver Connection".  This neighborhood was previously known at the Denver Gateway Area.  It is near a light-rail stop.

Once considered “out on the prairie”, Denver Connection is now surrounded by development on four sides making it a true infill location in the metro area’s core city of Denver. Denver Connection is one of the last remaining large tracts of residentially zoned land in the City and County of Denver.  
http://www.denverconnection.com

It might be interesting to compare this to the original "Airport Gateway Development Area".   The area is still mostly undeveloped, 27 years after this conceptual plan was produced in 1990.  The biggest obvious difference is the width of the buffer around Pena Blvd.   The conceptual plan has a buffer only about 100 feet on either side of the highway, maybe 400 feet wide total, whereas the actually developed buffer Pena Blvd is about 1/2 mile from one side to the other (1,000 feet on either side).

Why is it so wide?  The 1,000 feet is for a "scenic" buffer.  Apparently it is to protect wildlife, including possibly burrowing owls, raptors, and prairie dogs.

But the result is to make this very unfriendly for human urban development.  The area between the Rocky Mountain Arsenal and the currently alignment of Pena Boulevard used to have a trailer park. (This is in a park called "First Creek Park Open Space").  The only reason for this to be removed was apparently because it was "undesirable", since the land will not be redeveloped.  The effect of the wildlife buffer is to contribute to urban sprawl, and it makes the area seem post-apocalyptic.  It is eerie to have an area that used to have human inhabitants and is now empty of them, but with signs of previous human life.

My point is that the whole area seems somewhat sterile and unfriendly, and it may never thrive as an urban environment.  It could have been planned much better.

===================
Update:  I have re-read the Airport Gateway Development Area plan.  Almost none of it has been built, except for Green Valley Ranch, and a small section of motels on Tower between 67th and 71st.