Welcome back to this weekly meeting of the Community Planning and Housing Committee with Denver City Council.

Your community planning and housing committee starts now.

August 5th, 1.30 in the afternoon.

We have a pretty packed agenda, so we'll get it rolling.

I'm Sarah Perry, one of your council members at large, and I will go to my left, Council President.

Oh, thank you.

Amanda Sanovo, Northwest Denver District, right?

Correct.

Good afternoon, Diana Romero Campbell's Southeast Denver District 4.

Chante Luis District 8 and Soyuz online.

For West Number District 3, and to our member online.

All right.

And with that, our first item today, we have two extra items.

The first one is 25 1082, the Kappa building loan agreement, which we moved off the consent agenda last week.

So, host if you guys want to take it away and introduce yourselves too.

Thank you.

Hello, thanks for having us today.

My name's Autumn Bueller.

I'm an asset manager in the housing stability department.

And Maureen Morley, and I'm the director of asset management and compliance and housing stability.

Great.

Thank you both for being here on this.

Oh, you're on the screen.

Well, the slides should come up any moment, but yeah.

So we're here to present on Kappa Tower 2 and 3.

I'm just gonna say both of them together.

And we've added up.

Okay.

Okay.

So I'm just gonna go over the project as we understand some questions came up, and so hopefully I can answer them for you today.

So I'm just gonna do uh just a brief introduction so that you're familiar with the project, um, starting with Kappa Tower 2, aren't you familiar?

It's uh located in District 8 off of um Northfield Boulevard and Central Park at 9020 East Northfield Boulevard, and it was funded with 700,000 using our affordable housing permanent funds closed back in July of 2020.

This was used um just to fund the project for the development of affordable senior housing, and the project contains 70 units, all affordable.

We have 18 units at 60 percent, 27 at 50, 18 at 40, and 7 at 30 for a covenant period of not less than 60 years, and it's set up on um a cash flow payment loan.

Um, if you want to go ahead and go to the next slide, I'll just cover a little bit about Kappa Tower 2.

On the next slide, there's an image that I can share with you, but I just wanted to explain that Kappa Tower 2 was developed with a portion of the lot being vacant with plans for future development of Kappa Tower 3 for additional senior housing.

However, because that language was not included in the actual loan agreement, we had to come to you to do an amendment so that we could allow for the future development of Kappa Tower 3 for that to move forward, and so you can see from the image up here.

The area highlighted in yellow is the vacant area that we were looking to come to City Council for release on so that we could develop that into what is being called Kappa Tower 3 for additional senior housing, and just a little bit more information on what CAPA tar three will be.

Thank you.

Again, additional senior housing.

So we're gonna be funding 1,050,000 using our linkage fee fund.

That will be coming to you in August for approval.

So you'll be seeing this soon.

Um, and so knowing that I came to you ahead of time for the request on the release to allow for the development.

And just wanting to reiterate that this will be um for just specifically senior housing, it will provide 30 additional units.

We will have 12 at 50% AMI, nine at 40, and another nine at 30 percent with another um 60 years added, and so by allowing us to do a partial release of the covenant on Kappa Tower 2, we will be then putting another covenant on that vacant land with Kappa Tower 3.

So that kind of gives you answers or hopefully answers any questions that you have about the project in general.

And then I wanted to just come to you today to hopefully answer any other questions or concerns that you had just because I wanted to put this together and provide it to you, but didn't have a lot of information on what the questions were.

So we tried to get as much information as we could as possible and provide that information to you.

But perhaps I can see if there's still questions that are coming up.

Yeah, no, thank you for um for the overview, and we'll open the queue with um Councilmember Lewis since it's our district.

Okay, and anyone else in queue, let me know.

If it wants to get in queue, let me know.

Thank you.

And thank you for taking the time to give this presentation.

So, yeah, two and three are both in my district, and so I really appreciate this.

We're following this closely.

We attend regularly the um council.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, that way, the resident carrying the resident council.

They do.

You know this.

Um, and so heard from the residents and just want to make sure that we're putting things in place to make sure that this is um usually beneficial for the folks who live there and then also the future tenants as well.

And so really appreciate um that these are affordable um housing opportunities for those that live there, but also want to make sure that I'm co-governing with the residence council because they are quite active.

So they don't have any questions based on your presentation, okay.

Um does anyone else want to get in cue?

Because I do have some questions, but okay, great.

Yeah, so on that, um, the topic of resident councils has been really interesting because we see um some affordable developments where those really take off and are successful, and some where they kind of struggle.

That's normal with anything that involves human beings.

Um, but I would be really curious to hear a little bit more about the success at Kappa 2, um, since we're here and have you guys.

Absolutely.

Go ahead.

I think one of the things with Kappa Kappa 2 is that they've at least up quickly, they've stabilized, they've kept their occupancy where other affordable properties in Denver have struggled a little bit at the 60% AMI, and they've able to they've been able to stabilize and keep that.

Um, and so part the Silva partners have done a wonderful job at managing it and working with the resident council.

It's supposed to be a collaborative conversation with the resident council and management so that they can support each other back and forth.

And I think that they've got communication going really well.

Um, they've taken steps to make sure that the parking lot was uh had additional eyes on it.

So they haven't had a break in in over nine months.

Um, and so a lot of those concerns they're working with very very closely.

And we did bring a representative from the management if you needed any additional questions.

I was you stole the words right out of my mouth.

I would love to talk to someone from Silva Partners and whoever's here and wants to um answer a couple questions.

I'll ask the question first, you know what it's about, and then you can come to the mic and introduce yourself.

Um really it's just the same thing I asked.

I would love to hear more about how you have supported your resident council.

Thank you back in the queue.

Hi, so uh my name is Adrian Leah, I'm the VP of operations for Solo.

Thank you for coming.

Yes, you're welcome.

Thank you for inviting and feel free to introduce the rest of the team if you'd like to, so we know who's here.

Okay, uh Larry Williams is with Kappa Housing.

Oh, uh, part of the board.

Um, I just met on and then um Josh from Mediki who's the development.

Great.

Thank you.

Yes, um, so uh we attend every um trying to attend every uh resident council meeting.

Um but we do take what they say to our we know that it's a it's a give and take.

We have to listen, we also have to give um some of the stuff that they have given us.

We have um fixed mediated, you know.

If you get a lot of people in the room, you're gonna get a lot of different things that want to be done and need to be done now.

And we try our hardest to get to those as many as we can, um, and trying to fix what we need to fix.

Um trying to alleviate a lot of the questions that they might even have.

I know there's been questions about the parking lot, about different things like that, and so we tried our hardest to let them know that some of the things we can't do, but we would escalate that, talk to someone, see what needs to happen, and um, and that's how we work on that part of it.

What other properties do you manage?

So we manage about 32 properties across Denver Metro.

Um, and then we also have some in Gunnison, uh Coral Springs, Durango, Longmont, um, so a wide range of different properties around.

We do also have, I think it's two or three more senior housing properties in Denver Metro.

So we do quite a bit of uh work in the affordable, especially the affordable.

That's our niche is the affordable housing.

Okay, well, thank you so much for answering that.

Anybody else um have a burning question, Council Member Lowe's?

Yes, because I didn't realize that you all were here, so I really appreciate you all attending.

I have a few that we've heard directly from the residence council and from members who live in Capital Taros in general, regarding uh issue with rent where they were previously able to be able to give um checks or money orders in order to be able to pay their rents, and now it is shifted into having to pay online, and many of the seniors have expressed challenges and difficulties being able to work with that technology, which is caused some troubles in their lives, and so I wanted to inquire about that.

Yeah, so we did do a um switch over from our software company, our previous software company did offer the portal, but we also were able to accept um checks and money orders.

We shifted to a brand new one started July 1st.

That one is a little bit more online.

Um we found that we've had and not specifically at Kappa, but some of our other properties had issues with stolen checks, stolen money orders, different things like that.

So this was a safety feature in our eyes that we would be able to offer this to them to pay online so that way it's a little bit more convenient for them.

We do understand that some people do not have uh the necessary um equipment or um anything that they might need to continue to do a money order or a check.

Um, we are looking into uh integrating that somehow, but there is other ways for them to do it, not having to do it online.

They can also um which I know can be a little bit inconvenient, but it can also go to like any 7-Eleven Walgreens and do an e-money order, and all it costs is the same that they would if they bought a money order, and it automatically will go to their portal as well.

So there's other things, but we are working on that, trying to get a scanner in place in order for us to go ahead and accept some of those as well.

And our manager is always willing to help if someone does have issues with the software.

Um, it's that one's kind of iffy because then you're getting their personal information to put it in the portal for them, and that can get kind of so we try to stay away from that, but we're willing to help any way that we can, uh, especially our managers.

A few um follow-ups.

Yeah.

What when you say you're willing to help, tell me what that means because when I hear the residents say that it's actually an inconvenience and it's a challenge and it makes it harder for them to be able to pay their rents, and I hear you saying that it's it's a convenience.

There it feels like there's a discrepancy.

Right.

I think uh I think a lot of things is just education and helping them to see what the what the good part of it is.

The good part is that you it does automatically go from your uh checking account into to pay your rent.

You can do auto pay, so it automatically does that every month.

But again, our managers are instructed to help anybody that needs to help, so if they have questions on how to get in, you can get in by with your phone with your cell phone, you don't need a computer.

Um, if you have computer, laptop, cell phone, any of those instruments you're able to get into the portal, which means that you can log in and get that necessary stuff that needs to happen to do that part of it.

Um, we also do um we are getting computers or tablets for the um area for residents if they do need that part of it, so that way they can access on the computer.

I'll say lab, but there's not a specific lab for it, but a computer or tablet in order to be able to do that if they do not have cell phone computer or anything like that to get on there.

Okay, yeah.

So give give me a few talk to me about the timeline for each of these things that you've just detailed.

When are this when are the scanners supposed to be installed?

When are the computers going to be installed?

How often will they have access to someone who can train them on the technology?

Because we're talking about seniors in our communities who didn't grow up with this technology, and I'm I'm empathetic to that, that they're asking for something that makes it actually easy for them, and I think generationally we are giving something that is more convenient for us, but it's actually not more convenient for them.

So talk to me about these.

Yeah, so I want to say that the scanners, um, and then we ordered them, um, so it should be here any time.

So we're hoping that we'll be able to hook them up.

The software that we um move to does not support scanners so much.

So excuse me, I'm sorry.

Um, so it's one of those things that we have to integrate with the IT in order to get that fixed and going.

So I mean, I would say we just switched over in July, July 1st.

So we told everybody until September 1st was our drop dead date where everything would be flowing well.

Uh not saying perfect, but well.

Um as far as far as a laptop computer or or tablet, um, we could do that at any time.

I think we're just we were just waiting to see what the as far as I'm aware, we've not received any um kickback that that is what's needed for someone to come and do that.

Again, I just have not heard anything.

I don't want to say that, but you're saying it's not true by any means.

Uh, I just have not heard that personally myself on any of my emails or anything that's going on with the property itself.

Um, can I just interrupt you momentarily?

How often do you attend the residency council meetings?

So personally, because I've gone and they say it at every single.

Yeah.

Personally, I have not gone.

I just started.

That's why you haven't heard it.

Well, I am on a lot of emails though, but I have to do with capital.

So I I I'm just saying I haven't heard anything because of emails uh coming to me.

I've not attended our CEO is the one who attends most of the meetings, um, or our COO.

Um, so uh I have to apologize.

I haven't heard it only because you might be correct that I just have not been there.

Not correct.

But I just have not received any emails as well on anything for that as well.

So, um but um again, we're always there, we're always willing to help.

I have a manager on site that has been there for uh years, and um, she's always willing to help anybody that needs help.

And again, accessing even on her computer to let them get on there to be able to do that if that's something that they need to.

If you would like to add to that, please feel free to introduce yourself and speak.

Okay, sorry.

No, that's fine.

Okay, you were right.

My name is Larry Williams, I'm chairman of the board of Capital Housing.

I'll just answer your question.

We have a computer lab uh at uh captain tower two, Captain Tower One also, and they just couple computers in there.

Uh the tenants can use them anytime they're available and they're in a private area, so it's not like a group meeting like this, there's a private area.

So if any of them are interested, um we talked to our service coordinator about teaching them how to use the computer or how to do these things, it's just that's where we're headed towards.

That's it, thank you.

I really appreciate that.

That's exactly what I want to know is how often are those classes offered in order for them to learn the technology because the struggle is that they haven't been trained on the technology, and so thus the technology is an advancement, but it's actually not for them because they don't know how to operate it, and it's caused them challenges to be able to pay their rents.

I I would agree with you on that.

The computers are available, we're always looking for people to come in.

But not availability.

When are people actually in the computer labs teaching them how to work the technology?

I'm gonna say my politics.

We're always looking for people to teach them uh how to use the computers, how to help them get their tax refunds and other things.

So if anybody brings this issue to the service coordinator, uh they usually come up with some resources to help them.

Another thing that the ones that have bank accounts, you can have your your mortgage payment, your rent payment paid right out of your your check-in or savings account every month.

Um, and you don't have any issues.

So that's another option.

And any time that we like if we see information about people being um scammed, uh, we tell them or suggest to them uh solutions how to solve those problems.

And you see people one gentleman, I was walking down the hall and he was rushing, and I said, What's going on?

He says, I got a uh a letter from about toll driving and I owe them a fine, and I don't know what to do because I gave them my bank account.

I said, Well, you know, you have to look at A, B, C, and D, and that you know, give anybody your bank account.

So when we see classes that are being offered or information, we put those on bulletin boards so that we can uh get someone in to teach those subjects, but we know it's ongoing and we try to help them as they progress.

In summary, the answer is to my question, you all don't have classes regularly to teach them the technology.

So if I'm inquiring and telling you that the residents are having challenges with the introduction of this new technology, and you have still not told me we have a computer tech class every Tuesday at three o'clock, it doesn't answer my question.

So what I'm hearing is that you're looking for providers to be able to offer that, but you don't currently have that in place, and thus the residents are going to continue to suffer this challenge that they have already uplifted, not just as our council office, but to you all as well, because you don't actually have a program in place to address it.

No, we don't have a program.

This program started as I understand on July, and this is August first one month.

So there's some bugs to be worked out, but we're still helping the tenants uh get their needs taken care of.

So I mean, I come back up here.

What's July?

Because you two just gave different answers.

July 1st was when we switched over to the new property management software.

Correct, not to the programming to teach them the software.

Not to teach it to software.

Yeah, yes.

Well, but in the interim period with the service coordinator, um, I believe I'm not sure I can't say for sure, but if any tenant goes in and tells you, you don't want to tell me if you don't know for sure.

Well, what I I don't know all the conversations that take place, council person or woman, woman person, I'm sorry, whatever.

But the per what I'm saying is if a tenant goes in and says, I'm having trouble getting my uh income tax, my rebate check.

I've heard the service coordinator say, Okay, let's go online and solve this problem.

Whatever problem you have, let's see if we can fix it.

So uh I agree with you, maybe the classes have not started, but that doesn't mean we're not looking for people who can come in to qualify and teach our tenants how to operate the system.

Larry, make it easy.

If it's not time bound, then it's not going to happen.

So you can come to me same time next year and say we're still looking, versus these are the active steps that we are taking to put it in place.

You all I assume had a time-bound um goal to be able to put the software in place, and you met that goal.

July is when you put it in place.

So you should also have a goal to put that program or the programming in place because your residents are telling you that they cannot pay their rents and it's a hassle because they don't know how to work the technology.

Let's qualify there for a second.

The residents don't tell me about their rent.

They tell me, they call me, that's why I'm talking to you about it.

I don't deal with their money at all, but I deal with uh problems with the building.

So my point is we're looking, even though I know I hear this, I'm gonna go back and I'm gonna try to help the property manager find somebody to solve the problem.

It's not like we're ignoring it, but you know, we're just trying to help them, and that's why we we offer different classes uh on occasion for the tenants, whatever the needs they may have that we can find somebody to solve it.

Uh when it's tax time in uh April, we find somebody or some group to come in and help them file their taxes to get their refunds, so whatever you know, that might not be a person today, that doesn't mean we're not looking for somebody to solve and help that will help them with that problem.

All right, thank you.

Okay, anybody else have a follow-up question?

Okay, so I do have a follow up question.

Councilman's my question is just can people not just take a check and go pay their rent like somewhere?

Do they have to use this electronic system?

Yeah, yes, please.

So right now the software does not allow us to do checks like before.

So you can do a e-money order, or you can sign up and you can do an ACH painting online, and I think that's where the um questions are coming from because of that being online part of it.

Okay, so right now we're not accepting checks, but we um are going to be.

So I'm glad you're going to be.

I would say like that sounds very stressful to me as a millennial.

And I have to help my parents all the time with these things.

And having automatic payments doesn't work for everybody, especially if you don't your check is late or it's not enough and you have to choose between food and rent, and you're trying to figure that out.

So I just want to highlight that that does sound like a really big issue and definitely want to see that get resolved.

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um anybody else in queue?

Because I now have one more question myself.

Okay, I couldn't tell council president.

Yeah, so my follow-up question to that would just be um have folks been charged late fees when they've been unable.

Okay, have they been should then?

All late fees because of this the detail world coming up.

So all APs have been weighed at this time.

Okay.

I just was curious if anyone has seen a lay fee come through, even if it's then been removed, which is good.

But they should not, and if they have, then they just need to let us know.

We'll take it off right away.

But as far as I'm aware, the last email we sent out was no late fees for anybody because of the software change.

Okay, um right.

One more pause for questions, and then um we either need a motion to move it to the floor or another motion if there is one.

Can I ask one more follow-up?

Of course, please, sorry.

We have about five minutes left on this item.

Does that include late visa or assess when the new system was put in place?

So it was late fee starting for July first because of the new system.

Okay, yeah.

Um, because there were fees in January or February, so not so anything previous to if they were late January and February and they had a late fees already on there, that wasn't removed, it was just we were forgiven the July ones because of the software update.

Okay, thank you.

Yes, um, I'm happy to put this to the full body, but I am definitely going to be watching it closely because these are our seniors in our community, they're vulnerable populations.

They are when we hear from them, they've already been super vulnerable where people are preying on them in parking lots, still in their cars.

Like now there's this like one extra thing.

We've had conversations already in council about the increases to their rents when they have uh are reliant on fixed incomes, like we just gotta do a better job of taking care of our seniors, and I don't feel that in this moment.

Um, and if my grandmother says she wants to write a check, then we're write a check.

You know what I'm saying?

I'm not gonna write a check, but if my grandmother wants to, they should have the opportunity to do so.

And so thank you all for being here.

Thank you all so much.

Okay, yeah, thank you so much.

Um, and I couldn't tell Councilmember Lewis, do you want to make a motion?

No, it's fine.

You can you can see, yeah.

Um, do I have a motion to move it to the floor?

Okay, great.

Uh move by Torres, seconded by Romero Campbell.

Does do we need a voice vote at all or a thumbs up?

No, okay, I'm good.

Uh, can I get thumbs ups to move to the floor?

No, thanks, guys.

So formal.

Um, all right, thank you very much.

That was super helpful.

And I just um I appreciate having a presentation where we are able to talk about an individual building, and hope we'll be able to do more of that in this committee now that we have a little more space um and not so many agencies rolling up.

Um, second action item, and thank you so much.

Um to the folks who are hosting.

Appreciate it.

Second action item is something.

It's a rezoning um at 4626 East Louisiana Avenue.

Edson, thank you so much.

You're getting a lot of us this week.

And I don't have a note on whose council district that is, and being at large, I don't uh it's cashman.

Yeah, okay.

Whenever you're ready, Edson, go for it.

Um good afternoon.

My name is Ettson Ivanis, uh, with CPD.

Before you today, we have a rezoning application at 4626 East Louisiana Avenue.

Um, the request is to go from a single unit zone district to a row house up to 2.5 stores in height.

Um so I'll go through the request, we'll look at the location and context, we'll discuss the process and look at the review criteria.

So the request, like I mentioned, is suburban row house up to 2.5 stories.

The site itself is um a single-family residence, so it has a home that's about two stories.

And the site is 24,000, just slightly above 24,000 square feet, so a little over half an acre.

And so looking at the location and context, it's located in Council District 6 in Cashman's District.

And highlighted here in red, it's in the Virginia Village neighborhood.

So like I mentioned, the site itself is zone SUD, which is our single unit zone district, with that has a minimum lot size of 6,000 square feet.

Everything to the south of the site is single unit, which is predominantly single-family houses, but it's sandwiched between the SRH 2.5, which is what's being requested here.

The SRH 2.5 is that row house up to 2.5 stories.

To the north of the site, we have SMU3, which is our multi-unit up to three stories, and then kind of to that southwest there.

You have some SMS 5, which is the multi-unit up to five stories.

So when you look at the land use that we get from our sessions records, the site is single family, but it's sandwiched between multi-family, and then to the north we have apartment complexes, which is multi-unit, and then everything to the south is single family residential.

So the site, it's kind of hard to see here on this image on the top right corner.

It is a two-story single-family house.

Directly to the west of the site, we see some kind of town homes that range between one and two stories.

And then to the north of the site is the upper right photo, is the apartment complex, which is five stories.

And then to the south of the site is predominantly one-story single family houses.

So now looking at the process, so an informational notice was sent out in April of this year.

The application was revised.

So originally the application was for SMU 3, which is that multi-unit up to three stories, and then the applicant revised their application and submitted for a new rezone district, which is that SRH 2.5 now.

So that was revised back in June.

It went before the planning board in July of 16th, and it's before you today, and it's tentatively scheduled to go to full city council public hearing on August 15th.

To date, we've received one letter of support from the East Evans Business Association RO.

With that, we also received a letter of support.

And we've received one letter of opposition and two letters of concerns.

Those opposition and concern statements that we received were all mainly on the SMU3.

They were concerned about three stories, they were concerned about apartments specifically, and you know, most of it was saying we want to see it consistent with what's on the south side rather than the north side.

So that's where the applicant revised their application to an SRH 2.5.

And so with that, you know, now we're gonna jump into the review criteria.

So every rezoning has to follow the Denver zoning code's criteria that's spelled out, which are consistency with adopted plans, public interest, and consistency with neighbor context zone district purpose and intent statements.

And so this specific application falls under three adopted plans, which is conference and plan 2040, Blueprint in Denver of 2019, and then near Southeast Area Plan of 2023.

So there's multiple strategies that this specific application falls under, but I just wanted to highlight a few here under equity goals, such as the equitable affordable and inclusive goal two strategy A, create a greater mix of housing options in every neighborhood for all individuals, as well as encourage quality infill development that's consistent with the surrounding neighborhood and offers opportunities for increased amenities.

And under climate goals, promote infill development where infrastructures and services are already in place.

When we jump into Blueprint Denver, Blueprint Denver classifies this area as suburban.

Suburban is more of homes that are larger single unit, but it can include higher intensity residential.

When we look at the place type, it's classified as low medium residential.

So low medium is a mix of low to mid-scale multi-unit residential options.

So small-scale multi-unit buildings with heights up to three stories.

So this applicant is applying for 2.5 stories in height, and then Louisiana Avenue is a residential collector.

Within the growth area strategy, it's classified as all other areas within the city.

So we anticipate to see 20% of new housing growth and 10% of new closing growth by 2040.

Additionally, you know, the small-scale rezoning can help implements the equity goals, such as housing goal two, diversify housing options by exploring opportunities to integrate missing middle into low and low medium residential areas.

And for climate goals, reduce climate impacts by multi-unit buildings are more energy efficient than low-scale density residential development types.

When we jump into the near Southeast area plan, this is an area that had a place type designation change.

So it was originally um uh low, but it was changed to low medium, and so uh low medium places with two point, and it has a recommendation of 2.5 stories in height.

And so in the residential low, medium place type within 2.5 stories, the maximum height recommendation of appropriate housing types should be duplexes, triplexes, four plexus, and townhomes, which is are the building forms that are allowed under the SRH 2.5.

Additionally, there's a strategy um in the land use recommendation 6B2 that talks about introduced missing middle housing types in designated place, places adjacent to corridors, creating transitions areas that scale down intensity from corridors into surrounding residential neighborhoods, and then that limit rezonings in newly designated places until design requirements have been updated.

So I think this site is very unique in the sense that it's already sandwiched between SRH 2.5.

So it's looking for that same zone designation.

And additionally, we have that SM SMU3 and SME 5 directly to the north, just north of Louisiana.

So it's providing that transition to the lower residential to the to south, and and it's row houses, so it's not the townhomes that can be built here, it's row houses that all the front doors have to be placing facing the primary street, which would be Louisiana here, and uh so it's very unique in the surrounding area, and and this will facilitate development that's consistent with the surrounding area already.

Um, it's consistent with the public interest as it's consistent with Blueprint Denver and um the small area plan for low medium where we want to see small multi-unit um up to 2.5 stories in height, and it's consistent with the neighborhood context zone district purpose and intense statement as specified in the staff report.

Therefore, CPD recommends approval of that basing based that all the findings of the route tier have been met.

I'm available for any questions, um, and um the applicants here for any questions as well.

Thank you.

Excellent, thank you so much.

Um, it's Council Member Cashman's district, he's not on this committee, so anybody else have any questions?

Councilmember Torres.

Thank you.

Thank you, Edson.

Um is the applicant available?

Yep.

Hi.

Hi.

If you can just introduce yourself, thank you.

I'm an architect and I represent the landowner to your Z.

Okay, thank you, Howard.

Um, there's a little tiny slot out at the top of the property, and as just looking at a Google map, and there's a little tiny um structure on it.

What is that?

Um, it used to be public service company.

We now know it as XL.

They have a gas valve there.

It occupies a 20 foot by 50 foot piece of land that was obviously cut out of the old farmland previously.

Um, and I would love for them to abandon it and give the land to the client, but I don't see that happening.

Got it, so it's still a used personality.

Okay, it makes sounds new.

Okay.

Um, the uh Rh 2.5, um, what do you anticipate the property owner doing with the property?

Because it's a huge lot, um, and I'm noticing um a couple different uses to the sides of you that use RH 2.5 in different ways.

Um, some have narrowed like a more narrow lot where they've broken it up, others have a much bigger um space.

Do you know if there are plans in play there aren't plans in place.

What there are is uh some various site studies that I did.

The owner is a um, I'll tell you straight up, he's an immigrant from Pakistan who's a dentist and so he's not a professional developer he bought the house and the little farm piece but he realizes that it's not its best use so he brought me on to investigate what we could do with it.

I would think that it's going to be townhouses or row houses type given the density on either side of it it's going to be somewhere in the eight to ten units maybe you know given given what they have it you could develop it differently if it weren't for that piece that's cut out of it because there's a limitation on frontage because there's a limitation on the road frontage you are actually limited by access and number of units but we haven't we haven't investigated an actual design and I'm not so sure that he won't just sell this to someone else you know he's already weathered this process and it's been okay for him but he may just sell it with the new zoning.

Does he live outside yes he does okay got it um thank you so much sure um Edson just for you um the building forms that could be used here um RH 2.5 row home duplex single family home correct okay all right thank you thank you yeah thank you council member um anybody else oh I see okay great council member sawyer eagle eye pro temp spotted your little hand raising on the corner of the screen there um it is all you I was just about to tease you and say I have a question so thank you um just a question for I think the architect um one of the conversations that we had during the creation of the near southeast area plan was a conversation around affordability and the um concern that in these areas where there are now single family homes that are quote unquote attainable right um for you know first time home buyers or young families etc um we see that they're being scraped and then there are either McMansions being built in those locations so what was once a 7500 home is now a you know 2.2 million dollar McMansion or we see potential rezonings coming through where um you know what was once a single family home is being scraped and uh you know eight townhouses are being put there and so but the the pricing on those townhouses is not um sort of equivalent to the the original cost of the land and so the challenge there is that what that does is it um accelerates gentrification and displacement of residents and because our kind of um near southeast area um is one of the places where there's still a significant amount of attainable housing um the council members who worked in that district were very clear about our concern um of scraping and rebuilding and sort of creating this gentrification problem or or continuing this gentrification problem that we see all over the city and we've seen this happen in a number of neighborhoods we've seen it happen in sunny side we've seen it happen in Cherry Creek etc um and it's definitely in the best interest of the city to ensure that we don't do that um I know that there is a city process that is happening right now in community planning and development looking at unlocking some of these different affordability um issues that might address some of this displacement and I'm curious whether that is something that the property owner has has had conversations with CPD about in this rezoning because this is this is exactly the situation that we're talking about.

Is that on me?

Okay so the conversations I've had with the with the owner is uh he's he's done a real estate investigation and this is about two blocks south of Blindale.

This is not a high end district um we talked about making affordable housing with it by what I mean affordable, I do not mean necessarily section eight or real low income housing, but more middle class housing.

Yeah, that's that's what we call like attainable housing, right?

That's the word that we use because people get confused when you say affordable housing is a deed restricted affordable housing or do you just like the middle.

He believes the target audience is more of a middle class audience.

If you look at what's been built on either side of it, we don't want to be the most expensive property on the street.

Now, having said that, I won't be able to control what happens to this zoning should he sell it.

So the zoning is to match the zoning that's on either side of it.

Um the owner, the current owner has no interest in doing real high-end housing.

He wants to be able to move it, but he's not sure he will pursue that that way.

Um across the street is a five-story apartment building on either side of it or um our multi-unit um townhouse condo type buildings, but they're not apartment type buildings.

He's looking to match that density and sort of that level of income.

Okay, appreciate that.

Um, so question for CPD, then I'm gonna ask you the same question.

You know, have you had those um conversations or has CPD taken this into consideration when looking at this rezoning?

You know, we always encourage them that once they have a design to work with, you know, CPD development services.

Um, because typically we have, you know, for units that are underneath the threshold of 10 10 units, for example, when we're talking about mandatory housing, um, you know, they're paying in loo fee.

So we um they, you know, other types of zoning will, if they're providing a percentage of affordable housing, um, either that's like the 10%, for example.

Um, we'll get that height incentive.

So this type of zoning doesn't do that because a unit count is so much smaller.

So we always encourage them to like look into the neighborhood um and consider what's happening around them.

Um for these smaller scale rezonings, sometimes we don't do an equity analysis because they're so small, and so we don't share like what's happening in the neighborhood, but we try to have them reach out to the council member and reach out to the RNL so they have a better idea of what's going on in the neighborhood.

Okay, really appreciate that.

Um I guess I find it a little bit concerning.

Um I know that legally speaking, we we don't have a lot of leg to stand on at this time, which is why all the council members who were involved in the Near Southeast area plan feel pretty strongly that we come up with a legal framework for this.

Um, but I will just say um I agree that this zoning seems reasonable given what's going on here, but I I am concerned that without that legal framework, we continue to find ourselves in a situation where we see projects that are uh you know that fit the criteria, but also continue to perpetuate this this gentrification that we're seeing across our city.

So um really appreciate that.

Really appreciate the conversation.

I have no problems with this moving forward at all.

Just wanted to um ask that question.

Thanks.

Thank you, Council.

Um, all right, final call for anyone to get in queue.

I do not have questions myself, so I will need a motion in a second to move to the floor.

So thank you.

Motion by Torres, second by all the address.

Um appreciate this, and we'll see you some Monday night coming soon.

Thanks, Edson.

All right, and now we have something very exciting a um non-action item presentation from CASER on a study that they put together.

Um it's been a while since they started it, um, regarding uh green social housing.

And while they're getting up here, I will say I hope Councilmember Lewis makes it back because this was at her impetus.

I think during the first budget that we all were part of.

Maybe the second one.

I think the first one.

First one.

All right.

Um, do you guys want to introduce yourselves and um and then you can take the way I say your slides are up?

Yeah, well, thank you.

So I'm Shelby Summer, director of planning and engagement at Brendel Group.

We are a consulting firm with a mission to accelerate equitable solutions to the climate crisis.

And so we're part of the on-call stable of consultants that support CASAR on a periodic basis.

And so we're talking about a study that was completed last spring.

So spring of 2024.

I'm Paulina Somosa, a planner for Brundel Group, who led a lot of the case study research for this project in particular.

Thank you.

It's very overdue for us to begin with this presentation.

I'm so glad you guys are here.

Yes.

So we'll just acknowledge that some of the information is a little bit dated.

We haven't refreshed all of the financial information in particular, but a lot of the main um facts related to the case studies and and the overall findings are still very relevant.

So we started um this work with CASR um CPD and the host team in a real collaborative nature.

Some of them are over here on the side and here to answer questions as well.

And so we were really looking at focusing in on understanding within the context of the affordable housing gap that exists in Denver, what are some of the best practices and what are some examples of sustainable housing that is also affordable?

And so we looked at various criteria and really honed in on some various kind of ideas, opportunities to really focus in on a short period of time.

You know, what are some things that Denver can look to for examples?

And so in looking at the various criteria, we divided it into three different pillars.

These are pretty typical sustainability pillars.

First of all, we were looking very squarely at energy efficiency and renewable energy that extended then to water use and water efficiency, water quality, as well as the embodied carbon associated with waste and materials, et cetera.

Not to be outdone by the amazing case studies and things that we were starting to see in the social services and support services arena as it relates to affordable housing.

So we also started looking at things that best practices and projects we're doing as it relates to family and child support.

We heard about technology access and training earlier, food, gardens, education, et cetera.

And then finally, we were layering in like what are some of the best and kind of challenges related to both location, unit type, unit sizes, as well as different types of affordability thresholds as well as kind of the stories, you know, a timber versus a steel frame construction that adds to the different cost complexities.

So Paulina's gonna talk about sort of the research at hand, and then we'll go into some of the findings.

This is a very condensed slide of all the case studies that we took a look at.

So the timeline for this started research began May 24 and went on to about the end of April of last year.

That began with a literature review of six articles to kind of guide what criteria should we look for when we talk about sustainable affordable housing and what we should be basing this, our findings on.

In total, we ended up reviewing 29 case studies, identifying things regarding design, sustainability, and the factors, identification factors that Shelby just went over.

Of those 29 case studies, we identified 10 specific case studies to do a deeper dive on and look a little bit more into the overall aspects when we look at the construction costs and financing opportunities for those case studies in particular.

Just to give a brief overview of what that deep dive looked like, we chose one of the case studies, which is Los Vecinos, located in Chula Vista in San Diego, which is the largest city.

So trying to match the profile of Denver in regards to the needs of the community, but also how dense that city is.

For this particular case study, construction was completed in 2019.

That is something I want to know in reviewing the case studies, and a lot of the range was between that 2019-2021 construction completion.

So none of it was really completed in 2024 of the time of the research that was conducted.

For that case study in particular, the design, it was an abandoned motel.

So it was reconstructed and replaced by this development in particular, all with materials that were recycled, and 50% of that construction debris was actually recycled as well.

So you saw that sustainability aspect incorporated at the start, as well as during the construction phase of the development.

For sustainability factors, they had a rooftop photovolic system, which was a pretty big win for this development in particular when it comes to energy efficiency.

A lot of hydronic space seating.

So when it comes to comfort in the home, that was prioritized as well.

And the big thing was that upgraded envelope insulation, which you will see throughout other case studies, the high performance airtight ceiling and permeable concrete traps.

Little bit more details on the social services, which is what really brought this together since it was a public-private collaboration between the city of Chula Vista and the private developer.

So they have a public art building program where they give actually education to residents there, free of cost on art and its connection to nature, along with some bilingual lead training, which is also free of cost to residents there at the time of 2019.

And then ongoing educational opportunities for children and adults regarding outdoor spaces.

And then an extensive recycling program.

So again, you see that sustainability aspect throughout the development and even after construction was completed.

Awesome.

And then for some quick initial findings, not of that particular case city, but looking at all 29, we saw 52% of those developments be all electric.

90% were renewable or incorporated a renewable aspect into their project, and then 79% with that high performance envelope category integrated within their construction.

And then 62% considered water savings, all of that can be to the type of landscape that was incorporated and their infrastructure in general, and then 58% incorporated heat pumps.

Five projects focused on water reuse, mostly rainwater.

28% of that, again, that high performance envelope or passive house certification is one thing that was brought up a lot.

And then 20 of the case studies were within transit-oriented development areas.

And then 48% of that development were all family friendly, is what we're calling it.

So more than three units, and not um, yeah.

And as for the social supportive services, we looked at a lot of child care, health care, enhanced mobility options, career counseling, some connection to other city services, along with some really out of the box innovative services that were provided to the residents themselves.

And before I review the initial findings and costs, I do want to start with that disclaimer that at the time, this was done in 2024.

So we have already seen some federal funding that has been impacted by the current administration.

So a lot of this has changed.

So when this was done, there were 74 financial opportunities that can be done at a state or federal level in terms of looking at grants and tax IRA rebates and things like that.

13 programs from here were funded looking at specifically sustainable development, so not just that affordable aspect, layering in the sustainability portion of it.

And then the average cost was about 299 per square foot, and at the time the Colorado was a little bit more expensive than that, but again, the IRA funding for this has changed, but 60% of the projects would be funded on average.

Okay, so what does this all mean?

And what are our takeaways from this?

One of the key trends, and it was something we were specifically looking for, but were sort of validated through looking at all 29 of these case studies, was the passive house criteria and standards.

So some of these affordable housing developments are formally certified as passive homes.

A lot of them are using it as sort of inspiration and as a design guideline.

And I know Denver's green building code already has a nod to the passive house certification, but we think this is an area that there's a lot of opportunity to continue to lean into.

And the certification process if folks choose to go there isn't as you know, like a lead, for example.

We are seeing a lot of momentum in the sort of net zero, net zero ready to all electric construction.

Some of that is driven by standards and building codes adopted by the communities where the these projects were built.

In the West in particular, or colder climate, there is just a push towards all electric construction now that the heat pump technology has really kind of been proven to work in colder climates.

As Paulina noted, the unit size variance is a notable thing that we're seeing across the board.

A lot of affordable housing historically has been a studio or one bedroom unit, and we're now seeing two, three, four bedrooms to make room for multi-generational families or larger families or non-traditional kind of living units and structures.

Kind of related to that is just this accessibility forward design.

And so traditionally accessibility has looked like you know, ramps and elevators to accommodate physical abilities and needs, but some of the things that we're starting to see are noise and soundproofing, sort of rooms for light sensitive light sensitivity and different communication styles.

And so that's just a trend to watch, and really be thoughtful about how to design for the needs of all different people.

And then these last two around nonprofit partnerships and co-locating.

Denver's already seen a lot of this, but many of the case studies were integrating the thoughts around food access, health care, and partnerships with support services at the design, whether it's a new construction or renovation, really having those partners involved in identifying what goes where and not just bringing them after the fact into a space that's maybe not adequately set up for that support service need.

So moving back over to the financial side of things, again, this is kind of old information, but I just wanted to sort of highlight that the inflation reduction act did open up some new pathways for direct funding for nonprofit organizations.

So previously you had to kind of partner with another entity in order to receive tax credits because nonprofit organizations clearly aren't paying taxes.

And so this direct pay provision is still in effect.

That hasn't changed.

What are, yeah, exactly.

We'll see what if that changes, but that's in the tax code.

Some of these tax credits themselves are, you know, ebbing and flowing and changing on the daily.

I think there is a window of opportunity as it relates to some of these energy tax credits, particularly geothermal, some of the battery storage, where the phase out timelines, it had been 2035, that's getting accelerated up to 2026 or 2028, depending on which source and which day you're looking at it.

But there is a window of time where some of these incentives are still going to be available.

So for projects that are sort of in the planning process, we don't want to scratch these off the list entirely.

There are still opportunities to pursue these and really beneficial as it relates to some of the things we talked about, zero energy ready and also building for resilience.

Okay, and so some final recommendations.

Again, this is a little bit dated and recognizing that there's a lot of work that's been done in this space, but we do think that passive home design guidelines or even standards and educational materials are a viable pathway to keep pursuing and keep sort of infusing in the affordable housing arena.

There are just opportunities to kind of stack and braid different rebate opportunities.

The state as well as the Denver Regional Council of Governments are going to be releasing some energy efficiency and renewable energy tax credits in the coming months, and so just aligning local resources with some of these state resources will be beneficial.

As it relates to costs, it's complicated.

You know, it's there's a tendency to focus on just the first costs of building things.

When we start talking about electrification and renewable energy, it's really helpful to look at the whole life cycle, and specifically the operations costs of the building.

Those who pay for the investments don't always reap the benefits in terms of their utility bills, that the costs of different types of energy are shifting with the different energy policies.

So it's it's really really does take some long-term forecasting to sort of figure out their return on investment.

Some trends to keep an eye on prefab, whether it's a full sale all units or pieces of units, parts and pieces, making sure codes are adequately facilitating and enabling that type of development will help accelerate affordable housing development.

There are some areas.

I have a feeling that a lot of that's going away, but there are some areas where there are some bonus credits available or were.

And then finally, we talked about partnering with other organizations very early and making sure that the design and that funding portfolio is taking advantage of their needs and addressing those opportunities collaboratively.

So I think that's it for us.

You all received this report probably about a year ago.

So I don't anticipate you have it top of mind.

We're happy to send it again.

It's of interest, happy to answer any questions.

Great.

Well, we've got them, and I will start with Consulver Lois for questions.

Okay, thank you.

One, I wanted to start with just like thanking my colleagues because you all approved the budget amendment for us to be able to be able to study this, and I'm super excited.

And also thank my brilliant staff.

Jesse, we have been in office talking.

Correct.

Um, and I just have two really quick quick questions.

Um, so per unit cost is higher for construction, but um it's lower for long-term operation.

Can you talk about how much cheaper and under what circumstances?

That's a great question.

And again, at the time of this case study, a lot of those numbers we did notice if it was like a public-private partnership, so if that initial cost would be a lot lower if the land was publicly owned versus um relying on the private development on things, that drove a lot of it.

And then the operational costs, if you have that partnership with a lot of nonprofit organizations to support some of the social services, my initial reaction was saying some of these were too good to be true in terms of like, oh, this is free of cost, the resident, but there was a lot of collaboration when it came to partnering up with the nonprofits.

Um that would be like the main takeaways off the top of my head.

That's it.

Awesome.

Thank you.

That was a really good question.

Um, yeah, I mean, I think it's it's hard because this environment keeps changing so quickly.

But um, I'm gonna start and make a comment, I guess, um, to my colleagues, since we have a little bit of time for that, because um, having spoken for the last two years to Councilmember Lewis about um this idea of social housing and what it can mean, um, the thought that she had behind getting this study funded was kind of brilliant because um when we think about housing, we think about which it costs people, you know, and then we think about like is it accessible?

Um, and then maybe we start thinking about like is it close to green space?

Um, but the the point of the term social housing is that because it's publicly owned, all of those values you can like make sure are reflected in it, including you know the standards to which it's constructed and climate change and all this.

And so it makes a lot of sense if we're good public stewards.

If we were to own and operate housing, we should be doing it to good environmental standards, and that has to do both with how things are built and then how they're operated and then how you treat the people inside.

So I thought this was a nice way to encompass um why that idea is not it's not um just or even mostly a financing model.

It's about the idea that publicly owned housing, if we're the ones ultimately in charge of it at the end of the day, is going to be a way to flow through many of our different um values and priorities.

So sorry, that's just me editorializing, but this study um sort of showed me that in ways that I would not have imagined.

Like this, the one case study that you pulled out for us on the maybe like fourth slide, um, those are things that you can tell came from a whole bunch of people involved in this project, bringing a whole lot of really good ideas to bear, and there's this like through line of consistency between how it was built and then how um the people in the building um continue to have access to like ways to just like live more sustainably.

So I thought that was super fascinating.

Um I have to ask some questions.

Actually, does anyone else want in the queue?

Because I will go last, but I didn't have anyone else in.

Okay.

I I do have a question.

Good.

I thought you did.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Um, well, it's it's more of um it's just a question.

So, Denver Housing Authority, do they have these same sort of standards, or is there conversation with them for their sustainability and kind of how they're implementing because they are doing um publicly have a lot in, you know, a public housing um entity.

Like, how how does that relationship?

That's a great question.

I don't know if someone I don't want to put anybody on the spot.

I don't have the answer to that, and I wonder if anyone from um any of the agencies who's here has a sense of that.

And if not, we'll we'll pin it for follow-up.

Adam Mr.

Lyons, I thought I might see you hopping up over there.

Can you introduce yourself?

Adam Lyons, deputy director of housing opportunity for host.

Uh, you know, with BHA and really what's true for most of the rental new construction market, is that they rely on housing tax credits in order to be built in finances, you know, anywhere between 30 to 50 percent of a total capital stack.

So CHAPTER does have uh very short standards around uh green building features and all new development, and they require that any project that gets tax credits to achieve a green building certification, whether that's the enterprise uh green communities lead uh or the national green building standards.

So, in order to even qualify for credits, you would have to meet one of those requirements.

Of course, we have Denver uh green building code here as well.

So those projects, uh, even though developed by DHA, the same is true for any tax credit developer that they are following these uh these certifications.

Cool.

Thank you for that.

That was a great question, Council Pro Tem.

Any follow-up on that?

Um, just so just that we continue the conversation, but be able to also I think you know, um, with additional information arising, you know, tide floats all boats, and I would imagine that there's also a very strategic conversation that needs to happen with DHA as well.

Yeah, I like that idea a lot.

And I I honestly I don't know that um I don't know that well, council member, well, council member Liz or the agencies would probably know this, um, whether we shared this study with DHA.

And I would be happy to.

Um, but if not, it'd be a great idea.

You're right.

My main issue with DHA, quite honestly, is that we don't cover them.

So you know, you're right.

Um, we could do it.

Okay, I wanted to ask, um, could we actually would you all who are here from the um different agencies that worked on this just quickly um we know almost all of you, but introduce yourself and just quickly say um what your role was in interacting with this study when it came out, so we know who to go to with future questions.

Sure.

Um, first Jennifer or Ramsey, do you get planning development?

Oh, sorry, yeah, I'm sorry, come up to the mic.

Thank you.

I'm a noob chair still.

Plus, you all look so comfortable.

And Adam, even though I would love to know um how you contributed to this if at all, or just read it when it came out or whatever, but yeah, thanks.

My name is Jenna Ramsey, um, community planning development on the data reuse in downtown project champion.

My original role and scope was to assist with the adaptive review portion of the study that was subsequently cut due to budget.

Um, however, my background is in architecture and is able to contribute more market perspective and connect some of the dots regarding some more um state or national pricing data.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Christy Collins.

I'm with community planning and development.

I lead our small little green communities team within our development services piece.

And my role on this was just to come at this from a commercial architect who has focused on sustainability for a very long time and ask questions and try to fit together the opportunities that we have in CPD and with our codes and regulations that we're working on with what we were learning through the study and ask some questions that might help to inform us so that we could do more.

Thank you so much.

Good afternoon.

My name's Matt Rea.

I'm actually on the building performance policy team, uh, Sharon's team uh behind me, but I also manage the on-call contracts, including our friends in Brendel Group, and it was my job to get all these very smart people in the same room and have all these conversations and get momentum on the study.

So I was just a facilitator, but um believe me, I learned a lot myself.

Thank you.

Sharon Jay, I'm with CASER and lead the energized Denver team.

I'm actually only here because Liz Batcock is out this week, and I'm here just in case you ask questions.

But I wanted to add that there was a lot of things that came up in here that we have some specialists within CASR within CPD within host, that if you got all of us in a room, we could talk more about it, like talking about passive house or whether it's a new construction or existing building.

I think we could, you know, depending on what your question is and who you want to have in the room, we can provide that.

Could I ask our agency friends to just send us that little like directory of like who who connects to the study in different areas of expertise?

We would really love that for the whole committee, or probably all of counsel while we're at it.

Cool, thank you.

Thank you.

And Adam, anything you wanted to add about the study specifically?

Yes, I wasn't too heavily involved in the initial study.

We had some folks at uh host on the data side that really were involved in sending up a lot of the data.

However, my team that I have the pleasure of over seeing at host is the ones that really feed a lot of this data in, we track our affordable housing developments, um, really what's getting built and whether they're all electric or not.

So we have all of that data available and a lot of it was um did flow into the study.

Okay, thank you.

Um I think my only remaining question, and again, I just want to make sure because I'm sharing that no one else wants in the queue.

All right, just checking.

So interesting, you guys, not joking.

We're just tired.

We're really tired.

I'm gonna ask one question and you'll let us out of here early.

Um but I'm wondering when you talk about our building electrification standards, like we we know those are really high, and so we do really well with that in Denver.

Um, but I'm curious if through all these case studies um what things stood out to any of you as um sustainability elements that either just aren't building code related um or maybe were some small things that are building code related or code doesn't do.

Um, because I I noticed some of that even in the case studies that were kind of highlighted.

So I'm just curious about that for anyone who has a thought.

And I'm sorry, I know Liz isn't here, but uh thank you, Sharon.

Sharon Jay with uh CASAR.

Um I think some of the the pieces I like that um the funding that these groups get that um he was talking about um that you have to do enterprise green communities or one of those other green community standards.

I think those are super important.

Um, whether or not our building code does that or not, I'm not positive.

I want to give limit leave it to them.

Um I think it was also very interesting that the majority of these uh were around passive house, which is a absolutely beautiful um design guideline that we are thinking in CASER of how do we incorporate it into the 2026 code, whether it's voluntary as like a first round and then make it a little bit more mandatory because it's all about tightening up your envelope, which improves energy efficiency, which makes me really happy from Energized Denver perspective.

But a lot of the features that they were talking about, I would probably say, you know, maybe 75% maybe are in our code, um, but these ladies would tell more.

But I think there needs to be maybe a little bit bigger effort of like how do we take the concepts that we learned from this study and apply it to our existing housing, not just new housing.

Um, because I think that we're learning that through Energized Denver, that the more affordable the units are, the more they're uh behind on deferred maintenance, and then they're in trouble when they get to energy efficiency and having to upgrade their systems for our energized Denver compliance.

And so that really concerns me.

But in our compliance assistance program, 75% of the buildings that are in it that are multifamily are affordable housing.

75% of the buildings that are in our compliance assistance program are affordable housing.

And so, like, how do we expand on that?

But then also how do we improve code to make sure that any of the buildings that are built are done in a way that set them up really well for energized Denver later.

Yeah, great.

Cool.

Um, all right, thank you so much.

Uh, did anyone else have an addition to that?

Yeah, good, thank you.

Um, so two thoughts.

One, passive house being highlighted made us really excited.

Also, because of the resilience component of it, because it's energy efficiency, but it's also resilience when there's a power outage, right?

People can stay in place a lot longer.

And so I think we would love to see our codes evolve to promote that more strongly.

Then the second thing: going through the case studies and understanding that in different locations and different circumstances, different contributions are possible to the community as a whole, fits with an approach that we have discussed a great deal.

We would like to see reflected in our codes that allows projects to take advantage of the opportunities that are unique to the location, so that they all contribute towards the community's resilience as a whole.

And I think that was reflected through the case studies.

My perspective is a little bit um maybe more market driven, and also my relationships with some of the existing building owners and forms.

My this is a personal perspective, but um there's a price tag associated with every regulation that you add.

Uh passive house is a fantastic standard.

It's also can be, you know, that one to eleven percent price increase does mean that rents have to be higher to support that, and if they cannot go higher because of affordability requirements, perhaps um those building owners can't maintain the building, and that's why we're having current issues even now.

So there's always you know a balance of priorities from that respect.

Likewise, um, you know, in in at CPD in general, we are trying to streamline approval processes and codes, and there isn't necessarily uh a work group that's able to support review and enforcement of those regular regulations at this point.

So if you are considering that as a requirement, we'd want to accommodate that within a budget increase.

Likely, yeah, that's super helpful.

Yeah, and I I also um noting that it's more expensive to build, but then cheaper energy usage energy usage over time.

You can't really translate that energy usage savings into making the initial building sort of pencil out, um, but it is noteworthy to me that that savings, which really hopefully goes to the tenants, um, comes into play once the thing is actually built.

So okay, um, we can let all these tired people go unless anyone has any other questions.

Thank you.

This was phenomenal.

Thank you guys all for making the time.

But so amazing.

Thanks.

Thanks so much.

I appreciate it.

All right, we have one item on consent.

If nobody wants to call it off, we are adjourned.

Yep.