A bill for an ordinance amending the Denver Zoning Code. Approves text amendment #9 to the Denver Zoning Code to establish a new Active Centers and Corridors Design Overlay zone district (DO-8), create consistency with the Shopfront form across contexts, and make other associated amendments in Articles 5, 9, and 13. The Committee approved filing this item at its meeting on 2-16-21.
So a portion of a larger project would need to provide something other than residential at that ground floor facing the street. There's also a number of of more qualitative standards that get to this notion of maintaining a strong street wall and sort of main street character, but also allowing for greater flexibility and pedestrian movement through a variety of setbacks and more flexible range of where the building can actually be located, creating better transitions between the public sidewalk and private residential units when there are residential uses at that ground floor, and then supporting very highly active street levels with tall ground floors and many windows across those frontages. So this is a this is a brief summary, and I won't get into each one of these individually, but I do have some slides if anyone has questions about these going forward. But this is a summary of what's what's in the design overlay itself. You know, most fundamentally, as I mentioned, it would does have a standard to provide nonresidential active uses for just a portion of that primary street frontage on larger sized lots. Limits the building forms to the shop front and townhouse. Make some changes to the build to range. Again, sort of allowing greater flexibility for that building to be set away from that primary street zone online a little bit, provide some more space for outdoor dining in pedestrian areas. Some setbacks that I mentioned, and then limiting the transparency alternatives in areas within the overlay to only be allowed to be to meet that alternative through the permanent art. So really, we're looking for windows and we want to make sure that we get the highest level of transparency possible. And then finally, a minimum floor to floor height for that street level. And that's really sort of leaning towards making sure that these projects and future future buildings are designed in such a manner that they can accommodate those nonresidential uses at some point in the future. And I should clarify to a nonresidential use in this case and in this particular zoning district doesn't mean that it specifically has to be retail or it has to be a coffee shop or a food and beverage of some kind. It really runs the entire range of things like neighborhood services, health care services, the dentist, the dog groomer, you know, any number of things that could be considered and would be permitted as a nonresidential use. I also mentioned this design overlay and in the text amendment that will establish this and the Denver zoning code picks up an inconsistency in the shopfront form and in all of the other contexts within the zoning code, the shopfront form does not allow parking between either the primary or the side street. And for whatever reason, in the urban context, which is Article five, that was a little was inconsistent. And so we've made that change as well in all of our our X, M, X and s districts. And that parking would not be allowed between surface parking, I should say, would not be allowed between the building in the primary or the side street. So moving into the rezoning itself, we'll, of course, look at at the overview of the existing context through the zoning land use and then existing building performance scale. As I mentioned this, these areas are a range of different mixed use and main street zoned districts, they range in scale from two storey to three storey and up to five storey in a couple of locations. A few of these areas also included the UO one and two, which is the use overlay one and two that were sort of carryovers of of older zoning and older entitlements that are applied to these areas. The other one is the adult use overlay, and two is the billboard use overlay. And you can see there in the surrounding areas, generally these areas are bordered either by a two unit zone district or a single unit zone district in the urban context as far as land use. As you might expect, there's actually quite a large range of things that are happening in these various areas. They primarily there are commercial and retail. There is a mix of multi-unit residential office and mixed use type of properties. You can see in particularly the northern part of Tennyson, which is the which is the long section here in the in the middle of the of the graphic, particularly on the western side of Tennyson in that area that has really transitioned almost exclusively over to multi-unit residential. And we'll look at a photograph or two that shows that. So zooming in here, this is this is the portion of Tennyson from 38 to 46 that is being considered for the rezoning. It sort of runs the range in terms of scale from one story, traditional commercial type of non type of buildings up to three and even five story multi-unit residential structures, some new, some old. As you move further north, this is where that rapid transition has really has really happened and really raised a lot of the concerns from the neighborhood and has over the last several years about changes to add to this portion of Tennyson that did used to provide some local commercial and neighborhood goods and services, but has really rapidly transformed over to almost almost exclusively residential projects. This is the area around 44th and Sheridan. Again know it's generally going to be mixed use and commercial and retail and it's existing patterns. It also has one story more sort of traditional type of commercial buildings, but then also some more suburban type of examples where you where you see the surface parking is located generally between the building and the street. Here. This is up near Regis University. So this is at 49th and 50th Avenue. And Lowell, again, kind of a range and a mix of some convenience store or drive thru type of uses, some one story traditional commercial buildings and then portions of this section have also transitioned over to multi-unit residential. 44th in Lowell. Again, sort of a mix of things, the one and two storey commercial buildings and then some other more suburban type of development where the buildings are set away from the street. And then finally, this last section along the north side of 38, which is just east of east of Sheridan here, again, sort of a mix of lower scale, lower scale commercial and some residential components here as well. So the overall outreach has has been ongoing for a number of years now. CPD has been involved directly with with Berkeley, Regis United Neighbors, which is the local registered neighborhood organization since at least the fall of 2017. So this goes back to even to former Councilman Espinosa for this area. And those initial conversations about what what kinds of things an overlay might include. Really, it took it took on a lot more momentum once once Councilmember Sandoval got got into you know, got into her position. And her office has really taken on the bulk of the of the public outreach through a number of different mailers and fliers, media advisories and town halls that were that were held in the spring of last year. Unfortunately, right around the time that the pandemic started to started to take shape. And so they they did a lot of additional direct conversations and outreach, really, through the spring and summer of last last year. And then finally we presented to the IMC Zoning and Planning Committee back in November of last year. Process has similarly moved through the standard protocols and procedures. The informational notice of both the text amendment and Map amendment were in November of last year and the planning board meeting was noticed in January and the hearing was in February. Moved on to council committee. And then here we are this evening on a Tuesday instead of a monday. As far as public comments, we have received a letter of support from from the R.A. from Berkeley, Regis for United Neighbors. They submitted a letter of support to the planning board. And I believe we're also going to submit a direct letter to the council members as well. We've also received 24 letters of support from from various various neighbors and really speak to and cite this desire to maintain and enhance the walkability of these these areas and ensure the continuation of commercial activity is provided by local small businesses. One of those letters in support was actually conditional, recommending that we didn't go far enough and that there were some additional strategies they would like to see to strengthen that overlay. And then we have also received four comments in opposition, generally citing concerns relative to the timing and the applicability of the new overlay potential increase in construction costs. And that residential uses really should be the focus for these locations. Moving into the review criteria, there are three. For this rezoning, we'll be looking at consistency with adaptive plans and then uniformity of district regulations and furthering public health, safety and welfare. So we'll start with adopted plans and move directly into a comprehensive plan. 2040. I do think it's important to call out there's there's a number of different things that speak to this notion of complete neighborhoods and a mix of uses. But I really do want to highlight a couple that come from the strong and authentic neighborhoods strategy. You go one strategy and to build a network of well connected, vibrant, mixed use centers and corridors, and then to encourage quality infill development that is consistent with the surrounding neighborhood and offers opportunities for increased amenities. Moving on to Blueprint Denver then and looking at the urban context, mapping this entire area falls into the urban context. Generally, development should be compatible with the existing neighborhood character and offer residents a mix of uses with good street activation and connectivity. Future place type. All of these rezoning areas, except for one very small site, fall into the local corridor and center categories, characteristics of these of these types of areas in the future that they primarily provide options for dining, entertainment and shopping. They could include some residential and employment uses. The scale is intimate with that focus on the pedestrian. The one area that does fall into the residential low category actually has an existing commercial use on it currently. And that's something that the neighborhood and the councilmember was interested in reinforcing and perpetuating into the future. The, let's say, future street types, both 44th and lower fall in the mixed use collector category. And then Tennison is a main street collector and then 38 falls in the category of Main Street Arterial. Generally, these have similar descriptions of a varied mix of uses, including some residential. They are typically multi-story with high building coverage and a shallow setback. It is within the all areas of all other areas of the city as far as growth strategies. So that means that roughly 10% of the jobs and 20% of housing by 2040 should be absorbed into these types of areas. And then getting into some specific strategies that Blueprint and Denver directs and really establishes some policies that are supportive of this of this rezoning is that in in the general the land use and built for general policies policy number 11 is to implement our plan recommendations through citywide legislative rezonings and text amendments. So that's exactly what we're doing here this evening. And then more importantly, on the qualitative side, in the design, quality and preservation policy, number four speaks to ensuring an active and pedestrian friendly environment that provides true mixed use character in our centers and corridors, and specifically strategy A speaks directly to what we're what we're doing here this evening of requiring strong street level, active use standards for local centers and corridors. And this may include a prohibition on residential units for a portion of the street level building. As far as the equity analysis overall, these areas in Berkeley and Regis relative to access to opportunity are rated as having moderate access. This is a result of having relatively lower access to transit and grocery stores, but higher access to existing local centers and corridors. So I want to make sure that we're supporting supporting that and helping to, you know, ultimately provide additional access. The proposed overlay in the rezoning, we think, will further increase that access to opportunity by encouraging walkability within these areas and ensuring that new development is including those nonresidential uses that could contribute to jobs and services and other amenities. So we find that the rezoning application would have a net positive impact on the area's access to opportunity. As far as vulnerability to displacement, the Berkeley areas are indicated as low vulnerability to displacement, while the Regis has a slightly higher moderate vulnerability. The region's score is is partly due to a slightly higher percentage of the population that has less than a college degree. The proposed overlay is not anticipated to significantly impact vulnerability to displacement. However, it may actually help with some employment displacement because, again, by ensuring that nonresidential space continues to be offered in the future and new development , it will open up and provide space to be available and hopefully more affordable to local businesses. So we find that the rezoning would not have a negative impact on this measurement and that housing and businesses would not be displaced as a result of the rezoning. Housing. Housing diversity. Both Berkeley and Regis areas are indicated as low to moderate housing diversity. They're generally diverse in terms of their home size, but not necessarily diverse in terms of middle density housing or homeownership opportunities compared to rental. We found that looking at the rezoning because there is a limitation on the residential uses at the ground floor, there may be a very slight impact on overall housing diversity. Just just because there may be slightly fewer units that are generated because of that requirement to provide some nonresidential use of the ground floor. And then finally, jobs, diversity. The subject areas within Berkeley and Regis generally have low to moderate density in terms of in terms of the number of jobs overall, they sort of fall in the category of retail innovation, jobs near the university and lower and manufacturing diversity. And we think that the proposed rezoning may have a positive impact on job diversity in the neighborhood. Again, sort of going back to the notion of having more commercial or nonresidential space available and the opportunities that that may present to new businesses and local, local employment. So we think that overall, we find that the rezoning application would have a positive effect on the area's job diversity. We also find that the requested rezoning would meet the next two criteria. It would result in uniformity of district regulations and would further the public health, safety and welfare primarily through the implementation of our adopted plans. So staff recommends that City Council approves the Denver Zoning Code Text Amendment Number nine and establishing the active centers and corridors design overlay. Finding that all of the applicable review criteria have been met and we also recommend approval of Map Amendment Number 2020. i-200080 rezoning these areas of Berkeley and Regis neighborhoods to apply the new DOJ finding again that all applicable review criteria have been met. Thank you. All right. Well, thank you. Christopher, when I saw the 40 the the 40 slides in the deck, I wondered how quick you're going to be able to go. And so great job doing that. You're welcome. There's a lot to cover is a lot of information. So I'm happy to answer questions. All right. Right on. Well, tonight, counsel has received one written comment on counsel Bill 157 There are no submitted comments in favor of the application and one submitted comment in opposition of the application. No written comments have been received for counsel Bill 156. All members of counsel that are present have certified certified that they have read each of the submitted written comments. Do any members need more time in order to read all of the written testimony that was submitted? All right. Seen none. Council secretary let the record reflect that all written testimony, both in favor and in opposition of Council Bill 157 have been read by each member of Council and all written testimony will be submitted to the official record of the hearing and this evening on the combined public hearing for Council Bill 156 and 157. We have two individuals signed up to speak this evening, and our first speaker is Bill Killam. And Phil, you're unmuted. And so we'll go ahead and let you introduce yourself and tell us your city of residence and go ahead. Great. Thank you very much. My name. My name is Bill Killam, and I've been a resident. Of the Berkeley neighborhood in. Denver since 1986. I am a member of Berkeley, Regis, United Neighbors. Zoning and Planning. Committee since 2006, and I'm also currently serving on the Brown Board of Directors as a long time resident. I've seen the destruction of much of the retail aspect of Tennyson Street as developers took advantage of mixed use loopholes, specifically by building LA homes and apartment buildings. The brand's zoning and planning committee has been working to rectify this situation as long as I've been a member, and the effort actually began much earlier. The Zoning and Planning Committee has been working with Councilwoman Sandoval, her staff and city planners since her election in 2019. Run has kept the neighborhood informed through social media and in-person meetings. We shut down and affected. Landowners have been contacted directly by the councilwoman to office. Tonight, I urge council members to approve these text and map amendments to help preserve street activation and the commercial character of the neighborhood. Directly read This neighborhood has been severely impacted by changes in our commercial districts over the last few years, and we believe that instituting this amendment and overlay will help preserve the neighborhood's character to the extent possible. So Graham, thanks the council members for their consideration of this matter. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Mr. Killam. And we have another speaker. Rafael Espinosa. And we're going to go ahead and ask former Councilman Espinosa to unmute himself, please. Good evening. Thank you. Council president and city council former colleagues. This has been a long time coming. The. I remember. Jefferson. Park, my neighborhood was first meeting in 28, 2008 for the 2010 adoption. Here we are. We spent the better part of nine months or more in actually more during my time in office. And now we're nearly just a couple of months from midterms on. You're on this next term. So it's actually taking longer to make the tweaks that the. That the zoning code always anticipated. I do urge. CPD director LG Reddy and others to figure out a way to expedite this process because it really the community effort and the amount of data points and meetings and time and effort that went into producing. What seems to be a very rational approach has taken an inordinate amount of of of effort, both by the city and the community. That said, I do want to thank Tom Mobley in the members of the community, specifically CBD staff Andy Dalton, Mr. Dalton, Abe Christopher and Brad for their continuing efforts to shepherd the community to get to this point. So thank you for taking the time to consider the matter, and I'm looking forward to hopefully celebrating the adoption once all this COVID stuff is over. So thank you very much. All right. Well, thank you for joining us, former council member Espinosa, and good to hear from you. All right. That concludes our speakers this evening. On this combined hearing questions from members of Council on Council Bill 156 and or Counsel Bill 157. Council member, Flynn. Thank you, Madam President. I Christopher. Or maybe Councilwoman Sandoval, either one of you, please help me out a little bit with let me go over to the staff report and the presentation on Slide 12, where I talk about the proposed standards for design overlay aid and then where there were more specifics on it. On page 22 of the staff report, I'm trying to visualize how these setbacks and minimum heights, etc., will contribute to the outcome that you're that you're desiring for more shop front, townhouse oriented environment. So maybe talk a little bit about increasing the build to range from from 0 to 5 feet to 0 to 10 feet. What does that do for you as far as encouraging outdoor dining? Talk a little bit about the and the minimum two foot primary setback. Primary street setback in the shopfront form. How does that conflict with the build to it? There's so many measurements in there. I'm just trying to I'm trying to get a picture of what a street that is that has this overlay will eventually look like when these regulations are all adhered to. Christopher or Caroline, if you care. That's what I'm do. Do you want to start? And then I'm happy to. German. I'll defer to you, Christopher. Okay. Yeah. Perfect. So yeah, that's a that's a great question. So I'll start with let's see why not. I'll start with the with the two foot setback. Part of the reason that we we made that determination is that the current Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, the standard for the amenities are sidewalk along Tennyson. And most of these areas is actually an eight foot amenity zone and only a five foot sidewalk. That's that that's the minimum standard. So we wanted to make sure that there was, at the very least, potentially an extension of that sidewalk that could be accommodated to allow for a greater intensity of pedestrian movement and activity in this particular location. The other thing that actually that helps with is that typically in situations where there is a zero foot setback in the building, as is built right up to the property line, and then what is essentially the back of the sidewalk, if there's ever a table chair and railings permit, which is the permit that you need in order to encroach into that public right of way that all goes through. Dottie and CBD doesn't have an opportunity to directly be able to sort of oversee and weigh in and provide comments on those kinds of those kinds of factors. So having that small setback means that now that encroachment covers both a portion of the private property and then extends into the public right of way. So now we've got at least two people, two agencies that have some have some oversight of how that gets how that gets applied, increasing the bill to range from 0 to 5 feet and going now it would actually be from two feet to ten feet. So we accommodate for that initial setback and then going up to ten feet, basically that allows for a building to be set a little bit further away from the public sidewalk, still meet our standard for having buildings close to, you know, close to the street, close to the sidewalk to create that that main street feel from it from a design perspective. But it allows for a lot more flexibility for those outdoor dining or outdoor retail type of experiences that is not encroaching into the public sidewalk. Not in. But we just interrupt. Christopher, I apologize. But say what you're saying is that an outdoor seating area at a cafe could be set back from where the people are traversing the sidewalk, going to walk around, etc.. That's exactly right. I guess that's right. And one other delight that I think I brought up, the 14 foot minimum height for the ground floor, even for residential. Is that in my reading. That correctly. So. So the way that that works is that that that standard would apply to projects that that are large enough to have that have that nonresidential requirement. And so the way that that's measured to clarify is that it's a floor to floor height. So it's not necessarily the interior volume, the floor to ceiling room. So, you know, there's there's a lot of architectural improvements on the interior of the building where you can have drop ceilings and other things. So in a residential context, that interior volume is probably going to still be more in the 0 to 10 or 11 foot range, which is a very comfortable, comfortable height for it for a residential type of of of use. The good thing about having that full 14 feet Florida floor is that then in the future and over time, if those uses are modified and changed, we haven't precluded the fact of for them the opportunity to have a non residential or a commercial component in in that ground floor. So if the project was designed with a very limited and short first ground floor height, you potentially create challenges with those uses ever transitioning back into a into a nonresidential type of use. So we're trying to account for that. You know, and there's also a lot of research and data out there just in terms of the viability of commercial spaces that generally those taller floor to floor heights and those those, you know, those larger spaces, interior tend to actually lead to people spending more money. Mm hmm. One last thing, Madam President, if I could. The transparency requirement says eliminate the alternatives. Transparency requirements, except for, I think, art. Let me take a look at it. Except for permanent art to encourage more windows at street level. Does that apply to the townhouse, the townhome form as well? And in other words, a person's residence on the street would have to have. What are we talking about as far as windows? Yeah, the residential the residential requirement for transparency in the townhouse form and I can double check this, but I believe it's only 40% in the shop front. Form, it's 60%. So it's a much higher standard for building forms that are intended to have a mix of uses. There are there are several other alternatives, transparency alternatives that exist in the code today. And some of them have been used, I'd say, to less success than others. And so that was that was the determination that we wanted to make sure that if there was going to be an alternative to transparency, to a window, we wanted to make sure that that was actually something that's contributing back to back to the street. And permanent art is is something that is actually reviewed also by Denver arts and venues to determine if it is actually a work of public art. And so that's, again, sort of gives that an extra layer of quality. Mm hmm. Thank you. Thank you very much, Christopher and Madam President, all have. All right. Thank you. Councilmember Flynn. Councilmember Torrance. Thank you so much. I'm looking at some of the early slides that you have, obviously. Christopher Councilwoman, we've talked about this being considered for Santa Fe by some of the community there for for that corridor. Now it's being applied to Mex and S and there's language in the in the slides about its use generally four stories, 2 to 5 stories. But as a as a as an overlay, can it be applied to any district more beyond X 2 to 5 or more? 2 to 5. Yes, it could be. It's written to apply to really all of our ah mixed use districts within the Denver zoning code. So that could be a, we have our districts the residential mixed use then we have and we have mixed use. It is not specific to height, so it could be applied to an eight storey district. I would say the only component about the overlay that does have a reference back to height is that through this process we're also looking at potentially or we've had other neighborhood stakeholders approach us in two story districts and there are some two storey districts actually that are being proposed for the rezoning and District one. And there's been a lot of concerns or questions raised about the viability of providing nonresidential uses in a two story project. Once you get up to three stories, five stories, it's a lot easier to financially make that work. But in a two story district, it is difficult. So in the overlay, the nonresidential use standard. So that standard that would require nonresidential uses of the ground floor does not apply to two storey districts. It would have to be a three storey or above. Okay. And then the other the only other question that I have is if adopted this evening, projects in queue, who becomes affected by these versus projects that maybe have not applied yet for the permits to construct? Kind of what's the what's the bright line? Sure. Yeah. That goes back to what we call the effective date and then the applicability of the of the zoning code change. So in this case, and really what the what the default is for really any zoning code amendment is that it becomes effective as of the date of that of the hearing and of the adoption, in that it is applicable to essentially all projects that have yet to be approved. That is that was determined to be the case here. We had a lot of conversations with Councilmember Sandoval and some of the neighborhood advocates as well, and actually reviewed a lot of the projects that were in that are in the process of the permit review. And there were there were some examples that raised a lot of concerns that they were not going to be consistent with the intent of the overlay. And and really then, you know, the intention of the neighborhood for these corridors. And so Councilmember Sandoval made the determination that this zoning code change should be effective immediately and should apply to all projects that are still that are still under review. And so essentially, anything that has not received approval, these were these would retroactively apply. Okay. Thank you, Christopher. Thank you, Councilwoman. Thank you, Councilwoman Torres. Councilwoman Black. Thank you, Madam President. Christopher and Councilwoman. Sandoval, thank you so much for working on this. I'm really, really impressed. I'm just going to ask a question publicly that I've asked both of you in private. We had a couple of people reach out to us who were unhappy that they were sort of caught in the middle of this, that they were already engaged in some sort of financial transaction, and they didn't know about this. And I've talked to both. Of you about it a lot. And so thank you very much. But I just thought I'd give you an opportunity to talk a little bit more about all of your outreach. I know you had a fight about it in the presentation. And then Councilman Sandoval, specifically, I know you said that all of the property owners were aware of it and. That if there were parties. That weren't aware of it, it was perhaps because the property owner had not revealed that. So if you could just publicly comment on some of those things, I'd appreciate it. Thank you. Yes, sure. Thank you for the question. Outreach is essential in these type of projects of the utmost importance. So when we created the town hall notification, I went to the assessor's office in January of 2020 and I asked our assessor to in all of the areas that are mapped, so not the text of the amendment, but the mapped areas of the amendment, which is the second bill on reading to send me every property owner on the Denver Assessor's list. So I got that. We got those property records and we mailed them a flier in by U.S. mail notifying them about this survey that my Naomi and my office put together, and about two upcoming town halls that we held at Skinner Middle School. So we sent that out the US mail that my office paid for, and then we went back through and we fired. Because a lot of times what I've learned in roads, especially in retail areas and residential, not everybody who not all property owners live on site, but it's important that tenants know about it as well. So we went back through and fired all of the properties before the town halls happened. And unfortunately, our last town hall took place, I want to say March 12th or March 11th. And the city did get shut down with COVID on March 13th. So during that transition time, when the city was shut down and we were all virtual and trying to figure things out, we Naomi and I compiled a list of property owners that we didn't think we heard from. And I individually researched our houses to court people to make sure that they were aware of it. And any time that we saw something come through a transaction through business then or any other, because properties do have transactions during this time. I personally reached out to all new property owners, but within this amount of time to make sure that they knew about the overlay and we gave them the summation of it. And to date, I hadn't heard anything except for right before a planning board. And this past year did I hear from two property owners that they were aware. And for the record, they're not property owners. One of them is under contract, and the woman who lives in the home said she was not aware of it, which there's been signs and several notifications that have come through. So I hope that answers your question. And then the other slide, once it was an active application, community planning and development sent one mailer out and by accident they forgot to include something, which is why these two tax amendments are here on the same evening. And they got a second mailer. So not only did they get one mailer, they got two mailers notifying them about planning board. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Councilmember Black, for the question and Councilmember Sandoval for the answer. And seen no other hands raise. The public hearing is closed. Comments by members of Council on Council Bill 156 and or Council Bill 157. Councilmember Sandoval. Thank you, Madam President. Well, working for Councilman Espinosa, the community came together with a lot of different concerns regarding Tennyson and the transformation and something the quarter was changing into, something different than they had envisioned while working on Blueprint Denver 2020 or 2002 and the 2010 zoning code update, many residents of the Berkeley Regis community were task force members who volunteered their expertize and time to the zoning code. Update the zoning 2010 update and as we see development occurred along along the corridor, new forms. We're out of context and we're taking cues from the surrounding neighborhood. We would not be here today if it weren't for numerous advocates in the neighborhood who spent years and hours and dedicated to this overlay. So in 2010, the zoning code established Main Street and mixed use zoning along Tennyson, which historically had been one of our streetcar nodes. So we have some areas of Denver where commercial is embedded within a residential neighborhood. So many corridors like Tennyson, like Law got their life from having mixed use, residential mixed use among the residential neighborhoods. These historic areas show a pattern of small acts and pedestrian friendly design suitable for strolling to and from street car shops. The 2010 zoning code reflected the Berkeley community's desire to maintain and enhance these commercial corridors while also making room for new residential density that would support businesses. Unfortunately, long standing main streets like Tennyson have experienced a loss of commercial space new due to new developments. At a time when we are facing such a crisis and housing needs in our city, it is easy to forget about the lack of spaces for small businesses when we desperately need new housing. We also need places to work, shop and everything else to create a vibrant, walkable, compact city. Our businesses are suffering immensely right now, and not just from COVID, but from an entire system of land use and other forces. These businesses are what make our neighborhood such a great place to live and deserve to be protected. The loss of tenants in character is incredibly painful. Yet with so many wonderful, creaky spaces are gone, there is much to preserve on Tennyson and throughout Berkeley Regis and as I keep in mind, planning for the next seven generations. I am also heartened to know that this design overlay can help preserve the commercial nature of historic Main Streets throughout Denver. I would like to end by thanking everybody who spent years seeking my predecessor, Councilman Espinosa, for his steadfast leadership who I call often and ask for advice. For Naomi in my office, for who goes above and beyond to do community outreach, attend late night meetings. I'd like to thank Christopher for attending numerous meetings in the evening and his ability to go back and forth with design efforts with Naomi and I. It was rewarding and it was a great experience the whole time and everyone else at KPD. And I'd also like to thank my staff, Gina and Naomi. A lot of times we go, We can't do this work without our staff. I'll just say that to Gina. Naomi, many thank you all for supporting me and this crazy idea of moving forward, all these overlays during the time of COVID. And with that, it would be an honor if I were able to get all of your vote tonight in support of something that my community has desperately been wanting for the last ten years. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Councilmember Sandoval. Up next, we have Council Cashman. Thank you. Council president. I want to just offer my thanks to Council Councilmember Sandoval and all the folks that work on this. What I consider. Extremely. Important pair of measures are embedded. Commercial districts are such a have such a rich history and such such an important part of our community fabric to lose them to to add a few more housing units just I don't think would be the trade off we're looking for. I'm really excited to support this and I hope to see it implemented further around the town. So thank you. Thanks a lot, Christopher. Thanks for the presentation and for your hard work. Thank you. Councilmember Cashman. Councilmember Flynn. Thank you, Madam President. I just want to piggyback on what Councilman Cashman said and congratulate Councilwoman Sandoval for addressing something that even before I got on council six years ago, I think had been a source of a lot of anxiety among residents of Denver, fearful of losing what is Denver? This allows growth, but it allows it to occur in a way that is complementary and absorbs that growth in a way that maintains the look and feel of neighborhoods. And particularly up on in northwest Denver, where I don't spend a whole lot of time. But I have been up there. I was up there with Councilman Espinosa when he was in office, taking a look at what he was describing, exactly what was needed here. And so I just wanted to congratulate Councilman Sandoval for following through on that and seeing it come to fruition. I'll be happy to support it. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Flynn. And it looks like Councilman Cashman, we have you back up in the queue. But if it's okay, we'd like to go to Councilmember Ortega since you've been up. All right. Thank you, sir. Councilmember Ortega. Thank you, Madam President. I just wanted to add my accolades to everyone who worked on this. I have seen so much of the transformation that has occurred in northwest Denver. Having lived here most of my adult life, and I think these changes are not only welcomed by the neighborhood, but really can be utilized across neighborhoods throughout our city and will benefit from the incredible hard work that everybody put into these changes that are moving forward tonight. So to Councilman Espinosa, Councilwoman Sandoval, to the Brennan neighborhood, for all of their commitment and dedication and many meetings, and to Christopher and Naomi. For your. Work and all of the other folks at CPD in helping to make this happen, because it's not always easy to get support from CPD staff with the kinds of changes that we often, you know, try to bring forward. And the fact that it really came across as being a genuine partnership in making these changes happen is is really exciting to see. And so I just want to congratulate you all, and I'm happy to support this tonight. Thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Ortega. Councilmember Torres. So much, just looking forward to being able to have kind of the next conversation with my district in Lima, Lincoln Park. Something like this was a work that had been generated by neighborhood residents and advocates along the Santa Fe Corridor, which is currently zoned for Main Street five stories and Main Street eight stories in some cases, and just starting to witness some of that growth begin. Folks were, I think, justifiably worried about the kind of active street use that would or would not come with that. And so I'm excited to support this and and bring the conversation to Santa Fe to see if this this brings the desired effects to that corridor that that they would like. So thank you so much for all the hard work. Thank you, Councilmember Torres. Councilmember Cashman. Thank you. Council President, quickly. I did not want to forget, especially, you know, put a smile on my face, too, to hear our colleague, former colleague, councilman, the Honorable Rafael Espinosa. I want to thank him for his work on this. But I also wanted to just mention quickly another subject that Councilman Espinosa was very interested in, that I hope we can move further down the road is the appropriate use of design review in our commercial projects. I'd seen in my own district some examples that they're just doggone shame to just, you know, you don't need to keep everything exactly the same. But I think it's important. That we show. Respect for the context and the history. In. All of our areas. So, again, I want to do I tip my hat to Councilman Espinoza and mentioned that part of his work that I hope we can carry forward. Thank you, council president. Thank you, Councilman Cashman, and appreciate that, Councilmember Flynn. I'm impressed. Just a quick note. I should have made mention of this that I found it ironic. Councilwoman Sandoval, you might want to look into this. Why? The Regis neighborhood had a high rate of residents without a college degree. I think you need to ask the Jesuits what's going on up there. Thank you. Well, I think we just heard a plug for some scholarships for the neighborhood out there. Well, I'll go ahead and chime in here. Last seen no more hands raised. A very happy to support this this evening. Councilmember Sandoval, and thank you for all of your intentional and authentic work that you always do within the community and always been so responsive to the voice of your community. And know that when you say years, you really mean years on this. And it was great to hear a little bit from former Councilman Espinosa as well. And so thank you for all of the work by yourself and your council office and Christopher as well. And so appreciate that and I will be happy to support both Council Bill 156 and 157 this evening and seeing no other hands raised. Madam Secretary, roll call on Council Bill 156 and 157. Sandoval. I. Sawyer. I. Torres, I. Black I. CdeBaca, I. Clark. All right. Flynn. I. Herndon. I. Heinz. Cashman. I. Ortega, I. Madam President. I. Madam Secretary, closed the voting and announced the results. 12 days.