Speaker 1: 11 Eyes Council Bill 20 1-694 has passed. Thank you Edson and Andrew and the community members who joined us for those two hearings. Next up, we have our third required public hearing. Councilmember Cashman, would you please put council Bill 7 to 1 on the floor for final passage?
Speaker 6: Yes, Madam President. I move the council bill 21, Dash 721 be placed upon final consideration and do pass.
Speaker 1: Thank you. It has been moved and seconded the required public hearing for council bills. 7 to 1 is open. And I see we have Libby here. When may we please have the staff report?
Speaker 8: Okay. Thank you. I'm with the Atoms with Community Planning and development and I'll be presenting the MAP Amendment for 16298 Green Valley Ranch Boulevard. This application is located in Council District 11 in the Gateway Green Valley Ranch neighborhood. The applicant is requesting to rezone from former Chapter 59 PWD 319 to 6 three for the northern portion of the site and SCC three for the southern half of the site. This 32 acre property is located near Pioneer and Green Valley Orange Boulevards. So to go into a bit more detail about the proposed zone districts, they both allow for a mix of uses including commercial, residential and office with heights up to three stories or 45 feet. Both have a minimum primary front slip or primary setback of zero feet transparency and pedestrian connection requirements that will help encourage an active ground floor. Additionally, the Smc's district requires a build to a 50% between zero and 80 feet. The existing PD 319, specifically Super BLOCK F, which is this property allows for a mix of uses but does not allow for a grocery store. It allows a maximum gross floor area of only half the size of the lot, which would enable a very low density development. The area is subject to the Denver Gateway Design Standards and guidelines, which provide guidance on street design, site planning, architectural design, landscape design, signage and lighting. These design standards and guidelines are applicable to most of the gateway area, which you can see in yellow on the screen. Prior to applying for this rezoning, this site went through the larger development review process because it is over five acres. It's recommended in the far northeast area plan and the proposed development requires new infrastructure. So the large development framework outlines the regulatory steps to be taken, with first being the rezoning, a mobility study, urban design review subdivision and then construction and building permits. So while our purview here today is to look at is to review the rezoning, you know, the previous slide talked about that there were other processes that are associated with this larger development. So one that has already been approved by city council is an economic development agreement between the city and the applicant for a sales tax revenue return generated by a full service grocery store. And so that's one of the main reasons the applicant has applied for rezoning, is because this amendment is specific to a certain grocery store, which is not permitted under the current zone district. The site is currently used for agricultural uses. You can see there is multi-unit, residential, vacant and then office surrounding the site. This slide shows the existing building form and scale with the subject property on the upper right hand side, an office directly south model, some row houses directly to the west, and then a new gas station to the north. The MAP amendment was complete at the beginning of November, and this rezoning received a unanimous recommendation of approval at Planning Board on June 16. To date, staff has received five comment letters, noting that residents would like to see locally owned businesses rather than chains. However, our zoning code does not regulate a business's ownership structure. We've also received letters of support from the Montebello 2020 register neighborhood organization, Marbella, Golden Age Club, Montebello Walks and Families Against Violent Acts, all stating that this proposal meets the goals of the Far North East Area Plan and will enable development of healthy food options. So there are five review criteria in the Denver zoning code that must be met in order for rezoning to be approved. The first criterion is consistency with adaptive plans, and there are three plans applicable to the three zoning. Information on how the application meets the strategies and the comprehensive plan can be found on this slide and in the staff report. And Blueprint. Denver The future neighborhood context is identified as suburban. These areas are characterized by a range of uses with a regular block patterns and curvilinear streets. And then Blueprint identifies the future place type as the community center place type. These types provide a mix of office, commercial and residential uses with heights up to five stories. The The Street Network is a mixture of mixed use, arterial collector and local streets. So this street network of local collector and arterial streets will support a mixed use and commercial corridor development. The Growth Area and Blueprint Denver. Denver is community centers and corridors. This is where we anticipate to see 25% of new housing growth in 20% of new job growth by 2040. So rezoning to an S-MAX three and CC three will allow for greater density development on the site. In compliance with this growth area strategy. Blueprint also encourages the rezoning of properties from the former Chapter 59 Zoning Code into the Denver Zoning Code until the entire city is covered by the Denver Zoning Code. And all large map amendments such as this one should be guided by the equity concepts found in Blueprint. Denver So the access to opportunity score is a combination of the neighborhood equity index, proximity to high frequency transit and then access to centers and corridors. So this site has lower than average access to opportunity scoring, lower on the equity index and proximity to transit. The access to centers and corridors varies throughout the area, so rezoning to Smc's x three and SCC three will increase access to centers and corridors because it will allow for a variety of commercial commercial uses, including community serving retail, such as a grocery store, which again is not permitted under the current but. The vulnerability to involuntary displacement score is based on median household income, percent of renter occupied units and residents with less than a college degree. So this area scores as moderately vulnerable to displacement, based on two indicators median household income and educational attainment. The proposed districts may bring a variety of jobs to the area, allowing residents with different incomes and education levels to find jobs and build wealth, which could help prevent involuntary displacement. The housing diversity score includes five measures percentage of middle density housing, home size, diversity, ownership versus rental housing costs and then income restricted units. So this site has a moderate housing density, only scoring as not diverse on the affordable units in the area of the proposed commercial and mixed use districts will likely have little impact on this metric, but they do allow for residential uses, which is for if residential is constructed, it could maintain the existing housing diversity in the area. And this map shows the mix of jobs in the area of the city with the dominant industry depicted by color. So this area has a similar mix of jobs to the city as a whole, and the proposed districts allow for a variety of office, commercial and retail uses, which will bring a variety of jobs to this area. The guidance in the far northeast area plan is consistent with the guidance and blueprint Denver for a neighborhood context, place type and growth area strategy. The Far Northeast Area Plan provides further guard guidance in regard in regards to building heights, allowing up to a maximum of eight stories on this site. And the plan also provides specific recommendations. Irsay identifies airport way as a through street, also updating the future street type, which will be constructed as a result of this proposed development and airport way is identified as a mixed use arterial. The Far Northeast plan also provides specific recommendations for the Gateway Green Valley Ranch neighborhood, including creating new community centers on undeveloped land and supporting a mix of uses and encouraging properties to rezone from the former Chapter 59 Code into the Denver Zoning Code. So the proposed S-MAX three and FCC three districts are consistent with the far northeast area plan because they will allow for a new community center on undeveloped land and bring a property into the Denver zoning code. Staff also finds the rezoning meets the next two criteria. It will result in uniformity of district regulations, and it will further the public health and safety and welfare by rezoning a property from the former Chapter 59 into the Denver zoning code, allowing a greater mix of uses, increased density on the site, and allowing grocery store use in an area that has little access to healthy food options . Additionally, rezoning the property out of PUD 319 will not have an impact on the remainder of the properties that will remain in the PUD because there's a maximum gross floor area for each super block within this body, so that will prevent any increase in density in the remainder south. Also finds there is a justifying circumstance and that this property and that this rezoning is rezoning a property from the former Chapter 59 into the Denver zoning code. And lastly, it's consistent with the suburban neighborhood context, the purpose of the mixed use and community corridor districts and the specific intent of the smc's three and three districts. So finding all review criteria have been met. Staff recommends approval and that concludes my presentation. Happy answer. Any questions?
Speaker 1: All right. Well, thank you, Libby, for the staff report. And we're going to go first to our individuals who are signed up to speak. We have seven individuals. We have our first two, her and chambers. And so I'll go ahead and call them. We have Troy Coles and Mark Goldberg. And so we'll go ahead and start with Troy Kels.
Speaker 2: Vertical.
Speaker 1: Okay. All right. Troy is going to go ahead and defer his time. And so we'll go ahead and go to Mark Goldberg.
Speaker 3: Madam President, members of the Diversity Council. My name is Mark Goldberg. My company is Goldberg Property Inc. I'm a long time Denver resident, was born here, went to East Denver High School and have been developing commercial real estate, mostly shopping centers for over 40 years. Some in Denver, one in Councilmember Black's neighborhood as well. We are very pleased to come before you tonight for our rezoning of this property, bringing in our Chapter 59 into a more contemporary zoning. One of the key features in doing that was we could not do grocery stores live, he said. And we do intend to have a grocery store here and much more. That will be Costco will be our anchor tenant. And Costco fulfills many things in the far Northeast Plan and blueprint, Denver and the aspirations of the folks in far northeast, and that is jobs. There will be 500 to 600 new jobs added with this project. Costco alone will have 200 jobs. And of those 200 jobs, they will play an average of $24 an hour. Costco also for employees that work for 23 hours a week, a provide vacation, full medical and full dental care. The Costco will have not only fresh groceries, many of you been there, but many other general merchandise and items as well as pharmacy hearing, aids, eyeglasses, appliances, you name it. It's a full service retail establishment. Many of those dollars that the people in the far northeast and in Denver, those same dollars that are spent out of Costco actually go out of the city of Denver. They go principally to Aurora. By having this project happen, those dollars will come back. Moreover, it will make it more convenient for people in the far northeast to access good groceries and fresh groceries. In addition to that, we will have additional retail in the northern part of the project that will have a variety of food offerings sit down restaurants, fast casual restaurants, fast food and other kinds of restaurants. We'll have a town center that will be very human scale, much like we see in some of the older neighborhoods in Denver where you can be very walkable, will have a plaza. There will be 123,000 square feet of places to sit down, a firepit. There will be an amphitheater for folks to entertain. In addition to that, there's certainly open space and connectivity to existing trails that go through our nearest neighborhood, the Albion neighborhood and so forth. With me tonight are members of our team, including Noor Kimball. And unfortunately without us tonight is Susan Stanton, who was the original champion of this project and introduced me to Councilman Gilmore. And things kind of moved from there. And we miss Susan as a member of our team dearly. Carolyn Weiner, attorney is online, my partner, Adam Meyers, and all the.
Speaker 1: Time we have available. Thank you. We'll ask you to answer any other questions council members might have here in a moment. We're going to go ahead and transition to our next set of speakers. And they are all online. And so our first speaker up is Adam Meyers.
Speaker 2: Hi. Good evening. Can you see and hear me? Yes. Great. Thank you all for your time tonight. Mark and I have been working on this project since 2016. As Mark said, we've got Costco as our anchor retailer who will be a significant economic engine to Denver and the northeast area. And I just wanted to state that our my company is CPA Bedrock has on.
Speaker 3: This property for over.
Speaker 2: 25 years. We were we've been investing in this area for four decades. That said, we've been waiting for this type of opportunity and this.
Speaker 3: Type of world class retailer.
Speaker 2: To come in and help anchor a project such as this one. So beyond that, my own personal connectivity to Denver. I went to grad school. Do you go pioneers? And I've lived in Denver for many years. Unfortunately, here on the East Coast. I would love to be in Denver again, but I just wanted to state that this is a very exciting project for us and we are thrilled to be able to bring Costco and many other offerings to the community which has been underserved for decades. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Our next speaker this evening is Carolyn White.
Speaker 9: Madam President, I'm just signed up to answer questions.
Speaker 1: All right, great. Thank you. Our next speaker is Lawrence Murray.
Speaker 3: I. Can you hear me?
Speaker 1: Yes, go ahead.
Speaker 3: Good evening. Denver City Council and Denver residents. My name is Lawrence Murray. Currently, I serve as my fellow Gold eight club vice president and I purchased my home in my brother in 1982. That's made a prior memo to the planning board on my support. This zoning change. In my humble opinion, this change is a no brainer for council stamp of approval. Yet. Let me quickly comment that this is an opportunity for the city to get an economical jump on our neighbor to the south. Aurora Marbella is an enclave devoid of many services provided to many other communities in our city. This initiative will help to correct that situation. However, I think that the city should.
Speaker 2: Be concerned with.
Speaker 3: How to keep assets and revenue of our citizens in Denver. In many cases, folks living in my neighborhood must keep it for services provided elsewhere, and that elsewhere normally is Aurora. This project will not just be a service source for us, but an economical boon for my neighborhood and the city. The introduction of a Costco here will not only affect my business, but it will be a magnet for all for northeast Denver, Adams County, Aurora and the smaller communities like Watkins, Bennett and Strasburg and buyers that line the eastern corridor of I-70. There is no other service source like this proposal located closer to those towns. Trust me. Should you farther back them in this change? There is no doubt that the sooner and waiting for this costume is Aurora. Please don't let that happen. Support our Denver citizens, especially those of us living in my bubble and the City Council. Approve the Crossbow Flyway Project Zoning Code. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Our next speaker is Ann White.
Speaker 9: Hello? Can you hear.
Speaker 1: Me? Go ahead.
Speaker 9: Okay. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'm and white, a 45 year resident, a mom, fellow and board president and chair.
Speaker 4: Bill 2020 R.A..
Speaker 9: I'm speaking in.
Speaker 4: Support of the five.
Speaker 9: Way slash Costco Project Design Change. This project will provide quality food access, which means we will no longer be considered a food desert. Multi-faceted retail, shopping options, restaurants, etc.. High paying jobs with benefits. It will also allow our tax dollars to remain in our community. Our community has waited decades for this land to be developed. This project will provide equity, equality and transparency with shopping options. Other Denver communities already enjoy. Our Urge Council to pass this zoning change.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Miss White. Our last speaker is Jesse Paris.
Speaker 2: Yes. Good evening. Members of council, those watching at home, those in the council chambers. My name is Justin with Sam parents and I'm representing for Black Sox I'm all to self-defense as a mexican man for social change as well as the Unity Party of Colorado and frontline black males. And I will be the next mayor of Denver in 2023. I am 100% in favor of this resounding change. To me, this is a much needed asset to this community of Montebello, Gateway and Green Valley Ranch. Areas of town that have been neglected, especially when it comes to food access. So I am definitely in favor of this rezoning. It's my please pass this. We need this. This would be the first of its kind in East Denver, a Costco that would employ people in our community with high paying jobs and benefits. So, yes, this is an asset, not a liability. I am full support of this. I'm glad it's not going to be something that's going to be unaffordable and nobody can afford to live in. But actually an asset and a resource. A much needed resource. Black and brown communities with Montebello Gateway, which are predominantly. So please pass the tonight. We need equity and inclusion in the city and county of Denver. And this is one step in that direction.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Jesse. That concludes our speakers questions from members of Council on Council Bill 7 to 1. I'll give it a moment here. All right. Not seen any questions by members of council. The public hearing is closed. Comments by members of Council on Council Bill 7 to 1. Councilmember Ortega.
Speaker 9: Thank you, Madam President. I had an opportunity to attend one of the community meetings where this project was being discussed, and overwhelmingly people from the Belo community were very excited about the opportunity to see some commercial development there. So this is not just the Costco, right? There will be some other commercial development in the area. And certainly the the wages that Costco pays and just the offerings that they have where you can go and basically shop for a number of things. It is a membership driven entity, if you will. But that did not seem to be a deterrent for most of the people from the community. And I think this is going to be incredible for these neighbors, especially knowing the fact that many of them shop in Aurora and a lot of our our dollars, we call it leakage , basically are going to the neighboring county. And this is an opportunity to capture those revenues in the city of Denver. So I am very supportive of this moving forward tonight. So thank you, Madam President.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Councilmember Ortega. And not seeing anybody else up in the queue. I'll go ahead and make my comments now. It's a little bit surreal that we've gotten to this point. I want to really think the development team. You know, we heard from Mark Goldberg, we heard from Adam Meyers. We mentioned and could not be remiss in mentioning Nora Kimball. But then also Susan's Susan Stanton, who we lost last year in the month of August when we were coming forward to committee with this project. And I have to say, were we're carrying this forward in Susan's memory. She was of the community. She was integral in making sure that we were coordinating with Montebello 2020, with the Golden Age Club, with Montebello Walks with families forward, with Montebello Organizing Committee. This is a win for the neighborhood. They have championed access to full service grocery stores and retail for decades. I've lived in Montebello for 25 years. I know that there's folks that have been working on this for 40, 45, 50 years to get this in the community and our largest workforce. You know, area in the far northeast is Denver International Airport. Everybody else who works in the district, it's a mass exodus every single morning and every single night because we don't have employers who are close to home in our neighborhoods. And so to be able to have access to full service grocer but then a place in the neighborhood to go buy a pair of socks. If you needed a pair of socks to buy a pair of shoes to buy clothing. The only place now that we have had for decades are dollar trees and dollar stores. And to finally have a retailer, along with the full service food establishments and a gathering area in the community, along with well-paying jobs, with benefits, is a huge win. And I want to give this all the credit to the community for their advocacy. But then as well, I don't know, Marc, it was maybe four and a half years ago that I took Marc on a driving tour of the district and got him in my car, got him a cup of coffee. But then we were going to drive through Montebello. We were going to drive through Park Field. We drove through Green Valley Ranch and we drove the surrounding area. And I have to appreciate Marc and his vision to bring this forward, because we've had lots of bumps along the way, but very, very grateful that we got here. And I would be honored to have my colleagues tonight vote in favor of this rezoning of the 32 acres for the Flyway Project. And so with that being said, Madam Secretary, roll call on Council Bill 7 to 1, please.
Speaker 4: Black.
Speaker 7: I see tobacco.
Speaker 4: I.
Speaker 7: Clark.
Speaker 2: I.
Speaker 7: Flynn.
Speaker 3: I.
Speaker 2: Herndon, i.
Speaker 7: Cashman. I can eat.
Speaker 4: I.
Speaker 9: Ortega, I.
Speaker 7: Sandoval. Sawyer.
Speaker 4: I. Torres, I.
Speaker 7: Madam President.
Speaker 1: I. Madam Secretary, please close the voting and announce the results.
Speaker 7: 12 Eyes.
Speaker 1: 12 Eyes Council Bill 20 1-721 has passed. Thank you to the community members and the development team and Libby for joining us this evening for this hearing. And we're going to go ahead and move on to the courtesy, public hearing that we have on the bond package. Councilmember Cashman, will you please put Council Bill 864 on the floor for publication?
A bill for an ordinance changing the zoning classification for 16298 Green Valley Ranch Boulevard in Gateway - Green Valley Ranch.
Approves a map amendment to rezone property from PUD 319 to S-MX-3 and S-CC-3 (planned development to mixed-use), located at 16298 Green Valley Ranch Boulevard in Council District 11. The Committee approved filing this item at its meeting on 6-29-21.