A bill for an ordinance changing the zoning classification for 735 North Milwaukee Street in Congress Park. Approves a map amendment to rezone property from U-SU-C to U-SU-C1 (allows for an accessory dwelling unit), located at 735 North Milwaukee Street in Council District 10. The Committee approved filing this item at its meeting on 12-28-21.
We have three public hearings tonight for those who are participating in-person when called upon. Please come to the podium and on the presentation monitor. On the wall you will see your time counting down for those who are participating virtually. When called upon, please wait until our meeting hosts promote you to speaker. When you were promoted, your screen will ask permission to allow us to promote you. Please accept the promotion. Once you accept the promotion, your screen will flash and say Reconnecting to meeting. Please don't leave the meeting. You will be reconnected and will need to turn on your camera if you have one. And your microphone. You will see your time counting down at the bottom of your screen. Once you have finished speaking, you will change back to participant mode and see your screen flash one more time. All speakers should begin their remarks by telling the council their names and cities of residents and if they feel comfortable doing so, their home address. If you have signed up to answer questions, only state your name and note that you are available for questions of council. Speakers will have 3 minutes. There is no yielding of time. If translation is needed, you will be given an additional 3 minutes for your comments to be interpreted. Will alternate between in-person and virtual for efficiency by calling in-person participants and then alternating to virtual protests. Speakers must stay on the topic of the hearing and must draw up their comments to the council members. Please refrain from profane or obscene speech. Judge your comments to council as a whole and please refrain from individual or personal attacks. Councilmember Ortega. Will you please put Council Bill two to death 0003 on the floor for final passage. Yes, Madam President. I move that. Council Bill 20 2-0003 be placed on final consideration and do pass. Thank you. It has been moved and seconded the required public hearing for Council Bill 22-0003 is open. May we have that report, please? Good afternoon, members of City Council. Madam President, my name is Frank Bruni, filled with CPD, and I'm here today to present you the rezoning for 735 North Milwaukee Street. Subject property is located in Council District ten. In the Congress Park neighborhood. And the request is to rezone through a district that will allow for an 80 you in the rear of the property. All other forms of your standard will remain the same. The property is currently zoned U.S. and the request to rezone to U.S. U.S. one, which requires a minimum lot size of 5500 square feet and allows for a detached U in the rear of the property. The site is 6250 square feet and the current land use for the site is single unit residential and it is totally surrounded by other residential uses. The property is within the Crown View plane that allows for heights up to 125 feet in this location. So building on neighbor, you should not be a problem. My apologies. The star is not where it should be. The subject property is also within the Seventh Avenue Historic District. Therefore, any additions or alterations to the structure would require a review by Denver Landmarks Preservation. As shown on these photos, the character of the neighborhood is mostly residential. The subject property can be seen in the bottom right image of the slide. Throughout the rezoning process, application notifications have been provided according to code requirements. Planning Board recommended approval anonymously in December 25, and to date, staff has received one letter in support of the rezoning stating how to use our creative way to help provide affordable units in communities and staff. Also received two letters of opposition from the public. The letters. These two letters express concerns with a potential increase in population density, the scale of a two storey AEW preservation of historic character and decreasing property values. On the first point, I would like to mention that Denver's zoning code and associated licensing regulations allows the resident of a primary dwelling unit to conduct a short term rental , either in the primary dwelling unit or in a legally permitted accessory dwelling unit. This basically means that a resident in a primary structure can apply for a short term rental license as long as they live in the property. Not not allowing for an you won't prevent an applicant from getting a short term rental license. On the second and third point, voicing concerns over the scale of the two stories to you and preservation of historic character. City rules limit the size of an EU so that they are always smaller, an accessory accessory to the main house and don't overwhelm or shadow neighboring houses. Many Denver neighborhoods already allow free to use. For example, carriage houses are commonly featured in historic neighborhoods. The site is located within the East Seventh Avenue Historic District CBD stuff in coordination with Landmarks Preservation Commission Reform Design Review for all projects that are required. Building permits for properties located in designated historic districts. This review ensures that exterior alterations preserve the property's key historic character defining features and qualities. If the site is to be stone and a need to use proposal, it would be subject to review by Landmark Preservation Commission. Now in the final point, voice in the letters about the concern on decreasing property values, we have not seen any data. That proves that property. Values decrease way to use our build. Now moving on to Denver's zoning code review criteria, it must be found that the request map amendment amendment is consistent with five material. The first criteria is consistency with adopted plans. There are three plans applicable to his rezoning Comprehensive Plan 2040 Blueprint, Denver and the East Central Area Plan. As stated in the staff report, the rezoning is consistent with several goals in the Comprehensive Plan 2040. This MAP amendment will promote equity by creating a greater mix of housing options in every neighborhood, and it will lead to an environmentally resilient Denver by promoting infill development where infrastructure and services are already in place. The subject property is mapped as part of the urban neighborhood context in Denver and the future places map designates a US low residential place type. This place type. Displaced types have predominantly single and two unit uses, and accessory dwelling units are appropriate. Milwaukee Street is designated as a local street, which is mostly characterized by residential uses. The growth area in Denver is all other areas of the city. These areas are anticipated to see a 10% growth and employment growth and 20% housing growth by 2040. Blueprint also includes specific policy recommendations. Housing policy number four focuses on diversifying housing choice through the expansion of accessory dwelling units throughout all residential areas. And then finally, the final plan, the East Central Area Plan was adopted by City Council in 2020 and applies to its subject property. The plan includes general recommendations and neighborhood specific recommendations and utilizes the same context and place framework as Blueprint. Denver. The subject property is designated urban low residential, the same as in Denver. The land use and build form section includes specific recommendations on rezoning. Reduce Tragedy. See recommends implementing adopted city waste policy in Blueprint Denver to diversify housing choice through expansion of its use throughout all residential areas, while also addressing context and sensitive data design and removing barriers to a two year construction. It goes further in saying that any use should be allowed in all residential forms. The proposed amendment is consistent with the East Central Area Plans, concert context and place designation and would allow for an accessory dwelling unit that is appropriate for this location in the neighborhood, making it consistent with the plan. Stuff also finds that the requested rezoning meets the next two criteria. The rezoning will result in uniformity of district regulations, and it will also further the public health, safety and welfare, primarily through the implementation of adopted plans. The justified circumstance for this rezoning is to see the adopted plan. Since the approval of the existing U.S., you see some districts the city has adopted the comprehensive plan in Denver and the East Central Area Plan stated throughout this presentation. The proposed rezoning meets the intent of this plan's. Overall, the proposed rezoning is consistent with the urban neighborhood context, residential district and the U.S. You see one swing district . Without requirements, approval based on finding or review criteria has been met. All right. Thank you, Fran. We have one individual signed up to speak this evening on this hearing. We have Jesse Paris. I'm getting word from our producers that you're not accepting. It looks like you're in now. Okay. There we go. We're going to go ahead and get you cued up, Jesse. There's also a long black noose. And I'll be in November and 2023 when Barack's rezoning the mines. I supported 80 units. I supported the city council at large in 2019. I got almost 15,000 votes with no money, so I continue to support them in 2022. I just wanted to know what this used going to be used for and is it going to be used for aides and family members or. It was going to be. So it's on. So please answer that question. I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes our speakers questions from members of Council on Council Build 20 2-0003. All right. I'm not seeing any questions from members of council. The sorry, the public hearing is closed. Comments by members of Council on Council Bill 20 2-0003 Council Member Hines Thank you. Council President I this is in my district. I want to thank CPD for the presentation. When I was a candidate for office, I heard a lot about housing density. I know that there were some fliers that were sent out that were saying that I supported 80 plus story buildings everywhere. I think one of the allegations was specifically in Congress Park. We're in a housing crisis. We do need more density, but we don't need 80 plus story buildings everywhere. I see accessory dwelling units in a beautiful neighborhood of Congress Park as one way for for congress park to add a little bit of gentle density to our city . And as long as we all do our part that in in context with the surrounding neighborhood. I believe that that we can move forward to tackle some of our affordable housing challenges. So while I don't think the 80 plus storey building makes a lot of sense in in most of our city, particularly in Congress Park, an accessory dwelling unit makes a whole lot of sense. And in addition to that, this meets the five criteria. So I would encourage a yes vote for my colleagues. I'll be voting yes. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Hines and I do agree with you as well. The rezoning criteria have been met and we'll be supporting this this evening as well. Madam Secretary, roll call on Council Bill 22, Dash 0003. CdeBaca. Hi. All. Cashman. I can eat. I. Ortega. I. Sandoval. I swear. I. Torres. I. Black eye. Clark. All right. Flynn. All right. Herndon. Ah. Madam President, I. Madam Secretary, closed the voting and announced the results. 13 Eyes. 13 Eyes. Council Bill 20 2-0003 has passed. Thank you, friend. Councilmember Ortega, will you please put Council Bill 20 2-0016 on the floor for final passage?