A bill for an ordinance designating certain property as being required for public use and authorizing use and acquisition thereof by negotiation or through condemnation proceedings of fee simple and other interests, including any rights and interests related or appurtenant to such property, as needed for the National Western Center Project. (FINANCE & SERVICES) Approves the designation of certain properties as required for public use and authores acquisition as needed for the implementation of the National Western Center Master plan vision. The Committee approved filing this bill at its meeting on 12-1-15.
I. Madam Secretary, please. Girls voting announced the results tonight. One abstention in ideal abstention final consideration of 955 has been postponed to January 11, 2016. All right. We had one bill on final call out 900 Councilman Flynn and I to Councilman Black as well. Kathleen Flynn, did you want that on the floor or do you have a comment? I believe kind of question. QUESTION Again, Councilwoman Black, if you want this, call that for vote. Correct. Correct. All right. So we need to have 900 placed on final consideration and do pass. Councilwoman Gilmore, will you please put 900 on the floor? Thank you, Mr. President. I move that council bill 900 be placed on final consideration and do pass. All right, it has been moved. Colleagues, we need a second on the screen. Moved and seconded. Thank you. Comments. Councilman Flynn. Thank you, Mr. President. I wanted to ask either Kelly or John a question about one aspect of the actually that's not in the bill, but relates to the Uniform Relocation Act that we have said that we would follow, pretty much follow during the acquisition process, even though there are no federal funds in there. And I just wanted to make a record, Mr. President, so that so that people would know going forward what our intent is, because it's not mentioned in the bill. So maybe, Jenn, you could just briefly explain to us what the Federal Uniform Relocation Act is and why we've chosen to follow it here. Sure, I'd be happy to. I'm General Warren with the city attorney's office. What you have in front of you is a is the ordinance that authorizes us to move forward with acquisition of land within the boundaries that are drawn in the ordinance, in addition to the acquisition, which we have to do in accordance, of course, with the Constitution where we pay just compensation for property. And in addition to the Constitution, we also have a state statute that requires that that acquisition take place in a certain manner. The the state. Law does not require that we pay for relocation. There is a federal law called the Uniform Relocation Act that requires payment for relocation for folks who are displaced by federal projects. This is neither being done by a federal agency nor has federal dollars in it. So this the Uniform Relocation Act does not apply by its terms. However, the city and Kelly's team at the DCC has decided that the right thing to do is help people relocate. But instead of creating a new scheme in which to figure out who gets what and what we pay for and and all that, that would be difficult and expensive to create on our own. We are going to use the Uniform Relocation Act as a guide. And indeed that has, as you might expect, uses federal dollars to relocate people displaced by their projects. And so there's a there's a manual that Scott puts out that's a good guide in how to implement the you are . So we will be doing that. It's just that by its terms, it doesn't apply. Mm hmm. Thank you. And I also Jen, I want to commend Kelly and the team for taking that on, because it's a moral obligation to this to help those who are displaced by our projects. There may be some areas and again, I just wanted to make a quick record. There may be some areas where we do not strictly follow the Federal Uniform Relocation Act, however. Is that. Correct? There may be. And we are in the process of hiring specialists who will help us with relocation, who actually they go and sit in people's homes if their homes are or go to their businesses and figure out exactly how that occurs. That's a very detailed work. And so we will have to. We plan on using those specialists to help us work through how we might use the U.S. But I expect in most big, big ways, we will follow it. Will you publish any brochure or or pamphlet that will? Yeah, there will be a. Lot of the property owners, what they were going to do. Collaterals, collateral materials provided during this process. Thank you, Mr. President. That's all. Thank you, Councilman Flynn. Councilwoman Black. Thank you, Mr. President. I will be abstaining from this vote tonight. I have family members who own property that may be acquired. It's a building where my father in law's business has been operating for 34 years. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Black. Councilman Espinosa. A similar question. And this only comes up because as prior to this role on council, I was a member of the Board of Adjustment and we had a property and you probably know what I'm talking about out there that sort of uniquely falls not in the housing residential category and not in a commercial category. And it's certainly a historic building. So how do we capture that with the provisions that we've got where you have a essentially a 5 to 10000 square foot residence, but it is clearly a historic bank structure. Is that classified as a commercial property is vacant property is industrial property or is a residential property? And then you locate relocate that individual into a similarly scaled home. So again and I'm sorry I can't answer in the particulars, although we'd be happy to provide you with more information as as the process unfolds. And as we get the specialist online to help us, I will say in general, we will help whoever is living there or or doing business in a commercial place. Whatever they're doing in that space will help them do that somewhere else. So it doesn't I'm not sure it matters so much what the zoning is and stuff. And we as at a minimum, the relocation will require us to provide I can't remember the three adjectives safe housing, basically. And it's not a one for one thing, the just compensation that we're required to pay will take into account, you know, how big the the home is and the condition and all the things that that the Constitution requires us to consider and that the courts have required us to consider. But in terms of the details about that particular property, and I'm not familiar with it, so I don't I can't really address it specifically, but we'd be happy to keep you in the loop to. Sort of by by circumstance. There's a lot there's not a fortunately, there are not a lot of residential properties there yet, but they're there. You might not necessarily have the most real estate savvy individuals having to navigate this process. Do we have a mechanism or system in place for. Those those owners to challenge the value determination or. Yes, the state statutes very clear about how to do that. And they are provided with all of that information in materials which we have to provide by law and certainly will provide. And all of those materials can be translated also. So we intend to make sure that we're working one on one with all of those property owners. So if they if they do want to challenge it, they certainly don't have to agree with with our appraiser. They are we are required to pay for an appraisal that they can go out and get. And if we can't come to a meeting of the minds, then there's a there's certainly a mechanism for them to object. Okay. I would just love to see a copy of that final information that you're providing to those people. You can. So we can do that now. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Espinosa. Councilwoman Ortega. I just had a question about the translation. I don't know how many of those property owners may be Spanish speaking, but I just wanted to clarify if the translation was in layman's terms that the average person could understand them, or if it's actually translating from from English to Spanish for any of those property owners who may need to have it translated in their own native language. And also in layman's terms. Good evening, Councilwoman Ortega. I'm Katy Spritzer. I'm working with Kelly's team on the NDC on the land acquisition. And in fact, we're working with a relocation consultant who has a Spanish speaking person that's part of their staff that knows how to translate this all into layman's terms. And in fact, we had one meeting already yesterday or not yesterday, last week that the the translator was at and her job is the relocation process. And she's also a Spanish speaker. So it's perfect. And the folks with with whom we met were very grateful that we provided that service. Awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you, counsel. Marty. Councilman Brooks. Yeah, thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to piggyback on on that comment. Think it's a great comment. Councilman Ortega and I was at a meeting last week on a different Denver project in District nine where they had a translator and they're actually walking through the relocation act with this translator, which is which was great . But I also want to make sure that we underline that this is not just for owners. There are some property owners who own property and are not there, but is for renters as well. And there has been some property that's been acquired not for this particular National Western Center, but for that where those renters have have received compensation and have now purchase a home. So I think it's important to have the renters in there as well. Good point. That the the relocation assistance is available to both property owners and property renters or tenants in property. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Brooks. Councilman Espinosa. You bet. Just now that I know that there might be multiple translations, I just want to state that I would like all those iterations. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Any other comments on council below 900? Scene nine. Madam Secretary, roll call. Flynn. Hi, Gilmore. Hi. Cashman, I. LOPEZ All right, new ORTEGA High Black. BROOKS High. Clerk. CLARK All right. ESPINOSA Hi, Mr. President. Hi, Madam Secretary. Please. Those very nice results tonight. One abstention in. ISE, one abstention 900 has been placed on final consideration and does pass. I believe that was on the bill. So we are ready for the block votes. All other bills for introduction are ordered published. Councilwoman Gilmore, will you please put the resolutions on the floor for adoption in a block? Thank you, Mr. President. I move that the following resolutions be adopted in a block. 956 924 925 nine 3953 938 nine 4943 944 945 946 947 949 nine 5951 942 922 and 983. Thank you. It has been moved and seconded. Seen no comments, Madam Secretary, roll call. Flynn Hi. Gilmore I. Cashman Hi. Lopez All right, new Ortega I black Brooks. Clark All right. ESPINOSA Hi, Mr. President. Hi. Madam Secretary, please Kosovo Denounce the results. 11 ICE. Alumni as the resolutions have been adopted in a bloc. Councilwoman Gilmore, would you please put the bills on final consideration on the floor for a final passage in the block? Thank you, Mr. President. I move that the following bills be placed upon final consideration and do pass in a block 882, 934 and 918.