A bill for an ordinance approving the Fox Park Urban Redevelopment Plan, the creation of the Fox Park Urban Redevelopment Area and the Fox Park Property Tax Increment Area and Sales Tax Increment Area. Approves the Fox Park Urban Redevelopment Plan authorizing the creation of an Urban Redevelopment Area and sales and property tax increment areas in Council District 9. The Committee approved filing this item at its meeting on 11-9-21.
I. Madam Secretary, please close the voting and announce the results. One May 12 Eyes. 12 Eyes Council Bill 21 Dash 1334 has passed. Thank you to the folks that spoke on that last public hearing. Councilmember Ortega, will you please put Council Bill 1353 on the floor for final passage? Madam President, I move that council bill 21 1353 excuse me. Be placed upon final consideration and do pass. Thank you. It has been moved and seconded. The required public hearing for Council Bill 15 1353 is open. May we have the staff report and I believe we have Tracey Huggins joining us virtually. Of the Fox Park Urban Redevelopment Plan. Located in the Globeville neighborhood. The 41st and Fox station area outlined in this slide on purple is approximately 200 acres, generally bounded by I-70 to the north west, 38th Avenue to the south, I-25 to the east, and the freight and passenger rail tracks to the west. In 2009, RTD and the city and county of Denver finalized plans to locate a commuter rail station at 41st Avenue and Fox Street. In 2009. The city completed the 41st in Fox station area plan that describes the long term redevelopment plans the city has for the area east of the rail tracks to create a complete, transit friendly neighborhood. In 2019, the 41st and Fox commuter rail station opened serving RTDs B and G lines. The largest single property in the area is the 41 acre former Denver Post printing facility located on the northern edge of the site near the interchange of I-25 and I-70. The plant printed issues of the Denver Post from 1986 until 2007. In 2008, the land and building were sold to a developer. A metropolitan district was approved in 2016 and in 2018 the property was rezone to allow for buildings up to 12 stories. This owner, as was discussed previously, was never able to begin development on the site and in 2019 sold this site to Vita Fox Park. I'm sorry. Peter Fox North Limited Partnership. The proposed boundaries of the Urban Redevelopment Area and sales and property tax increment areas are the same as the property purchased by Beta Fox North and are outlined in this slide in gold. Peter Fox Park will, in coordination with the existing metropolitan districts, design and construct certain infrastructure improvements and parks and open spaces, which I will continue to refer to as the horizontal infrastructure, as well as perform environmental remediation to support the revitalization of the proposed urban redevelopment area. Upon completion of the horizontal infrastructure. Vida Fox Park will sell improved pad sites to third party vertical developers to complete the vertical development program. The entire project is expected to be delivered in four phases over the next 8 to 10 years and will result in approximately 3400 forth rent residential units. Approximately 2 million square feet of office space. 300,000 square feet of retail space, 500 hotel rooms, 100,000 square feet of cultural and education space. Approximately 218,000 square feet of open space. And 5600 underground parking stalls. To help support this development project. The Denver Urban Renewal Authority is requesting City Council approval of an urban redevelopment plan to support the horizontal infrastructure needs of the urban redevelopment area and also benefit the remaining portions of the 41st and Fox station area. The objectives of the plan are to eliminate the blighting conditions in the area, improve access to transportation options, parks and open space. Promote a diverse, sustainable neighborhood economy more effectively. Use underdeveloped land in the area. Assist the city in cultivating complete and inclusive neighborhoods, which all will help achieve the goals outlined in the 41st in Fox Station Area Plan. The Globeville Neighborhood Plan Plan 2040 and Blueprint. Denver. In order for council to approve an urban redevelopment plan, there must be a finding that the proposed area is blighted. During has commissioned a condition study which found that six of the 11 statutorily defined factors of blight are both present in the area and collectively are limiting its develop ability. These conditions are indicative of an area that has been vacant for a long period of time and lacks the necessary infrastructure to support the proposed development. In addition, the site has environmental contamination, which must be addressed in order for a development to occur. In addition to the onsite infrastructure deficiencies, there are additional infrastructure needs of the broader 41st and FOX station area. Redevelopment is currently being contemplated in the areas around the station, but the city's vision for the full redevelopment of the area is limited because of the lack of access into the area. Currently there are only two vehicular access points in and out of the area the bridge over I-25 along 44th Avenue to the east and the Park Avenue, 38th Avenue and I-25, the interchange to the south. Both access points are challenging for vehicles and especially for pedestrians and bicyclists attempting to enter Globeville to the east or downtown Denver to the South without the ability to generate more trip capacity to the station area. This project cannot be approved and the costs associated with these improvements are a material component of the need for public financial assistance. As noted earlier, the various city plans support the redevelopment of the 41st and Fox station area and the Fox Park Urban Redevelopment Area. The proposed Fox Park Urban Redevelopment Area is identified as having a community center high, medium residential and high residential future place designations in the Urban Center Neighborhood Context Per Blueprint. Denver development in the community center area should have an active street level presence and should contain a good mix of commercial, retail and office uses. While the residential mixed use areas should be predominantly residential. They should be supported by a variety of embedded uses needed for a complete neighborhood. Urban center neighborhoods are dense, vibrant areas that are well-served by high capacity transit, where the plan recommends focusing growth over the next 20 years. The proposed Urban Redevelopment Plan will promote development that supports the complete Neighborhood and Transportation Network vision in Blueprint Denver, including neighborhood context, place, street type and growth guidance. In preparing the Urban Redevelopment Plan. Specific areas of compliance with Plan 2040 noted in the slides in Blue Blueprint Denver as outlined in the green boxes and the Globeville Neighborhood Plan, which are in yellow, were referenced. I certainly am not going to walk through each of these. I will note that this page in this slide identifies the goals related to infrastructure improvements and connectivity. This slide outlines the goals related to transit aurion development. Please note the specific reference to promote the mixed use redevelopment of the former Denver Post site. Blueprint. Denver also calls for an inclusive, equitable city through complete neighborhoods and transportation networks. Analysis from Blueprint Denver indicates the proposed urban redevelopment area lies within an area that has low access to opportunity, high vulnerability to displacement and low housing and jobs. Diversity. The utilization of tax increment to support the horizontal development addresses one key equitable development outcome, which is to provide infrastructure that will enable the transformation of the vacant industrial site into a transit oriented development that can create opportunities for new housing, amenities and employment. As was also noted previously, the Urban Renewal Project is only a portion of this. There is also a companion development agreement that the developer has agreed to address a number of different investment options to help in addressing the equity challenges for this area. The Urban Redevelopment Plan has been presented to the Denver Planning Board, who voted unanimously to find the Fox Park Urban Redevelopment Plan to be in conformance with Plan 2040 Blueprint Denver and the Globeville Neighborhood Plan. In approving the Fox Park Urban Redevelopment Plan Council will also be authorizing the use of tax increment financing and establishing the Fox Park sales and property tax increment areas which will be coterminous with the urban redevelopment area. Consistent with the onsite and offsite infrastructure needs. Approximately 50% of the estimated reimbursable project costs of just under $190 million are for regional infrastructure improvements and internal roadways and streetscape. The remaining reimbursable costs include parks and open space, demolition and environmental remediation and other utilities. To the extent that developer equity and metropolitan district bond proceeds are not sufficient to fully pay for the parking necessary to support the level of density in the development program. Tax increment can also be a source of repayment of these costs, provided they really relate to publicly accessible parking. It's important to note that in incremental sales and property taxes are only generated from the vertical development, not from the horizontal development veto, as the horizontal developer must therefore advance the costs of the taxing permit eligible expenses and then be reimbursed once the vertical development has been completed. This reimbursement structure puts the risk of repayment on the developer. The need for public investment through tax increment should always have a direct relationship to the elimination of the blighting conditions and support of the development plan consistent with the city vision for the area. As you can see, this relationship is clear. In addition to the developer reimbursement, the tip will also be used to make a $1.84 million payment to Denver Public Schools to address the service impacts expected to be realized as a result of the completed project. So therefore, the total projected tax commitment, tax increment commitment is approximately $191 million. In advance of Council's consideration of the Urban Redevelopment Plan, DAERA is required to enter into agreements with each of the other taxing entities in the urban redevelopment area. Georgia has negotiated agreements with each of these entities, per the terms of the agreement with urban drainage and flood control district. Georgia is allowed to capture and utilize all amounts attributable to their mill levy. As noted previously, Dora will pay $1.84 million to DPS over four years, beginning in 2024. And because of the direct use of the amounts derived from the West global metropolitan districts to support the same redevelopment project, 100% of the amounts attributable to the net district levies will be reimbursed to the districts. And finally, Dora and the city have also negotiated a cooperation agreement governing the collection and repayment of increment from the urban redevelopment area. In considering the approval of the Fox Park Group and Redevelopment Plan, City Council must make the following additional legislative findings that the boundaries of the urban redevelopment area have been drawn as narrowly as possible to accomplish the planning and development objectives of the plan that, if any and 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 individuals, families or business concerns 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. And no 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 thus the City Council has not previously failed to approve an urban redevelopment plan for this site. The urban redevelopment plan will afford maximum opportunity, consistent with the sound needs of Denver as a whole for the rehabilitation or redevelopment of the urban redevelopment area by private enterprise. The plan does not consist of any area of open land which is to be developed for residential or nonresidential uses or any agricultural land. And 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 development within the Fox Park Urban Redevelopment Area for the period during which the incremental property taxes are paid to the authority. The plan allows for cooperative agreements between the city and borough to address additional infrastructure requirements should they arise. And finally, no acquisition by eminent domain is authorized by the plan. I very much appreciate the opportunity to bring forward this urban redevelopment plan for council consideration. This has been a very collaborative effort between and among Dora, the various city departments, the community and the developer to lot to allow us to find a way to revitalize a long, vacant industrial site and provide a significant community asset. And I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. All right. Thank you, Tracy, for the presentation. We're going to go. To our speakers. We have 14 individuals signed up to speak this evening hour. And we're going to go to the folks who are in chambers first and then we've got members of the community joining us online and then we'll go back to Chambers. And so our first speaker this evening is Mark Tompkins. Good evening, Councilman Tompkins. I am a public finance advisor to the developer, and I'm here to answer any questions. All right. Thank you. Our next speaker in chambers is Kathleen Fogler. And just so folks are ready. Blair Licht and Fields is next after or I'm sorry, Kathleen. Manuel Jimenez and then Blair LICHTMAN Field. So. Go ahead, Kathleen. Good evening, counsel. My name is Kathleen Fogler Architects. I'm just here to answer questions. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Manuel Jimenez. Good evening. I'm Manuel Humanism. I'm just here to answer questions. All right. Thank you. And then Blair. Okay. Good evening, council members. Blair Lifton I'm outside counsel for the applicant and I'm just here to answer questions this evening. Thank you. All right. Thank you. We're going to go ahead and move online. Our first speaker online is Jeff Bader. Oh. Do we have you here? Sorry. In chambers. Good evening. Jeff Vader with the Denver Urban Renewal Authority. I'm here to answer any questions in the event three CS. I'm able to virtually. All right. Thank you, Jeff. All right. Our next speaker is Maria. So Paul with that. And I believe Maria's is online. Okay. Maria, go ahead, please. Go ahead, Maria. You might have to. And I'm sorry about that. I'm Maria Silvano with Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver, and I'm here to answer questions. All right. Thank you. Next up, we have Jesse Paris. Yeah. A lot of it is just the muscle parts are preserved for Blackstone and similar for self-defense. Positive action move the chains as well as the unity party of our little black like those and I'll be the next Lib Dem play 23. I'm against this redevelopment tonight for several reasons. The first reason is this is a traffic catastrophe just waiting to happen. As I stated during the presentation, there's only two arterials in and out of this area, so I use that to draw people in, said this area with only two arterials. Second thing is there is a halfway house that is located to the south of this redevelopment. Is that going to be moved or that they're going to be present? What's happening with that? Um, so the house is going to be what am I level is it going to be affordable at. What is the with the stopping any kind of displacement from occurring from this new development from the surrounding areas this summer? Please answer that. Those questions I would greatly appreciate. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker online is Kelly P. Am I unmuted? Yes, go ahead. Wonderful. Wonderful. I live on the Fox Island, on Fox Street and very close proximity for nearly a decade to this potential development. I'm over the moon to see good, conscientious development in such a long neglected space. I believe at. Least since 2007, it's been. Empty. Collecting tumbleweeds and inviting crime for the last 14 years with empty and abandoned structures riddled with crime, unsafe to walk, dogs, exercise or gather, but especially alone. This development will bring lights. Traffic, pedestrians, a lot of. Gathering, and most most importantly, safety. It'll bring music, tree canopy and safety where there is currently an unsafe dumping ground for stolen cars, mattresses and anything people don't want to pay to dump. We see this every day. When we drive by, and me and a lot of my neighbors are really excited for this. Jose and Manuel have engaged our most proximate neighborhood, plus surrounding areas and honestly listened to input and feedback. We welcome them with open arms. That's it. Ha ha. Wonderful. Thank you. Kelly didn't want to cut you off in case you had more to say. All right. We're going to go ahead and move to our next speaker. Anthony Syston. All right. We're not seeing Anthony's system, so we're going to go ahead and move on. L.J. Suzuki. Yes. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for having me here. My name is LJ Suzuki, president of the Global First R.A.. We would like to vote in support of the Fox Island, the Fox Park development, I have to say, echoing what Councilwoman CdeBaca said earlier, these developers have really engaged the community above and beyond anything that we've seen historically in the past. I really think they really raised the bar in terms of what it means to work with your neighbors and put together a good development. I appreciate that. Any time you put in some kind of tax based financing, there's going to be scrutiny and concerns, and I think that's totally appropriate. However, in this case, this is kind of a perfect opportunity for TIFF financing. It's a site that's generating zero sales tax and very little. Property tax right now. Unless you can find a way to tax the people that are stealing copper. Pipes out. Of the property, and they're planning to turn it into a significant amount of residential and commercial space that will add a lot of value to the neighborhood, bring a lot of people in the neighborhood, offer great opportunities for small businesses, for local artists. In addition to that, they really are going above and beyond the standard requirements for affordable housing. And I'm sure you'll hear from. My colleagues at the. Gas Coalition who are going to be helping address that. As well as my colleagues at the Birdseed Collective. That are going to be helping address that. Thanks to funding provided by this project in the Global First R.A., they have agreed to provide us funding and support to increase the tree canopy in the Globeville neighborhood outside of their sites, but just in the neighborhood in general, as well as funding to other programs to help children in the neighborhood. So I really want to encourage all of the council people today to vote in favor of this bill to support. The Fox Park development. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker joining us in chambers is Gail LaRue. And then next, we have Karla Padilla and Karen Gerhardt ready. Hi. Good evening. So as part of Global first we welcome the Fox Park Urban redevelopment as our neighbors. Since meeting Manuel and Jose in 2018 at a next step study. They have exhibited all the qualities of good neighbors. Good neighbors help feed neighbors, and they participate in distributing food boxes by delivering those to homes of our neighbors. And they listen to everyone. What are our ideas? What do we want to see there? And you don't have to be part of an R.A. to be heard. They make themselves available to listen. And having attended many of these meetings, I hear the voices of our neighbors in the Fox Park Community Plan. And they continue to listen. And they're committed to preserving perpetual affordability in Globeville through the land trust, through funding. And they're going to encourage other developers to add to that funding during community events. They don't offer to write a check. They show up with gloves, with shovels that are planting trees. They help out if we're giving away backpacks that are. At our school supply distribution. They they work. They pull up their sleeves. And they also talk more with neighbors. So Globeville is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Denver. Many of our homes are falling apart. They recognize this and have committed to a home rehabilitation program in Globeville. They understand the importance of our community center. And they have worked closely with our Community Center for Long Term Sustainability and to ensure future programs and offered long term support. Glover first has met with many developers where it felt like a formality to us. They didn't listen. They just had to work. Community engagement off their list to be able to present to you all. The Fox Park folks have helped educate us with metro tax districts tiffs and we know about their future sales plans, Dara's role. So they've really taken the time to educate us and plaques park will link isolated Globeville to its Sunnyside and Chaffee Park neighbors. You know, it's it's always tough getting over there. And I think this will be a great way to make that work. So we look forward to the Fox Park Urban Media redevelopment. We have allotted for each speaker. We appreciate it. Thank you. Would you reintroduce yourself for the public record, please? I'm Gail LaRue, president of Global. Wonderful. Thank you. All right. Next up, we have Karla Padilla. Thank you. Karla Padilla, 4748 Sherman Street in Globeville. Good afternoon. Committee, council people. I come from many generations of Kosovo residency. I'm also the associate director of Birdseed Collective. We run the Globeville Center on 45th and Grant, as well as Alto Gallery, which has moved to the Reno Art Park. Many of you know and have worked with Anthony J. Garcia, senior, our executive director. And as you know, community rights are important to. Us. And are at the forefront of many of our projects. Growing up in Globeville, too, our family has had many occasions to work with organizations and have input on development in the community. Some have been good and some not so good. In my early life, we lived directly in front of the northbound 25 exit ramp and my mother was part of the Asarco lawsuit. But no matter what, Globeville has always been our community and I have raised my children here as well as my grandchildren. No community is like Globeville, and as a resident and organization, we have always tried to work for the betterment of the neighborhood. Many times I have had the pleasure. Of working with the Fox Park developers beat up Oxnard along with the Globeville, first R.A., together with Vera Fox. Our focus is and always will be community. No matter what the situation is, community is in their forefront of their project. We believe they are one of a kind. They listen to our concerns and needs and greatly take this to heart and adjust their development if needed. As you know, Fox. Street is. Undergoing a huge transformation from 46th Avenue all the way to 38th Avenue. Several times our groups have reached out to other developers along Fox Street and never received a call back. Their projects seem to be kept quiet so that they can continue their development without a worry about community or effects it has on our infrastructure. By approving this project through the bill, Veeder Fox Park will once again become a vibrant and inviting, safe place for all. Through their development, the soil will be cleaned up, affordable housing will be had, and opportunities for all other projects will become a reality, as well as a huge emphasis on housing stability. And along with our grassroots efforts. So thank you very much. I appreciate your time. Thank you. Our next speaker in chambers is Karen Gurwitch. And then we have Nola Miguel, and then we'll go back to Zoom and hopefully we can get Anthony Stone in the queue. Go ahead, please. Thank you. Madam President, members of the council, my name is Karen. Burwitz, and I am the. President and CEO of the World Trade. Center. Here in Denver, we. Are a nonprofit trade association with a world renowned brand that will be the namesake tenant of the complex formerly known as the Denver Post Printing Press. There can only be one World Trade Center per city. I'm not sure if you're aware of that. And there are 300 World Trade Centers across the world in about 100 countries. So a prominent World Trade Center branded complex sends a very clear message to the rest of the world that the city is, in fact, a global city and open for business. It is incredibly important that the size and scope of this development moves forward as planned, because a. Prominent development. Project matches the intent of that. Open for. Business message even more clearly to investors. Now as a trade association, our mission is to support local companies in helping them do international business. We do this through. Training, accelerators, tech support. We host 100 events per year, and we also advocate and convene a vibrant global. Business network in Colorado. The work we do is incredibly important to Colorado's economy, since one in five jobs in our state is created due to trade. We work with everyone from local designers and artists to helping. Now 100 immigrant entrepreneurs plan their first ever trading business. We also work with small and mid-sized manufacturers, innovative companies like tech firms and large multinationals. In total, we have trained over 40,000 people. In our state how to conduct international business. After moving our. Offices. Out of the buildings downtown at. 16th and Broadway, named after us for 27 years, we've been searching for the appropriate. Development site. That centrally located, highly visible to the public, surrounded by multiple modes of transport, and in a neighborhood that will benefit from boosted economic development and job creation, not to mention having a globally minded development partner who sees a need for the World Trade Center to be stable and prominent for 50 years. We have found all of these criteria in Fox Park and are so excited to activate the full campus in partnership with an incredible development team. By activating the campus, we intend to create an active. Business service center, unlike no other in Denver. To support mostly small to midsize businesses to grow and to connect to international opportunities. We also create a physical magnet for foreign direct investment. To open new. Offices in Denver and to partner with local opportunities by creating a unique placemaking opportunity in global. View. That's the time think you have allotted for each speaker. Thank you. Next up, we've got Nolan, Miguel and then Anthony Syston. If you are joining us via Zoom, if you can, please raise your hand and we can get you moved over to the Q. Shopping. Hi, my name is Nolan Miguel and with the Global Response Coalition Organizing for Health and Housing Justice. And I'm also with Theater Collective, which is the Community Land Trust that's incubated by the Colorado Community Land Trust, which is now merged with Habitat for Humanity, Metro Denver. Tonight, we are here in support. We don't. We haven't and still don't and won't take this lightly. We see urban redevelopment as as very serious and a potential threat to increased displacement. And as many of you know, our our mission is to prevent displacement of neighbors and Globeville and Elyria and Swansea. Our members debated this. We really had to wait it and really consider the different trade offs. And I want to talk just a little bit about what made that difference, because I think that might be something that you all are interested in. So one thing was really how the process with the developers was done. They showed up. Granted, a lot was virtual because it's been in the last several years and they were really there to build a partnership with the coalition, with other groups in the neighborhood. They unified groups in the neighborhood instead of trying to divide groups in the neighborhood. They listened like like Gayle said, like a lot of people have said they've and they developed an agreement and benefits that are specific to the community's needs. So it wasn't just a blink percentage that may or may not actually go to prevent displacement, but rather a very crafted and intentional community benefits agreement that we all got to chip, chip and chip our ideas into. So that flexibility has been super critical to us. And to be able to address the community needs having a community benefits agreement. We signed a community benefits agreement. We have something written. We have a commitment. We know that that is going to happen. That's super critical. And that those commitments were around increasing stability in the neighborhood. The the actual contribution, the $4.25 million that will go towards Tierra Collective, that is so significant to us. And it's not just because it's permanent affordability. It's because the collective is a movement driven by residents and Globeville and Elyria and Ciancia to build out the vision of the neighborhood and preserve affordability forever. So some of you may know how much homeownership has gone down in Globeville. There was a shift research lab study that said between 2015 and 2019, homeownership went from 61% to 36%. So that's a huge drop in homeownership. So it was important to the developers and important to us and other neighbors that they talked to to increase homeownership in the neighborhood. And that's something that we can do in theory, collectively. Thank you. That's the type. Thank you. Okay. We've got Anthony Syston, I think will be joining us online. Yeah. I can hear me. Yes. Yeah. I just want to chime in as a resident. Of Globeville and. Someone who's worked here for four. Years. I want to reiterate what Kelley, my neighbor, said. Earlier about the area. We really welcome this development and are really excited to see everything. That it can do to help take our community to the next step. Especially here on Farnsworth Island. And I would urge this bill's passage from Florida. All right. Would you if you wouldn't mind? Well, did we lose him? Is he still in there? Okay. I wanted him to go ahead and introduce himself for the public record. I know I called. Him, but. Yeah, my name is Anthony Stone. All right, great. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right. We're rounding out our fourth hearing tonight. That concludes our speakers questions from members of Council on Council Bill 1353. All right. We've got Councilman Flynn. You're up first. Thank you, Madam President. Is Tracy still on the meeting through Zoom? Thank you. I just have a brief question about the urban drainage and dura district, urban drainage district and Dura agreement. It looks like it says for all of the increment in property tax, so over and above what might be levied currently. I'm curious, does the agreement with urban drainage require the the developer to use any of that increment for flood control or for drainage? Or can it be used for any general purpose? Thank you for that question, Councilman. And I want to make sure that I also clarify that for all of the taxing entities, any amount that the site is currently generating in property tax, those amounts will continue to flow to all of the taxing entities. It is just the incremental taxes that Europe will be capturing when it comes to the amount of the increment that is attributable to the urban drainage mill. There is no limitation or requirement on what those funds must be used for. I will only add, though, that the part of the infrastructure will be drainage across the site, but there are no more requirements per the urban drainage agreement on how their portion of the increment is to be used. Thank you, Tracy. So it just goes into the that into the pool that the that is available? That is correct. All right. Thank you. Councilmember Flynn, Councilmember Cashman. Yeah. Thank you, Madam President. Tracy, if you're still there. Yes, I am. Hi there. What's the difference? Remind me in what the TIFF funds will pay for. That is different than what the district funds pays for. Sure. That is another excellent question, Councilman. And I know it has been the source of some confusion. So the tax increment is expected to be used to reimburse the costs attributable to the offsite infrastructure that we have talked about, that larger regional infrastructure improvements, the onsite infrastructure needs, parks and open space, environmental remediation and publicly available parking . So those are the tax increment eligible costs. But part of the confusion that I think is coming about with the with the metropolitan district is it is the metropolitan district that will likely be the entity that contracts to have all of the infrastructure work be done. So to the extent the metropolitan district doesn't have immediately available funds, the developer will advance the money to the metropolitan district that then collectively the metropolitan district and the developer will look to the future tax increment as the source of repayment. So the metropolitan district will be undertaking much of this infrastructure. But the ultimate repayment source of those improvements that I outlined will come from the tax increment. The in my opinion, the developer is taking advantage of our obscenely low linkage fee. If if the linkage fee were to rise and that were applied to this development, would the difference then be made up in the TIFF program? Councilman. I think that is a question that is likely better answered by someone else in the audience, because the linkage fee, as I understand, has a has a very distinct need that is likely different than the infrastructure that we're talking about. So with all due respect, I'd ask that that question be put forward to someone else there in chambers. Good wine. And coming up, good evening Council Brad Whiting with the Department of Housing Stability. So answer your question. Councilman Cashman. The linkage fee is very much needs to be spent on the creation of new affordable housing. That's a that's a very specific use requirement of those funds. The way that this agreement is structured, should this be passed tonight, is that the developer for all nonresidential components would be paying 125% of today's current linkage fee for a period of 12 years, after which, whatever the linkage fee is in place at that time would then apply, as well as all of the on site affordability requirements that would be in place at that time would also come into effect after 12 years, but they have 12 years to work under this current negotiated agreement. So the amount of the linkage fee has no connection to either the Met District or the the tower. No, I assume that number comes into play in negotiations about what percentage of the property becomes affordable. Is that the only connection to linkage? Yes, it is. That's correct. But there's no direct linkage is a bad word. But that's just between the linkage fee or the initiative negotiated agreement at all. Okay, great. Thank you for that. And then that's all for you. We appreciate that. And last question is for someone on the development team. They're trying to get an idea of how much you'll be spending on the elements in the community benefits agreement, the land, land trust, etc.. Yeah. Good evening, Councilman Cashman. Yes. So our whole housing program and proposal encompasses a lot of it has had a lot of tools, so. Sorry, it has a lot of legs. One of which is the housing assistance program on the Housing Assistance Program will be directing $2 million to help the community with rental assistance, property tax assistance , security deposit assistance and other rehabilitation projects. And we will also direct $4.25 million into the Perpetual Affordability Housing Program with Terra Collective and. And. And the Coalition and Habitat for Humanity. As well as that we are creating 7% affordable housing on site of which 25% is going to be at 60% EMI and the remaining 75% is going to be at 80% EMI. We are also going to pay 125% out of linkage fee on all of the commercial spaces. Thank you very much. Could we go ahead and have you introduce yourself for the public record? Yes, I'm another few minutes. All right. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Councilman Cashman Council. Sawyer thinks that I'm president. Just wanted to clarify, and I'm not sure who I'm asking. I think maybe Brad, you are who I'm asking in terms of the affordable housing agreement. Does that then run with the land? Sorry. I didn't really give you time to get. Brad riding with the Department of Housing Stability again. Yes, it does. Okay, great. Thanks. Thanks, Madam President. All right. Thank you. Council Councilmember Swire seeing no other questions from members of council. The public hearing is closed. Comments by members of Council on Council Bill 1353 council members say to Baca. Again, this is not to denounce the developers or the plan. This is to denounce the tool and our inability to protect or create protective policy for the surrounding areas. That will change in value because of this project when it's complete. So I will not be supporting this tonight. This doesn't happen very often where my vote does not match the community's vote. But I recall these same conversations just down the street in my district when we did the tiff for Welton Street. And, you know, it looks good. It sounds good, but we don't have the protective policies in place to protect a neighborhood when we're making these very big changes. And the size of this project is so much bigger than the other projects that we have financed through TIFF. And so I just want the community to know that, you know, this is complicated and it's not the plan or the developers that's the issue. It's the tool, the financing mechanism that has it. We haven't caught up with protective policies to go with it. So I will be in on this tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember CdeBaca, Councilmember Hines. Thank you. Council president. I want to be as open and transparent as I can. I would agree with my colleagues that our linkage fee is dreadfully low. So developers will be supporting increasing our link with linkage fee as the conversation continues. Also, to be transparent, I don't want to hold off all development until we come up with these agreements. Our city, we should shape our growth and our city is growing. I'm glad that it's growing. I hope that that we get a better linkage. We sometimes just wanted to put that all in the record so that I'm being as open and transparent as possible. Thank you. Council President. Thank you, Councilmember Haines. Councilmember Sandoval. Thank you, Madam President. I would just like to thank the development team for coming. Even though this development is in northwest Denver, we share the railroad tracks and they spent several hours in meetings and came back to my community when there was confusion numerous times to meet with the Sunnyside neighborhood and how it would impact them. And I would also like to acknowledge the commitment for the infrastructure need that is desperately needed to connect Northwest Denver to this part of Globeville. And if it rains, you can't get to this neighborhood. You have the 38 bathtub that literally I have seen cars float in and I have been told by the city that it's in . We can't we don't have the funding to fix it because it's BNSF, the rail yard responsibility. And so with this tax increment financing, the ability to actually have a bridge go either north or go west and connect this area with my council district. Northwest Denver, I think is something that is desperately needed and is called out in the 41st and Fox station area plan, which I wish could be updated because that plan is so antiquated that all calls for tons of density in this neighborhood. Yet we don't have the car trips, meaning you can't have anything redevelop in this neighborhood because you can't have the cars. Meaning if there's a flood, you can't get there from 38th. And the 44th Street Bridge over I-70 is antiquated and needs updating. And this will also bring that project up to speed. So I do offer my support, but I do also understand the need to make sure that we have developers working with our community. And I will say. I started as an aide in Council District nine in 2012, and I have sat through four different developers on this site , and none of them have worked with the global community. None of them. None of them talk to them. None of them work with them. None of them asked what we needed. When we got the general development plan, which we don't do anymore, passed. None of them talk to the community who is desperately in need of this. And so I just want to say thank you for the community and the developer coming together and showing your offering, your support for something that has been languishing for a long time. I grew up and it was the Denver Post site, and I really do believe that redevelopment needs to occur here. And it's a smart place. I don't know how many of you know this, the first stop to Union Station, and I don't know how many of you in this room take that stop. I will admit I do not. It is scary crossing that bridge from Inka at night by myself. I don't like it. It doesn't feel safe. And as a woman, I often think about my safety in the built environment. And I really believe that this this urban renewal will actually create more safe environments for women to walk in, for us to be able to use transit oriented development. I know we talk about transit oriented development often, but as a woman living here at night when the sun sets at 426, it's not always easy for me to hop on a bike and drive through a neighborhood and have to get home in the dark. So I don't just end on thank you for this and I understand the need for all of the money going into this project. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Sandoval. Councilmember Cashman. Thank you, Madam President. I'm struggling with the numbers. If I've done my math, we've approved between the Met District and the the turf about a half a billion dollars and about 6,000,006 and a quarter million is going back into the community, 125% of an obscenely low linkage fee and 7% affordable housing. I'm also hearing a lot of positive thanks from the community for improvements that will be made on the site. For the benefit of people on the site and off the site. So I'm just struggling a little bit here. It sounds to me like the city is going to get a lot of benefit out of what gets built. But I really believe this developer is walking away with a sweetheart deal. So I don't know that we'd get what we're getting without this type of trade off. But but I am struggling here for a minute. So we'll see how the rest of the chatter goes. All right. Thank you, Councilman Cashman. Councilwoman Ortega. Thank you, Madam President. I will be brief with my comments. You all know that I always raise the issue of proximity to rail. This particular site is actually buffered by our commuter rail. That is our RTD. You know, transportation district properties on the West Side are closer actually than than this site for folks who are developing that don't have that kind of buffering. So that's why you didn't hear me raising a bunch of questions about proximity to railroad on this particular development. I also wanted to share with you all that when the Stapleton development came before this body, there was $300 million of tax increment financing that went into that project and that also offset the cost of infrastructure. They committed eight acres of the totality of the land on that site that went towards affordable housing. But it's not unusual in these big sites. And again, without the financing tools that the city has available, we otherwise would not see the development. It's why there have been different developers who have worked at this site that were not able to make the financing work. At that time, those developers also were not asked to build another road. Actually, two roads as well as redo the entire intersection at 38, Fox 25 and Park Avenue, which is part of what's going to be happening with the combination of funding that will be part of this project. It's also not typical that we see all these different funding sources come at the same time. Many of these projects, the rezoning is is on a different schedule from the district, which is different from the financing. And in this case, we're seeing it all at once, which is the way it used to be done before this body, when we saw, you know, not only Stapleton, but some of our other larger developments like Lowry, those all came forward at the same time. And we also got to see much more detail of what was going to be developed on those sites. So I just want to thank this developer for going that extra mile with the Coalville residents. I know he they also talked to the Sunnyside community. And the fact that everybody knows Jose Manuel on a first name basis tells you that level of commitment that they made in working with these communities. So I know that they're not here just to get this passed and to be out of these neighborhoods. They're in it for the long haul. So I'll be supporting this tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Ortega. Councilmember Kinney. Thank you. Council President. I will not restate the entire history that I went over in committee, but I just think it is critical to identify why the revisions that we will vote on after this particular vote to the redevelopment agreement or the development agreement between the city and the site were so important in terms of moving from zero zero units on the property to a significant percentage of affordability on the property, in addition to linkage fee dollars that come to the city, in addition to dollars for housing that go to the community. I've spent a lot of time talking with my colleague, Councilman Cashman, and understand his discomfort on one level. But I really think it's critical if we are going to say. That we want community benefits and we then don't accept or have consternation over the types of benefits that are most important to a community. Then I'm concerned about the message we're sending. In this case, the community is more concerned with and pushed hard for dollars that promote stability for existing residents over affordable units for new residents. And the developer responded and we have more units on the site, more homes on the site than we would have had under the prior agreements, but fewer than we might have seen in a different agreement, because millions of dollars are being spent on stability and homeownership just off the site. This is a large development area, and I don't think we need to be using formulas in large development areas. Some sites we do want to dedicate land for deeply affordable. Some sites that are in the area that's had a loss of homeownership, these types of stability investments might be necessary. I am looking forward to having a formulaic approach with our inclusionary housing debate that we'll have early next year, but that approach will be for single buildings. It's probably not going to be the best way to determine the housing outcome on a particular large redevelopment area. Those areas are too large, they have too much opportunity, and they need to be able to think about those subtleties with the community. And so I support this agreement because it is responsive to the housing investments that are most important to this community collectively. I just cannot accept the focus only on onsite units because that's not been what's prioritized. So so I think it is an important improvement over the prior city agreement. It is important responsiveness and it is a robust it's a robust investment that I would argue is on par with other investments made at other large redevelopment sites, even though those sites only were focused really on the on site units, they were focused less on these other components. But if you add them up together, it's robust. And so for me, it's the it's both the substance of the agreement and the principle that I support community responsive, large area development plans and that I need to stand with the community when those come forward. So I will be supporting this tonight and I do urge my colleagues to do so as well, because this is a precedent we want to continue. If we're going to see these types of efforts succeed, we as a council need to support them. So so if you know, both on the substance and as well, the precedent that it's important to have responsive dialogs that are true. Three party dialogs, right? Community and developer and city. Right. The first deal was so bad because it was city and developer alone and it didn't include that third prong. This one's better because it did. And that that is an important precedent for us to stand behind. So with that, I'll be happy to support this tonight. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Koinange. And I'll go ahead and go ahead with my comments. I would really like to thank the community who spoke tonight. It's not usual that we have this much consensus between community members, the developers and these agreements. And I really want to thank everybody for the ongoing work that they did to get us here to this position tonight. And I am happy to support this as well. Madam Secretary, roll call on Council Bill 1353, please see tobacco. No. Clarke. I. Flynn. I. I'm fine. All right. Catherine they very hesitant, i. Kenny Ortega, I. Sandoval. I saw you. I saw Torres. I. Black eye. Madam President. I. Madam Secretary, close the voting and announce the results. One May 12 US. 12 I's Council Bill 21 Dash 1353 has passed. Thank you to the community members and others who joined us. And now we are on to our final hearing of the night. Councilmember Ortega, would you please put Council Bill 21, Dash 13, the.