A bill for an ordinance changing the zoning classification for 3141 Raleigh Street in West Highland. Approves an official map amendment to rezone property located at 3141 Raleigh Street from U-SU-A to U-SU-A1 (allowing an accessory dwelling unit), in Council District 1. The Committee approved filing this item at its meeting on 8-20-19.
Please refrain from profane or obscene speech. Direct your comments to council as a whole and please refrain from individual or personal attacks. Councilwoman Gilmore, will you please put Council Bill 817 on the floor? Yes, President Clarke, I move that council bill 19 dash 0817 be placed upon final consideration and do pass. Thank you, Councilwoman. My screen has gone dark. Can I get a second? Thank you. It has been moved and seconded. The required public hearing for Council Bill 817 is open. May we have the staff report? Good evening, Teresa Lucero with community planning and development. This is a rezoning at 3141 Raleigh Street. The proposal is to rezone from urban single unit to urban single unit, allowing an accessory dwelling unit. So the application is located in City Council District one in the West Highland neighborhood. It is within an urban context, and that contest text is intended to promote and protect residential neighborhoods, does allow an urban house and accessory dwelling unit with a maximum height of 30 to 35 feet on a 3000 square foot zone lot minimum zoned lot. So existing zoning is useful on all four sides and the property itself, existing land use in the area, a few multi units, some two units and a lot of single unit residential. This these pictures give you an idea of the surrounding properties, most of them 1 to 2 stories and height. Top Left is a condo project across the alley from the subject site where there are five units. Otherwise, there are all single unit homes. So the process this started in May of 2019 when we noticed a complete application and we were at planning board in July. They recommended unanimously that we approve this and we were at Moody in August, and here we are for the public hearing that has been properly noticed. There are no letters from our registered neighborhood organizations and there are no other comment letters received on this application. So you know, the criteria, the plans that apply are plan 2040. Blueprint Denver 2019 and Housing and Inclusive Denver. Current plan 2000 2040 several. Several recommendations that are detailed in your staff report supporting this application. Blueprint Denver This is an urban context and blueprint Denver one and two unit residential with embedded small unit and commercial in the residential areas and a regular grid pattern of streets. Future place is low residential, which is single and two unit residential, up to two and a half storeys in height. Street types are. Raleigh is an undesignated local street. 32nd Avenue is a residential collector. Growth area strategy is all other areas of the city, which is anticipated to see 20% of all the new housing growth and 10% of new employment by 2040. And then housing an inclusive Denver speaks to including in our regulations and in through blueprint, in including expanding our housing choices to allow accessory dwelling units and promoting, in fact , accessory dwelling units. So staff believes that this application is consistent with the adopted plans. By using a standard zoned district, we are furthering the uniform application of. Arizona districts by implementing our plans. And we're. That with development that's consistent with our the character of our neighborhoods that we're implementing, the public health, safety and welfare and justifying circumstances is the change. The change has been the adoption of New Blueprint that supports the development of accessory dwelling units citywide. We did talk a little bit about the urban context, and staff believes this is consistent with that context and with the purpose and intent statements of promoting and protecting our residential neighborhoods. So staff believes this is consistent with all of our criteria and recommends approval. Thank you very much. We have three individuals signed up to speak this evening. First up is Richard Kerr. Hello. I'm Richard Kerr. I'm the homeowner at 3141 North Raleigh. If you have any questions and I'd like to answer them. Thank you very much. We will save questions for a different part, but thank you very much. Okay. Next up, Jesse Pierce. Even now. Members of council, it's good to see you again. I just came from vacation. I was there. So I'm just. It was shot in Paris. I'm represented for Denver Homicide. Low black star action moment for self-defense. Positive action. Come in for social change. And you YPO, which is African. People's Organization. We just started a chapter about three months ago, so I am also an At-Large candidate for 2019. Election was on top of the ballot. The almost 15,000 votes with no money. And I will be running again in 2023. So where I stand on this is what is the AMA level going to be for this proposed rezoning in the Highlands, in the north side that has been rapidly gentrified? And who is going to occupy this space? Because, like I just alluded, it has become white affluence right before our very eyes. I used to live in a in a diverse city where you could see multiple colors of people living in a neighborhood. That is not happening. Or my people were being displaced, gentrified, moved out. Ethnic cleansing out of our communities. And we're not going to stand for this any longer. So it will continue to put candidates run candidates for office so that that can be ushered in. So someone could please answer my questions are greatly appreciated. And thank you all for coming out tonight. Thank you. Next up, Chairman Sekou. Okay, guys, start. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. And. My name is Chairman Sekou. Unbound, an organizer of the Black Star Action Movement. And. Press release came out today. I'm a 2020 candidate for the United States Senate. Yeah. It was very important that I come to know because you guys won't see me as much. Mr. Speaker, if you could stay to the agenda item, please. I'm getting there. I'm getting. I'm just trying to catch my breath. I'll just go to the hospital. So here we go. This has already been said. I know it. You know it. I wouldn't be surprised. On the 13th, the vote, at worst, maybe one. Or as Tekken Princess. And if we stand on principle. We've always had this conversation before. And so I support it because it's a done deal. And this dog and pony show needs to stop because the decision already was made in subcommittee. Yeah. And you know what? I know it. And this is too little, too late because there's nothing. Nobody's going to say. It's going to change your mind. You're already committed. And so for the people that are watching Martin Luther King in 1957 doing the bus boycott in Montgomery, that was consistent with 373 days that stop that segregation of the bus to put us on the back seat with Rosa Park. He said, look, you show me a man and woman who's not committed. Do anything. That they're willing to die for. They are not fit to live. Martin Luther King, 1957, inscribed a city park at his memorial. Yeah. Well, that one live by that one. So what are you willing to die for? For poor people. What? Nothing. Because you committed to your lifestyle and you're stuck on stupid, just capitalism. You couldn't quit if you had to. You're like a bunch of crackheads who come here and. You could please stay to the agenda item. Thank you. All right. That concludes our speakers this evening. Are there questions for members of council? Councilman Sawyer. Thank you, Mr. President. I was just a little bit curious, maybe for the homeowner about what sort of community outreach you did. It's pretty rare that we don't get any sort of comments or from any registered neighborhood organizations or neighbors at all. So I'm just curious. I went I went and met with all my neighbors. No one objected. So and I, I had a signed petition, but I didn't bring it. I also joined the neighborhood organization. Then they did not respond, I guess. But they did. They they did resist or one person on that on the neighborhood organization opposed. But it wasn't representative of the neighborhood. So that's why you have no letter from the neighborhood organization. But I did. I was actively involved. My neighbors, I consulted the R.A. and and it's been a long process. I know I submitted the application in May, but it was a year before I was reaching out to people in my neighborhood. Thank you very much. No, no more questions. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Flynn. Hey, Mr. President. Mr. Kerr, could you tell me you are seeking this change so you can add an accessory dwelling unit? And is this a garage conversion? There's a garage on the back of the property. Currently, there's a one car garage built in 1925. It does it right. Modern car. Right. And so will this be in place of the garage or are you keeping the garage and putting the adu elsewhere on the. On the lot? It will replace the garage. Okay. Okay. Thank you, class Teresa. Question. This lot is 6350 square feet. What are the what are the coverage and what limitations on one footprint on. On a lot of that size. How large would need to you could be. Built or maybe Kyle do you know that I thought it was 600 square feet. But don't don't quote me on that. But I believe it's 600 square feet. 600? Mm hmm. Okay. Mr. Kirk, could you come to my. Minus my understanding from my architect. The footprint can be 864 square feet. Okay. That's after. Because the garage will be the. Garage and the garage footprint will be 864 and the upstairs will be 75% of that. I see. Okay. I get it. All right. Thank you, Mr. President. It's. I needed. Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Hines. Thank you, Mr. President. For the homeowner, if I might. Thank you. And I apologize. I didn't get your name. Rick or. Richard. You've said it, but I. Anyway, I'm not good at retaining it anyway. So you started this process over a year ago, is it? And you'd submitted the application in May. Right. What might you do if if this wasn't approved? Would you I mean, are there other options that you would consider? Would you consider scrapping or would you? I mean, this is just a no. I'm just when I bought the property in 97. It was zoned out too. And I thought of it when at that time we had one child, brand new child, and I thought, that's great. There's a future here beyond our raising our family. And then it was resolved where that evaporated and became a single family again. And I was too busy to protest at the time because I had two young children. But now we're at a different my children are gone and we're at a different place. And so I'm here to get back to where I was. And I have a vision for this property. And what would I do if denied? Nothing tomorrow. Nothing, not nothing rash. But ultimately, we would probably sell. And what is your how much time do you think you've invested? And maybe if you're willing to disclose how much has been your financial commitment for this rezoning process? Plenty of time. But in plenty of pacing back and forth and wringing my hands. But money. It was $1,000 for the application. I have $1,000. 1500 dollars in to my architect. That's. You know, I had to print signs or twice. That's $300. 150 each. Yeah. That's okay. Thank you. It was it's been a substantial investment. It's been a and a lot of hand wringing. Yeah. Got it. Thank you. And thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Ortega. Thank you, Mr. President. I just wanted to ask Teresa a question, if you wouldn't mind coming up to the microphone. I just want you to clarify whether or not any of the short term rentals are allowed in an accessory dwelling unit. They are if it's licensed and if the applicant lives or if the property owner lives on the property. So living on the property and living in the property are two different things. And so it was my understanding that the, the language in the short term rental ordinance was that you had to reside part time within the property that within the the unit that is being rented out. Can you clarify that? That's not the language that I'm familiar with. The language I'm familiar with is you live on the property and you can rent out whatever unit you've got. Okay. So let me just ask the applicant if that is one of the proposed uses that you're expecting to have in this particular property if they're successful. I plan on renting it out to a tenant. Okay. And I have the other vision I have is I have two young adult children now. Both of them are away. In the event they would come back. They could they could rent it. Okay. But other than that, I have no short term rental visit. In my understanding of the short term rental thing is you have to live on the property. It is now part time. Yes. You have to reside within the property. I thought it was 50% of the time. I could be wrong about that. But so thank you. I just want to share that. I think as we were saying. QUESTION You sounded like you were maybe getting ready for comment. Oh, wait for that. All right. Almost. Let me bang the gavel and we'll be there. All right. Seeing no other questions. The public hearing four counts. Bill 817 is closed. Comments by members of council. Councilman Sandoval. Sorry about that. Thank you, Mr. President. So thank you for bringing this request forward. I remember meeting you as a council aide talking about this this property, and for clarity. Councilman Sawyer, this is one of the answers that doesn't have a very active land use committee. And I have been pushing for five years to get this specific or no more active when it comes to land use so that they can offer an opinion. When we're sitting up here behind the dais, I think it's important. So thank you for taking the time to go to those meetings. I think I've seen you at every single one over the last year, and I know every time I ask for them to have a land use meeting. I know you're also there backing me up. So I appreciate that. As these accessory dwelling units come forward since the passing of Blueprint Denver, I think you're going to probably see a lot more in northwest Denver where people the the cost of living has is exorbitant and people need another way to offset some of their income and or they have an aging in place. They want someone to age in place or they have young children who are going to go off to college and come back. So I think there's very many variables and thank you for doing the outreach that you have because no one's called my office. I haven't heard much about that. And that's what I prefer to see behind this dais. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Ortega. Thank you, Mr. President. I think as. We continue to move forward in trying to address the housing needs of the city, creating the opportunities where ideas can be constructed, where they fit onto a lot. I think that makes sense. I am concerned and I will be asking the city attorney to help me draft language to ensure that this is not a loophole where a tight attached dwelling units would be used as short term rentals. That that is not the reason why as a city, I think we've moved to try to expand that. It's it's really to ensure that people who are struggling, trying to find affordable housing and people who are looking for the opportunity to augment their income and be able to stay in the city where that makes sense. But I think if they become nothing more than short term rentals for out-of-town people and folks who are living here that are struggling, trying to find housing, that doesn't make sense to me at all. So I'll be supporting this tonight. But I think this is something that I want to make sure that we have an opportunity to discuss and and really be thoughtful about that. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Ortega. Councilman Hines. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to echo Councilman Ortega's comment. I also want to say I'm really excited that we have increased use of an opportunity of this opportunity to allow seniors to have a way to offset some of their property taxes after they've retired and they don't have, you know, steady income. Certainly, our property taxes continue to go up. And and allowing people to age in place, I think is important. And I think this gives people another tool in the tool belt. Also, parents who want to give their kids a little more privacy as as the applicant has mentioned, you know, if his kids want to come back, I think that's a great use as well. And and the flipside is also true. We've heard over time that, you know, the secret's out. People are moving to Colorado and they want to bring their parents with them, too, but but not in the same house. And so this gives, you know, an opportunity for people to have their their parents come and have their parents have a little bit of privacy and the kids to have a little bit of privacy, too. I'd be interested in, you know, that blueprint has has established that areas should be considered city wide. I'd like to look at that. So I'll be supporting this as well. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman Hines. So you know their comments. I'll just add a thank you to staff for putting this all together and the great staff report. I think this clearly meets the legal criteria for rezoning. And I will be supporting this this evening. Madam Secretary, roll call. CdeBaca I. Flynn. I. Gillmor, i. Herndon. Hines I. Castro. I can teach. Ortega, i. Sandoval, i. Sawyer, I. Torres, i. Mr. President. I. Madam Secretary, please. Because voting in US results.