Creates and establishes the Five Points Business Improvement District, appointing the initial members of the Board of Directors of the District, and approving the initial operating plan and preliminary 2016-17 budget therefor.
All right. So the first one we have up is Council Bill 341. Councilman Clark, will you please put 341 on the floor for final passage? Thank you, Mr. President. I move the council bill 341 be placed on final consideration and do pass. The public hearing for council. Bill 341 is now open. We have a staff report. Good evening. It's been quite an evening. We'll try to keep this moving along in an expeditious manner. And what I got for you is a two part staff report where we will I will tell you a little bit about why we're here with the creation ordinance for the Five Points Business Improvement District, as well as a quick PowerPoint presentation showing the location and some of the other things that are going on with the proposed district. The city has been petitioned by a commercial property, by the commercial property owners to create the Five Points Business Improvement District. The main purpose of the Five Points Business Improvement District is to improve the economic vitality and overall commercial appeal of property within the district. The district will extend 11 blocks along both sides of Welton Avenue from 20th Street to Downing, including parcels adjacent to Welton on the southeast corner of 26th and Washington and parcels and the southeast side of California. Between 26 and 27, the district will encompass 219 properties. The district will provide programing and benefits to business and commercial properties located within the proposed boundaries that will include economic development, physical improvements, safety and advocacy. The site consists of approximately 42 acres and is located entirely within the city and county of Denver. The district will be a Title 31, Article 25, Part 12 Business Improvement District, and will be utilized to assist in the acquisition, design, funding and construction of certain public improvements authorized by the Business Improvement District Act, including, but not limited to street lights, decorative structures, statuary fountains, identification signs and bicycle paths. And in and adjacent to the site. The district will also be utilized to provide services within its service area, including, but not limited to a consulting with respect to planning and managing development activities within the service area of the district. B Promotion and or marketing of district activities. C Organization promotion, marketing and management of public events. The activities and support of business, recruitment, management and development and e security for businesses and public areas located within the district as. Determined by the board of directors of the district. The aforementioned services are collectively referred to as district services. The services, facilities and improvements to be provided by the district are not intended to duplicate or supplant the services, facilities and improvements provided by the city and county of Denver within the proposed district boundaries. The district is being created to provide enhanced and otherwise unavailable services and improvements within its boundaries as part of the creation process. Office of Economic Development provided a grant approved in 2015 for the petitioners to begin a feasibility study in late 2015 and met with the and met with surveyed and met and surveyed people in the five points neighborhood of the required of the 50% required total assessed property represented approximately 62.3 of the petitioners were in support and 50% of the. And then there's another statutory requirement that 50% of the acreage must also be in favor of this. And they attained 56.7 of the petitioners support for these two thresholds. The district initial budget is expected to be $162,000 to fund district ongoing administration and provision of district services. The initial revenue will consist of property tax revenue on commercial real property and a transfer of the remaining funds from the Wellston Corridor Pedestrian Mall Local Maintenance District . The district will impose a levy of ten mills and only commercial real property in the district boundaries. The district will not assess any mills on any personal property. Residential property is not subject to the revenue raising powers of the district unless the property owner changes its use to be commercial. The district shall exist in an initial term of ten years at the end of the initial term. The district will dissolve unless the district board determines the district has been successful. The board will then request the City Council to renew the district by resolution at the conclusion of that initial term. Also before you today was the dissolution ordinance for the Welton Corridor Pedestrian Mall. This is a local maintenance district that is currently on the mall or on the corridor and is being dissolved. If this bid is created and moves forward, in addition, it is submitted that there is an operating plan for the Five Points Business Improvement District that meets the requirements of the Business Improvement District Act and further meets applicable requirements of the Colorado Constitution and other laws. It is further submitted that the types of services and improvements to be provided by the proposed district are those services and improvements which best satisfy satisfy the purposes of Part 12 of Article 25 of Title 31 , Colorado Revised Statutes, as required by Section 31, 25, 1277, subsection five of the statutes. It is further submitted that the formation of the Five Points Business Improvement District has a demonstrated all public purpose and that it will support the implementation of neighborhood and economic development goals. The Office of Economic Development is supportive of the district creation. Approval of this operating plan does not approve any specific development plan or change in zoning. City Council approval of the bid creation allows for a proposed district election, including the imposition of an assessment to go forward to the November 2016 ballot. The Board shall consist of five electors of the district appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the City Council resolution. The initial members of the board are proposed as follows Dr. Renee Cousins, King Paul Books, John Patricof, Nathan, Bill and Carl Bert Burgess. Supporters of the bid are present today and available to speak on behalf of the district. City staff recommends approval of this ordinance. Thank you. All right. We have Tracy Winchester is going to finish with this report. Thank you, Andrew. My name is Tracy Winchester. I'm the executive director of the Five Points Business District, and I live at 217 South Jackson Street, Denver, Colorado. Thank you, Mr. President, and all the city council members for having me here today. When I was in front of the Business Development Committee, I had 21 slides and did it in 5 minutes. Today I only have 15 slides, so I'll do it in 3 minutes. So I just wanted to let you know that what happened here and there we go. We go this way. What happened here on the Walton Street corridor did not happen organically. What happened in 2009 was the community got together and decided they wanted to revitalize the area and they selected overarching goals through studies that they did with their strategic planning group. They had professional urban planners come and help them develop a vision for the area. Their overarching goals were a business development, historic preservation, tourism, land use, parking, transportation and sustainability for an urban green corridor. So the road map, this is just a laundry list here of what we did step by step with regards to working with the Office of Economic Development and helping to fund our office and helping us to go after the grants that we received from the federal government as well as the state of Colorado with regards to coming together and figuring out what the vision is for the neighborhood. And the future of Denver is bright, is shining, is a shining star. We have over $300 million worth of construction and development that's going to be happening over the next 24 months. And you'll be seeing those developments because we became a tough district in 2012 by the approval of city council. And again today, you'll have a project that you'll see later on after my presentation. But this is just an example of what's going on with regards to development with the rezoning and as the crown jewel. Now in our proposed business development area, our business improvement area, we're looking at 219 parcels, of which only 88 are commercial, 42 commercial property owners, over 700,000 square feet of commercial property, 42 acres with an assessed total value of over $15 million. Ha ha. Here is the map between basically 20th and, well, ten to 30th in Downey with just a little bit of jutting out on the sides there on Washington Street, which includes our historic district. All these parcels begin at the north side of 20th Street, going northeast along Welton Street, terminating at Downing Street and 30th Avenue. The parcel located adjacent to Welton Street on the southeast corner at Washington Street and 26th Avenue, is included as part of the district. What do we do for community outreach? Well, we did quite a bit. We started in November with our consultants PUMA, the Progressive Urban Management Associates. And before we even had the consultants, we had a steering committee. We have five community meetings, 21 one on one meetings for property owners and businesses just to do a feasibility study to determine whether or not this is something that is that can be achieved on the Welton corridor. And then we also did surveys as well to be more detailed. We started November 17th with the property owners meeting. We sent out letters in December trying to set up individual meetings. We had our January newsletter, which went out to the community that had over 1300 people on our database. We also again had meetings with property owners throughout January and February, again to determine the feasibility of this. We were featured twice in Neighborhood Life February issue as well as in the May issue with regards to talking about our quest for developing a business improvement district. We met in front of Curtis Park Neighborhood Group. We met again in front of our community meeting groups as well as we had a petition campaign drive kick off on March. It was originally March 31st, but because of March Madness and a snowstorm, we had to change it to April 12th . And then, of course, newsletters some more. And then again, we had a positive result because on May six we were able to send in to the city and county clerk the record of petitions that represented 56.68% of the land and 62.3% of the total assessed value. We had been very successful. We more than met the threshold for achieving and creating a business improvement district. As Andrew mentioned in his staff report, the wall to Street Maintenance District as it exists today, which is assessed roughly about $55,000 in 2016, is only two blocks. And so once this is actually passed and once they are voted upon, once this is voted upon in November, this wall to maintenance district will dissolve and become part of the Business Improvement District. All dollars that are associated with the maintenance district will come over to the bid. But it will only be used for that two block area. Thus, our budget that we talked about, although we're only going to raise about $157,000 on an annual year with a ten mill levy, about $5,000, we figure it's going to come over transfer over from the Walton Maintenance District. Initially, we have ten years is our term. We decided that we didn't want people to feel locked in, that even though we had the ability to be infinite, we did not. We wanted to have the group who was in charge ten years from now be able to go back to the community, to the property artists and decide if this is the right way to go. As Angie talked about, our five board members, some of you may know the name Carl Bourgeois, the owner of the rezoning, and he is also on the board of directors. Again, the operating plan is all about enhanced maintenance, physical improvements, economic development, safety and security, marketing, promotion, and still advocating for the five points area today in 2016. And hopefully it will be still there in 2026. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you, Tracy. Thank, Andrew. I believe we have nine speakers. I'm going to call up the first five. You can make your way up to the front pew. We have Rick KRON, Tracy Winchester, Catherine wallace, the sheila sayer and medalist stigler. Apologies for any mispronunciation. So if I can go ahead and make your way up to the front pew and Rick, you can go ahead and begin your remarks. Evening. My name's Rick Crone. I'm an attorney at Spencer Fein here in Denver. I'm working with the organizers in favor of the proposal. I'm just here to answer questions. Nick, thank you. Thank you. Speaker Tracey Winchester. And that was just a mistake. I've already spent my time thinking. Next. Catherine Wallace. Yes. Good evening. My name is Catherine Wallace. I'm a business owner on the Walton corridor. I've been in business for over 50 years. I my property is inherited through my parents. I am opposed to the b i d simply because of the structure of the corridor. There are more vacant properties on that business corridor as well as parking lots. I do not see a vision of businesses coming in from 20 years to 23rd. Also, there is a block of city buildings which will not contribute to the b i d. I am curt. I have been involved with the Walton Maintenance District for at least 25 years and have been paying those property assessments as well. And a 10% levy in addition to my regular property tax is unacceptable to me and I cannot see any improvements coming in because when the infrastructure was done or the feasibility was done for the Walton Street maintenance, we really didn't have what it takes to in order to really put that Walton Street maintenance district in. And I believe it's going to be the same as now. We're having problems right now with lighting and with the watering system. And there are a host of other problems initiated through this Walton Street corridor. And I have been I have seen this go through process after process, neighborhood revitalization. That was in the late seventies. Then came the Welton Street pedestrian mall that's been in exist for 25 years, supposed to have new improvements, only got trash cans and now the bad. And then I don't know what the real cost is going to be in the long run. Thank you for your consideration and thank you for listening to me. Thank you, Miss Wallace La Sheila Sayer. Good evening. I'm Lucida Sayer. Say I'm a business owner adjacent to the Welton Street Corridor. I'm in support of replacing the existing Walton maintenance tax and expanding the coverage area to the proposed 11 block segment there on Welton Street. And I'm in support of the Business Improvement District five points. Thank you. Next, Mandela Ziggler. And as she's coming up, I'm gonna call the last four Maude. Maude Brown, Lofton, Myron Melnick, Will Austin and Paul Brooks. Yes, my name is Mandela Steiger. We've been in business for over 50 years. Franklin Steiger broke down in Barbershop and I suppose to be the due to the fact that some of the things that Katharine was saying. What I don't understand is why should the respondents, you know, they be getting the same service as the business. So there's more residents in the 3000 blocks of wealth and 30th and down and on 20th, there is property properties. There is. She was saying we kind of had the same thing written down, belong to the city. So I suppose I'm not. Thank you. Maude Brown Lofton. Good evening. My address is 47 Tamora Drive. Littleton, Colorado, and I stand. To speak in support of the business. District. I think it is a fantastic way. For business owners to be invested and engaged. In supporting the. Development of. The. Entire measured. Section of the Belt and Street Corridor. I think it will also aid. Residents who live there by generating money for improvements. By which they will benefit from. I think it's a great way for a very historic area of the city to be on par with other areas in. Other districts in the city, and. I stand in support of it. Thank you. Myron Melnick. Mr. President, can you remind the speakers to, I guess, either say their address or their affiliation? She did say their name. And if you're comfortable doing so, your home address. My name is Myron Melnick, 3001 Welton Street. Mr. President, council members, thank you for this opportunity to speak with you. I bought my building at 3001 Welton in 1996. It was three and a half walls and half a roof. And I spoke with economic development about the feasibility of getting this project off the ground. They told me to knock it down and build a metal building. I didn't listen to them. I wanted to preserve the 1895 building with the beautiful mural on the side. And I was able to do that. I installed sidewalks, gardens, sprinkler systems. I put a lot of money into that building. There have been I've seen five points. We've been waiting for the rationing for the last 20 years. We've been waiting we've we've heard all kinds of things about improvements to five points. The light rail at the time. They've closed the station across from my building. It just everything they've done. But now with the city booming, there's big large projects going in with hundreds of residents. On my particular block, the 3000 block, I am the only commercial building on that block. I don't want to be taxed to take care of the rest of the residents. I feel we all have to share in it if that's what we're going to do. I don't think this is a fair thing. I was not I was not given the petition or any information about this. I was not notified. I worked closely with the Five Points Business Association since I've been there. I donated chairs for their conference table years ago. I've donated art. I paid the money. I had a good relationship with them. When it comes to raising my taxes, they don't call me. I did not sign any petition. I knew nothing about it until about four weeks ago. So I am against this. I feel like there's too many rundown buildings. There's too much development that needs to be done. The free market will handle this. And when it's built up and we have a good a good business district, that'll be the time to add the improvements. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Manning will often. Mr. President, members of council. Good evening. My name is Will Alston. I reside in that great neighborhood of Park Hill and I am the previous executive director for the Five Points Business District, and I'm currently a board member. I came here tonight because I wanted to to remind folks that, you know, I had the privilege of shepherding the vision plan that this council approved. And in that vision plan, we talked about the need for an entity that would work, would play a lot of the role that the Five Points Business District is playing now. And in that role, I believe it is this business improvement district. We we brought in back then the folks at home to help us look at what all the different models on. Again, if you revisit that document, you'll see all the different options that that that we would have had. But we actually put that in there because we knew at some point we needed to create an entity that would be self-sustaining. And in my mind, and we believe that's the vibe, that's the, the, the business improvement district. And so I come here tonight to just ask you all for your support on this, because, again, it wasn't something that just came out of the blue. We thought carefully about it when we were developing the vision plan and we incorporated it in that document. And so we're here now to kind of realize what that vision was and that this business improvement district is. It's what. We believe. Is the next evolution of moving five points forward. Thank you. Thank you, Paul Brooks. Good evening, President and council members. Thank you very much. My name is Paul Books with Palisade Partners, which is a property owner and I'm also part of the Five Points Business District Board. I also had the privilege of being the chair of this committee to explore the business approved districts that we have and that we have in front of the council tonight. My story with the Five Points area begins in 2013, and I had no idea stepping into this this great neighborhood, how much work and effort had gone into getting the Five Points neighborhood to where it was in 2013. And a lot of the effort has to do with the effort that Wilson and Tracy Winchester had done up to that point. We had as well mentioned the neighborhood vision plan was in place. The urban renewal area had been approved for the area and plus it had been designated a cultural, historic district. These things and more created a platform with which the neighborhood was able to spring from. And then also on top of that with the Office of Economic Development providing the welcome challenge also as a spring spring board. I think that this business improvement district, if approved, will create the next base, the base of the future and create a viable and exciting commercial corridor. So I encourage a support tonight to help us with this next vital step. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Brooks. That concludes our speakers. Now, time questions. Any questions from members of council and Councilman Brooks? Yeah. Thank you, Mr. President. Tracy Winchester, can you come up real quick for a question, Tracy? Just a couple questions. You know, a little bit Rapidfire of, you know, why didn't we? There's a couple concerns come up. Why aren't residents involved? Why are we not taxing residents? We looked at a general improvement district and just love to get a short snippet of why we didn't go that direction. Definitely it was on the recommendation of our consultant Puma that said that although we wanted to have a general improvement district as well as a business improvement district, similar to what Rhino did with overlaying the two areas that because of the feasibility study, the results of that study with interviewing people and talking to residents, it didn't seem like this was something that was going to pass. It didn't seem like the residents were ready to have a guide. In addition to IBRD, they understood that a bid makes sense because it's going to bring traffic, foot traffic in and visibility for the businesses that are there now on the corridor and those businesses to come. But the idea just wasn't the right time, as well as the fact that we didn't have a specific infrastructure project that we could really tie in to. At the same time, that was on the advice of the city that said, you really need to have something in place from the city government saying that this is what is going to happen for your area, that the residents can rally around and see specific benefits happening for them. Great. And there was another concern saying that, you know, this business improvement district is not going to bring any improvement to Welton. Can you talk about a little about in the budget that you're building out for the bid, what are the improvements that you're looking at? You know, the specific improvements, whether it be marketing, whether it be snow removal or the be all those issues, lighting. Right. The top three services that we want to provide under the Business Improvement District is safety and security. We want to be able to have private patrol, which is something that other business districts surrounding us, such as Lower Downtown Denver Downtown Partnership, as well as 16th Street Mall as well as Colfax, are looking into having some private security to make sure that we supplement what the police are doing. Now, the other thing that we definitely see is maintenance. I mean, this is something that's a responsibility, as you know, of all businesses need to take care of the exterior of their businesses so we can collectively come together and create a nice uniform, look a beautification of the corridor that we can collectively do together. That again, is a benefit and it's cost efficiencies. The other most of the people who are in the Welton Maintenance District right now, they're assessed fees are going to go down as opposed to it going up. So it's really in their best interest to be able to have a bid because the economies of scale allow us to get more money for more, but more. What is it for you? But for my board, that's it. And then the third is marketing and promotion. Again, we want to talk about what we're doing on the corridor and we want to be able to bring businesses and more residents to come to the quarter. And we need to do that with a collective marketing and promotion, which we will be able to do. Okay, great. Thank you. Andrew. Real quick question for you. You know, couple of residents are fearful that if we approve this tonight, it's a done deal. But just talk about the process that they do get another bite at the apple. There is going to be election in November, things like that. Correct. So tonight what we're looking at is the creation ordinance and the ordinance in front of you today just simply creates the organization called the Business Improvement District. There's also other organizational aspects of the budget and whatnot, but they will this is a preliminary budget. They will also be bringing that budget back in the fall when they have a newer or a better handle on all the costs and what the local maintenance district moneys will be transferred. And then you are correct, the they won't have the ability to actually raise revenue through taxes until the November 2016 election, in which case there will be a vote of all the eligible electors in this commercial district that will have the opportunity to vote yes or no on whether or not to raise taxes up to ten mills. Great. Thank you. That same bank. Accounts and works. Councilman Espinosa. Tracy. So when you do these videos, you do them a lot like council and count votes, you know? And so that's probably what you mean by polling. Do you have a map that basically shows where the support is and isn't in the bid so that some somebody like myself can understand what where that support lies and doesn't ? You know, we did not do that. We didn't overlay the petitioners who signed and overlaid it on the map. We can do that. But I didn't have that prepared for today. Okay. But I can get that. But that and then the just so the public knows that that percentage comes from land area. Correct. Right. Has to be to formulas that has to be met. It has to be with the value of the land, which is that right now, 62%. And then also the actual mass of the land that it represents or acreage. So 56% of our property owners who represent 56% of the land, the acreage signed the petition and the value is represented by 62%. Okay. Then I have thank you. I have one question for actually both Katherine Wells and Paul Books, and it's the same question. So can I have you both come up? Katherine, did you say you had 50? This is not for both, actually. Did you say you were there in a business for 50 years? Yes, sir. My mom and dad bought that property in 1956 and created wireless beauty Nook, and we have been there most of the duration of that time. My dad did own a property on on Walnut, and he had a bar and restaurant there and we rented out the property. Then we came back in the late seventies and renovated, and we've been there ever since. So the question for both of you is my experience with With Five Points only goes back 30 years. But in that 30 years there's been I've seen program after program and investment after investment, not unlike what you were talking about. So I would like to know both. Why didn't what you're in your opinion, why didn't they work or why didn't they do whatever they set out to do? And what makes this different? So. Well, first of all, there's. Always been a nonprofit organization over the. Over at the projects. The board members that were put in place normally were not really property owners. They were you might have one property owner on the board and the other people representing that did not pay any taxes. But yet we're making all of the decisions. And as you know, the five point Business Association misrepresented our our our fund, and they didn't get anything done. So it's been a problem of the board people and the fact that the city has not encouraged the property owners themselves to come forth and work with them, but rather we always have a third party. And you know, when somebody else is spending your money is easy. Yes, that's real good. When our money is being spent and we're not having the representation, then I don't think that that's really good. And so didn't have they. Have you communicated that? And is there an attempt to address that? Maybe that's a question I'll ask Tracy to follow up on that. Did do you know. I've only communicated with Tracey one time in 2016. It was a one on one meeting and it was held on April the 20th, and that didn't go too well. And so therefore the communication was not very good. Okay. Thank you. Paul essentially the same thing. I don't know how long your history is with Denver, but I'm sure purchasing into that area. You're so familiar with how much investment we've done essentially since Welton. I mean, Wellington Webb was in office, so we made that an area priority through multiple projects and multiple investments and and microloans or whatever. So what makes this different? Like you said, my history only goes. We moved to Denver in 2006 and have really been involved in the Welton Corridor since 2013. But I guess I've had the exact opposite experience. I actually did do the do real estate program at the time. I actually volunteered under Will Austin when they were first starting the Five Points Business District Improvement District, and at the time they were spending a lot of time mapping out who all the property owners were so they could start getting all of them into the same room and actually start having the right conversations. And so I think I think that's where the success really stemmed from, is starting to do the neighborhood visioning plan and make sure that I mean, they have a board that they actually had all these neighbors that were part of it actually signed this visioning plan and really say that they're a part of it. So they they really got community buy in. And then my my other experience has been is the Welton Corridor in general through the landmark process and through some of these other processes is forced great interaction among the citizens and developers and what they want. And and it has started to result in, I think, some, some great outcomes and actually could be looked at as somewhat of a blueprint for for Denver as a whole. But so I so I guess my, the short of it is, is I think and I don't know if they didn't do this in the past, but they really did unify the neighborhood. They got people in the same room talking and having the hard discussions. And we set together over the vision plan. And then on top of that, they implemented, like I said, the urban renewal area, also the cultural historic district, and then have continued to implement that plan. And again, my experience with Tracy has been that she's you know, we we went through the list every time we sat down to try to make sure we met with every single person and try to reach out and contact as many of the people, if not all of them as possible. So, again, that that that's been my experience through this process. And I think I think they've done they deserve a lot of credit for for what's come throughout the last six or seven years. I'm going to paraphrase what I just heard so that so that I can make a point of it. Yeah, I believe I just heard a developer say that landmark and other processes which are regulation regulatory force to great outcomes and now you're up here telling us to tax you more. I just wanted to go on record with observing that. I've had a great experience with one corridor and the landmark process I think has made our buildings better. Yeah, and it's, it's also I feel like I have a great relationship with many of the residents through the multiple meetings that we've been through. So I'm going to go I maybe this is putting words in your mouth, but does it is it because both design review and the bid you give you as a developer more predictability about what is the future of that place? When I first came into it, it was the only cultural, historic district, and there was there was no guidelines. What that meant. How do you how do you do a design review for a cultural, historic district? And we're actually in the process right now of of the landmark is putting together specific guidelines for this neighborhood. And so I think that will provide more predictability. We were kind of the guinea pig through the process. And I think a lot of the design guidelines for Landmark have stemmed from the multiple meetings. And and then and then Landmark has taken their own process as well with multiple public meetings. But yes, I think in the long run it will provide predictability. But what I also think it does is and I think it's a good standard anyway, is it does it has encouraged interaction and people listening to each other. And and so I, I think, you know, density in general is, has been successful there because they're they felt heard and they they they like the outcomes of what ends up with the building. So. Okay. All right. Thank you. And actually, Tracy, I think that that makes it pretty clear to me. About just what do they have a low point of clarification on when Ms.. Wells was talking about the Business Fiveways Business Association mismanagement of funds? It wasn't this organization was a previous organization. So we have never had any mismanagement of funds. Yeah. And that's what, that's that clarity that I got, which is that in, in the we those other measures that we've been putting in historically were sort of in these vacuums. And that was a place that that probably needed stronger leadership than it had, you know, more orchestrated manner, a little discombobulated in how things got metered out over time. And so, yeah, with a regulating guideline of the cultural district and, and guidelines and standards coming forward and all this other stuff. I do think it all helps to know that when that when a commitment like this is made by the. The commercial property owners that there will be some expectation of performance from the bid. And I'm glad that you put a ten year cap on it. So thank you. Thank you, Councilman Espinosa. Councilman Ortega. Thank you. Tracy, I have two questions for you. The first one is for both existing as well as new residential projects that have commercial. How how will they be handled? Is it only the commercial part of those buildings that will be included? Well, I actually had a map that I took out of this presentation that really showed there's about three different types of commercial properties that will be included. Mixed use will definitely be included. But we will only assess the part that is retail and commercial. So if it's a 60,000 square foot building and only 4000 or 5000 on the first floor is retail, that will only be assessed on that 4500 square foot of retail. Vacant lots are considered commercial, are in fills and then also totally all commercial and industrial is also considered commercial properties. So any of the tiff. Projects. Those are handled the same if they have commercial in the buildings. Yes. It should be included. I mean. I mean, that's the way I see it. Yeah, sure. Please. Councilwoman, one of the real keys here as far as business improvement districts and what's commercial and residential is that's a determination made by the county, by the assessor. So it's not done by the district. It's a city person that does that determination. They'll need to be in agreement with the district. We have not got that together yet. We did get a very similar agreement in Reno, though, and I would expect to have the same thing here as far as how that's going to work. Okay. So that's the main thing. So, yes, those mixed use business buildings, residential, according to the assessor, will be assessed at the residential rate. Will not be included in this assessment. Commercial would be. Okay, great. Thank you for the question. Thank you, Councilwoman Ortega. The questions 341 Scene nine public hearing is now closed. Time for comments, Councilman Brooks. Thank you, Mr. President. Two 2011, July 18th. If you would have told me and I think I said this, a business improvement district, if you said this is a business improvement district, it's late. I said, if you would have told me that in 2012, we'd have an urban renewal area and in 2013 we would start to get our first development. In 2016, we would have a business improvement district with over $300 million of redevelopment planned. I would have said, What street are you talking about? Are you talking about Brighton? Are you talking about Colfax? Are you talking about all the other streets in this city? It is. This is an incredible feat in the last five years to happen here. And a lot of the credit started with will Austin be in here? My main man who can sing, if he didn't know he can sing because everything starts with a vision and he brought the community together and got the vision behind it. A lot of people talk about, well, you just had a great economy. Yes, that was very helpful. But you need a vision and then you need people to right the ship to live out and dream out that vision. And so that's what we've had. And Tracy's been great at implementing that vision and it's been incredible. A lot of a lot of kudos goes to Puma for helping us walk through this process as well. And also Paul Bucks for, you know, being the chair of it, because a lot of folks don't understand that in five points in on wilderness, hand-to-hand combat, you know that what we heard tonight has been conversations that we have had over and over and over again. And your comments tonight don't fall on deaf ears. We really respect your comments and we want to continue to work with you. And, you know, if you don't see the growth that's happened on Walton, let's walk and talk about it and let's see the growth that you want to see on Walton. This is one of the things I'm most excited about in our district. The transformation that's happening in this district is incredible. I see OSD in the room splattered in the room here and Sylvia's been incredible. And Paul Washington. And I just want to say that the return on investment of what already has done has been incredible. And we're seeing it. And so I told I was telling one of my colleagues that the the unspoken word here in this whole conversation is gentrification. Are you all experiencing gentrification? And of course, we are. But the difference here, and I think you see it, is that there is a community of diverse leaders here. There is a majority of African-American ownership here on Walton. And you're going to hear a little bit tonight. There's over. Just about 280 affordable housing units on deck, and you won't be able to tell the difference on what's affordable and what's high end. And so we're really excited about that, where we're trying to bring that balance. And I think the Business Improvement District will keep us on par with what is happening in Reno, what is happening in LoDo, what is happening in ballpark, what is happening in Arapahoe Square. So, Mr. President, I am excited to support this and just thank you everyone for your hard work to get this done. Thank you, Councilman Brooks. Councilman Espinosa. Yeah. I will be supporting this. But I did want to speak to the opposition that these are these are always close votes. Just because it's a property rights obligation thing. And what I would suggest to you is that, you know, the boundaries, you go out and you start polling those neighbors. I mean, you start doing your your legwork because sorry, Tracy. Tracy is doing the same thing. And you go out and you try to get support for your your point of view, because I think that's leverage. I think you want to have this $155,000 a year bigger than our council budgets. Each one of these of us. And and because you have expectations, they haven't been met historically. So you want to be able to have your seat at the table. They're willing to have you at the table, but gives you some some leverage. If you go out and you start asking for people's votes in that area to help you leverage your position with with other owners. So I just that that's the legwork that you have to do between now and November. But I hope I don't think I think Tracy and Paul would probably be welcome, you guys, to the table. I hope so. Because the in the end, if it goes through, you're all going to be obligated and all have to be working together anyway. So do it from that point, which is we're just trying to make sure we have a strong representation and voice as a as a group. It sounds like everyone's open to that. Just make sure, because you guys have historical knowledge, Paul has new knowledge. And that's the future of of of Five Points is a blend of the two. So make make it happen. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Espinosa. Any other comments? 341. Scene on Madam Secretary. Roll call not black eye. Brooks Yes. Clark, i Espinosa. I Flynn. I Gilmore. I Cashman. Hi, can. I knew Ortega I. Sussman Hi, Mr. President. Hi. Madam Secretary, please, for the financial results. 12 hours of eyes, 341 some place on final consideration and does pass. Okay. The next one we have, I believe is 218. Councilman Clark, would you please put Council Bill 218 on the floor for a final passage?