A bill for an ordinance changing the zoning classification for 1520 Grape Street. (NEIGHBORHOODS AND PLANNING) Rezones a property at 1520 Grape Street from U-TU-C (Urban, Two Unit, Urban Center) to U-MS-2 (Urban, Main Street, 2 stories) in Council District 8. A PUBLIC HEARING WILL BE HELD AT LEAST FOUR WEEKS AFTER PUBLICATION. The Committee approved filing this bill at its meeting on 9-17-14.
I have been Lopez. Madam Secretary, please close the voting and announce the results. 3939 669 as in place of one final consideration and does pass. We are now moving on to the second one for Council Bill 709. And Councilwoman Ortega, would you please put 709 on the floor? I move that council bill seven and nine be placed on final consideration and do pass. The public hearing for council. Bill 709 is open. May we have the staff report? Thank you, Mr. President. And good evening, council members. I'm Kyle Dalton with the Department of Community Planning and Development. This rezoning is an application at 1520 Graves Street from U2 C to UMC to it's located in the current Council District eight in the South Park Hill statistical neighborhood, the south edge, just north of Colfax Avenue on Grape Street. The request is to rezone the property to to add more dwelling units to the existing structure. The structure sits on a 19,500 square foot parcel with an existing two story apartment building and under the current two unit t use zoning. Multi-unit uses are allowed as a conforming use, but they cannot be expanded to add more units. And so the applicant here is requesting to rezone in order to enable that. Although I'll note that rezonings do not prove a specific land use proposal or development project. So the request, as I mentioned, is UMC to that stands for the Urban Neighborhood Context. The M. S is for Main Street, which it is adjacent to along the Colfax corridor, and the two is for the two storey maximum height. Adjacent properties are also zoned in the UMC family UMC three along Colfax, and then you see a two unit district to the north and west and finally U.S. to be a single unit district to the east. As I mentioned, the existing uses, multifamily and along the rest of this block is also additional multifamily. On the 1500 block of Grape Street, there's commercial and retail mixed use all along Colfax and a mix of single family and multifamily further afield in the surrounding neighborhood. An existing context is generally of a 1 to 2 story in scale, a mix of residential forms, single unit two, unit multi-unit apartment buildings. As you see on the upper photo on this screen, the middle photo is the subject property, the existing two storey apartment building. And the lower photo is an example of the one story commercial forms you see along Colfax. This one is located immediately south of the subject property. In terms of process. The application was first for a different zone District two U-M's three the three story zone district. After receiving considerable feedback from the neighborhood, the applicant rescheduled their planning board hearing a couple of times and changed their application to UMC two, which is what is before you tonight. Ultimately, the Planning Board public hearing was held on August 21st of 2014, and following those revisions, there was one comment at the planning board and it was in favor of the application. And then the Planning Board voted unanimously to recommend approval. The application proceeded. The Neighborhoods and Planning Committee was moved out in September, and that is before you tonight at a at this public hearing. We provided written notification to the registered neighborhood organizations and four of them have provided comment on the application all in support as indicated on your screen. All of these, I should note that the Greater Park Hill community incorporated no letter of support was received following that change in the application to UMC two and includes conditions with the applicant that they are meeting outside of the zoning regarding the future of their property and what they can use it for. And the applicant has made those arrangements and can probably speak better to that since they are outside of the zoning. We also received some emails on this rezoning case. They are included in your packet, but they were all when the application was for U-M's three before it was revised to U-M's two. That revision happened as as a result of a community mediation that was orchestrated by the the Council District Office here with staff, the applicant and the registered neighborhood organizations and neighbors here. And so following that mediation, the application was revised and the letter from Greater Park Hill community and support was received. There are five review criteria for this application and I'll go through them quickly. The first is we find the rezoning application to be consistent with adopted plans, and there are three plans that apply on the site. First is comprehensive plan 2000. And generally, we find that this application is consistent with the strategies and the goals of Comprehensive Plan 2000 regarding promoting infill development in locations where infrastructure and services are in place, encouraging quality infill consistent with the character of the surrounding neighborhood, and continuing to promote mixed use development. This map amendment, this rezoning, would enable reuse of a multifamily structure in a neighborhood location near for high frequency transit where infrastructure is already in place. And so we find it to be consistent with comp plan 2000. Moving to Blueprint Denver, The Citywide Transportation and Land Use Plan Blueprint Denver identifies a concept land use of pedestrian shopping corridor for this site, as is one of the relatively uncommon sites where that pedestrian shopping corridor designation extends north and south of Colfax Avenue. So in this case, where Blueprint Denver advocates and a pedestrian shopping corridor land use, that means generally the same kinds of mixed uses of commercial, retail office or residential as a town center or neighborhood center, but oriented in a linear, linear pattern. It's also designated as an area of change in Blueprint Denver, which are the areas where the city has identified redevelopment possibilities and specifically along East Colfax. The plan calls for introducing mixed uses in order to support the major bus corridor along Colfax. And we find, again, the application to be consistent with those land use recommendations in terms of future street classifications. Colfax As a mixed use arterial group street itself is a non-designated local. But but the rezoning will further the mixed use nature of the Colfax Avenue corridor moving into the Park Hill Neighborhood Plan, which was adopted in 2000 before Blueprint Denver. The Neighborhood Plan doesn't have specific land use or building height guidance, but it does seek to assure that growth and development in Park Hill results in a balanced and compatible mix of housing types and densities, and that there be transitions between the development along Colfax Avenue and the neighborhood. The U-M's to Zone District is aptly selected to do this. It actually provides a height transition from the three stories on Colfax down to the lower scale buildings already found in the neighborhood. And of course, our main street districts across the board have up building form standards and new standards that ensure residential protection where adjacent. So there are additional if the building were to be expanded in the future, it would be subject to those residential protections in terms of setbacks and the like. So we find this application to be consistent with the neighborhood plan. We also find it to be consistent with the second and third review criteria that uniformity of district regulations will be preserved and the application will further the public health, safety and welfare of the city, primarily through the implementation of the adopted plans. The fourth criteria that there be a justifying circumstance for the application. This application is justified by the change in the surrounding environs. The significant redevelopment of the area along the Colfax corridor and the rezoning does recognize that change character in terms of adding more, more people who can live near the mixed use corridor and support the businesses that are thriving along Colfax. So we find it consistent with that. Finally, the application needs to be consistent with the neighborhood context, the zone district purpose and intent here. The UMC two zone district that is selected is consistent with the you urban neighborhood context that surrounds it. It's also designed again to apply primarily in areas served by local streets, embedded within a local an existing neighborhood where a scale of 1 to 2 stories is desired. Here we find that the existing building scale of 1 to 2 stories is existing and is desire to continue as indicated by the residents. So we find that that criterion is met. And so having found that all five criteria are met, CPD recommends approval. Thank you. We have two speakers for this for seven or nine, Jim Hartman and Bob Gulick. So, Mr. Hartman, you can come on up and begin your remarks. Thank you, Mr. President. Jim Hartman, manager of Hartman Neely Investments, 2120 BlueBell Avenue in Boulder. And we'd just like to say a few things about our building here and tell you a little bit about our reason for the rezoning. Our company specializes in sustainable community creation, mostly through the renovation of historic buildings through the decades in Denver. Other examples are recently in Lowery, Hangar two and Steam Plant Lofts and downtown, some of the loft buildings downtown. And we purchased this building in January of this year with the intent to reinforce some of the things that Kyle talked about. Blueprint Denver this being an area of change, creating workforce housing along a transit corridor, all the things that Denver is known for in terms of good learning, urban planning and land use. To date, we've put in a new accessible entry so the building is more usable for seniors. We've planted some street trees from the Denver Digs program, done some signage, lighting, bike racks, all to make the building a little bit more friendly. The important issues for our application are that, as mentioned, it's a blueprint blueprint Denver area of change. The current zoning is really for duplex use, and even though it's got a conforming use category, it's not so good if the building were ever substantially damaged or destroyed by fire. For lenders and insurers, that presents a problem. So the zoning will help with that. Again, would like to provide moderately priced workforce housing one bedroom for 750 or so a month, two bedroom for 950 a month. So that some of the folks that are working along the transit corridor in downtown have a really nice place to live. We also believe a lot in the mixed use nature and what Colfax has become. We know a lot of the business owners along Colfax and there's a lot of mutual synergistic support that good residential adjacent to Colfax can provide. The, uh, the pictures on your screen, the before and after give a good indication there are some not so friendly folks living here when we bought the building and we've transitioned that. Oh, thanks. Yeah. Okay. I should have kind of kept up with myself here. Um, one of the things that was important to just transitioning this building, as Carl mentioned, was the mediation put together by Councilman Brooks, his office, and mediated by Steve Charbonneau. That was very helpful. And thanks again, Councilman, for that. The part of the thing outside the zoning that was key for Park Hill was a deed restriction. And we've put that in place. And so the things that were important for them were the two storey and the residential use. And as Carl mentioned, we've got lots of support, so I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Mr. Hartman. Bob Garlic. Mr. President, members of council. Good evening. My name is Bob Garlock. My address is 609 South. Gaylord Street in Denver. And this evening. I'm here to respond to any questions you may have. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Garlock. It is now time for questions from members of council. Councilman Brooks. Thank you, Mr. President. Kyle, just a quick question for you. You talked about this quickly. Go over to Jim for questions. But you talked about adding units with the you you t you see zoning. You cannot add more units in that zoning, but you can add it in the u. M. S three. Yes, that's correct. Okay. And so so I guess my question now is for Jim. Is, Jim, how many units did this building have in their duty to you see zoning and how many will it have now? And you t you ams two and how many would it have had if it was umass three? It now has 17 units, councilman. And we we're thinking we had several more whether that's six, seven, eight somewhere in that range. And it's really more constrained by parking. It is by zoning. We want to provide the minimum number and then some four parking spaces. Okay. And you mentioned this is a restricted property. So can you give us an idea of the RMI number that that's for your units? Well, the deed. Restriction is really just for residential use as well as two storey heights. So it's not a no income restriction. Okay. So you don't receive any any like tax credits or anything like. That for this? No. We've just privately financed this and we're doing market rate units, but affordably priced. Okay. You mentioned workforce. So, you know, I thought that was the traditional. Okay, great. And then one of you guys can answer this. Did. Before you all switch this back to the units three two or switched it to the UMass two. Did you have the support of Fax Mayfair and DNA? We did. Yes. Okay. And so the only one who was dissenting was greater Parkfield community. That's correct. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman Brooks. Councilwoman Ortega. Mr. Hurd, if you can just stay there for a second. I just wanted to ask about the size of your units. Can you just speak about that a little bit? They're small in the mid five hundreds for a one bedroom in the mid 600 square foot for a two bedroom. Correct. I want to commend you for your efforts in working towards creating some affordable workforce housing. We know that that price point really doesn't exist in the city of Denver anymore. And so for you to be able to do that without public subsidies is is a big, big deal. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Councilwoman Ortega. Councilman Rob. Thank you. Mr. President. I guess I have really just. One question probably for. Kyle. When we created Main Street zoning and then subsequently mapped it, we were really careful to work with neighborhoods, to be sure what was the area change and what wasn't. But you're saying that this particular parcel in Blueprint Denver was noted as an area of change? Yes, that's correct. And then my my second question is, can you think of any other cases? I can't. At least on East Colfax, where we have added adjacent property to the Main Street zoning since we passed it. Yeah. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any. Okay. In the main reason is that this property is non-conforming or non-compliant with the you two. You see. Well, technically under the zoning code, it's a conforming use that just can't be expanded. Okay. That's all. That's all I needed. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman. Any other questions from members of council? Seeing none. Public hearing is now closed. Time for comments from members of Council Councilman Brooks. Thank you, Mr. President. Well, we have all been in these chambers when we've had very divisive rezonings, and this one certainly was headed for that with the greater Parkdale community in Mr. Hartman's group. But hats off to really both groups for for coming together and finding common ground. Not everybody got what they wanted, but I think at the end of the day, I think they could they could rest with a94 vote from the greater Park Hill community. So, you know, hats off to you for for coming down and your expectations of what you really wanted and desired in the end, and thinking about the community and thinking about parking and all of that and for the greater Park Hill community for working with a project in their neighborhood. You know, I want to say this. I think it is interesting that this this rezoning fits the plans at a at a UMass three and and also received some support from other other neighborhoods at that rezoning. You know, I am a pro density person, but it has to be smart development within the community and fit within the neighborhood. The shame in this is that I think we lose some units that we really need on Colfax. We just approved the facts partnership Business Improvement District. I know they they could appreciate some some more constituents and tenants there buying some of the things that they have there on their retail. And so but I understand we've got to we've got to come in the middle, but I think it's important for me to talk about that concern and to I'm going to point in this direction because this is going to be for this next council and for the end of this current council are going to be the issue. And it's parking, parking around zoning. And and we've just got to figure out we've got to figure out a plan. We've got to figure out these things because the density is coming. But there is going to become a rub with the number of parking spaces for those particular areas, especially an area of change right here where you have major transit. Should we be thinking in the old, old way or should we be a little bit more progressive in our mobility kind of conversation and rezonings? And so I'm excited that we reached an understanding here. I just wanted to just voice some concerns that I've have in the future. And maybe those five units of individuals who might find it affordable probably will be choosing Arvada or Aurora or some other city. So thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Brooks, Councilwoman Tuscany. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to reiterate how lovely it. Was for you to work. With the neighbors. This particular property is only one block from my district. And so Council Councilman Brooks and I often work together on this and certainly the Mayfair neighborhood I was interested in and Greater Park Hill. But I also want. To commend you with working with the neighborhood and coming to some compromises that were helpful to them. You have a great history of this. Having been a terrific developer for Lowry and glad to see you still out there and doing good things for the city. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Sussman. Do we have any other comments from members of council seen on this roll call in Huntsville? 709 BROOKS High brow, high fives. I can. Eat lemon. LOPEZ All right. Montero Nevitt. Ortega, I rob Shepherd. Assessment. Mr. President. I. Am Secretary. Please close the venue, announce the results. 3939, 79 as in place upon final consideration and does pass one pre adjournment announcement on Monday, November 3rd, 2014. City Council will convene as a ex-officio board of Directors for the 14th Street General Improvement District in order to act on the District's proposed 2015 work plan, budget and Mill Levy certification. And on Monday, November three, 2014, City Council will convene as a ex-officio board of Directors of the Gateway Village General Improvement District. At that time, a public hearing will be held on the District's proposed 2015 budget work plan and Mill Levy certification, and the board will consider approval of those documents. Also on Monday, November 17th, 2014, Council will hold a required public hearing on Council Bill eight two to changing the zoning classification for 3301 to 3411 West Nevada Place and a required public hearing on Council Bill 841 Changing the zoning classification for land located at 6900 through 7100 East First Avenue. Any protest against Council Bill 822 or 841 must be filed with the Council offices no later than noon on Monday, November 10th, 2014. Seeing no other business before this body, this meeting is adjourned. Denver eight TV. Your city. Your Source. Denver. Eight on TV and online. To stay connected to your community. Your city. Your source.