A bill for an ordinance approving the 4201 East Arkansas Urban Redevelopment Plan and the creation of the 4201 East Arkansas Urban Redevelopment Area and the 4201 East Arkansas Sales and Property Tax Increment Areas. Approves the 4201 East Arkansas Urban Redevelopment Plan authorizing the creation of an Urban Redevelopment Area and sales and property tax increment areas in Council District 6. The Committee approved filing this item at its meeting on 11-12-19.
Hi, Madam Secretary. Please close the voting, announce the results. 1339 as Council Bill 1058 has passed. Councilman Herndon, will you please put Council Bill 1245 on the floor? Yes, Mr. President. I move the council bill 19 dash one, two, four, five be placed upon final consideration and do pass. It has been moved and seconded the public hearing for Council Bill one, two, four, five is open. May we have the staff report? You go. Good evening, Mr. President. Members of City Council. My name is Tracy Huggins, and I'm the executive director of the Denver Urban Renewal Authority here this evening, requesting council's approval of the 4201 East Arkansas Urban Redevelopment Plan to facilitate development of the 40 2001 East Arkansas Urban Redevelopment Area. The proposed area is an area of 13.2 acres located in the Virginia Village statistical neighborhood. The site includes six parcels, five of which are positioned for redevelopment, and one of which includes a microwave tower which will retain will be retained by Seedat. The area is generally bounded by East Louisiana and East Louisiana. Easy for me to say. East Louisiana Avenue to the North South Byrd Street to the East, East, Arkansas Avenue to the south and the Eastern property line of the private commercial property fronting Colorado Boulevard to the west. One of the parcels included in the area is located east of South Byrd Street at the northeast corner of East Arkansas Avenue and South Birch Street. The area served as the seaboard headquarters for approximately 65 years in 2018, set out, consolidated its operations and relocated to a new building in West Central Denver, Colorado. State law requires properties owned by the state to be offered to a local government entity first before they may be offered for sale to a private purchaser. The city and county of Denver was the successful bidder for this site. After being selected, the city chose a master developer through a competitive selection process to effect catalytic development of the property, ensuring development consistent with the existing neighborhood area plans, economic and job development. In December of 2018, much of the site was resigned from the Campus Zone District to a variety of mixed use and residential zoned districts, with the intention of incentivizing the creation of a pedestrian oriented community asset that transitions appropriately into the existing neighborhood. A Condition study was commissioned in July of 2019 and it was finalized in October of 2019. The study specifically excluded any conditions relating to the buildings as they were to be demolished by CEDAW prior to the consideration of the Urban Redevelopment Plan. The study supported a finding of blight based on the presence of the following conditions. Unsanitary or unsafe conditions. Deterioration of sight or other improvements. Unusual topography or. Inadequate public improvements. Or utilities. Environmental contamination of buildings or property. And the existence of factors requiring high levels of municipal services or substantial physical underutilization or vacancy of sites, buildings or other improvements. The finding of blight is a legislative finding by the City Council. Based upon the condition study, which has been filed with the city clerk and other evidence presented at this public hearing. As part of the purchase of the property from the city, the developer was required to commit to certain development outcomes related to the planning and development of the site, including the preparation of a master drainage study to address all drainage issues, including onsite detention and water quality. A traffic study addressing all transportation issues, including offsite and on site intersections, street layout, on site multimodal connections and other elements as determined in coordination with the Public Works Department, a required minimum of 10% of the net developable area to be publicly accessible. Open space or a designated park. A master transportation demand management study is to be provided to the city for review and approval. In addition, each concept site development plan for a parcel of vertical development must submit a letter identifying the team practices to be utilized, a requirement to construct at least 150 housing units with a maximum affordability restriction of 60%, ami a covenant to develop the property in a manner resulting in a minimum of 150,000 square feet of commercial space and the creation of a minimum of 200 permanent new jobs. While the developer is bound by the above noted conditions, they are serving as the horizontal developer initially of the site and will sell finished pads to vertical developers. Accordingly, there are no specific vertical development plans for the site, but this slide provides a proposed conceptual site plan. The expected development includes not more than 690 residential units on the site to be located on blocks one, two and five. The housing may include senior and senior assisted living and a mix of rental and for sale product. All of this will be dependent on the market conditions. The 150 affordable housing units will be located on BLOCK six. It is important that the site respect the density of the area so the maximum number of residential units is capped at 840. The current development plan includes an approximately 130 room hotel to be constructed on block for the remaining required. Commercial development will occur on the ground floors of blocks one, two and five. The goal, again, is to be a vibrant, mixed use development that delivers housing across a spectrum of incomes and ages meets the 100,000 150,000 square foot commercial development requirement and provides the 200 permanent jobs. BLOCK three will be an approximately one acre park to be owned, maintained and programed by the existing metropolitan district. The objectives of the Urban Redevelopment Plan are to reduce or eliminate blighted conditions and to stimulate the continued growth and development of the urban redevelopment area. The proposed Urban Redevelopment Project meets the objectives of the plan, as noted on the screen behind me, including the creation of complete and inclusive neighborhoods. Encourage mixed use redevelopment that is socially and economically inclusive more effectively. Use underdeveloped land within the urban redevelopment area. Improve access to healthy transportation options, healthy foods and open space. And promote a diverse, sustainable neighborhood economy, including mixed use and commercial development opportunities within the area. This slide, which I apologize for a challenge in reading any of it is intended to show the key objectives of the Urban Redevelopment Plan, Plan 2040 and Blueprint Denver that this plan and project will address the city as part of their sale transaction to the developer identified many of the strategies necessary to allow for the redevelopment of this approximately 13 acre site in a way that maximizes its development potential while balancing the impacts of redevelopment on the surrounding area, the inclusion of 150 units of affordable housing, the requirement of job creation, the open space dedications, the traffic mitigation requirements and the density limitations all work to mitigate the involuntary displacement of residents or businesses, respect the existing character of the neighborhood and provide new access to services and amenities. Any Urban Redevelopment Plan in Progress project must be determined to further the goals and objectives of Plan 2040 and its approved supplements. As this diagram intends to show, not every goal and objective of each plan can be addressed through urban renewal activities. However, we believe this plan and project meet the relevant criteria of the city plans. The Urban Redevelopment Plan was submitted to the Denver Planning Board on November six of this year with a staff recommendation to find the plan to be in conformance with the comp plan. 2040 Planning Board voted 8 to 1 to find the plan to be in conformance with Plan 2040 and its adopted supplements. And a letter to this effect has been submitted as part of the the record of this hearing. The Urban Redevelopment Plan authorizes Doura to finance projects with the in the area by the use of tax increment financing. The tiff will remedy the blighting conditions through financial assistance of costs related to infrastructure, environmental remediation and site work. In addition to the development challenges presented by these blighting conditions, the project is also requesting TIFF to deliver the development plan outcomes already discussed. The TIFF will also be used to help address the costs related to delivering 150 units of affordable housing. The additional parking, open spaces and costs associated with tower improvements. The Dora staff has reviewed the development budgets and proforma submitted by the developer and believes there is a financial gap in the project of of approximately $23.6 million. This financing gap will be addressed by reimbursing eligible costs through property tax and sales tax increment generated from the tax increment area, which is coterminous with the urban redevelopment area for a period not to exceed 25 years. The utilization of tax increment financing invokes the requirement that before City Council can approve a new urban redevelopment plan, they must find that an agreement has been entered into between Dura and the affected taxing district in regards to the allocation of property tax increment to the project. There are three other property taxing districts Denver Public Schools, Urban Drainage and Flood Control District and the East Arkansas Metropolitan Districts. All taxing districts were notified of the proposed urban redevelopment plan following that notification. All of these districts evaluated the impact the project would have on their ability to deliver services based on the information provided to urban drainage. They have determined that the project will have limited impact on their ability to deliver services and have agreed to allow all increment derived from their mill levy to be paid to Dura to support the project. Denver Public Schools has also evaluated the impact the residential development will have on their ability to provide services to schools in the Southeast planning region. These schools include Ellis Elementary Merrill Middle School and South High School. While DPS has agreed to allow all increment derived from their mill levy to be paid to direct to support the project, they have requested payment of just over $1.2 million from the tax increment to support the schools in the Southeast planning region per the terms of the DPS Inter-Governmental Agreement. The $1.2 million will be paid prior to any amounts reimbursing the developer for eligible costs. The East Arkansas Metropolitan Districts have requested that all incremental taxes generated by their mill levy be paid to them to support the redevelopment of the site. The cooperation agreement between Dura and the Metropolitan Districts allows for this payment. Lastly, the under the cooperation agreement between the city and borough governs the collection and remittance of both the property and sales tax increment to support the redevelopment project. It also limits the term of the tax increment area to the earlier of repayment of the DURA obligation or 25 years. In considering the approval of the 40 2001 East Arkansas Urban Redevelopment Plan, City Council must make the following additional legislative findings that the boundaries of the area have been drawn as narrowly as feasible to accomplish the planning and development objectives of the plan. If any individuals or families are displaced, or if any business concerns are displaced as a result of adoption or implementation of the plan, a feasible method exists for the relocation of those families, businesses and individuals in accordance with the ACT. Due to the vacancy of the project area, it contains no residences or business concerns. Therefore, no individuals, families or businesses will be displaced. Written notice of this public hearing has been provided to all property owners, residents and owners of business concerns within the urban redevelopment area. This written notice was mailed on October 31st of 2019, at least 30 days prior to this public hearing. Not more than 120 days have passed since the first public hearing before City Council on the plan. This is the first consideration of an urban redevelopment plan for this site. And this the city Council has not previously failed to approve an urban redevelopment plan for this site. The Urban Redevelopment Plan will afford maximum opportunity for the rehabilitation or redevelopment of the area by private enterprise. The Urban Redevelopment Plan does not consist of any area of open land which is to be developed for residential or non residential uses or any agricultural land. And lastly, that the city and county of Denver can adequately finance and agreements are in place to finance any additional city and county of Denver infrastructure and services required to serve this urban redevelopment area. And the Urban Renewal Plan allows for cooperative agreements between the city and area to address additional infrastructure requirements should they arise. I do want to note that this plan does not authorize any acquisition by eminent domain. So Jura is pleased to work with the city and with the control group to bring forward this project. As I noted earlier, the city administration to find a good project when it required the creation of 200 jobs, delivery of commercial space and 150 units of affordable housing. However, the work of Councilman Cashman and the community he represents made it a much better project when they increased the open space requirement from 10% to nearly 20%. With the addition of the one acre park, when they cap the total number of residential units to serve to respect the surrounding area and required traffic mitigation not only immediate to the site but also to other parts of the neighborhood that will be impacted by the project. These are all very important elements of the project that cannot be delivered without the assistance of urban renewal and tax increment financing. That concludes my staff report, and we respectfully ask for your favorable consideration of this plan. Thank you very much. All right. We have 13 individuals signed up to speak this evening, so I will call first five up to the bench and then when your name is called to step up to the microphone. Our first five tonight are Curtis Roe, Chris Faskari, Jimmy Bull, Office Chairman Sekou and Jesse Paris. You'd come on up. And Curtis Rowe, you're. Good evening. I'm Curtis Rowe with Kimberly Artist Associates. I'm a traffic engineer, prepared the traffic impact study that was. Referenced for this project. And I'm. Available to answer any. Questions that you may. Have after the comment period. Thank you very much. Christmas card you. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Chris Vickery with the control group 1509 York Street. After our robust engagement with the neighborhood, the neighborhood really challenged us on coming out with the following outcomes focus on open space, balanced density with inclusion, housing, a neighborhood retail center, solutions for traffic and improvements of the tower that's existing. The proposal in front of you tonight, we've have we've created inclusive development that provides doubling the open space 10 to 20% with one acre community park and other open space that will focus on seasonal programing and art, limiting our residential density to 840 units. That's inclusive of the 150 units of affordable housing that we'll be providing on site. That makes up to 18% of affordable housing out of the residential units. Additionally, we're going to target the separate segments to really make this as diverse as we can, and that's getting age restricted assisted living, market rate and probably for sale depending on the market. The affordable housing is a part of the project with or without the TIFF. Really, the tiff is really just going to expedite that getting delivered outside of what we did committed in our development agreement neighborhood center, we really spent a lot of time here. We're trying to create what we call the heart of a project. And you can kind of see on the site plan that was surrounded around a plaza. We studied city centers in Europe, in other places in Europe to really figure out what what's the best size and how do we activate this and do something great since we're off of Colorado Boulevard and we think we found the right size and placement of that, and with the density around it could be successful. That's going to be lined with restaurants, a grocery, a cop shop, other neighborhood retail center services that the neighborhood will want to come to. And we're going to hopefully focus local traffic since the beginning of the rezoning. This is something that we've had a head on just with the change that's coming there. We've worked with the councilmen, the neighbors and our team. The proposed traffic improvements that we're making on and off site. Some of those are a mile away. Off site. We're actually making low level service better than what they are today, including our our traffic. So I think that's a huge step forward. The other really big thing that we need to focus on is the pedestrian, the biker and other modes to get to the site. And we're proposing a very robust TDM strategy with the mobility hub and other modes to really incent people to get out of the car rather than always using Colorado Boulevard and driving to the site . Luckily where we are, we're bordered by two bus lines, the 40 and 46 and where we have light rail that's only three quarters of a mile away. And we're going to have to create a way to connect to that. The existing tower is a unique beast. We'll get that one and get it redesigned. And we really envision this as the project, not Cherry Creek, not Rhino, not low, high. It's a culture and experience. It's our Virginia village. Thanks. Thank you. Next up, Jimmy Buffett. Good evening, counsel and councilwoman. I'm Jimmy Butler, office co-founder and principal of the Cancer Group. And we're the company that's developing this great project in front of you guys tonight. We're here tonight to seek your approval for a tiff. With this tiff, we can create this amazing project, and we can create this best community. We can create the best community possible with a set of enhancements that will help transform this great development into an unforgettable one. This quick recap This project is comprised of 150 units of affordable housing that we will be built on site. It also is going to include another 690 units, a market rate unit for sell units, senior living and for sale product. We also are planning to construct this vibrant, walkable community where we'll have a grocery store, cafes, restaurants, neighborhood, community, neighborhood oriented retail that will service the surrounding neighborhoods. We plan to create 200 permanent jobs, and then we also plan to reintroduce the street grid. Asch and Belair will come through between Louisiana and Arkansas. So these were all the requests that were put in development agreement. When we had our ten meetings with the community, we heard great things. That cannot be taken lightly. And so we heard that the community wanted a park, which we're going to deliver on this site. And that's taken the the open space from 10% to 20%. We're also going to deliver a rebuilt of a tower. Right now, the tower on site is an eyesore and we plan to beautify that tower and make it more of an icon than than an eyesore for the community. We also are doing a cop shop and we're also doing a vibrant, vibrant streetscapes that's very walkable for the whole community. I am asking you for your support tonight, but I want to thank all the groups that have helped shape this project from City Administration Public Works, CPD host the Division of Real Estate Cities Attorney's Office, Councilman Cashman. And of course, the neighbors and all those stakeholders have really shaped where we are tonight, and we're going to continue to work with all stakeholders as we built this great project. I'll be available to answer any specific questions once all the speakers have concluded. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Chairman Sekou. Chairman say who likes the arts movement? Self defense. Very rarely. After over 15 years of coming down here. Can I actually consciously. Support a project such as this. It is. Thoroughly organized. It includes. All other aspects that allows the city's poor, vulnerable community to be included. In terms of housing and jobs and being welcomed into a community that is privileged. And perhaps most importantly, because I can't speak to the good and bad intentions of any of the council members. I can certainly affirm without mentioning anybody's name that. This was good. This could. That's good. And the people of this neighborhood are very lucky. Could you speak to the microphone so everybody can hear. People and people in the neighborhood who've come here for support or against a very lucky to have the quality of leadership that currently exists for this district. Now, of course, that's no endorsement because rarely do we agree on stuff. But I got to go. I got to go get this one. And I'm glad I came tonight because this is one of those things that I didn't expect to happen here. So. Good luck. Congratulations. And Tracy. Smile. I'm not going get you this time. Thank you. Next up, Jesse Paris and I'll call the next five up to the front bench. Pamela Whitney Walsh, Debora Powers, Monte Powers, Brooke Webb and Russell Welch. Go ahead. Good evening. Council President Clark, members of council members of the audience, those watching at home. My name is Jesse. Listen, Paris. And I'll be your next mayor in 2023. And I slogan is Just for the poor people. Our prophet and I represent for Denver Homicide out loud, Blackstar, some more self-defense forces have actually come in for social change, as well as the Unity Party of Colorado and the Universal African People's Organization in my OHI knows I am still reluctantly against this because for the simple fact we were told we can do better this whole time. And all I keep seeing is rezonings for more housing that people cannot afford, you need to just stop corner at affordable housing and just say, Look, this is not affordable. You're just not going to be able to afford this 60%, am I really? That's that's the best we can do. While we have how many vacant luxury apartments in this town, it is apparently clear where your priorities are. And it is not affordable housing, let alone attainable house. And tonight I've heard two rezonings for housing that most people, especially people that look like me, cannot afford. But yeah, I keep hearing all this stuff about diversity and inclusivity and it meets this criteria. So systems are the criteria. You're going to approve it anyway. But logically speaking, this is not the answer. But I have a good relationship with Councilperson in this district, so it's going to be a reluctant. Yes on this. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Pamela Whitney off. Good evening. I'm Pamela Walsh and I reside at 1316 South Elm Street. And I'm here tonight in support of the financing needed for the redevelopment of this project. I participated in nearly every one of the ten community meetings hosted by Castro in my roles as a prior board member of the Virginia Village Community Association, as well as the East Evans Business Association, and tonight as a neighbor. I live just about half a mile or five blocks from the site, and I'm anticipating this new development to be my go to for all of my basic amenities and services. Potentially hair salon, dentist, veterinarian and entertainment like a park and movies and restaurants. I dream of living a mostly carefree lifestyle, and I think this site has the potential to not only provide for most of my household needs, but also to elevate the reputation of the southeast Denver neighborhood as a destination and something for other neighborhoods to aspire to. Specific to the funding being requested tonight, I believe that TIF financing is critical to address some of the fundamental components of the site redevelopment so that it can fully maximize its potential, including the creation of a neighborhood park and more open space that might otherwise not be possible. The ability to more effectively address traffic management and thoughtful design transfer to thoughtfully design transportation options like public transit and car share to minimize the impact to the neighboring community, to reconnect the grid that was previously obstructed by the on campus, and to beautify the communications tower that is currently an eyesore. Finally, I believe the program is worthy of this incremental financing because Castro group has demonstrated that they're genuinely interested in committing to creating the best experience for our community, as evidenced by their ongoing community meetings, adjustments to their plans based on our input, including the maximizing of low income housing units, and providing a park and engaging a local architectural expert to advise on their conceptual designs to ensure that it meets that it fits in with our community esthetic. So as a neighbor who stands to benefit from having a locally focused one stop shop that reflects the charming midcentury modern design of our special neighborhood, I ask that you vote in support of funding tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Debora Powers. Hi. I'm Debra Powers. I live at 4503 East Arkansas Avenue, and I thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight. January 2020 marks the two year milestone to my introduction to the project and my first Cantrell neighborhood meeting. The neighborhood embraced affordable housing as part of the project control grid. We wanted more open space and then we wanted more open space. And they went back to the drawing board and they gave us the park. I envision this development, bringing a vital, vibrant addition to our ever changing city. I will walk to many new amenities that the development will offer. I like that the retail will support local businesses. I am most excited when I hear that there is a discussion of a transportation hub being created here. It makes sense that a tip investment will be used for the redevelopment was a thoughtful inclusion by the control group to partner with Dora. One of Dora's objectives is to steward a citywide vision as Denver grows and changes. I find Dora had a hand in some of my favorite development projects throughout Denver. Larimer Square, the Pepsi Center. Ari, the Sauce and University Hills. Let's move this project forward and provide the investment needed. Tonight I ask for your support. Please vote to approve the partnership and tip investment that will help finance this redevelopment in my neighborhood. When we bring it across the finish line, I believe it will be exceptional. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Monte Powers. My name is Monte Powers. I live at 4503 East Arkansas Avenue. Thank you for letting me speak to you tonight about the redevelopment of the property of 4201 East Arkansas Avenue. I believe Cantrell has assembled the best team to do this project and the control group that proven that they care about my community. When other developers would have bought their way out of a 60% and my affordable housing, Cantrell chose to include these people in my community. I've been to all ten of the community meetings. Controls had controls listened to my community. The plan has evolved as a response to community input. I'm excited to have a new restaurant and retail opportunities with walkability in my neighborhood. I'm happy that there will be a small park as part of this community, and I'm also excited about the plans for transportation hub. This is a great project that can transform this part of Denver. The use money generated by the by the use of tiff money generated by the revenue created by this project are useful tool to let Dura and Cantrell have a development that will stand the test of time and be a model for future development. Please vote for TIFF funding for this development. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Brooke Webb. Good evening. I'm Brooke Webb. I live at 5382 East Colorado Avenue, about eight blocks from this the space. The reason I'm speaking tonight in support of the TIFF funding is because of many of the features that have already been mentioned tonight. So I'll just quickly run through them. But my understanding is we're getting around a one acre open space park, many restaurants and shops. There's going to be a mobility and transportation hub. And we need to retrain, retain and attract families to the neighborhood. My daughter attends Ellis Elementary School, which has a population that's been decreasing. We really need the affordable housing. As of right now, 85% of the students that attend Alice Elementary are on free and reduced lunch. So even though we're in a very affluent neighborhood, there's still a very big need for affordable housing in the neighborhood. And I also think that funding is very important for the tower. Right now, it's an eyesore, but it sounds like it's going to be a place finding landmark for the future for the neighborhood. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Russell Welch. And Stewart Anderson Jeff to Hardie and Bill James if you'd come up to the front bench. Good evening, everyone. My name is Russell Welch. I live at 1964 South Pontiac Street. I represent my family and they're probably the toughest constituents I'll ever face. So that drove me to be here tonight. You know, I've been part of this since the very beginning, and I've not seen a developer in my time working in commercial. Construction acts the way Castro does. They've not only spoke, but they've listened. They listened to all of our needs. They provided the open space and the retail that we so desperately need. I've lived there. For 15 years, so my kids have grown up there. We live across. From the Sears that we see that's. Dead. And hopefully soon it'll it'll come back to life. But we have no place to go when it comes to meeting our neighbors. And many days, we look longingly at South Pearl Street or South Gaylord Street in the festivals that we can't ride our bikes to, we can't walk to. And our kids need that. Our families need that. And I think our community needs that. We can look to other examples of projects that have had that have had TIFF financing in our area. Whether that's you, Hills or Tamarack. They've been successful. But you know what? Those are just retail. This project brings people together. Go have a beer with one another. Go out, play. Some horseshoes or cornhole or whatever. We don't have that and we desperately need it. This is a 13 acre site and this is your chance to make a good project. A great project. And I've lived in Denver a long time, and I don't know that our city council does things just good. We do it great. And in order to do that, we. Have to pass the TIFF financing. So my constituents will be very upset with me if I have to go home and tell them that this didn't pass. So I implore you, please pass the two financing. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Stewart Anderson. Street, Anderson 1041 Marion Street. I run an organization known as Transportation Solutions. We work in that area where the control was building and we've been working with them in good faith to address a variety of issues that you've heard about. And certainly there's three core components that we're looking at. One is to create a multimodal environment that means anybody can get around walking, biking, using a cargo bike, whatever it is that they need a car share, it'll be there. The focus is this mobility hub that will be placed on the east side that will not only benefit those at that site, but the residents around that area. It'll improve access to Colorado station for residents of that area. And the second is to connect the network. We're trying to connect to the Florida bike path so that so this property is connected to all other types of facilities that are available. But the third point that I'd like to call out and why I think this investment is very important, is that they've really focused on one thing , and that's called internal capture, and we overlook that too often. Internal capture means putting a grocery store in that property where you have residents. There's not going to be somebody getting in a car and driving to the grocery store. It reduces those trips, and a well-designed facility can reduce up to 30% of their trip generation by putting different uses and making those available. And one thing that we don't look at at the city is how many trips we reduce from people around the area. And I think having a grocery store, having restaurants, having the ability to walk in an area that was blocked by the court headquarters when you're going north and south, allows people to get out and to enjoy these things. And I really think it's going to be an asset for the community. And I would encourage you to go forward with the funding and make this happen. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Jeff Tardy. Good evening. Jeff Hardy, 1970 South Clayton Street. In listening to Tracy earlier tonight, she was talking about the financing package, which included about 23 million and change of eligible TIFF dollars for this project. And I'm thinking about that gap that's provided and that unique opportunity tonight to approve a package of public money, to go back into the community, go backing into the roads, allowing for a catalyst or for future development, open space. We're creating jobs, 200 plus jobs, commercial retail, affordable housing for sale, for rent, housing, product, a true mixed use community. We have an opportunity that's unique. I just want you to realize that as you make your choices, you have a good developer who stands behind their word here. We have a unique tool to take this from a good project to a great project and make this be almost a legacy model of what TIFF can be for future projects. So with that, I ask you to approve tonight's TIFF package. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Bill James. Thank you. I'm Bill James. I live at. 1145 South Glencoe Street for those council members that haven't met. Me before. I was on the board of directors of RTD. For two terms and then a. Couple of years ago. And I'm a commercial. Real estate appraiser. And consultant. I lived in the Cherry Creek area for a long. Time and now live in the. Virginia Village area. And I'm happy to do that. And one of the things that I found was there's an opportunity presented by this site, and I decided to support the site. Among the things I. Support because of my career are cost effective public and private resources, affordable housing and enhanced mobility. I'm one of the founding. Members of the Board of Directors of Transportation Solutions, which is run so well by Stuart Anderson. I'd like to say good real estate's supporting residents and businesses. And there's a number of things that this project that I see that I appreciate a lot among them, that the council's willingness to listen to citizens and the input that they were able to give. The city, taking the opportunity to take this site. And encourage its redevelopment. In ways that can benefit the community. As well as it can. The result of the site feel it took place a little while back. It was, I think, very helpful to allow retail and gathering place type uses. The the. I really appreciate the the outreach that Cointreau. Has done. I've watched some of the other projects that they do and it's and this. Is likely to turn out to be a very good project as a. Result of that, the affordable housing component that has been required along the way is is sure to benefit. The neighborhood, contribute to balance the. Mobility enhancement that is. Required. The team will benefit the neighborhood as well. I really appreciate the fact that the antenna tower. Will be beautified as. Much as it will be. And then Control's agreement to include a park in the in the development as well. The and some of the conversations that I've had with them. Encouraging things like a food. Hall. Developments that. Can cause people to be attracted to this location and make it so that this neighborhood has a a gathering place. Similar to the Cherry Creek that. I don't live in anymore. So I really encourage. The council to. Approve this TIFF financing. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes our speakers on this item. Are there any questions from members of council? Councilman Hines. Thank you, Mr. President. May I have a question for Director Huggins or a couple of questions? They should be quick, though. Thank you for coming. Does this application require a letter of support from a city council person? We have requested a letter of support from the councilperson, and through that, the conversations that we have had with the councilmen during the course of this have really stood in the place of that letter at this time. But we have we would always prefer to have a letter of support, but that has not been received on this project. Okay. Thank you. And that's it for direct or. Excuse me, Mr. Bluffs, may I ask you a couple questions? And thank you, Director Hawkins. Hello. Hi. How's it going? Good. Thank you for living in District ten. Sorry you moved out of District ten. Anyway, so I had a couple of questions about the development. Do you have. In the presentation, there was a thought of linking this site to the nearby transportation three quarters of a mile away. Do you. Since. Since it was brought up, do you have any ideas on how that might happen? Yeah, there there was the bus line 46 I believe that runs Belair, that runs North-South. It's still not running as efficient as it can, but we plan to sit down with our team, our multi mobile team and work with RTD to see how we connect to it. I know at one point there was a chariot that ran with Glendale that went away, so I think there's some ideas there, but I think it's going to take some discussions with some stakeholders that can get us to that stop. Yeah. Chariot actually went through your neighborhood between Camp Hill and Cherry Creek, so I'm familiar with the project was very short lived, but yeah, a just as other potential sites, Inglewood has the art bus that connects the transit station to the businesses surrounding the community. So if there's something that that could be similar. So I like the idea of of connecting the site to the transit hub because we've talked a lot about multimodal transit, and I'd love to further encourage getting people out of cars. Um, did I hear that you're restoring the grid, as in reconnecting through streets? Yeah. So part of the development agreement was to at least bring one of the streets through, and that was built there. And so right now you have Louisiana to the north and Arkansas to the south, and you have. A big block. That is stopping the Denver street grid. So with a tiff, approval will connect Belair and Astro. So and what was the thought process behind Reconnecting Through Streets? Is that I mean, was that a requirement from the city or one of the streets is. But I think we can we want to build this vibrant community. And a lot of the charm around the city is on a grid. And we just want to want to keep it. Why recreate the will? So we just decided to kind of continue it. Sure. And and I think your your plan is probably already well down the path. If we are encouraging multimodal modal transit, I would love to pedestrianize more streets rather than car and ize them. Yep. So just just as an ash is probably going to be more of a private street, the metro district will control it. And we want to make it all brick. And we we want to make it more of a private street that's more pedestrian friendly than car. I mean, there's not going to be any surface parking lot through this whole site. So this is going to be a very pedestrian oriented development. And that's absolutely fair to. There are a lot of European streets. I think someone mentioned European earlier tonight and a lot of European streets that technically allow cars, but it is designed more for people than it is for cars. So thank you for considering that. And then the last thing I'd say is you talked about how this is a community for a lot of people and you talked about age and income. I I'd just a do you are you putting in disability friendly units or are you considering that? I guess I would just say I would invite you to to make that part of your conversation as well. Yes. As when we get to the detail drawings, we want an inclusive community. So. Great. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Cashman. Thank you, Mr. President. I do have a couple of questions. But first, in response to Councilman Haynes's question to Tracy, I decided against providing a letter in advance, because this is a very serious, important discussion, and I didn't want to short circuit that discussion. It was neither. No inference should have been made from that. Let's see, Chris. Question for you. So the the area that the park. Will be constructed on is an area that historically has been connected with some environmental challenges. Can you speak about that? And does that affect construction of the park? We just. Yeah. Yeah, no problem. So the northeast corner is has a historical contaminated site. Cedar has been actually in the for a program with the Department of Health and being required to clean it since the eighties. They're making good headway. It's basically isolated to the groundwater now, and it's right at the northeast corner of basically Louisiana and Birch. So that doesn't mean you can't occupy. It doesn't mean before they see that had employees operating in the facility. And in this circumstance, how it'll work is Cedar still actually owns the underlying land. They're still going to be required to take care of the contamination and close out the site. And how we operate under that is it's actually a license agreement that will allow us perpetual use and to develop there. So once we kind of get along with design, we'll see that in us. We'll go meet with the Department of Health to then say what's safe here and what do we need to do? Does that mean we need to do a vapor barrier and take out some dirt to make sure it's publicly safe and then everybody will sign off and the park can be installed. Okay. And Chris, have you figured out yet the exact size of that park? I know it it has to do a bit with the tower and some other factors. So right now, we're still at probably about 1.42 acres we're getting close to. And what's been hard about this is we're trying to solve the tower site. The tower side only has about 9000 square feet. It was used utilizing all the facilities of seedat. So or trying to solve for them is what do you need? Is that bathroom? How big of a kitchen? How many employees you're going to have there? So we're getting close to that. I have a weekly call with the state trying to satisfy what they need. And that's really what's driving that. That size is they might need some parking. So it'll be above an acre for sure. And right now we're at 1.42 acres. And can you. Are there other one acre parks that come to mind? Yeah. So we've done a good study and that's a good idea. We took the councilman on a quick drive just to kind of give some scale to things like Governor's Park McKinley, which is in Cherry Creek. There's a couple in Lodi that are around that size. And it's all about quantity. And you know what you're providing in that quality of that park. We're working with a public it's called Gale out of Copenhagen that's going to help us program how that will work. And they'll we're going to treat it just as a it's like a city park. We're going to have neighborhood meetings. We're going to go out and say what's going to what's needed here. And this is a public park. It's not just for the developer. Correct? It's created. Okay. You know, that's that that's good for right now. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman. Councilwoman Sawyer. Thank you, Mr. President. Tracy, I just wanted to ask a. Couple of questions. I know the last time we met was when we were setting an urban renewal area up on East Colfax. And there were a lot of questions around gentrification and displacement and the effects of an urban renewal area on the community. And so I just wanted to ask a couple of questions about what steps you have taken in this area to help ensure that that those kinds of issues are not going to happen in this area. So I think that the first and foremost, the current condition of the site really is important to take into consideration. It is now, since the buildings have been demolished, it is vacant. So we are not looking to go in and take something that an existing business that was there because they already left the site to be able to to bring new opportunities. I think the addition of the affordable housing really helps to provide new people coming in, as well as people who are already in the community have new options. I think the considerations of the age, the the senior and senior assisted again allows people in the neighborhood who are already there a different alternative as far as being able to stay in their neighborhood even as their life circumstances change. We did look a lot at the demographic around the area and its location very close to Colorado Boulevard already provides some additional barriers to change, if you will. You already have a very well-developed commercial corridor to the west. You already also have very well-established residential, albeit highly rental. This is a portion of the neighborhood that has a high degree of rental housing. And so this will add to that. But it has been in place for a long time and see this as really complementing as opposed to competing with with that site. So thinking about jobs, thinking about the affordable housing, thinking about just the infill nature of the site itself, I think all work to help mitigate the overall impact of change in this as you move farther to the east, really established in residential neighborhood, some hope we believe that all of those things in combination will help address what might otherwise happen happen to the area. Great. And then in terms of this is a little bit different because it comes with the tiff attached to it. So is this a is this then for a specific project or is this covering the entire area? So clarify that a little. Sure. Sure. So the urban renewal plan establishes the urban renewal area, which is just the property that started on. That is also the boundaries of the tax increment area. So the taxes that are generated only from that area is what we will capture to then reinvest back into the project to help deliver it. Perfect. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman. Seeing no other questions. The public hearing for Council Bill one, two, four or five is closed. Comments by members of Council or Councilman Cashman. Thank you, Mr. President. And my colleagues will indulge me. I do have some thoughts. I've been living this project 24 hours a day for the past couple of years. It's never been very far from my mind. I live about seven or eight blocks from the site and I love my neighborhood. I'm not moving anywhere. And so whatever form it takes, I'll be living with this project as long as I'm on planet Earth. From the first time I heard about the potential redevelopment of the 13 plus acre site at East Arkansas Avenue and South Byrd Street, I've had one concern, and that is that whatever is built on the site and I've said this a million times, that it enhances the Virginia Village community rather than overwhelms it. So what does that mean? To enhance the community would be to bring in a mix of housing and commercial uses that allow Virginia Village residents and other locals to live, work and or play on the land where Colorado Department of Transportation held forth for for many decades. To earn money there or to spend money there at neighborhoods serving businesses within walking distance of their front doors. Overwhelming the community would involve traffic going to and from the site that the nearby arterials and collector streets cannot handle, thereby sending traffic streaming on to local residential streets where it's not intended to go. So the previous zoning for the site allowed for substantial use of 12 storey construction after initially considering some 12 storey construction on the northwest corner of this site. Kentaro decided agreed to drop the maximum height for the development eight storeys as part of the turf negotiations. As you've heard, the developer has capped the total number of doors, residential doors at 840. The development agreement went well when the rent control engaged with the city to purchase the site. The requirement of 150 units of affordable housing had a buyout agreement on it, a cash in lieu. And as we would go to the public meetings and they would say of affordable housing, affordable housing, I would tell them, you know, it's just another maybe the way maybe it'll be a health club or maybe it'll be something else. And so as things move forward, the development agreement they signed and agreed that that 150 units of affordable housing was a definite must do as part of the project. And as as I believe Tracy mentioned, that takes the affordable component to 18% on this site, which is getting close to what we should be doing on every site , you know, where usually we talk about 10%. This is nearly double that. The developer's own estimates have predicted that traffic generated on the site is expected to grow anywhere from 5 to 7 times over what the old DOT site generated to reduce that number. At my request, early on, Kentaro contacted Transportation Solutions and ended up contracting with transportation solutions to devise infrastructure and processes to reduce auto trips to and from the site. Again, at my request, even though there have been no formal site plans available to work with. Courtesy Kim Lee Horne has and Kentaro have have worked with Denver Public Works in two different teams since we lost the first team to other cities, but have worked repeatedly to to get ahead of the game and assess traffic mitigation opportunities between Colorado Boulevard and Holly Street from Arkansas down to Florida and have come up with with a number of recommended improvements. And while that while the tiff includes some money that would go towards paying for these improvements, these traffic mitigation measures should along the way Denver Public Works decide. You know what, guys, that's not enough. We need more. That will have to come from the from the developer's pocket. And that's part of this of this TIFF agreement. And again, has been said, the agreement includes that whatever ends up being built needs to generate 200 permanent jobs, 200 new jobs, in addition to the construction temporary construction related positions. It is conceivable that during construction on this 13 acre site, multiple companies will be working on site at the same time. And so Control is also agreed to assign a single construction manager so that any concerns that might be related to construction will have one point of contact to. Carry that, carry the message where it needs to go. And in late in the project, realizing that Denver Parks and Rec now has a. Substantial fund for purchase of parkland along with Parks and Rec. We met with Castro and started discussions on wood with the city. Purchase some land and buy a park. And the city wanted two acres. Castro was unable to to work that into their plan, but then took the approach of they would construct a park in the 1 to 1.4 acres, a number, as you've heard, that will be accessible to the public. It will be designed with public involvement. And that brings that the normal ten again, the normal 10% open space figure, which should be more as we access as we evaluate projects moving forward, this gets us up closer to 20%. You've heard the money will be used to beautify the erector set my communications tower that has had nothing in the way of esthetics. And one thing that most people probably understand, some people may not right now. And while Seedat was on that land, it did not generate tax money. You know, the state was tax exempt. So while we are considering entering into a deal where for a couple of decades the taxes generated will not go into city coffers, they are paying for investment in connecting the street grid and all the other improvements. And after those 20, 25 years, substantial tax revenue in the millions will be coming in to the city annually. Let's see as far as the jobs. By involving Dora in a TIFF and managing a TIFF program, though, those 200 permanent jobs and the construction jobs are subject to a first source hiring dictate that requires that they welcome first application from low income Denver residents. It doesn't mean that the jobs have to go to those people, but it does mean they have to be given serious consideration. You know, in our current especially in our current construction, with so much building going on around the city, those jobs can be can be difficult to fill. What else? 23% of the total project budget, excluding the land costs, will be devoted to SB firms, small business enterprise firms. That number is not set in stone. It is a guideline. There are no penalties, particularly if they don't reach that number. However, they will be required to present a plan to doer to show how they intend to reach that number. One of my first requests, when we considered this project two years ago, there was a cop shop at Monaco and Lead Stale that had lost their lease. And I ask that they consider finding, you know, a couple hundred, few hundred square feet for a cop shop. And while the details haven't been settled, there's what I consider a handshake commitment that that will be part of this project in some form. Last thing as far as. Why would we want to enter into this agreement is it provides an overall degree of oversight over what's going to happen on this property. That wouldn't be there if there wasn't this involvement with Dura. I'm believing what the developer says, that they intend to sell the pads to other builders, vertical builders, and then take back management and ownership of the retail portion. I believe they'll remain on site should they decide to sell. Any sale needs to be approved by Doura to ensure that the plan that we're approving, whether it's Cantrell or anybody else, gets carried through. So this has been a real wrestling match for for a couple for a couple of years. As I said to Councilman Hines. You know, I don't know. It was a month or two months ago when this hugging said, you know, we really would like a letter from the council member and say. No. No, we're we're still talking about this. There's still work to be done. I don't know whether we've gotten to the point that I have been aiming for as creating a development that is going to enhance more than impact. I think we've made real, profound steps in that direction. So now we'll just continue as a community. Should my colleagues support this project to try to build something that I think is what my neighbors would want? So, yes, I will be supporting this package this evening, and I hope that my colleagues will join me in investing in the Virginia Village community. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman. Councilwoman Ortega. Thank you, Mr. President. The city saw this as a great opportunity when Cedar was moving away from this site and we were given the first right of refusal in the city, said, Yeah, we want it, but we're going to turn, turn around and put it out to bid. And I had the opportunity to attend a couple of the community meetings and saw the incredible work that was being done by the Kintore Group in in terms of really listening to the community and incorporating that input into this project. Clearly, the TIFF piece is a critical component that makes the overall finances of the project work. But. I think in general, you know, the fact that you're doing more affordable housing on the site than is normally requested with other TIFF projects that you're doing more open space than is normally requested or provided is just speaks a lot to the commitment and the dedication of this team in bringing forward a project that the community was happy to support. And you had community people here tonight. We didn't see any naysayers. Even to have Sekou and Jesse here speaking in support. I guess Jesse was sort of on the fence, but. You know, Brother Sekou is typically very critical of development projects that don't incorporate, you know, certain elements. And obviously the affordability that is part of this project and the fact that it will it was going to happen regardless of whether the tiff was in, you know, Inc., I think speaks a lot to the the genuine commitment that this team had to making this a quality project for this neighborhood. I would love to be able to connect you guys to some local groups. We have some incredible models like The Prodigy Coffee, the work options for women, the commercial program over on the taxi site. These are all incredible services being provided to the community. But at the same time, they're they're working with different segments of our population and they're giving back to the community as well. So I would just hope you would consider some of those as as potential options to have as as possible tenants in some of the spaces that you guys are going to be having, depending on, you know, what that makeup or the mix of of those various types of businesses are that are going to be on the site. So I'm happy to support this tonight. I think this is clearly a model that I would hope that other developers take note of and really look to in in terms of. Actually what used to be provided to City Council on a pretty consistent basis before the zoning code was changed. And some of us are talking about trying to codify some of those old steps that used to be part of the zoning process. So stay tuned on that. There's there'll be a lot more conversations with the development community about that before anything is brought forward to city council. But great job. I think your your team did an amazing job in working with the community. I want to thank Councilman Cashman for his tenacity in continuing to push the envelope and really ensure that this is a project that was, you know, supported and welcomed by the community. Does it mean there won't be some challenges? I think with any project, it's all kind of continuing to work through those details with the community once the the development phase of it gets started. But this is a big step in moving the project forward. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Hines. Thank you, Mr. President. I also will be voting in favor of this as well. But I part of the reason why I really enjoyed the message that you've delivered is something that I said in a in a previous conversation tonight. And that's you know, I'm very I'm a firm advocate of the 20 minute neighborhood. And and as Mr. Anderson had said, also a District ten resident, he had said that, you know, locating all the things you need to survive and thrive within walking distance or rolling distance, as the case may be, is is critical for us to get out of cars. And to President Clarke's point, getting out of cars is good for physical health. It's good for community, but it's also good for the planet, too. So so I commend you for your for your attention to it attention and intention to give us a place where we can have community. Apparently. Speaking of community, last thing I'll say is apparently you have a dearth of cornhole locations. So that was the as well. Geez, if there's if there's no cornhole and this will solve that, then I'm happy to support. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman. All right, so no other comments. I will just say thank you all for coming tonight, sticking with us late into the evening to be a part of this conversation. Thank you, Tracy, for the presentation and for walking us through all of this. Thank you to the development team for all of your hard work, all of the meetings with community and with our colleagues up here to get to this point. I remember when we were debating the zoning on this site, I felt very, very strongly that night that the entitlements that were on the property, if left, how it was zoned versus what we were contemplating as a rezoning, that we would get a much better project and much better outcomes for the community. Under the proposal for rezoning. And I feel the same tonight that we will get much better outcomes and I won't go into the details of all of that because it's been covered and it's been talked about. But this will be much better for the community and for our city if we approve this than if we don't. And so I'll be happy to support it this evening. Madam Secretary, roll call. Black eye to the Barca. I. Flynn. I. Gilmore. I. Herndon. I. Hines. I. PASHMAN. Yup. Kenny Ortega. I. Sandoval. I swear. I. Torres. Mr. President, I am secretary. Please cause voting. Announce the results. 1339 as Council Bill 1245 has passed. We're not quite done yet. We have that companion bill that we delayed earlier. Councilman Herndon, will you please put council bill 1246 on the floor? Yes, Mr. President, I move that council bill 19 dash one, two, four, six be placed upon final consideration and do pass. Thank you. It has been moved and seconded. Are there any comments on this one or can we just get to the vote? Looks like we can just vote. Madam Secretary, roll call. Black eye. CdeBaca Then I feel more. Herndon High. Hines I. Cashman I can reach. Ortega All right. Sandoval. I. Sawyer, I. Torres, I. Mr. President. I. Um. We're missing one. Did we miss somebody? Oh, all right. Madam Secretary, please close voting in those results. Oh. I think. No. Ortega, you didn't come through. I don't know what happened from. Where you and I. 39. 39, 39 As Council Bill 1246 has passed, seeing no other business before this body, this meeting is adjourned.