Speaker 12: Mr. President. Good evening, counsel. My name is Steven Chester, senior city planner with CPD here to present the staff report for 2610 through 2638 West 13th Avenue. A rezoning from au0 to two C Amex eight. This case is very similar to the one you just heard, so forgive me if I go through this a little quickly, but if you need if I need to slow down or need any more details, please let me know. But there's a lot of similarities. So the subject site falls within Council District Three Councilman Paul Lopez's district in West Denver. It's very close to the intersection of Decatur Street and 13th Avenue, located within about a quarter mile to the recently completed, I guess not a result anymore. Decatur Federal Light Rail Station. It's about, yeah, as I said, about a quarter mile away. The subject site is for four parcels there, currently vacant, totaling about 25,000 square feet. There's currently no billboard on the site, even though it does have the CO2 overlay. The property owner is requesting a rezoning to facilitate redevelopment of the site. And as I said before, it is from a year or two to see x eight. So the C eight is the urban center neighborhood context mixed use eight stories are urban center neighborhood context, as Ryan highlighted before, is some of our highest intensity uses and density outside of our downtown areas, particularly compliant with our two D areas throughout the city. So the request, as I said, is for the CMC zoning, it's currently IAU oh two, that's the industrial zoning with the use overlay. The, the, the IEEE zoning has no build to no transparency regulations, very few street activation standards and also allows surface parking between the building and the street. It's base that the maximum of two in residential uses are only allowed where they were present prior to 2004 and the zoning. The request is for CMCs eight in order to this will remove the industrial uses from this 2D area, allow for more 2D friendly building forms and broaden the allowable uses in the area. And as I said, the the request does not include CMA or does not include you. Oh two That's the use overlay for billboards. The applicant is not proposed. Billboard moving forward and there's actually plan support for the removal of the other two in this area. We want to quickly walk through the existing context, starting with zoning. As I said currently either to in the area to the north is an industrial mixed use and there's also some urban center mixed use to the west of the property and some old code to the north. That's the land that's currently owned and operated by the Stadium District. In terms of land use, there's really a high mix of uses already in this area of lots of residential uses currently in the industrial zone areas, some transportation, communication, utility infrastructure that's an Excel substation and corresponding equipment for the located a power plant that's just east of the river. And there's also some office and some civic uses in the area as well. There's some pictures of the site to the north. You can see the Xcel substation, the subject site, which is actually now vacant, and some of the single family homes directly to the west of the property. The process. To date, we notified of a public hearing, a planning board in August 18th. We had that public ah, that public hearing, that planning board on September 2nd, in which planning board unanimously recommended approval. We had a committee meeting and it was moved out of committee on September 16th, first reading on September 28th, and today our final public hearing. All of the Arnaud's listed here have been notified of the application of all public hearings. Communication to date. We've received a letter of support from the Sun Valley Community Coalition and one letter of opposition from a neighborhood property owner primarily concerned about building heights. And walk us through our consistency with the data plans are first the review criteria. There's three adopted city plans which the subject site falls within the the comprehensive plan 2000 blueprint, Denver and the Decatur Federal Sun Valley Neighborhood Plan. There's a number of strategies within comp plan 2000 which support this rezoning such as infill development, specifically located near transit stations, identifying areas in order to capitalize on opportunities to develop housing and other uses along our transit lines and overall just promoting infill development to reduce sprawl. Moving on to Blueprint Denver this entire area of the map is designated area of change. As you know, areas of change are areas of the city in which we like to focus our growth and redevelopment. The future land use concept for the subject site is TOD Transit Oriented Development in Blueprint Denver that speaks to a balanced mix of uses, compact high density development and a configuration that promotes walkability. In terms of future street classifications, 13th Avenue is designated a mixed use collector. These are more high intensity, mixed use commercial, residential and retail streets with substantial multimodal infrastructure. And so this rezoning application is consistent with both the future street classification and future land use in Blueprint. Denver. Moving on to our adopted neighborhood plan, this is the recently adopted Decatur Federal Sun Valley Neighborhood Plan. Our plan support is very clear. Everything in this pink, in this map is designated a tod land use in which the plan speaks to encouraging a wide mix of uses. Building heights between five and 12 storeys and a variety of building heights. And a horizontal and vertical mix of uses in the area. There's further plan support in terms of building heights, as is the Building Heights map from the plan. There's a lot of different shades of purple, but this specific shade of purple in the legend is for eight stories. So this, with the CBD, finds that the MAP amendment is consistent with the plan vision in the adopted neighborhood plans . Our next two review criteria Uniformity of district regulations and furthering the Public Health, Safety and welfare are met primarily due to the implementation of the city's adopted plans. Next review criteria justifying circumstances the land or its surrounding environs has changed or is changing to such a degree that is in the public interest to encourage a redevelopment of the area or submit substantial redevelopment already occurring along the West Rail Line, which was opened in 2011. There's already been a substantial amount of improvements in the immediate station area, including the currently going through planning for the Sun Valley Homes, redevelopment of DHEA, public housing development directly to the south. And additionally, there's plan support for removing these industrial uses from the total area and furthering our adopted city plans. In terms of consistency with neighborhood context, zone district purpose and intent, the urban center neighborhood context is one which really directly lines up with the the vision for transit oriented development at this area multi-unit, residential, mixed use, commercial buildings, moderate to high building heights and zoned district purpose in intent. The purpose of our zone are a mixed use zone districts is to promote safe, active, pedestrian scaled areas, enhancing the convenience and ease of enjoyment for transit, walking, shopping and public gathering, and to create those really mixed use, diverse neighborhoods. So with that, CPD recommends approval based on finding all of the five right review criteria have been met. The applicant is also here today for any questions.
Speaker 2: Thank you. We've got five speakers sign up today and I'll call all five of them. Peter Hynes, Lisa Sovaldi, Tom Sovaldi, Mr. Saca and David Roybal. So Mr. Hynes, you can begin your remarks.
Speaker 7: My name is Peter Hynes with Urban Lecture. We are working on this project on behalf of ESC and this fall, the family. Thank you, Mr. President, Councilman Lopez and all members of the City Council for your energy and enthusiasm in helping make Denver a great place to enjoy life and pursue happiness. I'd also like to thank Jean Granville of the Sun Valley Community Coalition, Steve Chester of Trinity Planning, Development and Sun Valley resident Phil Kasper for their vision and insight. Now, listen, gentlemen, the council. I'm here tonight to request for your approval of our application for his My Amendment 2015 I0 0043. As you know, Sun Valley is preparing for redevelopment. We feel that our proposal to redevelop this property into the Ubu esque artistic center is congruent with city and neighborhood plans in an area of change. West is a progressive development concept that will attract an international audience, improve the visual environment, add to Denver's arts and culture scene, and catalyze the redevelopment of the Decatur Federal Station area. A rezoning from a two cm x eight will provide the framework necessary to support this project and community development as well as hopefully some artistic housing. And I'll just close with an old story that discusses a farmer who goes out to plant seeds. I'm asking that you share our vision of planting new seeds in the fertile soil of Sun Valley with your yes vote. Together we can plant the seeds, for we will ask and together help make it grow. Thank you for your your service and your support.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Alisha Safadi.
Speaker 4: Thank you for giving my family this opportunity. And we just wanted to thank you all for this moment. I did not plan on speaking, but I kind of feel like maybe we should just get up and say, this is a family. We are hard working, blue collar workers. This is my son's vision from when he was in high school. This is a big plan for our family to come down. We have been come involved in the community in Sun Valley. We've been down there with them and we love our new community. The people down there, I feel like, have embraced us. They have supported us. And we are just asking for your support as well. Thank you.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Tom Spalding.
Speaker 7: Good evening. My name is Tom Foley. I will be the director of the artistic center. The idea is to actually bring an area in this community where people can come together and rejoice around the arts, whether it be music, theater, fashion, dance, and yeah, I really like this community. I have lived in many places London, in Paris, always in very diverse communities. And I think that's what makes a artistic center very rich, is by having many different ideas and many different takes on projects.
Speaker 2: And I'm very excited to be able to move down into Sun Valley.
Speaker 7: Thank you. Thank you.
Speaker 2: This is like a.
Speaker 8: Yes. Chairman say Ku Klux Klan one of self-defense. One of the beautiful things that I like about rebels in this organization the poor, working, poor and homeless people. It's not like I used to be any of that and that now. I'm disabled. Senior citizen on section eight. Get $80 with the food stamps. I got to live on that. I was born and raised in the city county of Denver in five points for 62 years. Didn't come in from nowhere. My family's been here since the 1930s. They live better than what I'm living now. Explain that to me. How did that happen without the help of municipalities who are creating systematic poverty? Come on, now. So I'm not opposed to a development as Brown is trying to do some things. And it's nice story that you tell. I need to know what are the details of this man? You don't come into one zoning change without having no idea about what you get ready to do. Who do you think you're talking to? Who do you plan? You don't want to lay it out. Would that be noticed in deception here? Because we've had plantation owners and all we see is that was oppressing old people. So you're not no surprise to me, Uncle Tom Ridge clearing this room for them. A new Uncle Tom who supported justification of his own people was on certain stages and we got to send them back. Who's responsible for the destruction of the Five Points and Northeast Denver? So now you talk to me about what's to come. Tell me anything I've said tonight. I'm like, You may not like what I say. You may not like what I look, but do.
Speaker 3: Tell me if this story line. Go outside and look at it.
Speaker 8: 100% black community. That now down to 80%. Talk to me. How does that happen? By accident. Come on, y'all. Come on. The new city council represents a hope. Not this whole mess you got up here. They've all got to wait and not get the minute the law does it. You can't exclude communities from participate in all life. And they did that and looked the other way. And you have a bully pulpit now to check all of that. You know them now to make their vote. T.M., you give us the hope of something new, because what you told us, man, when you was running, man, that you went down for days that's been going on. It's how you go for it. How you can vote for because your conscience speaks in your vote. You're bold your vote. That's what you do, not what you say. This is not an academic exercise in a theoretical going on. I deal with life and death every day to survive with a Section eight voucher that I been able to use in a whole year because I can't find a place to read it or accept it because it's not against the law not to accept section eight and your property is weak. Oughton is housing and you let these fools get away with madness. For what? Because you want to get real. You want the property, the prestige. What does that? When you're supposed to be Trumbull, Mississippi.
Speaker 2: You're 3 minutes from the.
Speaker 8: Second responsibility to serve the.
Speaker 2: People. Thank you, Mrs. Aiken. Thank you for your time, Mr. Speaker.
Speaker 3: Next we have David. David Roybal.
Speaker 5: Hello. My name is David Roybal, live within the Sun Valley neighborhood from 1987 to 2012. I've been involved with the Sun Valley Coalition from 2007 to 2011, working with.
Speaker 7: Councilman Judy Monteiro. You Sun Valley is a very unique neighborhood.
Speaker 5: Because it is isolated. There's only a handful of ways to get in. It's one of the most isolated communities. It's one of the most poverty stricken communities.
Speaker 7: And I just hope that this redevelopment is something good for the community.
Speaker 5: One thing that Sun Valley was left out on is, I mean, we're thankful for the for the river construction.
Speaker 7: But the Platte River Valley right there with the Little Raven is it's $1,000,000,000 project. And we see and we see what's going on there.
Speaker 5: And it's like Sun Valley in again much. We're thankful for the River project, but we just hope that, you know, the Sun Valley will still be the Sun Valley. I plan on spending the rest of my life there. I don't want in the.
Speaker 7: Near future to go to my neighborhood and community and not feel like I'm there. And everybody everybody goes to the Sun Valley because the Bronco stadium there. And one thing we're thankful for, the rezoning of it. Sun Valley was in the summer. The Bronco stadium was in the Sun Valley neighborhood. And to that council districts, the Sun Valley neighborhood got no money from the from the Bronco district. So we're hoping and we're thankful for Paul Lopez.
Speaker 5: And one thing that was hard was.
Speaker 7: Julie Monteiro, you know, leaving office and then Paul, get in it.
Speaker 5: I wish we had more time to get more involved. Paul Lopez when he was working.
Speaker 7: In southwest Denver.
Speaker 5: And I just hope that this is something real good and I plan on spending the rest of my life in Sun Valley.
Speaker 7: And let's see this. Make some good this year. Appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Mr. Roybal. That concludes our speakers. Now time for questions from members of council. Councilwoman Ortega.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Mr. President. I wanted to ask either Mr. Hines or Mr. Vivaldi if you could talk a little bit about how you plan to incorporate the community, your work with the community as part of what you're trying to do with this. Does does the project have a name? First of all, can you just tell us a little bit about the concept and how you plan to incorporate the different sectors of the art and the local community?
Speaker 7: Yeah, most definitely. The artistic center is named USQ. It is after a French playwright, Alfred Green. How we plan to involve the community is a I would like this to be a like an 18 hours or 12 hour theater. So in the mornings and afternoon people can come in and take classes in the late afternoon if schools need to come in and have an area to perform. We can do that while being still being able to perform our shows, music, fashion shows in the evening. Also with some of my contacts, I would like them to come to Denver so people can know what Moroccan theater's like. What is French theater like, what is Chinese theater like? And also asking them to do workshops with the community and open to the public so they can actually have a hands on experience with Chinese theater, Moroccan theater and always being open to suggestions. I always think two heads are better than one, four is better than two, and so on.
Speaker 4: Can you give us an idea the scale of the building?
Speaker 7: I think you should talk.
Speaker 4: Okay. Thanks.
Speaker 7: The scale of the building. Right now we're looking at a height difference from 8 to 5 stories sort of scaling down and through a neighborhood discussion we have, we're looking at about a 300 seat theater, 300 to 350 seats more, 250 to 350. And there's going to be an additional 60,000, approximately 60,000 square feet for other usages within the building. We expect to have a component that will be perhaps dedicated to event space, and then there will be other locations within the building that would be available for dance studios, production performances, rental for for for visiting acts, as well as a marketing and promotional component for for other artists. The idea is that we create a cluster of industries that could utilize the theater as a as an amenity.
Speaker 4: And can you just address one last question? And this is about parking. I know the parking is going to be based on how many square feet you'll have in the building. But can you talk about whether or not you're looking at shared opportunities with some of the adjacent parking in the neighborhood?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I'll be happy to. According to the Journal, the plan that was prepared for the neighborhood, there is a provision in there for a shared parking arrangement. Right now we are planning underground parking, but we are certainly exploring the idea of being able to activate some of the Bronco lots that are not gameday, that are kind of there. We'd be happy to discuss with them on how we can help activate their spaces for their benefit. So we're we're open to discussing those things. At the moment, we do have onsite parking that we're planning.
Speaker 4: So I know the city owns some of those lots and maybe the city could make some of that money instead of the Broncos.
Speaker 7: We can talk about that, too.
Speaker 4: Okay. I have no further questions. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Councilwoman Ortega, Councilman Flynn.
Speaker 8: Thank you, Mr. President. Maybe this would be for Mr. Hines. Also, the only note of objection filed on this was by the owner. The owner earthlings several doors down to the west. And their concern were they were supportive of the concept, but they expressed concern about the height that you were planning. And you started to answer in response to Councilwoman Ortega that you're looking at sort of a stair step, maybe that addresses the issue. They have a wonderful, wonderful community garden there on which they depend for their part of their program, and they're concerned about shade. Did you do any sort of a. Yes. Sunlight analysis?
Speaker 7: As a matter of fact, we won't impact them at all. And we've had that discussion with them. Their concern was setting a precedent for somebody next to them going higher. But we in our discussions with them, we wouldn't have any real impact on on their operations.
Speaker 8: It looked like you were far enough away, but I just wondered whether you did any sort of shadow analysis.
Speaker 7: We did look at that and we and and in our discussions with earthlings, we decided to start to step down as we got towards their property to be very good.
Speaker 8: So thank you. That's all, Mr. President.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Councilman Flint, Councilman Espinosa, you're up.
Speaker 5: The question for Stephen, is it. Yes, the the GDP. When was that? When was that finalized?
Speaker 12: The general developed plan was, I believe, 2000. 14.
Speaker 5: It followed the area plan and the neighborhood plan sort of very closely. Correct. Correct. And this is what was the height limit in the GP on this block again.
Speaker 12: So the ticket or federal GDP is only. Only touches on infrastructure and open space. There's no discussion about building heights or Landis's.
Speaker 5: And that's that's unfortunate because there was a lot of discussion with Sun Valley. So Sun Valley, I live in Jefferson Park on the other side of the stadium and was part of those discussions and there was a lot of modeling about the future of the development and what the surrounding areas were like. But there was no capturing of those that grand vision other than the renderings that were discussed.
Speaker 12: There in the neighborhood plan. There's a building heights map in the neighborhood plan.
Speaker 5: And that one already has the support. So. The reason why I'm saying that is that DHS, unlike. And this is more two comments. But unlike the other rezonings that we've done with sort of an amorphous sense about what goes there, the balance of what's going on in Sun Valley has a very rigorous ownership through DHS or not the balance of Sun Valley, but the stuff that's adjacent to the south. And so there is going to be an affordability component to those the subsequent development that's paired with this. Have they done their rezoning at all at the FHA?
Speaker 12: Nope.
Speaker 5: Okay. Have we considered as city doing of these? You know, we don't have the GDP that does it. Never mind. I, i one of the things that worries me about that, having grown up in Jefferson Park, I mean, lived there for through this change, is that these are very, very affordable parcels when you can get them and and sort of the acquisition buying low and selling and getting the rezoning that is supported by these plans and then selling high when those land owners that have been there through this process really should be the ones to meet capturing that that increase in value. So I would encourage us council to look at a legislative reason for this, this area consistent with the SRP and the plan. Thank you.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Councilman Espinosa, Councilman New York.
Speaker 10: Thank you, Mr. President. It's quite refreshing from the previous zoning that we had a real good discussion about what this property is going to be used for. You know, it's very nice to see this rezoning and have an understanding of the building and its services and the uses. And so I just really want to commend you on that. I think this is going to be a great addition to the community and it really helps us see what's going to happen on that site. Exactly. I the previous comments we had about rezonings without any discussion about use or building is not very helpful to us as much as what you've done tonight. So I just want to thank you for that and good luck with your project.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Counseling new come this morning. You have another question.
Speaker 5: One question for the developer. You had mentioned that you had you were considering underground parking. Have you done the soil tests there? Because this is pretty close to the river.
Speaker 7: We have done soil tests and we know where the water table is. And so far, we look good.
Speaker 5: Okay, great.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Councilman Espinosa. Any other questions? Six 4939. Public hearing is now closed. Any comments? 649 Councilwoman Ortega.
Speaker 4: Well, I think this the addition of an arts and art center in this neighborhood is going to be a welcome sight. There are lots of children, as you well know, that live in the Sun Valley neighborhood. And we know it's going to be a changing community. But I know that DHP has done a good job in maintaining a commitment to ensure that there continue to be affordable housing units in the areas that they have redeveloped. The art is a near and dear topic to my heart. It's an area that I've done a lot of work on over the last few years, and it's the one area that for young people, if they can be inspired by getting involved in something, it it gives them a positive outlet and ensures that, you know, they're they're able to stay focused on doing something really positive, staying with their grades and whatnot. And I think this will be just a tremendous asset to the neighborhood. So I just want to encourage my colleagues to support it. I think this would be great for Sun Valley.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Councilwoman Ortega, any other comments? 649. Seen on Secretary Roll Call Ortega assessment.
Speaker 6: Black Eye. Clark Espinosa. Flynn, I. Gilmore Cashman.
Speaker 4: Hi. New.
Speaker 6: Mr. President.
Speaker 2: I. Madam Secretary, please call the body ask results tonight. Tonight is council bill 649 has passed. All right. We are on to our third one is the mayor's proposed 2016 budget. Following this public hearing, council members may offer amendments to the proposed budget and they will also have the opportunity to offer amendments next Monday as well.
Rezones property located at 2610-2638 West 13th Avenue from I-A, UO-2 to C-MX-8 in Council District 3.   (NEIGHBORHOODS AND PLANNING) Rezones property located at 2610-2638 West 13th Avenue from I-A,UO-2 (Light Industrial, Billboard Use allowed) to C-MX-8 (Urban Center, Mixed Used, 8 stories) in Council District 3.  IF ORDERED PUBLISHED, A PUBLIC HEARING WILL BE HELD ON THIS ITEM.  REFER TO THE "PENDING" SECTION OF THE FUTURE COUNCIL MEETING AGENDAS FOR THE DATE. The Committee approved filing this bill at its meeting on 9-16-15.