A bill for an ordinance changing the zoning classification for 4650 & 4698 Central Park Boulevard, Stapleton. Approves an official map amendment to rezone property from M-IMX-8 to CMP-H (master planned, 8-stories, to campus, healthcare), located at 4650 and 4698 Central Park Boulevard in Council District 8. The Committee approved filing this item at its meeting on 12-18-18.
Council is reconvened. We have two hearings this evening. Speakers should begin their remarks by telling the council their names and cities of residents and if they feel comfortable doing so, their home addresses. If you're here to answer questions only when your name is called, please come to the podium, state your name and note that you are available for questions of council. Speakers will have 3 minutes. There is no yielding of time on the presentation monitor. On the wall you will see your time counting down. Speakers must stay on the topic of the hearing and must direct their comments to the council members. Please refrain from profane or obscene speech. Direct your comments to council as a whole and please refrain from individual or personal attacks. Council Work. Will you please put Council Bill 1482 on the floor? Yes, I will move that council bill 18 Dash 1480 to be placed upon final consideration and do passed. It has been moved and second in the public hearing for council bill 1482 is open. May we have. The staff report? Good evening, Teresa Lucero with community planning and development. I can get this open. We can get started. So this is an official map amendment. It is a rezoning of 46, 50 and 46, 98 Central Park Boulevard. The request is to go for a master planned industrial mixed use eight storeys to campus hospital. The property is located in City Council District eight in the Stapleton neighborhood, and this just gives you an overview of the area. The request is for about four acres, 183,000 square feet. Currently vacant property. Again, the request is to rezone from master plan context industrial mixed use a stories to campus hospital to redevelop the property for a rehabilitation center. So subject zoning again industrial mixed use eight storey surrounding properties industrial mixed use eight stories to the east and west north is industrial mixed use five stories and then 12 stories to the south. Industrial mixed use. Again, subject property is vacant to the east and north is also vacant. South is an office building and west is a hotel or commercial use. This gives you an idea of these surrounding properties a lot of vacant properties, a hotel and an office. The campus is own district. One thing I forgot to say earlier is that the proposal is because the hospital use is not allowed in other zoned districts except the campus hospitals own district. That's part of why this is a requested rezoning. But the campus context is for those institutional uses medical, educational, entertainment, large, usually large sites. But again, that medical use is only allowed in c mph. There is a it would be a general primary building form and this is just intended to promote maintenance and concentration of health care facilities. So the process, initial information I notice went out in August of last year. Planning Board was duly posted in at their hearing on December 5th, unanimously voted to recommend approval of this application. Ludie heard this item on December 18th of last year and of course you're here tonight and this hearing has been noticed as well. So there are several are in OWS. We have had no comment from an R.A. or general public on this application. So, you know, the criteria, the plans that apply are current plan 2000, Blueprint 2002 and the Stapleton Development Plan of 1995. Current plan as detailed in your staff report. Staff believes that this application conforms with environmental sustainability strategies, land use strategies, legacy strategies and some of the neighborhood strategies talking about the location of facilities, particularly medical facilities in our neighborhoods. So Blueprint Denver This isn't within an area of change and this is where, of course we want to channel growth. And it is a blueprint land use concept of employment where we want these types of uses and very few residential uses and some of our institutional uses and commercial uses to go into these areas. The Stapleton Development Plan of 1995 calls for this area. It's in districts six and seven in the Stapleton Land Use Plan and calls for this area to be residential and employment and oriented to 49th 47th Avenues near I-70 and should be where there's business, retail and services for the northern portion of the Stapleton area and close, of course, to the transportation calls for improvements of the major highways in the area and of course, to the Stapleton way of developing integrating parks and drainage and natural areas into the community. And then there should be, of course, special sites for institutional and corporate uses according to the plan. So staff believes that the criteria is met, that this is consistent with the adopted plans, with the standard zone district, the campus zone district that we are implementing, the Stapleton Development Plan, as well as as we're developing this complete community in Stapleton. And the justifying circumstances are changed conditions as our former airport redeveloped. And then of course, the consistency with the intent of providing a place for these institutional uses in our campuses and promoting the maintenance and concentration of our health care facilities. There is also a Stapleton GDP. This site is within an area called office. However, there is text that you may find by text within the GDP. Speaking specifically to Central Park Boulevard, saying a variety of land uses are appropriate for the Central Park Boulevard Corridor. Institutional employment and commercial uses are especially encouraged along this corridor south of 49th Avenue, as they will easily be accessible to transit services and Central Park Boulevard. With that, staff recommends approval of this application. Thank you very much. We have five individuals signed up to speak this evening. I would ask that if you're signed up to speak this evening, that you come up to the front bench. When I call your name, your time will start. I want to make sure that you get all of your time at the microphone. First up is Jeffrey Jones. My name is Jeffrey Jones. I live at nine Bretton Woods, Dallas, Texas. I'm here to answer any of your questions regarding this project or the rezoning. Thank you very much. Next up, Mariana Thompson. Console people. I did not see anything there that said subsidized housing or attainable housing. So, you know, until that comes on the table. No. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Jerry Burton. Well, I'm always happy for progress. But the number one thing. Yes, you're building more apartments. But I must ask you this question. Who are you building them for? The point is, we need to be building more apartment for the bottom, bottom third of our society. 0 to 30% is what we need. And I would really love to see either one of these places to be designed for that. You know, we all got to get along here. We all we got number one country. It's not like I get up and move and go stay on the moon, which I probably could do if I if I really wanted to get away from the heartless people. But we've got to look out for each other. We got one. We got one world. We got to share it. We got to be together in all of this, you know? And right now, we you know, we are all in crisis. I'm for it. We are all in crisis for there. But we need to be thinking about the bottom one third of society, the one that is on fixed income right now, the one that working a minimum wage job or someone like me that is homeless, that I will be sleeping outside again tonight in protest, as always. But we got we got to be all inclusive. We can be about the top two third of society. It take all of us to be one society, and that includes one third. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Jesse Paris. Jesse Pearce. Represent for Denver homicidal Black Star Action Movement for self-defense and positive, active commitment for social change. And I'm also an at large candidate for 2019. I am against this based off the grounds that we have a crisis in this town. And to say that you are prioritizing health camp is opposed to an encampment, tiny home village sites, actual affordable, attainable housing site. It's just very misfortunate to see and hear that this takes precedence over all of that. So, yeah, we're definitely against this. The city really needs to get its priorities straight on who it actually wants to help and service and actually live in this town. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Chairman Sekou. Yes, Chairman Seiko. Founder Black's lyrics and movement self-defense and the next mayor of the city county of Denver. It. Appears. On the surface that. This is something that is needed for this community in order to consolidate and find a place central where the residents can get the health care that they need in an area where they don't have to go helter skelter and all over the place to get services. And that's a good thing. That's a good thing. And yet. What concerns me. This as we continually eat up the land resources in this town. At what point are we going to run out of land so that you can't do the things you need to do for the increasing population that's coming? It's a. And what this really represents. Growing up in this town, you have two different communities having to write their own food back in their stable to know it. That Stapleton area was primarily developed for white settlers coming into the neighborhood during gentrification. And when you look at how the services were provided west. Of Central Park. You see dilapidated buildings. Eminent domain. One, two, three, ABC. And yet it becomes more dire about when you see the plan that as you remove one population ethnic group and bring in another. All of a sudden, this is a booming area. But when you had those existing folks who had been here for years, it wasn't considered worthy of the attention of the city for development, to have them have anything. And a good example of the just shopping center stable. You don't have one not one business in that whole thing that's black owned or leased. Imagine that. Yet. Right across the street is Woodlawn Black Community. This is done by a black man. Yeah. Now. So listen. I know you guys are going to go for this. Because the criteria is consistent. The orientation of city council is to remain in the lap of the mayor. So the no one's consequence and then I know you guys are going to do that. They call you vote for my job of yours. Would I agree with it or not? I'm sorry, but your time is up. Thank you. That concludes our speakers. Are there any questions from members of Council on this item? Councilman Espinosa. Now, one quick question. I think it's for CPD. Is the is this is development on this side of Central Park subject to Stapleton Design Review? Yes. Yes. Thank you. All right. Any other questions on this item? Councilman hundred. Yes. Mr. Perez, just one question and quick question for the applicant. If you could briefly describe where we're focusing on the criteria before us. But since there are no other speakers, just want to ask one question for my colleagues questions of my better understanding from my colleagues what the use will be for this site should the rezoning go through. This is an acute care rehabilitation hospital, so it's after you go to an acute care hospital. Any of them in in the entire city, when they're when they're ready to leave the hospital, but they're not ready to go home. And the average stay in our hospital is around 13 or 14 days. Some people are there for 30 days. This is not a drug rehab. It's a physical rehab speech and occupational rehabilitation hospital. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Herndon, Councilman Espinosa. I'm just curious for the applicant. Based on what you just said, described as the use. We have done a really you know, from the get go, Stapleton has been designed with affordable housing as a crucial component. I've developed some of the affordable housing in the neighborhood and it reaches some fairly low income levels as well as veterans . How do you guys have any programs to administer to households with low income, low incomes or no insurance approximate? Well, I would say about 90% of our patients are 65 or 70 and older, up to 100 years old. So Medicare is taking care of about 70 or 80% of of the cost of this service. So in commercial insurance takes care of the balance. Are any of your programs subject to Medicaid insurances? No. No. This is not a classification. This is not a skilled nursing or nursing home. We we usually have one or two patients during a month where we're bringing them in. They may not qualify for one of those, but we bring them in as an accommodation. But it's under strict Medicare guidelines. I think we I think we may have done this near 29th, but that was so long ago. Do you know in your analysis of the market, is there maybe not a need today, but will there be a need for that level of care? I mean, care at that level to retain a complete community out there. We think there's a need today. The the closest rehabilitation hospital in that part of Denver is one in Aurora that's approximately 40 years old. One of the neighborhood association members actually told me that she had to go to a rehabilitation hospital in the last year or two. And the only hospital she could get into was near Porter Hospital, and she lives in Montebello, which is probably for her family. She said it was quite a burden even driving down there. But there's there's really not a hospital rehabilitation hospital near there other than maybe downtown. In Aurora. And just for again, for our information going forward. Is there benefit for you? Got any are you better off having sort of your zone lot being sort of an island or are you better off if there are some companion medical uses in the vicinity? Well, we have we are zoning the entire block for medical campus so we can accommodate one or two other uses on that block in addition to our hospital. Right. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Espinosa, seeing no other question. The public hearing for Council Bill 1482 is closed. Are there comments by members of council? Councilman Herndon. Thank you, Mr. President. I. I appreciate the questions about this. This is very clear. We're focused on the criteria. I think the criteria has been met. So this is something I will be supporting. But I will just take a moment to say I'm excited that this will be a youth that's in need. There's a huge senior population and far northeast. And as it was just stated, the ability that you have to travel so far for acute care, that this is a this is a gap that we will fill. So I'm excited about that. And you've got seniors beyond Stapleton in Montebello, in Northeast Park Hill. So I'm excited to see this coming. And I did just want to make a correction. Intersections Restaurant and Northfield Boulevard is a black owned business. Anyone want to come out and have breakfast with me? I'm happy to eat with you there. And I featured them in my newsletter and I encourage my colleagues to support this. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman Herndon. Seeing no other comments, I just thank staff for the hard work on this and the great staff report. I think it's clear that the criteria have been met and happy to support it. Madam Secretary, roll call on Council Bill 1482. Herndon, i. Black i. Brooks. I. Espinosa, i. Flynn. I. Gilmore. I. Cashman. Can each. Lopez. I knew Ortega. I Sussman. Hi. Mr. President. Hi, Madam Secretary. Please. Because the voting and the results. 12 eyes. 12 eyes. Comfortable. 1482 has passed. Councilwoman, back where you please. What? Council bill 1483 on the floor.