Community Planning and Housing Committee Meeting – August 19, 2025
Community Planning and Housing Committee Meeting – August 19, 2025
The Community Planning and Housing Committee of the Denver City Council met on Tuesday, August 19, 2025, at 1:00 PM (with an early start due to a jam-packed agenda). Chair Sarah Parady presided, with Vice Chair Diana Romero Campbell and members Flor Alvidrez, Shontel Lewis, Amanda Sandoval, Amanda Sawyer, Jamie Torres, and Darrell Watson present. The committee considered a rezoning request and multiple contracts from the Homelessness Resolution (HOST) division, all of which were approved for filing to the full council.
Consent Calendar
- No separate consent calendar was used; all items received individual or block votes.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No oral public testimony was given. One letter of support for the rezoning was received from the Upper Downtown Neighborhood Association.
Discussion Items
- Rezoning at 800 15th Street (Bill 25-1186): Staff Planner Liz Weigel presented a request to rezone the 0.29-acre property (currently a hotel) from Downtown Core (D-C) with Adult Use Overlay (UO-1) to Denver Theatre District (D-TD) while retaining UO-1. The change would allow electronic message center (digital) signage to serve as a gateway to the Denver Theatre District. The Planning Board recommended approval by a 7-2 vote, with discussion about the role of signs in urban design and a hope for the forthcoming Downtown Area Plan to provide broader guidance. The applicant, Jonathan Gandhi of JBK Hotels (a local minority-owned business), cited a need to revitalize downtown post-COVID and create a clear entrance to the theatre district. Councilmembers asked about sign size (approximately 14 by 48 feet), placement (affixed to buildings), brightness controls (remotely adjustable, contractual requirements), and the relationship to the Draft Downtown Area Plan (which may expand the theatre district boundary). The committee voted 6-0 to approve the bill for filing (Councilmember Sandoval absent).
- HOST Rapid Resolution Contract Amendments (Resolutions 25-1194, 25-1196 through 25-1199): Program Officer Kevin Kelly and Executive Director Jamie Rife presented amendments to five contracts that provide rapid resolution services (short-term financial assistance to prevent or quickly end homelessness) through December 31, 2027. The contracts add a total of $2,213,480 across Denver Rescue Mission ($552,245), Volunteers of America ($261,485), Salvation Army ($541,054), Senior Support Services ($260,527), and St. Francis Center ($598,167). Key outcomes from the current cohort (787 households served in 2024) include a 94% exit within 90 days, 95% positive exits (permanent or stable housing), and particularly strong outcomes for Black/African American households (34% of participants, 95% positive exits) and families (21%). The committee discussed the rationale for small contracts (under $500,000) as a way to onboard smaller nonprofits and the process for expanding contracts. The five contracts were approved as a block by a 7-0 vote.
- HOST Rapid Rehousing Contract with Salvation Army (Resolution 25-1195): Assistant Director Evangeline Benger presented a $5,050,000 contract to provide Transformational Rapid Rehousing (12 months of rental assistance, utility assistance, and Critical Time Intervention case management) to over 200 clients experiencing homelessness. The 18-month contract (January 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026) continues support for clients already housed through Housing Central Command, an emergency management model that has achieved an average time to housing of 28.6 days. The contract focuses on the housing stabilization pillar. Councilmembers asked about family services (handled through a separate family lane in coordinated entry), landlord partnerships (mix of large and small property owners), eviction prevention (mutual lease rescissions), and long-term stability tracking (returns to homelessness). The committee voted 7-0 to approve the resolution for filing.
Key Outcomes
- Bill 25-1186 (rezoning at 800 15th Street) was approved for filing by a vote of 6-0 (1 absent).
- Resolutions 25-1194, 25-1196–25-1199 (rapid resolution contract amendments) were approved for filing as a block by a vote of 7-0.
- Resolution 25-1195 (Salvation Army rapid rehousing contract) was approved for filing by a vote of 7-0.
- The committee requested a future presentation on Housing Central Command and a comprehensive overview of all rapid rehousing contracts (scheduled for September 9).
- Councilmembers asked HOST to follow up on any staffing impacts from upcoming city layoffs on programs discussed.
Meeting Transcript
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. This is the community planning and housing committee of Denver City Council. It is August 19th. We will start with council member introductions. I'm Councilmember at large, Sarah Parody, and we'll go to my left, sir. Good afternoon. Darren Watson, fine district nine. Jamie Torres, West Denver District 3. And I think we have at least one member online. Yep. Hey guys, the Mandasaur District 5. We have an early start today because it is a jam-packed agenda. Thank you all for being here a half hour ahead of time. And we will start with community planning and development. I think Liz is already at the front of the table. On a rezoning at 800 15th Street, item number 251186. Thank you, Council Members. I'm Liz Weigel with Community Planning and Development, and I'll be presenting this rezoning application. It's at 815th Street, and it's a request to go from the downtown core with the U01, which is our adult use overlay, to the Denver Theater District, and retaining that overlay. Okay, so this property may be familiar to you. I think you heard a case across the street last night at City Council. So this is at the corner of Stout Street and 15th. It's about a 0.29 acre property. It's currently occupied by the A Loft Hotel, Denver Downtown Hotel. And as I said, this is a request to go from our downtown core district to the downtown theater district to allow for the construction of electronic message center signage, which we can also call digital signage, and help serve as a gateway to the Denver Theater District. I went the wrong way there. Okay. Okay, I'll walk through the location and context. This is located in Council District 10, Councilman Hines' district within our central business district. And as you can see here, it's located right at that edge of our existing what says DTD is our theater district zoning, and it's currently in the downtown core. I'm just calling it downtown core, downtown center. It does not allow for off-site advertising, and it's otherwise identical to the theater district zoning. And as I mentioned, the U01 is our adult use overlay, and the applicant is not proposing to change that. Here you can see the existing context. So you see the existing hotel there in the bottom right corner. And you see the uh adjacent uh properties around it. And it is right there at that corner of 15th and stout, uh, leading as you go down stout away from 16th Street and towards 14th. You do um you're right across from the convention center there and the performing arts center uh to the north. Um so the uh existing and the proposed districts, as I said, are essentially the same. They have the same um allowances in terms of new buildings that would be built and building form standards. Uh the difference with the theater district is that special signs are allowed in that district, um including animated or flashing and off-site advertising. Um, the special signs uh are subject to a theater district district sign plan, which would be something that would follow the rezoning if approved, and that theater district sign plan goes to the planning board and they have criteria that would they would consider any changes to that theater district to allow uh this site to be part of that district sign plan. Walk through our process. Uh this application was accepted and noticed uh back in June, uh, and it went to Planning Board on August 6th. Uh it is that committee today, um, and tentatively it would be heard by city council for a public hearing in October. Um, planning board, when they uh heard this case, they did recommend approval. Their vote was a seven to two vote. Uh they did have a discussion about uh the allowances for off-site advertising and general discussion about uh signs and how they contribute to uh high quality urban design and community benefits. Uh they expressed hope for the downtown the forthcoming downtown area plan amendment that it will provide more guidance on potentially uh a more comprehensive update to the theater district and lessen the need for individual rezonings going forward.
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