Hey Denver, it's time for the weekly general session of your Denver City Council.

Tonight's coverage of Denver City Council starts now.

Tonight's meeting is being interpreted into Spanish.

Sam or Jasmine, would you please introduce yourself and let our viewers know how to enable translation on their devices?

Yes, of course.

Thank you for having us.

Hello, everyone.

My name is Sam Guzman joining you virtually.

With the CLC and along with my colleague Jasmine.

We will be interpreting today's meeting into Spanish.

Please allow me a quick minute.

Thank you very much, Sam.

Welcome to the Denver City Council meeting of Monday, March 2nd, 2026.

Council members, please join Council Pro Tem Romero Campbell in the Pledge of Allegiance.

To the United States of America.

One nation under God.

Liberty and justice for all.

Council members, please join Council.

The Denver City Council honors and acknowledges that the land on which we reside is the traditional territory of the Ute Cheyenne and Arapahoe peoples.

We also recognize the 48 contemporary tribal nations that are historically tied to the lands that make up the state of Colorado.

We honor elders, past, present, and future, and those who have stewarded this land throughout generations.

We also recognize that government, academic, and cultural institutions were founded upon and continue to enact exclusions and erasures of indigenous peoples.

May this acknowledgement demonstrate a commitment to working to dismantle ongoing legacies of oppression and inequities, and recognize the current and future contributions of Indigenous communities in Denver.

Thank you.

Albitrez.

Here's Gonzalez Gutierrez.

Here.

Torres.

There.

Madam President Sandoval?

Here.

There are eleven members present.

City Council has a quorum.

Approval of the minutes.

Are there corrections to the minutes of February 23rd?

Seeing none, the minutes stand approved.

Council announcements.

Are there any announcements for members of council?

Council Personal Campbell, go ahead.

Thank you, Madam President.

I wanted to invite the District 4 community to come to a community open house next, not next Wednesday, in two weeks on Wednesday, March 18th.

Doors open at 5 p.m.

It's going to be at Thomas Jefferson High School.

We have a number of agencies that'll be there to answer questions, talk about different projects that are happening in um in the district, and uh Councilwoman Gonzalez Gutierrez will also be there with the table to um to answer questions as well and just interact with community.

So we're really happy to have that, and we invite you all to come.

Uh I also have another just announcement acknowledgement, and I just wanted to acknowledge you, Council President Sandoval, for it's a big week, and you will be graduating, and usually we congratulate after a graduation, but I think that this is a really special week for you.

And so for those of you that aren't aware, but I think most of you are, that she will be graduating from the University of Colorado Denver with an executive MBA.

And so I just want to extend a congratulations to you for this accomplishment.

Thank you.

Councilmember Alviderez.

Thank you so much, Council President.

I want to start by thanking District 7 community showing up so amazingly on Saturday.

We had an amazing show with MODIS Theater.

People were able to show and share incredible stories about love, adversity, and community.

And I'm so grateful for the turnout and the power that was brought to the space.

There was not a dry eye in the room, and I feel like it really shifted the conversation in District 7 and telling the stories of what's happening.

Also, I want to congratulate Aguanile.

I was able to host their or attend their grand opening.

We have our first Puerto Rican bar in Denver, right outside public transit of Alameda Station.

So that's like two of my favorite things right there.

It's a beautiful place with amazing cocktails and food, so definitely support our Puerto Rican uh neighbors and visit Aguanila soon.

And then I also wanted to thank DPD District 3.

They were able to get the person that was assaulting women on South Broadway.

So we feel a lot safer.

We're still having our self-defense class on Saturday, so come one come all to that.

Very happy and grateful that that person is no longer on the streets.

I also wanted to address some of a conversation around Alameda Avenue recently, and start by saying Alameda never had a plan for just two lanes.

It's always been three lanes.

So please reach out to us if you have questions.

I also just want to say it's wholly inappropriate to label my constituents as Trumpian or dismiss their concerns as conspiracy theories.

These residents who are worried about their safety are participating in a democratic process.

They're showing up, they're asking questions, and they're advocating for their families.

This is not extremism, this is civic engagement.

And at a time when our country is so divided, local government should be the place where we model respect and bring people together.

As elected officials, we sign up to be criticized, we sign up to be challenged, and we do not get to call our community members' names, call RO leaders names, and a lot of this council that signed on to these letters.

Are they also under this Trumpian word that he just used to describe people that are advocating for themselves?

We can debate design, we can debate data.

We can disagree on the best approach, but we shouldn't be demeaning the people that elected us to serve them.

And my commitment is to keep the focus on safety, transparency, and respect for every resident in Denver.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Cashman.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Prev.

Um, first let me start by uh thanking my colleague uh Councilwoman Albedrez for her uh words, which I agree with a hundred percent.

I was surprised and disappointed in the mayor's characterization of our residents.

Um couple of things uh I wanted to share on April 1st.

Uh the district six office will be hosting our annual uh, we call it the Academy and the Community at Cook Park Recreation Center from 6 to 8 p.m.

We'll have about 30 city agencies and outside partners uh at tables uh for people to come in, ask questions, get answered face to face, rather than uh sit in chairs and listen to talking heads and tell you the way it is.

Um we'll have parks and rec, uh public health and environment, uh community planning and development, uh, transportation infrastructure, uh, dozens of other city agencies will have Excel Energy, uh, Denver Water, and as I said, a bunch of outside partners.

So it's a great opportunity to meet uh folks face to face and get your concerns addressed.

Um final thing I wanted to mention uh I have a proclamation going through on consent this evening.

Pamela Walsh is a resident of the Virginia Village neighborhood.

In 2019, Pamela left a 20-year career in the corporate world to start a an important nonprofit called The Love Project, and she spelled it L O V V E for Virginia Village.

Over the years, Pamela, her board, and a group of couple dozen volunteers have been delivering fresh uh uh meats and uh fruits and vegetables, hygiene projects to literally thousands of Southeast Denver families, primarily through McMean and uh Ellis Elementaries and most recently uh adding uh Place Bridge Academy to the mix.

Uh Pamela and her husband are relocating and uh fortunately she's leaving the Love Project in good hands and the good work will continue on, but I just wanted to raise her name and uh uh tell her how thankful we are for the good work she's done for families who really needed her services.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Councilmember Lewis.

Thank you.

Um and thank you, Councilmember Albert, for your road, your words.

Excuse me, regarding Alameda and your constituents as the chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

I've actually been very impressed with your constituents and their engagement and the amount of expertise that they hold on regarding this topic.

So I was also pretty disappointed to see that characterization.

So thank you for standing up for them.

Um I also wanted to make a few announcements.

Um so this one is in regarding and 13th and 14th in my district.

Um councilwoman Silver, Councilwoman Gonzalez Gutierrez, Councilwoman Parity, and Councilman Hines.

Um submitted a letter to Director Ford within the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure regarding their rollout of the construction of 13th and 14th, which was quite chaotic.

Um, and I am pleased that we received a response from Director Ford.

I'm not going to read the full response here, but I did want to say that I appreciate that Dottie and Director Ford are taking responsibility for how the project was ruled out.

And I quote, I would like to start by apologizing as Dottie recognizes that our communication around this project was not at the level it should have been.

Um so Director Ford also responded with dot what will Dottie, what Dottie will be doing going forward to be able to address this issue.

Um, and so again, I quote an enhanced chain of command approval process before any project hits the streets.

That includes a review of stakeholder engagement and communication checklists.

We will immediately review projects that directly impact residents that are pending in the near and medium term to ensure that we provide sufficient public notification prior to proceeding.

This will include a review of when and to who the engagement and notification occurred, and then finally a call for staff to pause implementation of any project found to have an adequate notification or engagement in order to complete the process prior to proceeding.

I mean, so we'll continue to keep an eye on this situation and we'll continue to discuss the rollout with Dottie and to hold him accountable to these commitments.

Um that said, I do appreciate Director Ford for admitting the mistake and working to figure out how to improve it as we look at the other um segments in my district and outside of my district.

Um, additionally, uh we have community panels.

Um it's that time of year again in the council of eight office.

We'll be hosting community panels for input from constituents in D8 this year.

We will have four meetings, which will uh be virtual sessions on Wednesday, March 25th in the evening.

It's free to sign up and attend.

You can email Jesse.

I also wanted to thank all those who were able to join our joint town hall, our joint RO Town Hall last Tuesday.

We had robust conversations with the different city agencies as well as talk 13th and 14th, um, and another of other resources for district eight in particular, and then I just wanted to conclude with um thanking of the everyday people in Iran um tonight and hoping for peace, um, not just there, just in this country or in this world in general.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Watson.

Thank you, Council President.

I want to first thank the uh members of the community uh for coming out last uh Tuesday evening to our discussion around data centers.

And so there were over 200 um individuals that came out to uh a meeting in Swansea community to share their thoughts and to communicate clearly of their expectations for data centers as far as the impact to our environment, our ear, a water, and to make sure that we have a robust process to provide feedback and for our community voices to be included.

Um I want to thank uh councilmember uh Cashman um for um sharing the opportunity to speak to the administration on a moratorium of any building of data centers and look forward to collaborating with my colleagues um as well on regulatory changes um for data centers.

Um next tomorrow.

Let me pull up the on March 3rd uh tomorrow.

We're holding our first um Walton Next Steps um community advisory group meeting um from 5 o'clock until 6 p.m.

at the Blair Caldwell African American um library in uh five points.

This will be the first meeting of the community advisor group to look at um the mobility study that Dotti is working in collaboration with um the regional transportation district as well as with community to look at really what steps can we take to increase multimodal options throughout the Waller Street corridor.

We encourage all neighbors to show up.

We had about uh 30 folks that applied for the community advisory group.

Um we selected about 18 folks throughout robust process.

Anyone that uh applied to participate is also encouraged to attend each and every single meeting.

We plan on having at minimum uh three community advisory group meetings.

So once again, our first community advisor group of welcome street uh next steps process.

It will be tomorrow from 5 to 6 p.m.

Um at the Blair Calwell uh African American Research Library in the amazing five points.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Um in honor of 303 day tomorrow, which is tomorrow, March 3rd.

I wanted to share three things that I love about Denver.

First is La Rasa Park.

If anyone knows me, La Rasa Park is in my council district.

I love that park with every fiber of my being, and good news is it's opening soon, hopefully right before Cinco de Mayo.

So that is fingers crossed.

Second is La Casita, where I grew up being raised by my father who was at Tamalero, and I learned a lot of the skills that I get to apply right now.

And fourth is the neighborhood I represent, the north side.

I think I love the north side with every fiber of my being.

I talk about the north side all the time.

It's where I was born and raised.

I went to high school, where I raised my kids.

I don't know, Councilmember Flynn, we I might have the highest point.

I just got some new data.

We have an ongoing joke who has the highest area.

I have Inspiration Point all the way to Sloan's Lake, all the way down to the Platte River, and I'm just so blessed to be able to represent that community.

Um, and then on Sunday, March 8th, we celebrate International Women's Day by honoring the strength, leadership, and achievements of women in Denver and around the world.

And I would just like to recognize this council.

We have Councilwoman Torres, we have Councilwoman Romero Campbell, we have Councilwoman Sawyer, we have Councilwoman Alvidres, we have Councilwoman Lewis, we have Council Pr Councilperson Gilmore, Councilwoman Parity, and Councilwoman Gonzalez Gutierrez Gutierrez, and myself.

And people like my mom and all of our moms and all of the women who helped raise us have lifted us up that we have a majority of women on council.

And so just wanted to recognize that on International Women's Day and celebrate all the lovely women and how wicked smart you all are, how thoughtful you all are, and how over the last year and a half you all have helped me become a better leader.

So I just really wanted to call all of us out on this on for March 8th.

And last but not least, my little girl, my her birthday is on Wednesday, and so I just want to give a shout out to my daughter Bella, who um has made me such a, I love being a mom.

Like she's my first kid, and she's one of the greatest things that's ever happened to me, besides her brother.

Um so happy birthday, Bella.

I say, I get to say I have a favorite daughter because I only have one daughter.

So um seeing no other council announcements, there are no presentations, there are no communications, there's one proclamation being read this afternoon.

Councilmember Albides, would you please read proclamation 0224?

Yes, thank you.

A proclamation honoring Adelante Latina Day.

Whereas International Women's Day, observed annually on March 8th is a global celebration of social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women, and a call to action to accelerate gender equity across all sectors of society.

And whereas International Women's Day traces its roots to labor movements led by working women demanding fair wages, safe working conditions, and the right to vote, reminding us that the fight for gender equity has always been rooted in courage and collective action.

And whereas the Adelante Latina Convention holds an incredible place in the heart and soul of Latina Coloradans, Adelante Latina Convention will be a Spanish language Latina convention in the city and county of Denver on March 7, 2026, in commemoration of the International Women's Day.

And whereas Denver's cultural and linguistic diversity is a source of strength and Spanish language spaces like the Adelante Latina Convention ensure that leadership development and economic opportunity are accessible, culturally rooted and inclusive.

And whereas the Adelante Latina Convention is a celebration of culture, community, innovation, entrepreneurship, empowerment, and leadership that uplifts Denver's wealth of cultural and linguistic diversity.

And whereas Adelante Latina Convention will be held during celebrations of International Women's Day with the Adelante Latina Convention reminding us that the city and county of Denver's identity is a fabric of diverse traditions and is bonded together, and that we must embrace equity.

And whereas Latina entrepreneurs, professionals, educators, parents, leaders, and community members are part of the city and county of Denver's strength, Latina's value of faith, love, family, and loyalty to the community highlight their strong contributions.

And whereas Adelante Community Development is committed to the success of Latinas and the city and county of Denver, their commitment to prosperity of every Latina girl and woman to help them thrive by offering educational opportunities, entrepreneurship opportunities, and access to a better quality of life, removing barriers, and ensuring Latinas have what they need to thrive and continue creating their economic wealth, providing equity and education opportunity and ensuring equitable access to health and wellbeing.

And whereas the American dream has been built and sustained by immigrant women whose labor leadership and love have strengthened families and communities across generations.

And whereas this month we honor the critical work that Adelante Latina Convention provides for Latinas in the city and county of Denver and statewide.

Now therefore, be it proclaimed by Denver City Council, Section 1, March 5th, 2026 is Adelante Latina Day in the City and County of Denver.

Section two, that the clerk of the city and county of Denver shall affix the seal of the city and county of Denver to this proclamation and that a copy be transmitted to Adelante Community Development.

Thank you.

And I'd also like to welcome that.

Councilperson Gilmar to the meeting.

Councilmember Albides, your motion to adopt.

I move that proclamation 26-0224 be adopted.

Comments by members of council.

Councilmember Albidez.

Thank you, Council President, and thank you for your beautiful words.

I think all women are a part of uplifting our community.

And the more we stick together, the more we advance together.

Adelante, what they're doing here is very, very important work.

Uh, it's a time where Latino people in general are experiencing a level of racism and prejudice that we haven't experienced in a while.

And the fact that immigrants add to our community, that add to the economic opportunity for others, that the values are about inclusivity, and what I appreciate about it being in Spanish as well as Spanish has been spoken in this state for a long, long time.

In fact, our constitution was also written in Spanish.

And so having a space for women that speak Spanish, they often feel left out, they often are embarrassed to speak up.

They often are seen as less smart because of an accent.

And that is absolutely not true.

We can speak often more than one language, and maybe we don't speak the second one perfectly, but we are going above and beyond what the average American who only speaks one language can do.

And so I just want to thank all of you for everything that you do.

And I feel like as Latinas and as immigrants, we have to do way better than the average person, because we have to meet where other people are, and that we have to prove that we know just as much, that we work twice as hard, that we are just as smart as everybody else.

And so the work that you're doing and the space to be an entrepreneur that speaks Spanish, which is most of my family, which is was me being an entrepreneur in construction in a male-dominated industry where people would often tell me we want to talk to your dad, or we want to talk to your brother, who my brother never even worked in construction.

Sorry, brother.

But uh, this is important, and I'm so proud to be uplifting you all today.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Council members Gilmore.

Aye.

Hi.

Albidrez.

Hi.

Gonzalez Gutierrez.

Aye, Cashman, Lewis, Romero Campbell.

Aye.

Torres.

Aye.

Watson.

Aye.

Madam President.

Aye.

Madam Secretary, close the voting, announce the results.

12 eyes.

Twelve eyes proclamation 0224 has been adopted.

We now have time for the proclamation acceptance.

Councilmember Alvidres, who would you be inviting up to who will you be inviting up to accept the proclamation?

Maria, please come accept the proclamation.

Thank you.

What an honor.

Thank you.

I am joined today by our board of directors and Adams representatives from Adams as well.

And a lot of community, Latina entrepreneurs, immigrants.

On behalf of all of our community, we want to say thank you.

And we wouldn't be here if we don't stand on shoulders of women like Katherine Archulera, who joins us here.

Paulibaca, Rosemary Rodriguez, Ramona Martinez, Patricia Varela, and many, many others that have opened the doors for Latinas like me and others to really come and thrive in opportunities when they are open.

City and County of Denver, I really want to express this our deepest gratitude for proclaiming Adelante Latina Day and for recognizing the economic, cultural, and civic contributions of Latinas in our city.

This is an act of representing more than a symbolic moment in the current political pandemic that we are living.

It is a public commitment to equity, opportunity, and the leadership of Latinas who strengthen families and build businesses and uplift communities like Denver.

A special thank you to councilwoman Florida for her leadership and for really championing this proclamation with clarity and conviction of who we are and what we are standing for.

Your support really sends a powerful message to Denver to see Latinas that value our work and our discipline and our courage, but we're also ready to stand with us and to continue to build wealth for our prosperity in Denver and the entire state of Colorado.

On behalf of Adelante community and all over the community that we represent for the last 10 years, we want to thank you for making this space a historic recognition for really making sure that Latinas have a space to celebrate in Denver and across the strait, and that we will continue to work with pride and responsibility to expand real opportunities to see more Latinas to thrive.

Thank you so much for this special moment for us.

Um thank you.

Madam Secretary, please read the bill for introduction.

There is no fee.

The grants for 90 days for install and then access and maintenance until terminated in Council District 9.

26-0153, a bill for an ordinance approving a proposed second revival and amendatory agreement between the city and county of Denver and Community College of Denver to support the Denver Construction Careers Program incumbent worker training program citywide.

26-0154, a bill for an ordinance authorizing capital equipment purchases from the Airport Enterprise Fund.

From the South Platte River Committee, 26-0139, a bill for an ordinance relinquishing an easement in its entirety, reserve and ordinance number 31, series of 1941.

Recorded with the Denver Clerk and Recorder at Book A-26, pages 25 through 31, located at 1100 North Federal Boulevard.

And from the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, 26-0138, a bill for an ordinance relinquishing a portion of the utility easement reserves and ordinance number 002, series of 2002.

Recorded with the Denver Clerk and Recorder at reception number 2002008116, located at 2500 East Second Avenue.

Thank you.

Council Pro Temer Mayor Campbell, you make the motions for us this evening.

Yes, Council President.

I'll do a recap.

Under resolution, council resolution 0105 has been called out for postponement due to pursuant called out for postponement pursuant to rule 3.6 by Councilmember Lewis and Council Resolution 0158 has been called out for postponement to rule 3.6 by Councilmember Lewis.

Under bills for introduction, no items have been called out.

Under bills for final consideration, I am calling out Council Bill 0128 for and council bill 0125 has been called out for comments and a vote by Councilmember Lewis and Alvides.

Under pending, no items have been called out.

Madam Secretary, please put the first item on our screens.

Council Resolution 0105, a resolution approving a proposed agreement between the city and county of Denver and Comply AI Inc.

for the implementation and ongoing support of AI guided plan review platform.

Councilmember Lewis, what would you like to do with council resolution 010?

Thank you.

I'd like to call this item out for postponement because I wanted to be able to look into modules two and three to be able to sort out some information.

No motion is required.

Madam Secretary, please put the next item on our screens.

Council resolution 0158, a resolution approving and providing for the execution of a proposed grant agreement between the city and county of Denver and State of Colorado Regional Transportation District concerning the RTD DR, Dr.

Cog, Surface Transportation Block Grant, Central Corridor Vision and Alternatives Analysis Program and further therefore.

Councilmember Lewis, what would you like to do with Council Resolution 260158?

Thank you.

I'd like to postpone this item as well.

I'm in the same manner just to give me the opportunity to connect with RTD as well as Dottie.

I understand this contract.

Okay, no motion is required.

And Council Resolution 0158 has been postponed to the meeting on the March 9th, 2026.

Madam Secretary, please put the next item on our screens.

Council Bill 0128, a bill for an ordinance regarding fiscal reporting to the city council.

Requires quarterly quarterly financial reports to be submitted by city council.

Councilmember Sawyer, want to go ahead first.

Yeah, thanks, Madam President.

Um I want to just say thank you to you, Madam President, for your partnership on this.

Um, really excited to have this ordinance come through and want to also thank the Department of Finance for their willingness to work with us on this.

The charter gives City Council budget oversight authority and we work really hard to make sure that we are elevating the concerns of our residents around our budget priorities, which we create as council over a series of two days, well, like a day and a half.

Um, one where we talk through kind of overarching priorities, and then the second where we really get down into the specifics of the policies that we would like to push forward and make sure that on the operational side are being funded, which are policies that really matter to us as council members because that's what we have heard from our residents, and of course it's our job to ensure that we are elevating the voices of our communities.

That's what we do here.

So, really excited about this ordinance because the the biggest challenge we find is that we don't get enough information about the city and county of Denver's financial picture, right?

We only really get it twice a year.

We get it July 1st when the base budget is released, and then we get it September 15th when the reposed budget for the following year is released.

Um, and that's not really, in my opinion, enough to do our job well.

Um, that's not oversight.

So uh I will say, you know, there was a there was a day when I had to do a craft project where I cut up two different budget books um and taped them together onto a piece of paper in order to see uh the trends that were kind of going across time between information we had been given, you know, over the course of a couple of different years.

And I don't want any future councils to have to do that.

Um, I and I really appreciate that the Department of Finance recognizes and and is willing to work with us on that.

So um thank you all very much for the opportunity and for your support on this.

We're really excited about it, and we do think that it will start to provide us more information.

It's not going to be a silver bullet, but it will start to provide council more information so that we can sort of see that bigger picture of what the budget actuals look like so that as we're having these conversations about what uh programs and legislation we want to fund and how we want to fund it so that we can ensure that the voices of our residents are being heard.

Um, this is a a key piece of information that we need in order to do that.

So thank you, madam president.

Thank you.

Um, and I want to just say thank you for working on this with me.

Um, it's just good governance.

There's lots of municipalities that do this, and so for those who might be confused what this means, is quarterly at this meeting at the very beginning.

You heard me say, are there any communications?

So during that portion of the council meeting, when it says council communications, we'll just read a sentence into the um record, and it can remind you that there is a dashboard that we can all go on and we can start looking at that dashboard.

Oftentimes this work is um so vast that things are out of sight and out of mind, you kind of forget until you're like, oh, I got the budget in July.

So this will just help us all remember and hearing it from the council president, whoever serves in this role is a great way to codify it, and then it's in the record for anyone in the public who wants to see it.

So, um, and thank you the Department of Finance and the Administration for working on this.

I think it went pretty smoothly, and you all agreed that it was also good governance as well, and actually implemented a dashboard that you had created and would highlight and elevate that dashboard.

So thank you all.

Um Madam Secretary, please put the next item on our screens.

Council bill 0125, a bill for an ordinance amending chapter 28 of the revised municipal code concerning law enforcement officer identification.

Council Pro Temer Mero Campbell, will you please put council bill 0125 on the floor for a final passage?

Yes, I move that council bill 0125 be placed upon final consideration and do pass.

Apologies, Madam President, we're having technical issue with law in the gender, I guess, manually, but we will need a verbal second or second.

Okay, we have a motion by pro-temperomero Campbell and a second by Councilwoman Albidrez.

It has been moved.

Seconded comments by members of council on Council 0125.

Councilmember Lewis Alvidres, I'm gonna just let you two figure out who goes first.

Okay.

Um so thank you so much.

I really appreciate it.

Um so before you all knew the names of folks like Keith Border Jr., Renee Nicole Good, or even Alex Brady, Councilwoman, just and I started working on this piece of legislation because we thought it was really important for communities.

Um we wanted to make sure that we were keeping people safe and help Denver to keep to help Denver to continue to be a welcoming place in the interviewing intervening months, unfortunately.

Um we've seen why this policy is so necessary, um, not just for the communities that have been targeted by federal law enforcement, but also for those who watch out for those communities, um, as you saw with Alex Freddy as well as uh Renee Nicole Good.

Um I'm proud of the bill that we have here tonight, though there's always room for improvement, and I hope that we may serve as a model for other municipalities across the country to do exactly what it is that Councilwoman Alvidres and I set out to do.

Um, I'm thankful for my colleagues and the questions that you all answered and the feedback that you all provided in regarding this bill.

Um I believe that it is in a much stronger place because of the collaboration with each of you, and with the passage of this bill tonight, we will increase transparency, we'll increase accountability and protections for the citizens of Denver.

Um, and I also wanted to say, because this has come up with communities that because we are making sure that there are protections in place for folks who are um in our community, there is nothing in this that lets you all know that we support the illegal deportations of the communities or the kidnappings of the folks in our communities.

So I can't underscore that enough.

Um, and then finally, I call this out for a vote tonight because I believe firmly in the principles it represents, and I wanted to be able to cast a vote that reflects that belief.

So thank you, Councilwoman Alvidres, for your work on this.

Thank you, Councilwoman Lewis.

I'm to all of our colleagues who I feel like everyone played a role in pushing this forward and to Council President as well.

I think, you know, Councilman Cashman speaking up and other people just really thoughtfully caring about their constituents and caring about the constitution of the United States and what we were sworn on our oath as council members to uphold.

And I would say Councilwoman Lewis started working on this on her own.

I was working on this on my own, and then they weren't we were told that we were both working on the same thing.

Um that means so much to me uh to know that you were already working on this before you know I had reached out, I had reached out because I got calls from people in my community that were telling me I've seen people with masks, I don't know who they are.

How am I gonna know if this person a criminal or a law enforcement agent or not, or whatever else they are?

And it was Laura Savansa, is the first person that called me, so shout out to you, Laura, and really held me to task.

She's like, what are you gonna do about this?

How can they, whoever these people are, whether it's federal agents or rogue individuals, because there was so much confusion a year ago, where I was hearing that there were bounties placed on immigrants' head for snatching them up, whether or not you are a law enforcement agent.

And I think Councilwoman Parody said it best when she said we've taken for granted that uh law enforcement doesn't wear masks.

We never thought that we had to ask because we haven't had to ask our DPD or our local law enforcement not to wear masks.

So I think this is critical when someone is in their home and someone's knocking on their door and they have a mask and a gun.

Who's gonna answer the door?

Why would you?

You need to know there is the basic constitutional requirement here.

This is literally the bare minimum that we can do.

And we've said that over and over again.

This isn't the greatest legislation ever packed to protect immigrant rights.

This is literally trying to find the bare minimum that we can do to help people have some sense of safety and security in our city.

So thank you for your partnership.

Thank you to all my colleagues who have helped us get to this point.

Thank you.

Can I just add one more thing?

Yeah, and then and thank you for saying that, and I think it's really important because I think what Councilwoman Alviders and I would hear, and you all probably heard from your communities as when ICE gets here, when ICE gets weird, when Ice gets here, and ICE has been here for quite some time, just maybe to not the degree invisibility that we've seen in other communities, and so we have been prepared for ICE to be here, and so thank you for that foresight.

Thank you.

So the key you have to do manual, we're doing old school.

In the case, I have Councilman Scutieris, followed by Councilmember Twin.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um I want to thank you both Councilwoman Lewis and Elvidres for working on this issue.

This work began months ago, as I know.

Um, it's you you and I had talked about it.

Um so I'm really glad that you all took the steps necessary.

Um this was brought up way before an executive order was announced, as we heard last week from the mayor, and I'm thankful for your leadership, both of you.

Our council is bold and diverse.

We come to the table with different perspectives, and there's a lot of power in that.

Regardless of the executive order, I want to encourage us all to continue working on solidifying things to live in our code, ensuring that we have the protections for everyone, regardless of who is in leadership.

We talk about this all the time.

It's important to codify these things and protections for people in our city, and that's exactly what we are doing this evening, and so I'm thankful um for that.

There's a lot of work that has been done in the past, and now I'm proud to vote yes tonight on this legislation to continue strengthening our communities.

I'm grateful that we are answering the call from our community, and that this is the step in the right direction to promoting community safety.

Again, I'm thankful for your leadership, and I look forward to future collaborations to continue building protections for our community.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Councilmember Flynn followed by Councilwoman Torres.

Thank you, Madam President.

As a first as an American, and uh secondly, as a retired journalist, I spend a lot of my time uh consuming a lot of news and reports, court rulings, original source documents and following uh this issue, and I I was struck by how many voices I've heard, not just on the left, but also on the right, on the libertarian right, on the conservative right, and in the center, where most Americans are, frankly, on what we're seeing in the streets as far as immigration enforcement in this current administration, which by the way is unlike immigration enforcement in the first Trump administration in Trump 1.0.

It was not like this.

And so I was uh I was particularly interested in reading uh commentators from the Cato Institute, uh, which is right-leaning and uh here locally by uh the independence institute, John Caldera.

And uh, if John ever watches this, I will uh I hesitate to quote him uh favorably, but I will uh John Caldera noted that masked law enforcement increases distrust of police, and it's very harmful for our Denver police when we're trying to have a community trust them and be able to reach out to them when they need to have the public think that law enforcement could be masked.

I don't know who that is.

The Cato Institute has had commentators on this, and I encourage people to read that as well.

So when I looked back at the numbers of both uh removals and uh returns of of undocumented immigrants through the last one, two, three, four, five, six presidencies.

Um, four of them, three Democratic and one Republican, George Bush.

Bill Clinton, uh Barack Obama, and yes, Joe Biden, all had higher numbers than Trump 1.0, and in the first year of Trump 2.0, higher numbers.

But they were doing it following the law, following due process, what our constitution requires.

So it's very disturbing to me as an American to see masked agents on the street.

I uh I don't know what the best way is to enforce our immigration laws, but I think I know the worst way when I see it.

And so I think this is a prudent measure for us to take.

And I I hope that it's followed.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Councilmember Torres.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you to the sponsors.

Um I think you did really good work here on an issue that is uh sometimes a little hard to nail down exactly.

What what is the what is the language look like?

What does it mean to us in application terms?

So I thank you for taking that on.

Um working on immigration policy at the local level is always really hard because people will constantly tell you that's a federal issue.

And we know there are things that only the feds can do.

We have families who come every week asking for work permits, and we can't give them that.

Um, but I appreciate you zeroing in on something that we can do as a reflection of what we expect in our city borders, and um and you can put it into policy here in a way that made sense, right, to all of the actors that do law enforcement and were advocates community as well.

Um, I ran Denver's immigration and uh refugee affairs office for 13 years, and it wasn't until 2017 that we really had to um uh show what we were about as a city, and we did that through policy, and so thank you for taking on the hard work, um, taking the feedback and making it better, because I think you did, and I'm honored to vote for it tonight.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Watson.

Uh thank you, Council President.

Uh, first, thank you, Councilmember Alvidras.

Thank you, Councilmember Lewis.

Um, like I said all along, this is a slam dunk.

This is not a controversial or should be a controversial thing.

I also shared um personally for both of you as mothers, as individual heads of your household, this discussion is very um has been an extreme on all points.

Um you both have been put on um point of personal attacks and your families, um their safety, even outside of the legislation itself of you protecting other families, your family's um safety has come into um um um jeopardy.

And so I thank you both for standing up and putting this forward.

Um I've got to say, as um a black man on this camp on this campus, the MOC.

Black men on this council um about I think it was 1998, I helped to create the bias policing task force within the city and county of Denver.

And I did that because innate within our public safety construct, there are biases, and when you add a bias process with a masked person grabbing folks from their homes from grocery stores, from the places of work, um, that is scary, and it's even scarier for people of color because we've been through this throughout our history in this country, and so this was an easy call, but it doesn't mean it was easy for y'all to sponsor and to deal with what came at you uh during this process.

So I thank you for your leadership.

I thank our colleagues um for moving this forward, and I am um uh enthusiastic uh, yes, on this vote tonight.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Council Pro Timor Campbell.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um again, thank you to the sponsors.

Um, thank you, Councilmember Lewis and Councilmember Alvidres.

I think it took a lot of um courage to and and to bring this forward and to not let it drop and to work through and have those, you know, I think taking feedback and really working through something that um is strong and very I think elegant in how it's written.

I think this is a good ordinance, and so thank you for bringing it to Denver.

Um I do hope that there are other cities that look at what has happened here and model it off of um of this work.

Um so just thank you again.

I think this is good for not only for the um everybody living within Denver, but I think it's good amongst our agencies as well.

Um, and so I appreciate the support of the safety department in this as well.

We don't mask and nobody else should, so thank you.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Councilmember Hines.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um, anyone granted the authority to use deadly force must be held to the highest tane of accountability.

That starts with transparency.

The public has a right to know who is exercising that power.

If someone cannot do the job without hiding their identity, then they should not be entrusted with the responsibility to take a human life.

And when that authority is abused, there must be real consequences, and the only way we can have consequences is to understand exactly who is abusing that authority, uh I to council uh councilmember Torres' point um about there are many things that we can't do at the local level.

Uh city's number one job is public health safety and welfare.

It's why a third of Denver's budget is police, because we're a county sheriff, uh, fire and community corrections.

Um, but uh so I would say ensuring our law enforcement is accountable and transparent is our job, just as our role at the local level explicitly includes public safety.

And so I want to thank our our uh sponsors for this and um and I'm really looking forward to see it implemented here in Denver.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Councilmember Cashman.

Thank you, Madam President, and my colleagues have been extremely eloquent.

Thanks again to the sponsors.

Um I'll just say what I when I said in committee, one of the first lessons I learned as a child whose bad men wear masks.

Someone comes up to my car with a mask and a gun.

I don't care what it says on their shirt or their coat.

Um I'm not opening the door, and certainly not answering the door at my home to someone wearing a mask.

Again, thank you to the sponsors.

Uh I look forward to supporting this.

Thank you, Madam President.

Yeah, um, thank you both.

Thank you, Councilman.

Alvidres and Councilman Lewis, and thank you for um taking my calls.

Thank you for going back around and circling back with all of our colleagues and working with all of the agencies to make sure it's enforceable.

No one wanted anything on our books that was not enforceable and operationalized, and so this is operationalized, and it's powerful.

I get emails all the time asking me what am I gonna do?

And one of my answers has been vote yes on this bill and vote yes on this ordinance and make sure that it can be operationalized, and so that's a powerful thing that a way for me to be able to have been responding to my community.

So thank you for this, and um, in full support of this moving forward, Madam Secretary.

I think everything is working now.

Madam Secretary, we'll call on Council Bill 0125, Councilmember Gilmore.

Aye.

Hi.

Aye.

Sawyer.

Aye.

Alvidres.

In.

Hi.

Gonzalez Gutierrez.

Aye.

Cashman?

Aye.

Lewis.

Romera Campbell.

Aye.

Torres?

Aye.

Watson.

Aye.

Madam President Sandoval?

Aye.

Madam Secretary, close the voting and announce the results.

12 ayes.

12 ayes, council bill 0125 has passed.

Congratulations.

Thank you all.

It concludes the items to be called out.

All bills for introduction are ordered published.

Council members remember that this is a consent or block vote, and you will need to vote aye.

Otherwise, this is your last chance to call out an item for a separate vote.

Council Pro Temiro Campbell, will you please put the proclamations and the resolutions for adoption and the bills on final consideration for final passage on the floor?

I move that the proclamations and resolutions be adopted and bills on final consideration be placed upon final consideration and do pass in a block for the following items.

In series 26, 0145, 0146.

0147, 0148, 0119, 0152, 0134, 0135, 0136, 0121, 0137, 0140, 0141, 0142, 0149, 0150, 0159, 0175, and 0128.

Thank you.

It has been moved and seconded.

Madam Secretary, roll call.

Council members Gilmore.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

I'll be there.

Oh, sorry.

Uh Flynn.

Gonzalez Gutierrez.

Aye.

Cashman.

Aye.

Lewis.

Aye.

Romero Campbell.

Aye.

Cortez?

Aye.

Watson.

Aye.

Madam President Sandoval.

Aye.

Madam Secretary, close the vote and announce the results.

12 ayes.

12 ayes.

The proclamations and resolutions have been adopted and the bills have been placed upon final consideration and do pass.

Tonight there will be a required public hearing on Council Bill 0026, changing the zoning classification for multiple properties along West 32nd Avenue in West Highland.

And a courtesy public hearing on Council Bill 0103, approving and accepting the Southwest Area Plan, which plan shall become a part of the comprehensive plan 2040 for the city and county of Denver pursuant to section 12 through 61 of the Denver Revised Municipal Code.

If there are no objections from members of council, we will recess until 5 30 before reconvening the regular meeting.

Four films, one night.

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This year's lineup is listener approved.

Three of your favorite local 303 artists of 2025 take the stage.

Council will now reconvene from our earlier session.

There is no unfinished business from the earlier session.

There are no proclamations being read this evening.

We have one required public hearing and one courtesy public hearing tonight.

As a reminder, council members need to turn their video on during the vote.

For those participating in person when called upon, please come to the podium.

On the presentation monitor on the wall, you will see your time counting down.

For those participating virtually when called upon, please wait until our meeting host promotes you to speaker.

When you are promoted, please accept the promotion.

Turn on your camera if you have one and your microphone.

All speakers should begin their remarks by telling council their names and cities of residence.

And if they feel comfortable doing so, their home addresses.

If you have signed up to answer questions only, state your name and note you are available for questions of council.

Speakers will have three minutes.

There's no yielding of time.

Translation, if translation is needing needed, you will be given an additional three minutes for your comments to be interpreted.

Speakers must stay on the topic of the hearing and must direct their comments to council as a whole.

Please refrain from profane or obscene speech and refrain from individual or personal attacks.

Council Pro Tem Romero Campbell, will you please put council bill 26 0026 changing the zoning classification for multiple properties along West 32 West 32nd Avenue in West Highland on the floor for final passage?

I move that council bill 25-0026 be placed upon final consideration and do pass.

It has been moved and seconded.

May we please have this staff report?

Yes.

Hi, thank you, Council President.

I'm Libby Glick with Community Planning and Development, and I will be presenting the rezoning for West 32nd Avenue.

So first we'll go through the request and then the location and the context, followed by the process, and finally the review criteria.

So Council President Sandoval is proposing to rezone the corridor of West 32nd Avenue from about Perry to Julian from mixed use two-story districts, PUD 162, and then a Main Street three-story district to a three-story mixed use district with the design overlay eight, and then UMS3 or three story main street with the design overlay eight.

So now we'll go through the location and context.

So this is located in Council District 1 in the West Highland neighborhood.

So as stated previously, the current zoning is UMX2 for the western portion, which is a two-story mixed-use zone district.

There's one property that is in the former Chapter 59 zoning code, and that's an existing bank that's in PUD 162.

And then the eastern side of this corridor is a three-story main street district or UMS 3.

So the heights range from one story in the PUD to three stories for the eastern portion.

And then surrounding this corridor is mostly single unit zoning.

So the proposed this proposal is there's two pieces to it.

So the first is to rezone that western portion that's currently two stories to allow for up to three stories.

So that's going to UMX3.

And this district is, you know, it allows for a variety of uses, and again, up to three stories.

And then the second piece of this rezoning is to map the active centers and corridors design overlay, or the DO8 as you'll hear me call it.

And so this is an overlay that would go along the whole corridor, and it doesn't allow the drive-thru building forms.

Um so you'd have to do either shop front or townhouse, and it uh requires a portion of the ground floor to be non residential active uses.

So the goal is to really maintain the existing commercial character of this kind of main street area.

So the current land use is mostly commercial retail, it's mixed use.

There's one multi-unit residential property, and then it's surrounded by a lot of lower scale residential uses.

So this is within the rezoning, these images.

So on the top, you can see one of the examples of like a strip mall within this rezoning.

So it's kind of set back.

There's a large parking lot in the front.

Um and then on the bottom is the PUD, which is that existing bank that has a drive-through.

So now we'll go through the process.

So this application was complete in October.

It went to planning board in mid-December, and we're here before you today for the final public hearing.

So prior to submitting the application, Council President Sandoval sent five mailers to property owners as well as residents.

She held town halls, both virtual and in person.

I know she had a lot of just one-on-one conversations with businesses and property owners that I'm sure she'll be able to speak to.

And then she also submitted letters of support with the application.

So we have a letter of support from the West Highland Neighborhood Association.

There's also 22 comments from neighbors and properties and stakeholders as of Thursday when the staff report was submitted to you all and posted on the website.

So 19 were in support that this will preserve the commercial character of the corridor.

One is concerned about parking along the street, and then we received one with concerns about allowing up to three stories, how that will not maintain the existing corridor.

And then we received probably about double this amount today or over the weekend that hopefully you all received in your inbox, all in support of the proposed rezoning.

As stated previously, this went to planning board in mid-December, and the board did vote unanimously to recommend approval of the rezoning.

So now we'll go to our final piece, the review criteria.

So the Denver zoning code has three review criteria that must be met in order for rezoning to be approved.

The first is consistency with adoptive plans, then it must further the public interest, and then it must be consistent with the neighborhood context, zone district purpose and the intent statements.

So in for the first one consistency with adoptive plans, there are two plans that are applicable.

The first is comprehensive plan 2040.

So this will further the goal of making Denver more equitable, affordable, and inclusive by improving access to a variety of resources and amenities, and that the DO8 will require non-residential active uses for that ground floor.

It will also further Denver's environmentally resilient goal again by encouraging a mix of uses.

So by having that commercial component on the ground floor and then residential above rather than an all residential structure, for example.

And then it will also promote strong and authentic neighborhoods by facilitating vibrant mixed-use corridors, making sure that the infill development is appropriate for the neighborhood in this corridor, and creating pedestrian friendly areas.

So now we'll move to Blueprint Denver, which is the city's land use and transportation plan.

So the future neighborhood context in Blueprint is urban, and the proposed districts are currently in the urban context, as are the proposed districts.

And then the street type is a residential collector, which does have some small retail nodes.

So by applying the DO8, we'll ensure that this does remain a commercial corridor for the West Highland neighborhood.

The growth area strategy is all other areas of the city.

This is where we anticipate to see 10% of new jobs and 20% of new housing by 2040.

And then all large map amendments like this one should be guided by our equity concepts, which are access to opportunity, reducing vulnerability to involuntary displacement and housing and jobs diversity.

So for access to opportunity, this area has moderate access to opportunity.

It scores higher in access to centers and corridors and social determinants of health.

And then the lowest scores are in access to transit and then health care.

So this rezoning will make sure that the uh access to centers and corridors for West Highland is maintained.

And then for vulnerability to involuntary displacement, this area has low vulnerability.

Um, and again, the requirement of requiring non-residential active uses may it's likely to not impact vulnerability to involuntary displacement.

And then expanding housing diversity.

This area has moderate diversity, so it's more diverse in terms of homeowner home size and ownership and less diverse for housing costs, middle density housing, and affordable units.

And again, this rezoning is mostly about maintaining and uh requiring commercial uses, and so it's likely to not have a major impact on housing diversity.

And then jobs diversity, it's mostly retail jobs on this corridor, which a variety of um commercial office uses are allowed, so uh it may change, but again, this will just maintain um those commercial uses on this main street.

It also furthers two strategies in Blueprint Denver.

So it will implement plan recommendations through a city-led legislative rezoning, and it will ensure an active and pedestrian-friendly environment that does produce a true mixed use character on 32nd Avenue.

Um, it addresses climate by again ensuring that there's a mixed use corridor here with both commercial and residential uses.

Um, so now moving to the second criterion, the public interest.

So, similarly, um, this will promote the public interest by again maintaining the mixed use, the commercial node, so that people that live in this neighborhood can continue to walk to a variety of amenities and services.

And then last, it's consistent with the neighborhood context of urban, the purpose of the mixed use zone districts, and that this the specific intent of the UMX3 in the DO8 over or zone district and overlay.

So, finding all three review criteria have been met.

Staff recommends approval of the proposed rezoning.

And that concludes my presentation.

Thank you so much, Libby.

Um, we have five individuals signed up to speak this evening.

First up, we have Eric Romere in person.

Good evening, Council members.

Thank you for your time and consideration for this matter.

My name is Eric Reimars, a resident of the West Highlands, address 3401 Quitman Street.

I'm also on the board of the West Highlands Neighborhood Association and serve as the chair of the land use and planning committee.

On behalf of the neighborhood association, I'm here to express our strong support for the proposed design overlay aid and associated rezone.

I'd like to specifically thank Melissa Horn for her seamlessly tireless support with communication and public outreach.

We partner closely with the council office to engage property owners, business owners, and neighbors, a process that resulted in overwhelmingly community support.

While we have encountered some opposition, it generally falls into two camps.

Concerned that the measure doesn't provide enough density, which is a separate planning discussion, and concerns regarding protection of historic buildings.

On the latter, I believe that the overlay offers more protection for our historic fabric than the current zoning allows.

Highland Square is a charming walkable main street for our historic neighborhood supported by small businesses.

Place where neighbors run into each other on the sidewalk, where families gather for dinner and the line for sweet cow overflows into the parking lot.

Our small locally owned businesses embody the character that makes this neighborhood and our city special.

However, the character is currently at risk due to compounding pressures such as rising taxes, insurance costs, and minimum age increases.

Our small businesses are struggling.

We've recently seen the closure of Lululemon and our local jewelry store, MetalMark is moving to Cherry Creek.

Historically, pizzeria locale, Oasis Brewing, Nova Coffee, FNG, rooted, salt and grinder, candle area, and even our local pet store has turned over.

Some of the spaces are still vacant.

Bakery Four moved to Tennyson, Sassafast is currently for sale.

Legacy outlets like West Side Books are consolidating their space in efforts to keep the lights on.

If Highland Square loses a major retail anchor, which DO8 is trying to protect against every surrounding business will suffer.

Further, considering parking minimums are no longer required, the prospect for replacing retail with walk-up or denser residential products becomes increasingly attractive to developers.

Based on current zoning, someone could knock down the strip mall 32nd and lowell, build row homes or apartment complex with no retail, which would create a very similar situation to what happened on Tennyson, which prompted the inception of DO8.

This measure has support from the strip mall owner for reference.

Overall, we believe retail is a creative.

More retail promotes more foot traffic, less retail, results in less custom customer visits.

This measure is a necessary intervention.

It protects our retail corridor, supports our small business community, defined by local coffee shops, independent restaurants, and family-run boutiques that Highland Square depends on.

Again, this rezoning takes a thoughtful and proactive approach to protecting our neighborhood's identity for future generations.

I urge your support.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Jesse Paris virtually.

Yes, good evening, members of the council, those watching at home, those in the council chambers.

My name is Jesse LaShawn Paris, and I'm representing for Black Star Action Movement for Self-Defense, Positive Action Committee for Social Change, as well as the Unity Party of Colorado, the Northeast Denver Residence Council, Frontline Black News, Shabaka's Buck Experience Enhance, the Revolutionary Agenda.

And I reside at the Roach and Bedbug infested legacy loss in Tetaman Watson's District of District 9, the fine district nine, historically black district of district nine.

I've seen this playbook too many times already.

This area of town has been uh rapidly gentrified.

The highlands, they call it high, low, low, high, whatever, the nonsense.

That is those are terms of gentrification.

I don't see how this rezoning is going to mitigate any of those effects of gentrification.

The north side is where the gentrification began and it is under full rampant gentrification, like all other areas of the city.

But the north side is where it started off at.

And you literally have a council member that's from the north side that could um go against this rezoning because I don't see how this is preserving the uh historical nature or context of the neighborhood.

I don't see how any of that, especially if the residents who called this area home for generations, can't even afford to live there anymore.

So you want foot traffic.

I hear the same thing over here at five points.

We want foot traffic, we need more foot traffic.

Um, but the thing is the people that you want to patronize the businesses do not patronize the businesses, and the people that called the area home can't afford to patronize the businesses because they don't live in the neighborhood anymore.

So, what is Ness having to do about that?

What does Ness have to say about that?

Has there been any mention of Ness in regards to this?

We keep talking about retail, this retail that it's going to be unattended consequences from all of these rezonings that you continue to pass Denver City Council.

So I would hate to see any more unattended consequences come from these rezonings, which are literally neglecting the people that called this area home for generations and making way for newcomers, gentrifiers, yuppies.

There's a lot of names for them.

They're not native to that neighborhood.

They come over there, they're not gonna patronize those historically Latinx businesses.

They're going to go to their little coffee shops and their little um bodegas or whatever have you.

They're not gonna patronize those businesses that have historically called this area home.

So I don't see why you would pass this tonight, but you're gonna do it anyway.

So I will see y'all on the next one.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Bill Hare.

Good evening, Council.

My name is Bill Hare.

I live at 3715 West 32nd Avenue in West Highlands.

Um, I literally live within the district, the the territory, the rezone that we're talking about.

Um I do want to take a moment.

Um, Eric did as well, uh, to thank uh council aide um Melissa Horn.

Her work the last couple of years.

We've been working on this for four years.

Her work the last couple of years has been tireless, and it's much appreciated.

Um, I've been vice president of the West Highlands Neighborhood Association, um, and a member of the land use planning committee for five years.

My message tonight is simple.

This portion of 32nd Avenue, what we lovingly call Highland Square, is a treasure, treasured retail node dating back to Denver's streetcar era.

This zoning change is a preemptive measure to protect the retail character and functionality.

To be clear, West Highland residents, businesses, and building owners are all dramatically in support of the DO8 overlay.

For now, Highland Square has critical mass to be a shopping destination, but all it would take is the loss of a handful of those retail shops, and that critical mass could easily evaporate.

As the vice president of our RO, my responsibility is to listen to all of our neighbors.

So let me summarize two things we have heard in opposition.

First, parking.

That is not going to be affected by this.

And the this issue has brought the subject up, brought it up, and we are having good uh dialogue within the community about that.

Secondly, for various reasons, some would like to see five stories in parts of Highland Square.

This is not an issue for today, with programs like unlocking housing choices, and most importantly, far northwest area plan that's going to get started in the fourth quarter.

We will have a vigorous neighborhood conversation about that issue.

So, in conclusion, um, and again thanking uh council president for her leadership.

She has been with us.

We instigated this, but she's been with us all the way through this for the last four years.

Um, I would ask that you uh support the rezoning, and I thank each and every one of you for your service and for your thoughtful consideration of the rezoning.

Thank you.

Thank you, Bill.

Next up we have Alejandra Castanera virtually.

Hello, good afternoon.

My name is Alejandra Castañeda, and I live in District One.

I have considered West 32nd Avenue and Highland Square, part of my community since I first moved to Northwest Denver in 2008.

I'm speaking today out of concern for what I consider a harmful pattern in my community, namely council-led rezonings that stunt housing growth, diversity, and access, as well as the use of a limited definition of community.

I was recently sitting at an organizing meeting against ICE policies and actions inside a church right off of West 32nd in the impacted area, and wondering is Denver truly a sanctuary city, a city that welcomes immigrants and cares about homelessness and kids sleeping on the streets.

If we continue to approve council-led rezonings like this one, rezonings that stunt our ability to provide dignified access to healthy homes for everyone who needs one, especially in neighborhoods like West Highland.

Are we not able to ensure that this, and I quote, historic street commercial corridor retains retains its vibrant commercial character, end quote, while at the same time ensuring this increasingly high-income neighborhood contributes its fair share to the 20% housing growth?

It is supposed to contribute by 2040 based on our adopted city plans.

Why not rezone some of the properties to UMS 5, like on nearby Tennyson, where businesses are thriving, by the way?

Or West 44th, where there are also five-story uh zones.

Why is access to more housing a separate conversation, not an issue for today, as mentioned by the neighborhood association representatives?

It was said that this proposal has been community driven from the beginning.

And I can't help but wonder.

How do we define community?

Is it mostly current property owners and business owners whose letters of support are sought?

Does our definition of community include the service workers forced to commute to Highland Square because they can't afford to live here?

Does it include the people who drive to West Highland neighborhood to clean homes, provide child care, teach, build ADUs, fix the plumbing?

Does it include the operators who drive the RTD bus along 32nd Avenue?

This is also an area indicated as having low vulner vulnerability to displacement.

Shouldn't we bring more access to housing here to relieve pressures from other areas more vulnerable to displacement?

The application states the proposed design overlay may have an impact on housing diversity by leading to fewer new multi-unit dwellings that otherwise will be built since it restricts homes for a portion of the ground floor.

We already have a few five-story buildings just off of what's 32nd.

Why not have a few more?

Why are we are we spending time, energy, and public resources on resonance that make Denver more equitable, affordable, and inclusive?

A Denver that is economically diverse and vibrant and environmentally resilient.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That concludes the public.

Hold on, sorry, but that concludes our speakers.

Do we have questions from members of council on council bill 0026?

Seeing none.

Seeing none.

The public hearing is closed.

Comments by members of council on council bill 0026.

So you all heard from my community very different comments that are happening.

This is part of my neighborhood that has no neighborhood plans and hasn't had any neighborhood plans.

And will the neighborhoods as the public speakers stated, will start in the fall.

When you only have Blueprint Denver as a neighborhood plan, it's hard to go five stories.

I'm not going to lead that conversation.

My conversation was about protecting the character and the small local businesses that are there that have historically been there for a really long time.

I mean, Pizza Alley's been there.

I don't know how long Pizza Alley's been there, been there my whole entire life.

And that's what my community asked me to do, and that's what I was elected to do is bring the people who have been working on this for a long time to fruition and get this done.

I just want to say thank you to West Highland when we first started this conversation.

They didn't have a land use and planning committee.

They started one for a lot of this work that's happening in West Highland.

And that's not an easy feat to have a land use committee as you all learned.

It's a lot, it takes a lot of time and dedication.

So just bravo to you all.

Just want to say publicly for starting that.

And you all don't have a lot of resources.

As we know, these neighborhood associations are led 100% by volunteer.

And just want to say thank you to everyone for all of your help.

As it was mentioned, Melissa Horn, my council aide was vital to this.

I can't have I couldn't have done this without Melissa.

And I have to just get a shout out to Gina.

She scheduled all of those public those public meetings and sent out calendar invites.

And Alessandra and Melissa walked the corridor numerous numerous times to be able to get input.

So this has been a long time coming.

I first started talking about this when I got elected and when we did tenny in the height of COVID.

So it's been a really long time coming.

And for me, as one of the public comment commenters spoke, who is community?

It's the people who show up.

It's the people who participate, and it's the people who are often underserved in my community who I feel like I represent.

So with that, I ask for all of your support on my last overlay that I think I've I think I'm done.

I'm thinking that this is like me always last.

I think this is like seven, my seventh overlay in my time.

So it's just been an honor, and I meet meets all the criteria, and thank you all.

Um I ask for your support.

Um Council Pro Temer Mayor Campbell.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um, I didn't have a question, but it's it's more of a comment, and I think that this overlay and what is being what is before us today.

Um, looking at some of the dates back from 2020 24.

Um, it's a long time coming.

So it seems as though there's been plenty of time for um that community engagement and feedback.

Uh I do think that what I see in this is that ability to create to be able to preserve the uniqueness of the neighborhood.

Um, and respecting that in the ways that many of our neighborhoods they all look different, and there are different times when we bring, you know, uh when things come forward and we talk about what does it mean to preserve the neighborhood and to keep it special to those who live in that community.

So I'll be supporting this tonight, but I do think you know, in the zoning Palooza, this is really something that gives neighbors uh it helps preserve what makes their neighborhood special, and so um, I'll be supporting this tonight.

But thank you for all your hard work on this.

Thank you.

Um Madam Secretary, we'll call.

Council members Gilmore.

I'm Sawyer.

Aye.

Albitres.

Hi.

Flynn.

Aye.

Gonzalez Gutierrez.

Lewis.

Oh, I'm sorry, Councilman Cashman.

Aye.

Lewis.

Romero Campbell.

Aye.

Torres?

Aye.

Watson.

Aye.

Madam President Sandoval.

Aye.

Madam Secretary, close the voting, announce the results.

Nine ayes.

Nine ayes, council bill zero one zero three has passed.

Thank you all.

Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry.

Council Bill, yeah.

Wait, no, zero zero two six.

Um, Council President, Council Pro Tem Romero Campbell, will you please put Council Bill 0103 approving and accepting the Southwest Area Plan, which shall become part of a comprehensive plan 2040 for the city and county of Denver pursuant to the sections of 12-through 61 of the Denver Revising Municipal Code on the floor for final passage.

I move the council bill 26-0103 be placed upon final consideration and do pass.

It's been moved in seconded.

The courtesy public hearing for council bill 0103 is open.

May we please have this staff report.

All right.

Hello, members of city council.

My name is Fernando Abu.

I'm the project manager for the Southwest Area Plan with community planning and development.

Here with me is the rest of my team at CPD, Will Prince, Scott Robinson and Corlin Heiser online.

And we're here today to share with you an overview of the Southwest Area Plan and the adoption criteria.

So I'll start with the the plan overview.

For the people in the room that don't know where the Southwest Area Plan is.

We're talking about five neighborhoods in Southwest Denver that include Westwood, Ruby Hill, Marley, Admar Park, and Overland.

This area is the home to around 52,000 residents.

The majority of them Hispanic or Latino.

And the area has a greater amount of larger households as well.

We started this process back in the spring of 2024.

And I'll talk a little bit more about each of the faces, but we just want to highlight part of this process.

We work with community organizations with community navigators or promotoras with the engagement and the outreach throughout the process.

The plan is usually organized into this three elements of what makes a great place, land use, which talks about what gets built and how it looks and where it goes, mobility, talking about how we move around the area, and the quality of life chapter, which includes elements that make the your quality of life better, including parks, natural features, or just culture and other elements.

Throughout this almost two-year process with the community, what we worked on together, helped us identify the six community priorities.

So I'll go through each of them.

The first one, the diverse cultural hubs in the plan, talks about what we heard about this area wanting to remain an important vibrant diverse cultural hub in the area regarding people and businesses.

So the policies that support this, they include topics such as affordable housing, support for local businesses and food, and elements about placemaking and design, they relate to history and culture.

The second community priorities about safe communal spaces.

We heard a lot about the need of having places to gather for the community to come together.

And the policies that support this include a topics such as community institutions, our mobility corridors as public spaces, as well as safety and in our parks and greenways and trails.

So talking about the area remaining a housing stability and affordable that is able to provide options for a diverse background and needs, and the policies that reflect that talk about affordable housing and supply in the different sub areas of the Southwest Area plan and how that relates to the history and cultural architecture of the area.

The next community priority is talking about the integrated industry.

This area does have a large part of industry and industrial areas next to the river.

So we heard the need to support those existing businesses, but making sure it is integrated to the surrounding communities.

So the policies that support that talk about the different needs on the industrial uses and how and build form and how it looks, different commercial notes within that larger area, better improved connectivity to the river and through this industrial areas, and how this areas can be a better neighbors to the surrounding communities.

Finally, improved infrastructure talks about creating better connections through major barriers and providing a safe and comfortable mobility in a variety of different modes.

And the last one talking about natural resources.

This includes the parks in the area, but also the Sat Platte River, which is a big component of this area.

Policies that talk about that include elements of the health and preservation and protection of the South Platte River, a safety in our parks and trails, as well as a flood reduction and green infrastructure.

In addition to those community priorities, the we we have different focus areas in the plan that helps provide more guidance into this geographical areas, which include Morrison Corridor and Federal Boulevard, as well as other neighborhood shopping centers in Marley, Admiral Park, and Mississippi Avenue.

And the larger focus area here includes the river corridor and the industrial areas along it and other uses, which we're calling a riverside communities focus area.

So that was an overview of the plan, and now I'll walk through the different adoption criteria.

Starting with the inclusive community process, then I'll go into the consistency with comprehensive plan and then how it demonstrates a long-term view.

So starting with the inclusive community process, as I said, we started this in a spring of 2024.

At the beginning, the first phase, we started a building relationships, getting to know the area, the different organizations that existed there, and just attending community existing community events.

During this time, we also formed the advisory committee, which is composed of 22 members representing a diverse perspectives and different neighborhoods.

We hosted nine meetings and three equity subcommittee meetings with them in your package.

There was also a letter of support from that group.

And I just want to thank uh take some time to thank this group that was with us throughout the whole process, almost two years, and they helped us connect us with resources or even helping us support and a staff like a board at public meetings and stuff like that.

So just wanted to mention that and thank this group as well as the community navigators that helped us.

So during the first phase, we we had a we called it more saturation engagement.

We really wanted to get out there and share that this plan was starting.

We sent postcards to every single household, around 23,000.

We had our kickoff meeting, which was really well attended.

Around 220 people joined us.

We went to the existing RNOs.

This is where the community navigators started to help us with paper surveys.

We attended almost 40 community events, including attending high school classes.

So we took all that input and all that information, and we put it into the first draft of the plan that we then released in a 2025.

With this phase of engagement, we also hosted uh an open house and an RO workshop tour visiting all the different RNOs, kind of having many public meetings, but at their existing locations.

The community navigators during this phase, they helped us a lot with gathering a lot of paper surveys.

During this phase, we also hosted two student workshops here in the city, allowing youth and high school students to provide input while also learning from careers at the city.

We hosted some focus groups during this phase as well, and CAPU during this phase helped us with some of their one-on-one conversations that they had.

So we took all that input and revised the draft into a second draft that we released towards the end of 2025.

This part of the engagement phase was more focused since this was the second time going out to the public with the draft.

We kept options to provide comment online, also with the navigator surveys, and during this phase, what we really focused was in more focused conversations.

We work with a council district seven on a more focused conversation around the industrial and the river area, as well as with a business mixer.

We started to hear at the end of this phase.

Part of the input was strong support for the overall area vision as well as for the neighborhood missions themselves.

And that brings us to today, this final phase.

We went to planning board on January 21st.

It was approved unanimously, and then it went to the South Plood River Committee February 11, and we're here today at the hearing.

We did get a letter of support from the advisory committee group as I mentioned.

We also got a letter of support from the Admar Park Neighborhood Association and one general comment in opposition during the planning board phase, but we didn't get any other comments for today.

So based on all that, we do find that the Southwest area was developed through an inclusive community process, fulfilling that first part of the criteria.

Over 40 policies and over 100 strategies in each of these plans that are consistent with the plan itself.

So we do find that this plan is consistent with the comprehensive plan 2040.

And the last part of the criteria talking about a long-term view.

We we create we worked and drafted the Southwest Area Plan, having a 2045 planning horizon.

So in working in a vision that is aspirational that will take many years to achieve.

So we do find that it does demonstrate a long-term view.

And finally, as a based on finding that this criteria have been met, we recommend the adoption of the Southwest Area Plan as a supplement to the comprehensive plan 2040.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

We have seven individuals signed up to speak this evening.

First up, we have Paul Bindell.

Paul, I'm virtual.

Next up, we have Jesse Paris.

Yes, good evening.

Those in the council chambers.

I'm not just a Sean Parrison.

I'm representing for Black Star Action Movement for Self-Defense, Positive Asset Commission for Social Change, as well as the Unity Party of Colorado, the Northeast Denver Residence Council, Frontline Black News, Shabaka's Black Experience Enhanced, the Revolutionary Agenda.

And I reside at the Roach and Bedbug infested legacy loss.

And a lot of people's hands went up.

And I was like, Oh, I just gonna rush this vote to get this through.

So I've been working on this for a long time, the Southwest Area Plan.

I didn't see anything about gentrification on this plan.

I didn't see nothing in here on how to reduce gentrification.

I didn't hear no mention of nest.

I didn't hear none of that.

All I heard was, oh, we're gonna do the infrastructure, oh, we're gonna fix the parks, oh, we're gonna fix this, we're gonna fix that.

We're gonna check our boxes and dot our i's and cross our Ts.

But you're not addressing the rapid gentrification that's happening in the Southwest area.

Southwest area used to be affordable.

It is not affordable no more, despite what y'all say.

I used to live in Southwest Denver.

I know exactly what it was like, and back then it was actually affordable, it's not affordable now.

And we got a whole councilman that said, Oh, it's affordable over there.

I'm not convinced, but everybody's affordability is not the same.

I don't see nothing about affordability in there.

I didn't see nothing about preserving the cultural integrity of any of the neighborhoods that were listed in there.

I hear nothing about keeping the people in place.

I hear nothing about none of that.

All I heard was, this is a good thing, and we need to pass it tonight.

So that's what y'all gonna do.

You're not gonna address the actual issues that are around in this area of the city, just like all other areas of the city.

I just gonna pass what you've been told to pass.

So, this is what you're gonna do.

Um, so I asked that you do incorporate a nest study into this plan.

I ask that you um actually address the gentrification that is happening in this area of the city, along with all other areas of the city, and any future plans on in my neighborhood, because I know my neighborhood is working on a uh northeast Denver plan.

I hate to see any unintended consequences come from this, just like I seen what happened with the 1040 comprehensive plan that y'all passed in 2019.

Thank you.

Except we have Esther Rivera Esther.

Next up, we have Rebecca Greek.

Hi, good evening, City Council.

My name's Rebecca Greek.

I'm a neighbor in Overland, just off of um Harvard and Banner.

I have lived in the Southwest area um for almost 14 years now.

Um, and my family has been in this neighborhood, probably a good 15 years longer than that.

Um, but I'm here tonight um to advocate for this area plan and then to give a little recognition to the group that we worked with on this.

I was one of the advisory committee members representing the Overland neighborhood with others.

And I think that Fernando and his team really did an excellent job of engaging the broader community in the Southwest.

I would say I was surprised on the outreach and the resources that were put in to ensure as many voices were heard.

I appreciate some of the comments that were just made.

Um including increasing quality of life, increasing equitability in our community, and then just strengthening our neighborhoods in general.

The last thing that I just want to say is I think there are things that I've heard tonight and things that are happening in our communities currently that maybe weren't on the radar of all of our neighbors while we worked on this plan.

Things like data centers were not a part of the conversation.

I don't think at the time as we worked on this plan, um, that was something that I think our community members thought would happen in an urban core of our city.

So I just want to advocate today, like if there are opportunities to think about some of those elements and ensure that those don't occur in our community, that would be um vital and important um to kind of add on to some of the public comments from earlier.

I think our resources are tight, especially in Overland.

We are uh the Flat River and the parks adjacent are some of our biggest resources, um, natural resources in our community, and they need protection.

Um, so things like a data center, I don't think are appropriate.

Not that that's yet proposed here, but I just want to advocate for that and for council to kind of be that bridge to be the forward thinking for things that maybe this community didn't think about while they put this plan together.

Um so yeah, with that, I just want to say I appreciate you guys considering this today.

I appreciate uh everything that the city team from the planning department has done to get us to this point.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up we have Diego Olivan.

Good evening, council.

Um, my name is Diego.

I live in district three with Jamie.

Um I'm here today to say that um I'm in favor, and I hope you guys are in favor as well to the Southwest Denver Plan.

Um, if you guys don't know, I am the youngest member in the Southwest Denver planning committee.

I started when I was 18 and now I'm 20.

So I've definitely grown with the planning process.

Um I'm also a student at CU Boulder Setting Sustainable Urban Planning and Design.

So I think this is definitely a great learning opportunity that the city has given me.

So I'm really, really grateful for that.

Um, and also I represent the Westwood neighborhood, um, especially the youth of Westwood through the community process.

I have not only learned academically, but truly seen that the community and energy that Southwest Denver represents.

I know as someone has a youth where voices are not usually heard in spaces like this or in documents like a plan or in a planning process.

So I'm I'm really, really grateful to see that Fernando and his team um put youth in mind um and went into schools and did community engagement with them.

Um so I'm truly truly grateful, and this plan really reflects not only the Westwood and Southwest Denver voices, but also the youth input as well.

Um our community has come together and we obviously created a vision not only to represent the close community and culture that we have, but also what we're gonna celebrate in the next years to come.

So it is very, very beautiful, and I'm really, really grateful to have experienced that.

Um, and I think Fernando uses and his team and the the planning, the plan itself uses innovative ways um so that um it can stwood and uh Southwest Denver can stay resilient and strong um for years to come.

So I think it is exciting and it is something to look forward to.

And I hope this plan um passes.

We worked so hard, this whole community has come together.

It is not just um just one voice heard it is countless community and culture um that is in this document.

Um, so yeah, this plan is all encompassing, and I hope that Southwest Denver continues to stay strong and resilient for many years to come.

Um thank you for your time.

Thank you, but next up we have Maya Lelasco.

Maya.

Yes, hello, can you hear me?

You can go ahead.

Yeah, I also want to thank everybody that worked on this plan.

I am in District 3 in Westwood near Quatrovientos Park.

Um, and I'm very supportive of the Southwest area plan, especially uh of the Morrison Road Focus Area.

Thought it was a beautiful uh explanation of uh beautiful goals of a vibrant linear market and improving the pedestrian experience and also preserving and encouraging local businesses and diverse and affordable housing.

That was a yeah, I thought it was a from a neighbor from a neighbor perspective.

I thought it was uh really inspiring and beautiful plan.

Um, I also uh also liked how it's stated that um any development would have uh neighborhood serving uses, any businesses or development would engage the street while it's uh respecting the surrounding businesses.

Um, and uh that the um specifically that the area by Morrison and Alameda, which is a very significant intersection, would become like the gateway to Westwood.

Um, and then I recently learned of a new development of a quick trip on the corner of um Alameda and Morrison, and I think that I understand that rezoning happens after the plan is in place, and that the rezoning is can be done in order to implement the plan.

So I understand the timing doesn't work, but I think that the um construction of a quick trip in that area in that area uh goes against all of the um goals and the spirit of the plan and they they don't match, they're not um they're not consistent with each other.

I think I worry about the development of uh gas station and convenience store and what it will do to the local businesses and the small shops along Morrison.

Um so I think it would be uh really sad to see the um the plan um get uh it's far behind before it even gets started with the development of a quick trip.

And so I also just ask um for a city council to think of anything that they're able to do to stop this development in light of passing if you all decide to pass the Southwest Area Plan.

Thank you so much.

Next up, our last speaker is Renee Martinez Stone.

Good evening, city council staff and community.

Can you hear me?

We can go ahead.

Awesome.

Um my name is Renee Martinez Stone.

Um, I represent the Denver Housing Authority 1035 O State Street.

I served on the CAC working with other strong leaders living in Southwest area, and I strongly support the adoption of this plan.

I want to thank Fernando, Will, Scott, and the CBD team.

There was really uh outstanding and inclusive engagement, diverse tools, diverse meetings, always an openness to helping residents, understand, contribute, and listening to their concerns.

There was acknowledgement of diversity and history of the neighborhoods and equity conversations through focus groups.

There was a lot of attention on affordable housing, specifically balancing development opportunity while guarding against speculation and involuntary displacement.

Really good conversations there, and I would say it's essential that we are cautious, but so important that we don't let fear of all investment limit affordable housing, which will also limit options for residents and their extended families.

Their ability to invest in their homes through additions, building ADUs, or even rezone to TU to create tandem homes or alley homes that create new homeownership opportunities are important in the process.

I heard support for housing solutions and requests for more tools, technical support, funding, expedited ways to help families invest in their own stability.

I hope we can leverage their confidence and the things that they've learned.

And well, the confidence they have in CPD to leadership that will bring solutions and new infill housing opportunities.

Housing opportunities that are density and bring new density to single family neighborhoods.

We also need flexibility for housing development or redevelopment on large lots, publicly owned lots where new affordable housing can be built.

I urge your support for this plan to honor the wishes of residents and leaders in Southwest Denver, and I hope you will continue to advocate around their priorities to ensure this guiding policy leads to implementation, funding, and support for initiatives that create new housing and help families to stay in place.

Thanks for your work tonight.

That concludes our public speakers.

Do we have questions from members of council on Council Bill 0103?

Councilman Avides.

Thank you.

Thank you, Fernando, for the great presentation.

I wanted to ask because I know it came up in public comment about what does the plan say about technology and data centers and how did we think about that during the plan?

Yes, thanks for asking that.

I think Rebecca mentioned it there.

And even though I think it was towards the end of the planning process, like we did hear some input about that and through your office as well.

So it is part of the Riverside Community's focus area.

We did add it an outcome about a as technology evolves that impacts should uh should be evaluated around this area through the residential communities.

Great.

That's all I have.

Thank you so much for your work on this.

Thank you, Council President.

Councilman Torres.

Thank you so much.

Um you touched on it briefly, Fernando, but I just wanted to make sure that it was clear for the public because it was stated during one of the comments during public uh during the um testimony, um, that this plan doesn't really speak to housing.

And I'd like to make sure that it's clear that it does, and in really significant ways.

If you can just speak to a couple of the ways that um we were able to make sure that was embedded in.

Definitely, yeah.

Thanks for that question.

Yeah, definitely.

It's a 200-page document, so it's hard to put it all in a quick presentation, but it does talk a lot about housing, housing stability, providing options.

One of those community priorities is that housing options and stability and how that relates and cross-reference, other elements such as the diverse cultural hubs.

A part of that is having the people that make the southwest area stay in place as well.

So all those different community priorities kind of connect and provide different outcomes and policies for policy and for affordability and um it help prevent displacement.

Yeah, thank you.

The public hearing is closed.

We have comments by members of council on council bill zero zero three.

Councilman Abides.

Thank you.

I want to start by thanking CPD team for then the Will Scott for all your work on this.

My staff, Victoria, really pulled it through from our side this last year.

This has been an work.

And I think very thoughtful and very it's very challenging to talk to our constituents when they are working class people that are going to work that don't respond to the postcards.

I know up until the very last end there were people that never heard about it.

And we spent many hours knocking doors.

I appreciate the efforts with the additional events, particularly around the conversation around data centers, it was very concerning because we have such an industrial area all along the river, and water being such a concern.

And so I'm grateful that we were able to put that into the plan.

As we, you know, think about what is the right process for this going forward and what the amount of water and energy that data centers take now.

This area has historically had a higher amount of power outages, and it has a lot of the excel easements.

So we get a lot of you know, unfortunate things that get pushed into the west side, and I think it's you know something that we speak to in this plan.

So I appreciate that effort.

Um I really appreciate the highlighting of the diversity of the people that we got to engage, which I really appreciated, especially like renters and young people, because this is really their plan 20 years from now.

And so thank you for participating.

Um, I also really appreciated the Denver Housing Authority being a part of this.

My district, as long along with District Three, have some of the most number of Denver Housing Authority properties in the city, and part of the legislative rezoning that we will bring is adding to that.

I went to school with a lot of young people.

Well, back then when I was young, they were in I went to Valverde Elementary School, which is right across from a huge DHA property.

I went to West High School, lots of DHA properties.

I went to Baker Middle School, not as much right there, but um one of the things I'm excited to see is increasing the number of homes that DHA has.

So we're not upzoning like the whole neighborhood, but we're being very intentional that that housing continues to be available for more people, and not only that, that we can bring also affordable home ownership opportunities through the partnership with the Denver Housing Authority.

So it was something that I wasn't sure how the conversation was going to go with Denver Housing Authority as we started this planning process, but I think we'll be really fruitful for the long term.

Speaking to Jesse, hi Jesse.

Uh, we went to high school together.

So we grew up in the same communities, and a lot of the people that we went to school with did grow up in the Denver Housing Authority properties, and so this will have more people and more families able to access that housing.

So I want to lift up that.

I also want to um lift up Hazmin Bojorquez who helped us also in my office with this plan, and another really great thing that I really enjoyed doing while we were putting this plan together was we had a book club for the color of law, so that we could really talk about how zoning and um one of the things is like the legal description of the properties in this area plan, said you couldn't live there if you were Catholic, for example.

And so we got to have conversations about the discrimination that happened in Denver and in this area, along with learning because the color of law, if you haven't read it, it's about California.

So we were able to compare and contrast like what has happened here, the railroads that separate low-income communities from the rest of the city, the pollution that separate low-income communities from the rest of the city, the high injury network that we have.

We have I-25, we have Santa Fe Highway, we have Federal Boulevard Highway, we have Alameda Highway.

So these neighborhoods are surrounded by highways with higher speeds than other parts of my district with billboards advertising alcohol and legal services and people taking advantage of my community in the low-income area, and those are all things that we were able to uplift, and I think representing District seven, I get to see two different worlds almost because when you go to the east side of my district, there's not really billboards.

They're changing a street from four lanes to two on Alameda, where in a four to three, where in the west side of my district, it's more lanes and it's faster, and there's no crosswalks, and a lot of the students that go to Lincoln High School and Bad Bad Elementary School speak up trying to advocate for a safer way to get to school.

And so I think that I'm really grateful that I got to be the council member at the time this plan came through because this is the area that I grew up in.

This these are the streets that I grew up walking, and so I just come to you with so much gratitude and ask my colleagues to please support this work.

That we really literally spent days out in the sun knocking doors and late nights, trying to make sure we got it right, and I think we did really good for the amount of time we had.

And I can't believe we started when you're 18 and now you're full of blood to adults.

Thank you so much, Council President.

Please I hope my colleagues will support this plan.

Thank you.

Councilman Torres.

Thank you so much.

My thanks also to uh Fernando, you and Will, um, for all of your uh just being very present in every conversation that we were having.

Uh I think that um speaks to your approachability in a topic, an Nova topic that is really hard to grasp sometimes.

Of what does it mean to me to think about 20 years from now in just not just my neighborhood, but a collection of neighborhoods.

Um so you made it really accessible, and I really thank you for that.

Um the community advisory committee movimiento poder played a role in our our some of our youth engagement as well.

Uh Buku West, every resident and business owner who weighed in.

Um I want to thank um uh Diego, thank you for being here and speaking, and uh and Maya and um your urban planning uh uh degree.

I can't wait to see how you reflect back on this experience when you're our planner, when you're maybe a council person, because it is it everything has to do with land use that affects our communities when we're dealing with things like gentrification and displacement.

Um so I'm so glad to know that you're on that path.

Um, I do want to speak really quickly to the quick trip question.

Um, they don't have to come for rezoning, they're not asking for a rezoning, they're able to build a gas station there uh under their current zoning, and they got their application in two weeks before the deadline when we didn't allow a gas station to be built so close to an existing gas station.

So, unfortunately, this was one of the ones that snuck in uh the door through that deadline.

Um, but I am really um uh proud of the way in which this plan upholds the Westwood neighborhood plan, which was our really our newest one coming into even the West Area uh planning.

It was my the only neighborhood that had a really current plan, and this one honors with those residents built in that one and even expands upon it.

So thank you so much for taking that very seriously because the Westwood neighborhood is working really hard to buck the trend of gentrification and displacement, and I want to honor the work that they're doing there as well.

Um, one of the things that this plan speaks to as well are stability services to prevent homelessness and reduced Southwest um Denver's unhoused population.

And what I will say is we don't see it in the same way downtown or central Denver might see an unhoused population.

And Renee Martinez Stone, who spokes knows it very well.

Our unhouse population is doubled up in homes or tripled up in homes, and so I want to thank Denver Housing Authority for being a visionary force in trying to address that issue.

They were visionary when they started talking about ADUs as a way to keep families in west and southwest Denver in those neighborhoods that they wanted to stay in and visionary now when they aim to build home tandem homes for permanently affordable home ownership.

So, Renee in particular, I thank you for uh your vision and really being able to implement it and bring partners along who can embrace it.

Um, so thank you so much.

This plan fully ensures an emphasis on culture, community, and mobility, um, and that the community that built this plan, it will serve them and serve them all for the next 20 years.

So thank you.

Thanks, Madam President.

Thank you.

Councilmember Flynn.

Uh, thank you, Madam President.

Thank you, Fernando and the team for all the hard work on the last that you did on this for the last two years.

The Southwest area plan, only 10% of the area is in my district, south half of the Marley neighborhood.

And so what I looked for, and I think what I got was, for the most part, a very intentional knitting of Southwest Area Plan with the far southwest plan, which went through just a couple of weeks ago.

Actually in December, I believe.

But the knitting of the because they're adjacent areas, and it was kind of difficult to try to work on two areas, two NPIs at the same time, simultaneously, it was a struggle because the entire far southwest plan is in my council district and no other.

But I'm grateful to have shared the planning with districts three and district seven, so that uh so we can make sure that it was all coordinated.

But you know, the bottom line for me was the knitting of that Marley area, which was the transition in the Southwest plan between the urban edge context and the suburban context.

To see that that was knitted carefully into the recommendations as well for the far southwest plan, because when people, you know, people who live in Marley, they don't know that when they cross Florida that that makes no difference to them.

When they cross Jewel, it makes no difference to them.

And I think the plans achieve that that that it looks like one community.

And so I appreciate that the uh effort that the planning department put into it, and for my colleagues from uh three and seven as well, and their staffs, and and my staff as well, Stacy Summit who worked on this.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Cashman.

Thank you, Madam President, and uh uh congratulations to my my colleagues uh whose districts are involved in this plan and and their staff because it takes so many people to get done.

Congratulations to the planning staff.

Thank you so much.

The these plans are are not a luxury.

They they're so critically important, and I believe with this plan, the city is now about 50 percent with current uh neighborhood plans, and so often when we have a zoning that comes up that the neighbors come out, and it's like, how in the name of God did this happen?

And it's like a guy, it's a use by right, they have the zoning to do what they want to do.

Um, these uh we can't have uh a bare bones planning staff.

We all have been working so hard to get these plans done, and planning needs more bodies.

It's not a luxury, they need more bodies.

We've got to get the city uh planned in full so we don't have neighbors coming to us uh telling us that that this just isn't what they want.

Um so I'll make that pitch once again.

And Diego, you uh uh uh you're the man uh uh 20 years old involved it well, starting at 18.

Um, uh involved in city planning.

It's so critical that we have youth voice.

It is a different perspective.

You have a different view of the city and what you want uh for not only your generations but the generations to come.

So thank you very seriously for taking the time to do this.

Thank you, Madam President.

Thank you.

Um thank you to CPD and thank you to the three neighborhoods that council members.

Councilmember Flynn, I had a planning initiative in the West Area plan that was a small portion, but had a lot of um orthodox Jewish people living in there, and so they were very, very, very active.

Um, and then the near Northwest plan started, and I was like a little, I felt um split, and so I totally can understand that.

And Diego, you're my dream.

Um I applied to planning school a couple years ago, and after having been a land use commissioner, I was a little I got told I should probably go to a different program.

And so I just want to say if you ever want to talk, I would love to talk because having these plans when I was a council aide and I was a council aide in global in Swancia, and we were doing the Global Illyrea Plan, we could they couldn't understand the concept of the community plaza and how important it was for that neighborhood and what that would look like and how to develop around it.

And we kept saying you could use a park and already build off of what we have, and so bringing that lived experience and marrying it with oftentimes people of color.

We don't own houses.

My husband's family, no one on that side owns a home.

My husband does, and so we always host everybody and be able to have that vernacular and be able to say bulk plane side interior setback and push back on those concepts where people we haven't always historically been at the table.

We were literally redlined out of communities.

Just want to say bravo, and oftentimes you will be literally the only person of color in those rooms.

Believe in yourself, because oftentimes I'm a female, white passing talks with the accent, last name sound of all, and they ask me how I know so much, and you know why?

It's because we're smart.

So thank you, all CPD for lifting this up and lifting community.

This is the first time I've seen a neighborhood plan where I see I've seen more youth in the name in the audience than I have anything else, and that just resonates with me because I always say we're building these plans for the next seven generations.

It took seven generations for it to have six Latinas on City Council, and we're building these plans for the next seven generations.

So thank you all for your work, CPD, and I will be uh very very adamant on supporting this, and ask that the sponsor that you all implement.

It's not any it's not it doesn't do any good if you don't bring the legislative rezoning.

So you know I'm gonna be like, where's the legislative rezoning?

Thank you.

Yeah, so madam secretary, we'll call on council bill 0103.

Council members Hines.

Hi.

Sawyer.

I.

Flynn.

Gonzalez Gutierrez.

All right, Cash.

Romero Campbell.

Aye.

What is I Watson?

Madam President Sandoval.

Madam Secretary, close the vote and answer results.

10 ayes.

10 ayes, council bill 0103 has passed.

There being no further business before this body, this meeting is adjourned.