Speaker 0: are available for questions of counsel. Each speaker will have 3 minutes unless another speaker has yielded his or her time, which would result in a total of 6 minutes on the presentation monitor on the wall. When the yellow light comes on, you will have 30 seconds to conclude your remarks. And when the red light appears, your time is up. Speakers must stay on topic of the hearing and must direct their comments to the council members. Speakers are prohibited from using profanity or making personal attacks during their comments. Audience members Please understand that council members do use electronics devices of various kinds to access the materials relevant to the public hearings before us. Be assured, however, that by mutual agreement and common practice of the City Council, these devices are not being used for texting, emailing or other communications during the public hearings. We're going to start with Council Bill 1015. Councilwoman Monteiro. Will you please put ten or 15 on the floor?
Speaker 5: Thank you, Mr. President. I move that council bill 1015 be placed upon final consideration and do pass.
Speaker 0: All right. We're going to wait for technology to catch up. It has been moved. We need a second. It has been moved and seconded. The public hearing on 1015 is now open. May we have the staff report?
Speaker 8: Good evening, Mr. President. Members of City Council. My name is Tracy Huggins. I am the executive director of the Denver Urban Renewal Authority, and I am here this evening requesting City Council's consideration of an amendment to the existing ninth in Colorado Urban Redevelopment Plan to add the Ninth Avenue Project and to create the Ninth Avenue Sales and Property Tax Increment Area Council approved the Ninth in Colorado Urban Redevelopment Plan in July of 2013, which established the ninth in Colorado Urban Redevelopment Area. And if you can see on the slide, it is the area that is outlined in green. This area is approximately 41 acres immediately east of Colorado Boulevard and is bounded by East 11th Avenue on the North and East Eighth Avenue on the south. The site straddles Council District five and Council District ten and is located in the Bellevue Hill neighborhood. When the plan was approved by council, they also established the ninth and Colorado property tax increment area to support the redevelopment of a portion of the site. This first phase of redevelopment, which is currently under construction, consists of approximately seven acres bounded by East Ninth Avenue, Claremont Street, East Eighth Avenue and a newly constructed Bel Air Street . The Ninth Avenue Project will complete the redevelopment of the remainder of the area and provide not less than 100 units of affordable housing in a location that is outside of the urban redevelopment area. The proposed Ninth Avenue sales and property tax increment area is fully contained within the remainder of the area. So again, you can see that the boundaries of the urban renewal area are outlined in green. The gray shaded area represents an existing property tax increment area that is supporting the first phase of development. The blue area indicates the project, the Ninth Avenue project area, and then the purple lines outline what would be the proposed sales and property tax increment area. The Ninth Avenue project will be undertaken by Ninth Avenue Denver Venture LLC, an affiliate of Continuum Partners. The project will provide a wide range of uses emphasizing placemaking amenities, creating a highly walkable and bikeable project, integrating and creating open greenspace, building pedestrian and bike access, accessible amenities as well as public plazas, all consistent with the strategic vision and the goals of the General Development Plan or GDP. The development plan represents a community sensitive vision for a high quality urban infill project that addresses market demands for the site can commence redevelopment activities immediately upon closing is consistent with the vision and goals of the neighbors and is beneficial to the city. Phasing of the project generally moves from north to south and from west to east, following the sequencing of abatement and demolition of existing buildings. The first phase of development is currently contemplated to be the blocks located between 11th Avenue and Eighth Avenue, Colorado Boulevard and Astor Street. This phase is intended to include multifamily, residential, open space areas, ground floor retail and repurposing of the existing parking garage located at the intersection of Colorado Boulevard and East 11th Avenue. It is also anticipated to include the construction of office and retail uses below grade and above grade parking, the repurposing and adaptive reduce reuse of the iconic research bridge as a hotel or other commercial use, which will serve to connect the northern and southern portions of the project while preserving the history of the site. Concurrently with the construction of this phase of the project, the developer intends to construct open space in the form of a hardscape plaza space between SW Street and Albion Street , between ninth East Ninth Avenue and East Eighth Avenue. Later phases of the development plan include additional residential development between Ash Street and Bellaire Street and the repurposing of the existing nurses dormitory, together with construction of additional open space adjacent to the nurses dormitory blocks located between Ninth Avenue and 11th Avenue Street and Bellaire Street are currently contemplated as either for rent or for sale. Multifamily residential blocks located between Eighth Avenue and Ninth Avenue at Street and Bel Street, are currently contemplated as for sale, townhome or stacked flat residential. The nurse's dormitory is currently contemplated as a mix of commercial or community uses. The phasing plan reflects the current state of the project. Phasing and such phasing plan may be modified over time as market conditions dictate. The project anticipates a mix of uses including residential, retail, office and hotel configured in a manner that integrates a variety of public spaces. The residential elements of the project include apartments, potential condominiums and townhomes totaling between 911 hundred residential units. In addition, the project anticipates approximately 1 to 200000 square feet of office, uses 2 to 300000 square feet of retail and restaurant uses, and a potential hotel with 110 to 160 rooms. As part of the project, the developer has committed to build affordable housing on the Ash Street parcel immediately adjacent to the project, recognizing the importance of this undersupplied use in the area. The final mix of horizontal and vertical uses as well as project phasing, will be determined by economic feasibility and market forces. Maximum density will be as provided for in the underlining zoning and GDP. As part of approving the Urban Redevelopment Plan Amendment, Council will also be approving the Ninth Avenue sales and property tax increment area to support the project. Tax increment financing is utilized when the project costs are greater than the amount of traditional fence financing, that being debt and developer equity that a project can support. By approving the Ninth Avenue sales and property tax increment area, Durrow will capture the incremental sales and property taxes generated as a result of the project and use these monies to reimburse the developer for eligible project costs. The public investment is reflective of the cost necessary to eliminate the blighting conditions and support the development vision. In approving the Ninth and Colorado Urban Redevelopment Plan in 2013. Council found the area to be blighted as a result of the following conditions being present on the site and thereby limiting the developer ability of the area. Slum deteriorated or deteriorating structures. The predominance of defective or inadequate street layout. Deterioration of the site or other improvements. Inadequate public improvements. Environmental contamination of buildings. Or property. And substantial physical. Underutilization. Or vacancy of the site. Buildings. Or other improvements. The sales and property tax increment generated by the project will be used to reimburse those eligible costs related to demolition, environmental remediation, construction of public infrastructure and other site work. In addition, the incremental property taxes will be used to reimburse costs related to other public improvements, including public parking and public open space and amenities. The total budget for the project is estimated at approximately $419 million. The majority of the cost will be paid by the developer through a combination of private debt and equity investment. The net TIFF investment of approximately 48 million represents just over 11% of the total project budget. During my report, you've heard me state that eligible project costs will be reimbursed through the sales and property tax increment generated by the project. I'd like to take a moment to fully explain what I mean when I say reimbursed. As you can see from this graphic, the developer will pay for all costs associated with the project, including those TIFF eligible costs, most notably environmental remediation, demolition and infrastructure improvements. As vertical development is completed and or under construction, Dura will undertake to issue tax increment revenue supported bonds to reimburse the developer for those eligible costs, delaying the issuance of the tax increment supported debt until there is actual development and therefore measurable tax increment will increase the efficiency of the issuance. When Durant uses tax increment, we have a statutory requirement to consult with Denver Public Schools. Through this consultation and communication regarding the project. Denver Public Schools evaluated the potential impact on the elementary, middle and high schools that would see enrollment impacts as a result of the project. The results of this evaluation suggested a need for approximately one. A $1 million, one time payment of tax increment to address potential expansion needs primarily to Palmer Elementary. Similarly, Dura has consulted with the city's Department of Finance to understand the city service needs related to the project. The cost of providing services to the newly redeveloped project area are estimated at approximately $1 million per year. In order to address this anticipated need, as well as to manage the ability to issue debt sufficient to yield the net tive proceeds required by the RE developer Dura and the city have agreed to a waterfall funding which would result in a $300,000 annual payment to the city following payment of annual debt service and a fees. Any remaining tax increment would be split between the city and Dura. Dura would use the retained amount to accelerate debt service payments, while the city would use their portion to additionally offset the cost of city services. The funding of these obligations has been included in the cooperation agreement related to this project. For many years, the University of Colorado, the city and county of Denver, the Colorado Boulevard Health Care District, local neighborhood organizations and the general community have all worked together to create a new vision for the area. City Council has found the Ninth and Colorado Urban Redevelopment Plan objectives to be consistent with the objectives from various city plans . We believe the Ninth Avenue Project is also consistent with these plan and objectives. Objectives from the Denver Comprehensive Plan 2000 include, but are not limited to promoting quality infill redevelopment, encouraging mixed use, transit oriented or adjacent development supporting mixed use housing, mixed income, housing development, and the use of public private partnerships to facilitate development. Blueprint. Denver looks to projects that support the creation of high density transit supportive, pedestrian oriented, mixed use town centers or urban centers. And interestingly, when Blueprint Denver was approved, this project area was not indicated as an area of change. However, Blueprint Denver does note and anticipated that there would be reinvestment areas within areas of stability that would benefit from substantial reinvestment through infill and redevelopment. The Colorado Boulevard Health Care District Plan was adopted by the City Council in March of 1998 and includes the entire area covered by the Urban Redevelopment Plan. The Colorado Boulevard Health Care District Plan provides several design and development goals and objectives, including maintaining and improving the livability of the surrounding area as an urban mixed use neighborhood with a vital residential base and strong neighborhood serving businesses, improving the physical appearance of the district, and a desire that the scale and buffering of new developments should respect the character of buildings across the street. A general development plan establishes a framework for future land use and development and resulting public infrastructure within a specific area. And approved GDP provides a master plan for coordinating development, infrastructure improvements and regulatory decisions as development proceeds within the subject area. In 2009, GDP was approved for the ninth and Colorado Urban Redevelopment Area. A major amendment to the GDP was approved in January of 2012, which was followed by the approval of the ninth and Colorado Urban Design Standards and Guidelines in late summer 2012. Collectively, these documents speak to additional development expectations, including creation of a neighborhood that integrates multiple uses, including commercial office, retail, hotel, live work possibilities, residential public services and appropriate public spaces. It establishes a hierarchy and network of corridors that provide safe and comfortable routes for pedestrians. Bicycle and automobile traffic looks to coordinate the overall plan building, massing and connectivity together with design elements to create a desirable, unique environment which encourages a variety of activities, including strolling, sitting, conversing, relaxing and interacting, and the creation of a unique, distinctive and identifiable, identifiable development that establishes and promotes connectivity and access across neighborhoods. Approval of the urban redevelopment area, authorized jury to seek property owner and developer interest in redevelopment projects within the area and provide tax increment in support of those efforts. The main goals of the Urban Urban Redevelopment Plan are to eliminate blight, renew and improve the character of the area, encourage residential, retail and commercial development. Build upon the present economic strengths in the area by encouraging the growth of existing uses that are suitable in the area. Encourage land use patterns that result in a more environmentally sustainable city. Encourage land use patterns where pedestrians are safe and welcome. Encourage high and moderate density development where appropriate. Encourage reuse of existing buildings, including historic preservation and adaptive reuse. And to promote a diverse, sustainable neighborhood economy, including mixed use and commercial development opportunities. Dora is asking City Council to find that the inclusion of the Ninth Avenue project as an amendment to the Ninth and Colorado Urban Redevelopment Plan is in conformance with the city plans. Just as when an urban redevelopment plan is initially approved, there are a number of legislative findings City Council must make to approve a material modification to the plan. These include one that the Ninth Avenue Project is located within the Ninth and Colorado Urban Redevelopment Area and will promote the objectives set forth in the ninth in Colorado Urban Redevelopment Plan two that a feasible method exists for relocation of displaced individuals and families and business concerns. The project area contains no residences, therefore no individuals or families will be displaced. Additionally, due to the vacancy of the site, no business concerns will be displaced by the project. Three. That written notice of this public hearing has been provided to all property owners, residents and owners of business concerns in the resolution setting this public hearing. City Council requested Dura to undertake this task. Written notice was mailed first class mail to all known property owners, residents and owners of business concerns in the in the Ninth and Colorado Urban Redevelopment Area on November six of 2014, which is at least 30 days prior to this public hearing for the statute, requires that no more than 120 days have passed since the first public hearing before City Council on the Plan Amendment. Tonight is the first public hearing before Council on this Urban Redevelopment Plan, Amendment five. The statute also requires that two years must elapse before council consider can consider an urban redevelopment plan amendment if they previously failed to approve an urban redevelopment plan amendment for this project. This is the first consideration by City Council of an Urban Redevelopment Plan amendment for this project. Also, the Plan Amendment contains no property that was included in a previously submitted urban redevelopment plan amendment that was not approved by the City Council. As such, the requirement to wait at least 24 months since any prior public hearing is inapplicable. Six Conformance with the Denver Comprehensive Plan. On November 5th of 2014, the Denver Planning Board unanimously found that the proposed amendment to the ninth in Colorado Urban Redevelopment Plan conforms to the Denver Comprehensive Plan and applicable supplements. A letter to this effect has been submitted to City Council by the city's Planning Department during request that City Council concur with this finding. Seven The Walton Corridor Urban Redevelopment Plan, as amended by the proposed amendment, will afford maximum opportunity, consistent with the sound needs of Denver as a whole for the rehabilitation or redevelopment of the Ninth and Colorado Urban Redevelopment Area by Private Enterprise. Ninth Avenue, Denver Venture LLC, an affiliate of Continuum Partners and a private development entity, intends to undertake the redevelopment project. Eight. This amendment to the Ninth and Colorado Urban Redevelopment Plan contains provisions for tax increment financing. Accordingly, Denver Public School District One has been permitted to participate in an advisory capacity with respect to the inclusion in the plan of the tax allocation provisions authorized by Section 31. 20 5-1079 of the Colorado Urban Renewal Law, Denver Public Schools has provided a letter of support for the Plan, Amendment and the use of tax increment financing . A copy of this letter has been submitted as part of the record of this public hearing. Finally, nine 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 Ninth Avenue Project area for the period during which the incremental taxes are paid to the authority. The plan allows for cooperative agreements between the city and borough to address additional infrastructure requirements in city services as they arise. The city and Tura have agreed to the use of tax increment generated by the project to be paid to the city to address the expected services required for the project area in the cooperation agreement presented for Council consideration.
Speaker 6: Well.
Speaker 8: Well, I'll just leave it right there. In conclusion, this project has been a very long time coming. Darragh is pleased to have been able to work with the city and the university and the various neighborhood organizations, the redevelopment and the community as a whole. To bring forward the Ninth Avenue project as an amendment to the Ninth and Colorado Urban Redevelopment Plan. This project is highly reflective of the citywide goals, objectives and strategies that are found in the various city planning documents. It will eliminate the blighted conditions within the area. It will create a new neighborhood that integrates multiple uses. It will integrate the surrounding street grid through the site, providing connectivity with the surrounding neighborhoods. It will provide a broad mix of housing types, densities and price ranges. All these things, in combination with the creation of open spaces, will create a pedestrian oriented neighborhood with blocks and buildings appropriately scaled in relation to the surrounding area with a mix of neighborhood enhancing uses. For these reasons, I respectfully request your favorable consideration of this plan amendment and will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Ms.. Huggins. We have ten speakers signed up for this public hearing, and I'm going call the first five and ask that you make your way to the bench right in front of me. David Bromberg. Marianne McCready. Chairman Sekou. Frank Cannon. And Steve Sweat. Brunner. So if you five could please come to the front pew and David Bromberg. Whenever you are ready, you can go ahead and begin. Good evening, councilwoman and councilman. I'm David Bromberg. I live in the 1300 block of Fairfax Street and I believe Council District ten. I'm on the Mayfair Neighbors Board and have been the representative to the Coral Boulevard Health Care District for the past four or five years. I just, first of all, want to say I am very excited to have a local developer involved with the project that is looks like they're going to get to the finish line and we have progress and a an aggressive schedule. There has been great outreach to the neighborhoods, both coming to our monthly board meetings as well as our annual meeting from the development team. We look forward to an hermitt development. You know, a high mixed use of the space I think is most appropriate. I live nearby, work nearby. I know there's concerns about traffic and such on Car Boulevard, but that's part of the beauty of living in the city. And I just want to encourage your support with this project. Thank you. Thank you. Marianne McCready.
Speaker 4: Hi, Marion. Mickey. Mickey Cisneros for 57th Avenue.
Speaker 6: I'm just here on behalf of the applicant to answer questions if you have any point.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Chairman. Thank you.
Speaker 9: Oh. Good evening. My name is Chairman Sekou, the organizer for the Black Star Action Movement advocacy group for poor, working, poor and homeless people. We enthusiastically support this metropolitan district formation and also it being proved and we joyfully expect a unanimous vote on this thing. I happen to be personally in favor of metropolitan districts that allows ordinary people to do extraordinary things for their neighborhood. And now is the time for folks to begin to participate more in the development of their neighborhoods and strictly in those neighborhoods, so that we have more community control over the affairs in our particular communities. And so for us poor, working, poor and homeless people, we see this as a great opportunity for us to also come up with the rest of the city as it provides jobs, training and also economic development opportunity for small businesses. So we hope that the composition of the governing board will consider. US as potential customers, clients and partners in the developing of the city so that this city is truly reflective of its diversity. And in regards to the African community, we're coming officially an endangered species in the city. Our unemployment rates are at top. Our educational processes and schools are failing, and we seriously could use some help, even though we're not helpless. We know that there is no such thing as a self made individual community, that we're all connected and the destiny of one is the destiny of all. And so we hope that as you go about this process and we have faith in the folks that are doing this, ordinary folks helping ordinary folks out so that we can all be proud of the city and have a vested interest and stake in making this the most outstanding city in this nation. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Frank Cannon.
Speaker 2: Good evening, Mr. President. Members of Council. My name is Frank Cannon. I reside at 2560 Birch Street in Denver. I am the development director with Continuum Partners. We are the developer who is undertaking the redevelopment of the 19 Colorado Project. As has been stated, it has been a long road for this property. We are very excited to be here this evening, looking forward to moving forward on this project. It's been a little over a year since we first engaged in conversations with the university to become the developer of the site. We began our exclusive negotiations with the university in January of this year. We started our community outreach efforts in February of this year, and I believe we've had, in the order of 15 community meetings reaching out to the broader community to ask the community their input on the project. One of those meetings included actually a kids workshop to ask the children in the community what they would like to see. And we had two of your council colleagues there playing with Rice Krispie treats and building the project with us alongside, which was very exciting. The project is a challenging project and we only have two requirements really to close in on the property moving forward. One is the completion of this action this evening to solidify a tax increment agreement in order to close the gap and help us complete the significant amount of abatement, demolition and new infrastructure that needs to be constructed to develop these 12 city blocks. And the other is to complete our redevelopment agreement with the Urban Renewal Authority, which is very close. We've been working very diligently with Tracy and her staff in getting through that. And I think we will I think we will reach that conclusion here in the very near future. So happy to be here to answer any questions. And we look forward to your support on the project. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Steve's wet browner. And as he comes up, I'm gonna call the next five Bruce O'Donnell, Richard Marshall, Lorne Breslow, Maria Valdez and Lori Bogue.
Speaker 2: Grant Good evening. My name is Steve Zach Brunner. I'm managing counsel for the University of Colorado. Excuse me. It has been a long and tortured process for the sale of this property. I've actually lived through all of it. It's been about ten years now as a much, much younger man. I want to thank everybody for all their assistance in this university, a university, everyone on the city council, Dura and folks in the city's office. It's been a long process and everyone's been great to work with. The university is obviously very supportive of this and hopefully this is the last step towards the redevelopment of this exciting project. As I said, I live right around the corner at 7,027th Avenue and hopefully this is the last step. So thank you. Any questions for me at the university?
Speaker 0: We'll have questions later on. Thank you. Thank you, Bruce O'Donnell. Okay.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. President, and members of council. My name is Bruce O'Donnell. I reside at 128 Eudora Street in Denver. And I've lived my entire life within just a few blocks of this site. And I am here tonight to urge you to vote in favor of this request by Dora, in addition to living nearby. I've had about a 20 year career working in the city and county of Denver with land planning entitlements, zoning GDPs and also creating ways to finance infrastructure by utilizing public funding as a tool such as metro districts in urban renewal and TEF. In addition to that, I served ten years on the Denver Planning Board and have seen many of these processes come through in good results in our city have come from that. I have a lot of experience with complex infill sites like this to include the Gates Rubber Site, Colorado Center, the St Anthony's Southlands Lakeside and an Argo market to name a few. And I think the opportunity for our city, these other sites I've had more involvement with Pale compared to what our opportunity is at night than Colorado Boulevard. This site is very well planned today. The city policy documents and plans that are in place from plan 2000 all the way down to the general development plan, are all consistent with the city's plans, and this is therefore an implementation step that's before you tonight to be able to see the city and the public's vision implemented. The scale and the mixing of uses are proper for this site. The parking solution is right. There is great open space in public realm improvements that have been described by Tracy this evening. Connectivity is well done. There's a pedestrian plaza that's on a scale of the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder that is being put in between Albion and our streets, as you saw this earlier this evening. And there's also some important nods to the history of the site with some buildings and structures being maintained. The site, also, like all infill sites, is smart growth. It's utilizing existing infrastructure to help the city's visions get implemented. And so then the TIFF package that's before you tonight is an important ingredient to enable all of this. And in fact, this site should be the poster child for what TIFF can do in our city. In it, the demolition and environmental remediation and the ability to invest in public infrastructure is what enables all the great attributes of this site that Tracy and Laura have outlined in their presentation. I would also add that the developer continuum has an excellent track record in our community and has proven in locations like Denver Union Station and Bellmore and Lakewood that they deliver the goods in get it, so to speak. So as a citizen of Denver and a neighbor, I urge your support in voting in favor of this this evening. Thank you for your time.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Richard Marshall.
Speaker 7: Thank you. Mr. President, members of council. My name is Richard Marshall, and my residence is at 2805 East Ninth Avenue in the Congress Park Neighborhood and Council District ten. And like Bruce and many others you've heard from tonight, we've watched this property evolve for a number of years, and we're really excited about the evolution that Continuum has brought to the table with their support tonight. Continuum is a great developer whose track record, as Bruce alluded to, is beyond reproach in their execution of the Belmont redevelopment, a difficult shopping center site in Lakewood, but probably more importantly for the city, their co-developer role in Union Station. And that is probably one of the most spectacular redevelopments we could have imagined down there. And I think they'll bring the same level of expertize and excellence to the Ninth and Colorado site. Their goals for a mixed use walkable neighborhood is exactly what I think the neighborhood was looking for earlier and is excited about seeing in the plans today. And we're looking forward to their commitment to that vision as they move forward. Since they were selected about a year ago as the current developer by the university, they've had a number of opportunities for the neighborhood to be involved and have listened effectively and incorporated many of those comments into their plans. So and Bruce alluded to why this project makes sense for itself. I think it would have been difficult under conventional financing to endure or provide a mechanism to deal with those challenges in this urban setting. And I think it's exactly the kind of tools that would be needed to make this project happen. So I urge your support and thank you for your time.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Lorne Bressler.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. President. Members of the council. My name is LAMB Breslow, 1352 Cherry Street. I am one of several founders of the neighborhood organization Do It Right at ninth, as well as a trustee of the Bellevue Hill Neighborhood Association. I stand here today in support of the proposed tiff for ninth in Colorado with some brief comments. First of all, I want to thank Councilwoman Sussman and Councilwoman Robb for their tireless support of the neighborhood surrounding ninth and Colorado Boulevard. Their leadership on this issue was pivotal, both pivotal to getting the redevelopment back on a productive track. I also want to share my appreciation for Steve Zack Bonner for managing the process that resulted in the selection of Continuum Partners after a somewhat contentious period. Q Did my opinion ultimately do right by the neighborhood as we move forward? I would like to ask that the City Council work with the developer and with the surrounding neighborhoods to minimize the impact of cut through traffic. Many of the mitigations that are required are beyond the bounds of the actual development. And so I ask that we continue to partner that with an eye towards the safety of the children who live and play in the surrounding neighborhoods, as well as the additional foot traffic that I expect as people walk to the new development as we move forward. It's my hope and expectation that Continuum Partners will continue to pursue the Do It Right and ninth neighborhood vision focused on placemaking with local businesses, especially small businesses with green spaces and a charming new urban neighborhood that includes affordable housing. The bones of this are already reflected in the evolving site plan, but we'll obviously want to watch carefully as the details emerge. I think Frank Cannon and continuing partners for their excellent community outreach and effective partnering and look forward to more of the same as we move forward. I believe that there's no question that the Ninth and Colorado development needs to proceed and continue in partners is when my confidence is the right development for this project. So I urge the City Council to approve the proposed tiff for this project because it cannot proceed without it. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Maria Valdez.
Speaker 6: Good evening, dear city leaders. I'm a little shorter. I want to thank you for considering this tonight. And I want to express my support over the years that I've lived in the neighborhood. We moved there because of the hospital and because of the health needs of our daughter. And over the years that I've lived there, we've gone through waves. We went through waves of hospital encroachment into the neighborhoods, the waves of. White flight to the suburbs. We went through waves of many, many types. But this one seems to be right.
Speaker 5: Seems like the right time. The economy's good.
Speaker 6: Our neighborhood is.
Speaker 5: Strong and vibrant.
Speaker 6: And Bellevue Hill seems to be a very desirable place to live right now. And I'm sure glad since that's where I live. We've gone through years of hope, followed by dashed hope, and finally, I think followed by faith that this will be a good result. There have been thoughtful interactions with us as neighbors and with other neighborhood groups, and the outreach has been heartfelt and sincere. We believe and we feel that this will only help make our strong, vibrant neighborhood stronger. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you. Lori Bogue.
Speaker 5: And I've got to move this back up just a little bit. Good evening, Mr. President, and members of City Council. My name is Lori Bogue. I live at 1200 Ash Street. I've served this past year as the interim vice chair of the Colorado Boulevard Health Care District, and also for the past three years have been the president of the Bellevue Hill Neighborhood Association. As you know, the Ninth and Colorado Redevelopment Project sits wholly within the boundaries of Bellevue Hill. We're a strong and engaged neighborhood, a vibrant community. And during the past ten years, we have collectively held our breath as we dealt with the uncertainty of what was to become of this site, often wondering if we would actually see any development come to fruition. This past year, we were pleased when the project began to move forward. When Frank Cannon and the Continuum team came on board, Frank and his team have engaged in a constructive, positive program of community outreach. And throughout the past year, they have listened to our concerns on issues from street grid configuration to pedestrian accessibility to vehicular traffic patterns. And they have made modifications to their plans to accommodate our concerns. These conversations continue today and we look forward to their continuing during the coming months and years. We want to express our appreciation for the manner in which Continuum has conducted the community outreach. We would also like to thank Steve Zack BRAWNER from the university and Councilwoman Sussman and Rob for their tireless efforts in keeping this project moving forward. And at this point, I would like to urge you to stand to to support Council Bill 1015 and allow this project to continue to move forward. Thank you.
Speaker 0: Thank you. That concludes our speakers for 1015. Time for questions from members of council. All right. We have no questions from council. So the public hearing on 1015 is closed now. Time for comments from members of Council Councilwoman Sussman.
Speaker 6: Thank you, Mr. President. Am happy to. Happy to go first. Although my partner, Councilwoman Robb, has been with this project almost as long, I think I heard from Tracy that the original GDP was 1999 before the turn of the century. If you think about that. And so I know that my partner Will Castle and Rob will be have lots to talk about in all those years. Certainly it's something that I worked worked on since becoming council member, but so grateful to have council having Rob's experience on this. It's also wonderful to see the leadership of our neighborhoods and this neighborhoods surrounding the ninth in Colorado and these many of these people are in this audience are people I see every week, because that's the kind of work that they have put in on this project and how much they care and and how closely we have work together as a neighborhood, as a community to really make a good project here. Very, very happy to have them here tonight. And I want to thank the CEO leadership as well. We've gotten to know each other pretty well, too, over the last four years. And it is it's a project that has taken a lot of leadership and a lot of followership as well. I particularly want to end on the notion that if you are going to to develop or imagine buildings, I would very much suggest Rice Krispies as your building blocks, because when you get frustrated, you can eat the buildings and if you if you want to. And I enjoyed the children's workshop that you provided. I've enjoyed the outreach that the Continuum Partners have done, as you heard from the leadership about this project. So look forward to going forward. It particularly like the notion that tax increment financing here, you can't create the percentage of tax increment that there is because it starts with zero. There were no tax returns on this particular piece of property. So all of the increment is from a base of zero. And I urge my fellow colleagues to support this request.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman Sussman. Councilwoman Robb.
Speaker 6: Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you, Councilman Roman Sussman, for reminding me how long I've worked on this, or at least been around in Steve, just like you. I don't look a day older, even if it's ten years. Actually, I think the first thing I want to say is we had some rough times throughout those ten years, some very disappointing times, some shock. And without mentioning any names, I will say that the former proposals had this weird silver lining of crystallizing what the neighborhood really wanted on the site. It was very clear from the neighborhood that was just the time that Councilwoman Sussman was coming on council. We heard that message, and I think we really were able to enunciate the vision very clearly. And then the stars aligned. You know, when we first were very worried about it, we thought, who's out there in this economy? Well, gradually the economy came around, our vision crystallized, and folks like Continuum were listening. I also wanted to talk about Continuum a little bit. I, I really think it's rare, I have to say this, that you have a public hearing at council and you hear how much faith the people who talk have in the development team. So you have a lot to live up to. But I have been in meetings with Frank Cannon, most notably one on affordable housing that's just off the site but will be part of the overall project. And very important, when you're developing an area like this and Frank Cannon's ability to listen and repeat what he heard until he got it exactly right, I could take lessons. Some of the other things that I think are great in this project is you may remember that the former children's center there, this was demolished, but the panels have been saved and some may be able to be incorporated. I've already mentioned the meeting on affordable housing. I think the continuum is overachieving in the park. Which is good. We all appreciate that. And the children's workshop. And by the way, my grandson went and he was more interested in eating than in building anything. Even though I drove him around it under the bridge, I kept saying, Look at this building. That's a bridge. You should study these buildings. Who knows, maybe 20 years from now. But I think what it really said to me to have a children's workshop is that cities are places for children, too. And that is very important that our development community realize that we need to have family friendly development. That doesn't mean that it can't have some density, but that it's an important place for people of all sizes and ages. Let's see. Finally, I guess I wanted to say that I really enjoy working with the Bellevue Hill neighborhood. That's not to call out favorites. That's not what I'm saying at all. But every neighborhood in this process has worked with a positive attitude, despite the disappointments you might remember. I think it was a national Jewish rezoning. When Bellevue Hill was here, they weren't absolutely 100% happy, but they realized it was the future. They realized the importance of the hospital and they wanted to work on it. And that's the attitude that I have seen there. And I think it's it's amazing, a little rare sometimes, but appreciate it. And also then I just want to say it's been really good to work with Councilwoman Sussman on it. She constantly said, we need more beds, more heads on this site, we need more people. And, you know, it's any time in my experience, I'd council, I guess I'm getting old enough even though I'm not that much older. But I've been getting old enough to reflect on my experience. It really is wonderful, whether it's Albert Brooks, Albert Wedgeworth, Carla Madison that I've worked with on Colfax or in this case, Councilwoman Sussman, to have a good partner in crime to bounce your ideas off of as you strive to do the best you can for the people you're representing, I think is is really part of the stars aligning in this project. So thanks. Bring it on. I'm ready.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilwoman Fox.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Mr. President. I have spoken a number of times against ordinances. It's a pleasure to be able to speak about one that I'm going to support the bill. Before this last election, I really did a lot of thinking about what I considered that the city needed to do, and there were about four projects that to me were so imperative that it just absolutely had to be done. And this is one that was at the top of the list, not in my district. None of them were in my district. But in trying to make a city better, this seemed to be absolutely crucial. If there's a big hole right now and you just cannot leave it that way, it is certainly something that meets the definition of blight. There's no question about whether it should be a redevelopment in my mind. And in fact, my involvement goes back even more than ten years because I served in the legislature at the time that it was decided to move the medical facilities to the What's now Anschutz Campus. So it was clear that something was coming and something needed to be done. And I thought, Gee, developers will rush in and do it well. All these years later, it is clear that the but for requirement, which is a way that you measure whether urban renewal ought to be in an area if the developers are going to come in and do it themselves, that's that's the best plan of all. But it's been sitting there years and years and years and years, and there was a gap for funding, which also was affecting another institution I care about greatly, the University of Colorado having dealt with that for a long time. So it just all came together, I believe, finally with this proposal. And one other thing I think that needs to be mentioned. You're talking about the council. Sussman was dealing with the zero tax that we get right now under this proposal, at least, I think we're getting 300,000 a year into the city to help cover city services , and that is going to be a real plus even during the increment period. So this is one that I believe we need to get on with. I'm delighted that we have people here who are interested and supportive, and although I have probably opposed about half of the tips that have come before me not feeling they were well structured. This one, I think is and deserves support.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilwoman. Thoughts? Any other comments on 1015? Seeing none, Mr. Secretary. Roll call. BROWN Hi. But I can each layman. Lopez. Montero. Nevitt Hi. Ortega. Rob Shepherd. Sussman. Hi, Mr. President. Hi, Mr. Secretary. Please close the vote in the results. Lebanese, Iranians, Lebanese, Iranians. 1015 has been placed upon final consideration and does pass. All right. We're moving on to the second public hearing on 1034. Councilwoman Monteiro, would you please put 1034 on the floor?
A bill for an Ordinance authorizing and approving an amendment to the 9th and Colorado Urban Redevelopment Plan to add the 9th Avenue Project and to Create the 9th Avenue Property Tax Increment Area and the 9th Avenue Sales Tax Increment Area
 (FINANCE & SERVICES) Amends the 9th & Colorado Urban Redevelopment Plan for the 9th Avenue Project for the creation of the 9th Avenue Sales and Property Tax Increment Areas. The Committee approved filing this bill at its meeting on 11-18-14.