A bill for an ordinance designating certain property as “park” under section 2.4.5 of the city charter, namely Centennial Park   (INFRASTRUCTURE & CULTURE) Designates 5.5 acres of land as Centennial Park located at 1301 Elitch Circle, in Council District 9. The Committee approved filing this bill at its meeting on 11-5-14.
Brooks Brown, I. Mr. President. Hi, Mr. Secretary. Please close the voting and now the results. 99199912 961 has been ordered published. The last bill for introduction, I believe was 930. Leader was called out by Councilman Nevitt and will technology will catch up it was councilman that. What would you like for us to do with this? Thank you, Mr. President. Actually, I am calling out council bill nine 3931 932 933 934 936 and 937. But it's just for a comment, so you don't actually have to put them on the floor. All right. Well, then go right ahead. So I just wanted to point out, each of these bills designates certain number of acres of land in the city as parkland. And this is land that has been open space currently but is not designated as parkland and by the action of nine 3931 932 933 934 936 and 937. We are taking many acres of land and moving them from a more fungible category open space into a much more protected category that is specific designated parkland. And I point that out only because this administration has gotten a lot of criticism from some quarters and this council has gotten a lot of criticism as an enabler of bad behavior on the part of the administration. With respect to Parkland, the the argument is that there's no respect for Parkland, that we view Parkland as as as fungible and something to be disposed of at will. And I just need to point out that this is designating as Parkland a lot of acres that have not been designated for years and years and years may have been open space, but the administration is moving forward with actually designating this land as parkland. In fact, this is not the first nor I think is it the last. I don't know if there's anybody here from Parks and Rec who can answer that question. Mr. Gilmore. I'm glad you're here. So you can cover my ignorance as to the details. Now, you were doing a pretty good job. I'm Scott Gilmore. Deputy executive director of Denver Parks and Rec. This is actually the fourth and fifth round of designation. We've been designating Park Land for the last two years. This actually will bring our. Total up to about 70%. So when we started this process, about 68% of the park land that was available to designate was designated officially. We have moved that number to about 80%. So we are moving that that forward. And so it's very exciting to have this moving, this process forward. We will continue to move forward and designate all the park land that we can designate that is that is legally able to designate. So it's a process where we have to work on title. We have to work on surveys. We need to do this properly because there are a lot of lines, property lines and utilities and other things that we have to work on. So it's been a and it's been an interesting process. I do want to give a shout out to the eye and see the eye and see the inner inter neighborhood cooperation. And they have put together a committee that supports me and that gives me a lot of input on parks that they feel that should be designated or other things that I should work on and the Parks Department should work on. So I want to give them a shout out and tell them thank you. Great. Likewise. Thank you, Mr. Gilmore. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman. Councilwoman Shephard. Actually, Scott, if you could come back. I thought since I had you up there, I asked this point of clarification during committee, but I want to ask it again tonight. If any District one residents are watching. Can you? I believe that 933 regarding Highland Senior Center Park does not include the rec center that is located there, nor the land that's under it. Is that correct? Yes, it does not. There are some title issues that reside on that, that piece of parcel. So we cannot designate anything that does not have clear title. So we don't have clear title to that. So we do have clear title to all the park land that's directly adjacent to it. And so we are designating that parcel and that's what the ordinance is. I thought during committee you said that DOJ actually. I think I. Didn't get a chance to check on that. And I think DHS has some type of ownership on that, that building. And the parking lot. What about the parking lot? The part of the building. So I'm not I did not look at that. I apologize. Okay. So perhaps if I could get clarification. Okay. I'll get to that. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Gilmore. Thank you. Councilwoman Sheppard, are there any other comments on 930? All right. That concludes the bill for introduction. Now moving on to bills for final consideration, and I believe the first one was 81, called out by Councilwoman Montero. Secretary, you want to tee that one up? And while he's doing that, Councilwoman Montero, would you like for us to do with that? I would just like to make a comment. Go right ahead. Thank you, Mr. President. This council Bill 881 is on final reading, and it's an intergovernmental agreement with the regional transportation district. And what it does is it provides for the construction of the 35th Street pedestrian bridge over the East Corridor Rail and the acquisition of the relocation of the Union Pacific Railroad Yard office. And it appropriates 1.350 million four from RTT funding for the construction of this pedestrian bridge in Council District nine. And so this bridge is very important because what it does is it's a connector for the neighborhoods that are west of the railroad tracks like Globeville Ballpark in West Reno to the station. And it's an essential part of the 38 Blake Street Station where there's new development blossoming. It'll bring commerce and access between West and North Rhino neighborhoods and will create new pathways for neighbors where they didn't have it before. And once this bridge is done, you'll be able to go from Larimer, Walnut, the Blake area, to Brighton Boulevard and down towards the River and Globeville. So this will infuse the already vibrant Reno, our district, with new mobility. This was part of what was originally identified by the 2003 River North Plan, the Reno plan. And so I just want to close by saying that based on my experience in the Highland neighborhood, the 16th Street pedestrian bridge, the Highland Bridge was very catalytic to the growth and the vibrancy and connectivity for Highland and their connection to the Platte street merchants and also to the Central Platte Valley. So I'm really, really excited. And also want to say that this involves agreements with Union Pacific, with Regional Transportation District, the Railroad Transportation Administration and the city and county of Denver, and has been in the works for two years. So it's great news for the neighborhood. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Councilman Monteiro, any other comments on 881 scene? And we'll go to the next one, which was 896, I believe, called out by Councilwoman Shepherd. Catherine Shepherd, what would you like for us to do with this? I just have a question to someone here from arts and venues. Thank you. So I think I ask this in committee, but I'm not sure I got a definitive answer. And this is the bill regarding the Contract with Access Digital to provide ticketing, sales and related services for city owned operated venues. So typically with these types of arrangements, the company will charge a surcharge on top of the ticket for their service. And knowing that that can really make your dollars add up, especially if you happen to be buying several tickets for, let's say you have a large family, that kind of might quickly become very cost prohibitive if you're paying those surcharges on top of that ticket. So my question would be, will there still be the ability to walk up to the window and purchase those tickets directly without having to pay the surcharge? Sure. I'm Brian Kitch with Arts and Venues. And the simple answer is yes, that with any of our venues that there still will be a walk up option, including at Red Rocks. You're going to have to hike to get there, but especially on day of show, there will be that option and part of those are set by the promoter. But the deal with access calls for no ticketing fees at the box office. Okay. That's exactly what I wanted to know. I think it could be tough for larger families. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman. Separate. All right. So you know the comments and 1896 will go through the last one, which I believe was 927 cut out by Councilwoman Fox. Councilman, what would you like for us to do with this?