Speaker 0: 12 Eyes Council Bill 728 House Pass. Congratulations, Councilwoman Gilmore, will you please put Council Bill 729 on the floor?
Speaker 6: Yes, Mr. President. I move that council bill 729 be placed upon final consideration and do pass.
Speaker 0: It has been moved and seconded. Public hearing for Council Bill 729 is now open. May we have the staff report? Andrew Webb, welcome.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Mr. President. Councilors, will this open up here? Thank you. Andrew Webb here with Community Planning and Development to present on this request to rezone two parcels at 1414 36 South Irving from PWD 180 to SMU three. That's a suburban neighborhood context residential multi-unit, up to three stories. This request is in Council District three. It is in the Marley neighborhood near the intersection of Florida Avenue and Federal Boulevard. The site is currently occupied by five three story apartment buildings and one single family home. And hopefully, as you can see in this aerial here, it is comprised of two parcels. The surrounding zoning here is a mix of single and multi-unit residential. There are quite a few instances of the SMU three zoned on nearby properties. Land uses in the area are primarily residential, with a mix of single and multi-unit development. Commercial land uses. Federal Boulevard there to the east and to the south is a church with a school and a child care center. As you can see in this area, all the multi-unit development immediately to the north of the site is very similar in scale and layout, built in a suburban form with apartments arranged around internal parking and open space. This next slide shows a couple of views of the site. The top looking northwest along Irving and at the bottom southwest along Arkansas. These photos show the house at the northwest corner of the subject site, as well as the multi-unit development to the north. And then this photo shows single unit development to the west of the subject site. So the existing planned unit development, or PUD Zone District, was established in 1985 after the apartment complex had already been built. Permits 116 residential units on site and calls for three storey buildings with setbacks, landscaping and other design standards. Essentially, based on what existed at the time, the PD also specified that a commercial use that was in operation on the single family home in the single family home at the time of adoption could continue. The current PD 180 is the second PD established on the site. The first was PD three, which was adopted in 1978 when the owner at the time wanted to seek a redevelopment of the property. PD three was based on plans for five apartment clusters, each of which were to contain 22 one bedroom units and one two bedroom unit for a total of 115 units, plus the single unit house . Building permits were issued in 1980 and 81 for the five structures. Some of them listed the total number of units at 23, some listed at at 24, and some had a number scratched out without any explanation or replacement figure. No subsequent building permits for renovations or reconfigurations were found in city records, and staff believes that the five structures were built at that time with 24 one bedroom units for a total of 120 apartment units. The slide shows some of those building permits. And you can see that there are differences and discrepancies between the number of units each each structure could contain. So in 1985, the apartment developer realized that the map for PD three I'm sorry, for PD one three had emitted the single unit house, which had been envisioned early on as like a manager's unit or some other amenity for apartment residents. So I proposed a new.
Speaker 5: PDP 8180.
Speaker 2: That would did add the single unit house at the corner of Arkansas and Irving into the boundary. But the documentation was not updated to show the actual number of units on the site. The development was the apartment complex was recently acquired by a new owner who learned late last year that from the city that the properties existing improvements were not in conformance with the plan unit development zoning. Due to this discrepancy between the number of units specified in the number of units actually built on site. This slide does show shows some of the language from PD one A.D., including the reason for its adoption and the maximum number of units shown at 116 year. So as I mentioned upfront, the applicant proposes to rezone the property from the current PUD to SAMU three. That's a multi-unit residential zone in the suburban neighborhood context. This neighborhood context is characterized by single and multi-unit development with lower building heights, larger lots and deeper setbacks than the city's urban neighborhood context. With regard to the process to date that this request was considered by the Planning Board on June 7th and the land use and transportation or land use, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on June 27, both of which recommended approval. Staff has received several inquiries about the application, but no public comments. As you're aware, to approve a rezoning, the Council must find that these five criteria established by the Denver Zoning Code are met with regard to consistency with adopted plans to plan impact the subject site. The Comprehensive Plan and Blueprint Denver staff finds that this proposed rezoning would further several comprehensive plan objectives and goals, including preservation of existing housing stock, support for affordable rental housing, near transit services such as those available on federal nearby, and recommendations to simplify and update the city's land use and regulatory system whenever possible. Blueprint, Denver established a single family residential concept land use for this area as described in detail in the staff report. Staff considers this proposed rezoning to be consistent with that concept land use because it allows the continued operation and reinvestment in an existing residential use and would actually reduce the opportunities for commercial uses on the site. With regard to the other criteria, this request will result in the uniform application of building form, use and design regulations for the SMU three zone district. It will further the public welfare by enabling the continuing operation and maintenance of affordable multi-unit housing, by establishing regulations for future redevelopment to create safe, active pedestrian spaces, thereby implementing adopted land use plans and policies. Staff agrees with the applicant's proposed justifying circumstance as the existing PUD adopted in 1985 should have accurately reflected the number of units on site that at the time of its adoption. And finally, staff finds that the proposed rezoning is consistent with the surrounding suburban neighborhood context. So with that, CPD recommends approval based on a finding that all review criteria have been met. And I'd be happy to answer any questions.
Speaker 0: All right, thank you, Andrew. Appreciate it. All right. We have two speakers this evening. If they would come up when their name is called and you have 3 minutes each, we have Mark Lampert and Chairman Sekou. Again.
Speaker 5: Good evening. My name is Mark Lippert. I'm here on behalf of the ownership and applicants Parkwood Plaza, and I work with the owner, Mark Venegas. And during our due diligence process late last year, we discovered this discrepancy between the number of units that exist at the property and the number of units that the current zoning calls out . So we're here tonight to address that zoning issue and bring the property back into compliance and answer any other further questions. Great.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Stay cool.
Speaker 11: Yes. Once again, Chairman Sekou Blackstar Action Movement, advocacy group for poor, working, poor, homeless and senior citizens. We support the journey. We support the zoning change for a couple of reasons. One. From since I've been coming down here for the last almost ten years advocating for. Our constituency. What has become evidently clear is that the zoning is crazy. And it's antiquated. And city council is always coming up with at the moment seeing contradictions and then trying to smooth the path so that the process is fair. And so we think that this is a fair process that in order to be consistent with the zoning, that this is necessary to approve it. And also suggests to city council that a review be done of all zoning stuff that's inconsistent and make that into a package so that people don't have to spend inordinate amounts of money trying to straighten out city council business that should have been straightened out a long time ago. It's unfair. Persistence is also unfair for you guys have to go through that and spend time with that. So in addition to that, I just want to suggest to the folks who are anticipating these different projects, especially for our folks that we represent rapidly. Black folks are becoming an endangered species in this town. The neighborhood that I grew up in for 67 years at five points is now 72% white. And I know many times we talk about the gentrification and the unintentional consequences. But at some point, you know, it's very interesting to find out in order to. Abort a moral code. We come up with these terms like Donald Trump alternative facts. And the truth is we can no longer turn our back. So we suggest for folks who are doing these development projects, and I know it doesn't have much to do with the zoning that you're not required to do any of this. Anticipate the possibility that for us to be able to live in this town, we have to be able to work in this town. And we have plenty of skilled labor. Councilperson President is working with unions and whatnot to develop a better skill test of plumbers and pipefitters and those kind of things. And over time. And so there are plenty of folks who have skills. Who aren't even considered or when they show up to apply for these jobs. Their applications thrown in the trash. Now, folks call that one thing. Other folks call that the other thing. But the real deal, we're talking about a systematic and it needs to stop if we're talking about diversity in this town, which includes black people. And I say that unapologetically. They deserve the same opportunities as other people in this town to work in this town and make this their home. Thank you very much.
Speaker 0: Chairman Cycle, your time is up. Thank you, sir. All right. This concludes our speakers for the evening. Questions by members of council. All right. The hearing, public hearing for council Bill 729 is now closed. Comments by members of Council. Guzman-Lopez I believe this is in your district.
Speaker 10: Yes, it is. Thank you, Mr. President. So, first of all, I mean, I mean, thank you for doing this. So this came it was brought to our attention because it was out of compliance. And rather than having them go through all kinds of or all kinds of craziness, so to speak, you know, this this district was proposed just to kind of bring it back into compliance. But also, you know, here's here's one of the things I remember and one of the previous counsels sitting on some of these pads are so restrictive, they're not they don't know. They some of them were created in error, not anticipating growth, not anticipating the neighborhoods around them as they developed. And when you look at this property, the important thing about this property, you know, I appreciate one of the speakers speaking about this, but. Is that it is. Are you one of the few remaining original apartments that are still affordable? This is still affordable housing. It's not new, but it's affordable. And some of these some of these units, some of these pads, the apartments, like they're spread out, spread throughout the city as they've aged and they've stayed in their pod in the world around them and the zoning world around them. And the land use around them has changed. Right. And to the point where they're obsolete. And so instead of watching this go down an abyss of of being obsolete or having them struggle as as they not only improve the units, but improve the living standards and do maintenance , it's important that we keep up with it. And so I here's the thing. There are a lot of these different pads around this the city, a lot of these kind of apartments scattered around the city. Not all of them have been brought to our attention. But I really appreciate this one being brought to our attention. It's an important part of our neighborhood, and I know this real intimately because I had an uncle and aunt that lived here, had had neighbors that lived here, and there's some awesome little apartments, but they do need upgrading. And in order to do that, we have you have to have you have to come in. You have to bring it into conformity. So. Mr. President, without further ado, I support this rezoning, and I think it's something that is a long time overdue. So it's the right zoned district. It's not asking for anything else, just to just to come into compliance. I agree.
Speaker 0: Thank you, Councilman Lopez. See no other comments, Madam Secretary, roll call.
Speaker 3: Lopez. I know you.
Speaker 2: Took a drink.
Speaker 9: ORTEGA Hi.
Speaker 1: SUSSMAN Hi. Black eye, I.
Speaker 2: Clark, i.
Speaker 3: Espinoza, i.
Speaker 0: I.
Speaker 5: When I.
Speaker 1: Gilmore, I.
Speaker 2: Herndon High.
Speaker 3: Catherine.
Speaker 2: High.
Speaker 1: Can each.
Speaker 3: Mr. President.
Speaker 0: I please call the voting and announce the results.
Speaker 3: 12 Eyes.
Speaker 0: 12 eyes. Council Bill 729 has been adopted. Congratulations. And just like that, we are on to our last bill of the evening bills, I should say, of the evening. Councilwoman Gilmore, will you please put Council Bill 812 on the floor?
A bill for an ordinance changing the zoning classification for 1400 South Irving Street and 1436 South Irving Street in Mar Lee.
Rezones property located at 1400 South Irving Street and 1436 South Irving Street from PUD 180 to S-MU-3 (planned development to suburban, multi-unit) in Council District 3. The Committee approved filing this bill at its meeting on 5-27-17.