City Council Study Session - August 13, 2024: Development Enforcement, Communications Update, and Agenda Process Discussion
City Council Study Session - August 13, 2024
The Brighton City Council held a study session on Tuesday, August 13, 2024, beginning at 6:00 PM (local time) in the Study Session Room. The meeting included discussions on a proposed development reporting and enforcement mechanism, a department update from Communications and Engagement, and a proposed change to the council's agenda item request process. No formal votes were taken, but staff received direction to prepare ordinances and rule revisions.
Consent Calendar
- The appointment of Eliza Stowe to the Brighton Housing Authority board was recommended by staff and will be placed on the consent agenda for the next regular council meeting.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were made during the study session.
Discussion Items
Development Reporting Mechanism and Enforcement Tools
- Community Development Director Holly Prather presented a comprehensive set of proposed amendments to the Land Use and Development Code, developed jointly with the City Attorney's office. Key proposals included:
- Defining specific violations (e.g., failure to comply with code conditions, recording documents without city approval, obstructing posted notices).
- Establishing enforcement procedures: notice of violation with opportunity to cure (30-60 days), then municipal court summons and penalties.
- Allowing the city to withhold building permits, certificates of occupancy, water taps, and impose stop work orders.
- Requiring city council approval of subdivision plans (instead of merely accepting public improvements).
- Instituting quarterly reports to council on administrative approvals (plat amendments, final plats, development agreements).
- Requiring property owners or applicants to attend all public hearings; otherwise automatic continuance.
- Council members expressed strong support for giving the city “teeth” to enforce existing development agreements. Councilman Snyder asked about retroactive application; City Attorney Alicia Calderon explained that criminal citations cannot be retroactive, but violations occurring after ordinance passage can be enforced, including ongoing violations of existing agreements.
- Councilman Johnston noted that 13 active subdivisions with development agreements would benefit from the new tools. The city has new software (OpenGov) that can flag parcels and block permits until obligations are met.
- Councilman Pulowski raised concerns about the Farkas property (parks not built). Staff explained that past lack of enforcement was due to limited staffing, legal resources, and tracking technology.
- Councilman Green asked about proving removal of posted signs and the need for technology to track benchmarks. Staff confirmed the new software can flag permit triggers.
- The city manager added that the city plans to hire an additional attorney focused on land use. The ordinance is expected to be brought back within the next month (likely September 2024).
Communications and Engagement Department Update
- The entire communications team presented updates on youth services, special events, the Armory, and arts and culture. Highlights included:
- ADA Compliance: The city has remediated 60% of its website for accessibility and is working under a state grace period (potential $3,500 fine per violation). Training sessions were held for staff.
- Civic Academy: 12 registrants for the upcoming session starting in September.
- SeeClickFix: Requests grew from ~200 in 2018 to ~2,000 in 2022; staff are enhancing management.
- Youth Services (Tanya Russell): The Growing Grads internship program had 14 interns; 27 young entrepreneurs in the summer program sold $2,755 in products. The Brighton Youth Commission received a National Philanthropy Day award. The Image Summit (statewide youth leadership conference) expects 200-400 attendees.
- Events (Gary Montoya): Summerfest, July 4th fireworks (dry weather), Flicks & Kicks movie nights with themed activities. The food festival was moved to October 19, 2024. The holiday tree lighting is December 7.
- Armory: Private rentals increasing; contract with liquor concessionaire will be rebid later in 2024. The Armory aims to be a Northeast Metro Denver entertainment hub.
- Arts and Culture: First year of receiving SCFD grants (recommended $110,000). Traffic box mural project received 130 submissions, with 7 selected for installation.
- Lodging Tax: $214,000 awarded to various organizations and departments.
- Council members praised the department's work, especially the youth programs, signal box murals, and the “We Are Brighton” banners.
Council Agenda Item Request Process Discussion
- Mayor Pro Tem Padilla proposed changing the rule so that three council members (instead of two) are required to add an item to a regular city council meeting agenda. He argued it would keep council focused on strategic policy rather than administrative details.
- Councilman Snyder raised concerns about potential violations of open meeting laws if three members discuss privately. Mayor Pro Tem clarified that the change applies only to regular meetings, not special meetings (which require two members per charter).
- Councilman Johnston strongly opposed, stating the change would limit minority voices and public input, as citizens cannot speak at study sessions. He noted that the current two-member rule is a safeguard for the minority.
- Councilman Fiedler noted that the mayor and city manager are the gatekeepers per charter, and changing the rule might be unnecessary given one recent incident.
- Councilman Green suggested that instead of making it harder to get on a regular meeting, the council should create a mechanism for two members to place items on a study session agenda.
- City Manager Martinez noted that policy items are intended for study session discussions and are underutilized.
- Council consensus: Staff will draft revisions to the council rules, including: (1) changing the threshold to three members for adding items to a regular meeting agenda; (2) allowing two members to add items to a study session agenda; (3) clarifying the consent agenda process (city manager determines, any objection removes it).
Key Outcomes
- Development Enforcement Ordinance: Staff will return with a draft ordinance within the next month (likely September 2024) for first reading. The ordinance will include enforcement mechanisms, penalties, and the ability to withhold permits.
- Council Rules Revision: Staff will prepare proposed rule changes to increase the threshold for adding items to a regular meeting agenda from two to three council members, and to allow two members to add items to a study session agenda. The revisions will be brought back for discussion at a future meeting.
- Communications Update: The department will continue its ADA compliance efforts, pursue the 2025 community survey (budgeted at $25,000), and improve event programming (digital screen for movies, new liquor concessionaire for the Armory).
- Budget Meeting: The next study session (August 27, 2024) will be a budget meeting starting at noon (public session at 1:00 PM).
- Appointment: Eliza Stowe's appointment to the Housing Authority will be on the consent agenda for the next regular meeting.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening, everybody. I'd like to call to order our city council study session for Tuesday, August 13th, 2024. I'm gonna ask Mayor Pro Tempadilla to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. All right, let's fall back here. Um, before we get into our items here, I just wanted to let everyone know um our district attorney was scheduled to be here tonight originally, and then he changed it, and it sounds like he's uh changing his time to meet with us probably sometime in the fall. So with that, first item is consider appointment to the Brighton Housing Authority, City Manager Martinez. Thank you, Mayor, good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, members of council, our city clerk is here to present this item. Thank you, City Manager Martinez. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. The housing authority is recommending the appointment of Eliza Stowe as a member of their board. They interviewed her and would like to appoint her. Does anybody have any comment? Mayor Pro Tem. I just have two quick questions for you. Um the first one is I think the vacancy is an alternate position, is that correct? Yes. Yes. Okay. Excellent. And then the the second question, just because it's not in in the letter, uh, Ms. Stowe is a Brighton resident. I have her information in the back. Yes. I think I'm seeing a nod from the executive. I was not prepared for those questions. That's okay. Those were the only two questions that I had. I I'm sorry to have missed the interviews, but I'm very glad to see that now we're very close. Will this make it a complete board? No. No, we'll still have one vacancy. Okay. But we're getting closer. Thank you. Any other feedback? Questions. This will be on consent agenda next week. Thank you. Thank you. Next is development uh reporting mechanism enforcement tools discussion. City Manager Martinez. Thank you, Mayor. As our director of community development comes up. This is a joint effort between community development and our city attorney's office, as you'll recall. Definitely want to give thanks to the uh city attorney's office for looking at creative ways that we can do this. I will say that one of the things that we are going to do on top of what you'll hear tonight is look at the enforcement mechanisms from a staffing perspective. And as you know, as a city, we've grown so much over the past 30 years that a part of the lack of enforcement, if you will, has been because we've been a growing city. We have had a lot of changes as a city overall from a structural standpoint here internally. And you know, there has been a time where we didn't have a city attorney in office, right? We had a city attorney who was a contract employee.
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