It's time for this biweekly meeting of the Finance and Business Committee of Denver City Council.

Join us for the Finance and Business Committee starting now.

Welcome everyone.

Thank you for being here on this Tuesday morning, August 26th.

My name is Serena Gonzalez Cutieres, and I am one of your council members at large.

And also chair of the Finance and Business Committee.

Before we go through what's on today's agenda, I'm going to go around so that council members can introduce themselves.

So I'll start to my left.

Daryl Watson representing Define District 9.

Good morning, Paul Cashman, South Denver District 6.

Jamie Torres, West Denver District 3.

Oh, you got me.

Hi, Diana Romero Campbell, Southeast Denver District 4.

Chris.

All right, great.

Well, we have two action items on our agenda today.

And so first we'll be starting with an ordinance change being brought forward with Councilwoman Torres on the nonprofit vehicle donation program.

This will also have a public comment.

So before we get to questions from council members, we'll do public break for public comment.

And but please feel free to jump in a queue and I will track if council members have questions.

And I'm going to turn it over to Councilwoman Torres to have the folks that are joining you here today to introduce themselves.

Sure.

I'll turn it over to the general services team and city attorney to do their introductions, and then I'll just say something really quickly to kick off.

Sure, thank you.

Al Gardner, Executive Director of General Services.

Adriana Gibson, Deputy Executive Director of General Services.

Ron Martin, Assistant City Attorney.

I assist General Services.

Chris Stepmeyer and the surplus manager for the city.

Great.

Thank you all and thank you, committee.

This has been almost a year in progress.

And so I really want to extend my thanks to this general services team.

Because in November of last year, I was contacted by one of somebody who will hear from in a little bit about Emily Griffith Technical College, who provides certification for auto mechanic workforce training, collision workforce training.

That some of their vehicles they're having a hard time acquiring vehicles.

And it sounded like the dean at Emily Griffith had approached the city in the past and been told, well, it's against our our code, our rules, we can't do it.

And so talked to Adrena and Al Gardner at that time in their team and said, okay, there's got to be some way that we can create some kind of path for maybe it's our unused fleet vehicles, maybe it's our impound vehicles.

What is there possible that we can help these schools really be able to meet their needs because it seems like a win-win.

And really grateful for this team in really looking at the code, what was allowed, what was not allowed, and creating a uh a potential pathway for the nonprofit organizations that provide um instructional and certification programs to be able to get vehicles.

And as we dug into it a bit more, um, it was illuminating to understand the difficulty that some of those organizations have in getting vehicles because they um uh they don't turn them around for revenue, they use them for instruction.

Um, and being able to find enough vehicles to meet the need um is one of the reasons why um we're all here today.

So um I'll turn it over to the team um to present the um the potential changes.

Thank you, councilwoman.

I will start it.

Um we'll go to slide next.

There we go.

I'll start there.

I'll I'll I'll preface though what I'm getting ready to cover and kind of piggyback off of uh what councilwoman Torres mentioned, and that it married really, really well with what our focus was at General Services.

Um, in addition to that, we have been focused on the piece dealing with vocational learning and started a program called GS Works uh probably a little over a year ago that partnered with um Pickens uh African American Trade Association and Emily Griffith to expose their students to vocational careers.

So this married really, really well and already kind of went down a path that we were looking at already to find out how we could expose um folks to the trades even better.

Um so the objectives were to support vocational training, obviously in workforce development.

Um again, what I mentioned to you, which was part of the departmental focus, um, streamline uh legal and operational framework, which in going through this exercise, uh we were able to decouple uh some things that uh uh would prohibit us uh from the ability to really help in this way is really kind of discover how we can make these types of programs um much more amenable to to the folks in our community.

Maximize community benefit while minimizing environmental and fiscal waste, which is another aspect that was really important to us to find out to look at new ways and how we could recycle, I guess, some of the things that we do here and find new purpose and repurpose some of not just our vehicles that are out there in ways that they can help the community in ways that we have not been able to before.

Establish governance, transparency, and accountability.

And that was our framework for how we began to work on it.

And I'll pass it to Adrena Gibson, who's deputy ED to dive a little bit more into how we came about how this came about.

Yeah, so we're really excited about this program.

And as much as we want to proceed down the path, we need to be legal to that point and making sure that we're paying special attention.

So in order to stand this program up, it is going to require an ordinance modification.

With that being said, this there's already an ordinance that exists related to this, uh related to related to the disposal and disposition of unclaimed impounded vehicles.

How with however with this program and under the authority of DRMC originally under Section 54-816, it allows for the disposition of unclaimed impounded vehicles through auction, sealed bids, scrap, metal conversion, and law enforcement use.

But what it does not allow for is the donation to nonprofit educational institutions within the city and county of Denver for this program to be effectuated.

So the proposed ordinance amendment amendment here will allow for eligible nonprofit educational organizations to be added as a method of disposition and allowing for the legal foundation for this program's implementation, which we hope to have you all support from.

Next slide, please.

So which uh vehicles will be eligible.

So at this point in time, the vehicles that would be eligible would be valued at 1,500 or less.

I'm sorry, there we go.

Valued at or under 1500.

We are specifically looking at roadway vehicles or roadworthy vehicles.

However, we do have a separate section of vehicles for that would be known for junk vehicles, so if there's specific parts that would be needed, but we are looking at roadworthy vehicles.

And then that also meets the DRMC Section 516 conditions for disposal.

Who is eligible to receive vehicles?

We are looking at IRS registered nonprofit institutions.

These institutions must be driven by educational credentials or workforce development missions.

We don't essentially want this to be a pass-through for vehicles to be resold, but really to be an educational tool for students to propel forward into their career.

And then last but not least, and we'll denote this several times, they must be located in the city and county of Denver.

When we are reviewing the eligibility of these nonprofits, we will want to ensure that they have a secure facility for storage and instruction, that they have proof of a 501c3 status, and then we will be asking for a description of how vehicles will be used for instructional purposes and what specific um areas that they need from the car.

Is it a specific brand?

Is it domestic international?

Are they working on the engines?

Is it interior, et cetera?

So we'll be outlining all of that.

As councilwoman Torres shared, there's been a lot of conversation around this need already.

And so we have identified who could benefit from this program.

I want to highlight this includes, but it is not limited to Emily Griffith Technical College, CEC's early college, and then Montbello's career in technical education.

I in fact welcome many of you as council members to look within your neighborhoods to see if there's anyone any other additional nonprofit institutions that would want to participate in this arena.

So how it works, uh we will be established.

We already have a program framework outlined as well as a standard operating procedure to make sure that this is going to be a fluid implementation.

Um in addition to that, we will be developing an application which will again allow us the information needed to describe how they will be utilizing these vehicles, how long they intend to utilize these vehicles for educational tools, how many students would have an opportunity to work on them, and so on and so forth, so that we can ensure the integrity of the program stands in place.

From there, once that application is submitted, uh it will be under the review of general services, and then our surplus team will match vehicle availability of what we currently have that's roadworthy and ready for auction.

Um, we'll pull those to the side, those roadworthy auction ready vehicles.

We'll pull those to the side if they do match what has been sent through, and then those vehicles will be transferred to the nonprofit for instructional use.

Our target is up to 100 vehicles per year.

And then our um with that being said, we are looking from anywhere between five to ten vehicles per organization annually.

And as you may um recall, when we had our one-on-one briefings, we were looking at four vehicles, but because there are so few nonprofits and the need is so great.

Um, the five to ten was a sweet uh was a sweet marriage with wanting to still generate revenue for our surplus team and for the city at large, but also assist our nonprofit institutes and the the few that are out there that provide this service.

Next steps, we're here with you today.

So uh after uh after we this presentation to FINBIS committee, we'll then um submit to Mayor Council.

Uh first reading September 8th, second reading September 15th.

We hope to have everyone's support in that space so that we can then finalize the program and launch the program.

I do want to denote a couple of items and the appendix from some of the questions that were generated in our briefings, which is around how the city receives and prepares impounded vehicles for auction.

Um I just want to highlight again this is separate and distinct from our RV programs that we have within the city and county of Denver.

Um we definitely welcome some briefings around our RV program.

This is a separate process and um resides in a separate office for this nonprofit vehicle program.

Um next slide.

And then putting data to the program.

This all in all is an intrinsic opportunity cost for us to give back to the community.

Um again, typically with our auction and surplus, uh, much of that is again revenue generated that goes back into the general fund for the city and county of Denver.

But with allowing these few vehicles to go to our nonprofit institutes, it's a nominal amount of money where the opportunity and the benefit is great for our nonprofit um institutions.

So I will close on that and open it up for QA.

Okay.

Um thank you so much.

I do want to welcome Council President Sandoval.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Um, with that said, I believe we will go over to public comment first, and then if there are questions from council members, we'll take them at that time.

So we have uh 15 minutes set aside for public comment on this matter.

Um, all speakers will have two minutes and should begin the remarks by telling council their names and who you're representing.

Um if you have signed up for, you know, maybe to just answer questions, um, just state your name and note that.

Um so we do ask that you stay on topic and direct comments to our committee as a whole, and please refrain from any profane or ipstein speech and refrain from individual personal attacks.

So I think we have how many people?

Three people signed up um for public comment.

Are they all here or any virtual?

Chambers to is to online.

Two online.

Okay.

Um, why don't we start with the person?

Let's see.

Let me see who I have here.

Everybody's four.

I have Gideon.

Is that you?

Okay, great.

Um, if you want to go ahead and state your name and um who you're here representing, and then proceed with two minutes of public comment.

Absolutely.

Uh good morning, honored to be here.

Uh, my name is Gideon Geisel.

I'm the dean that oversees uh the trades campus for the trades camp is for Emily Griffith Technical College.

We are the adult post secondary arm of Denver Public Schools.

Uh what was presented is is exactly the situation uh that we're faced with uh annually uh between auto service and auto collision.

We'll educate around 150 uh adults uh in the trades who are interested in getting a job.

Uh what we hear from our industry partners uh is that they need hands-on, you know, at bats and hands-on experience uh with what they're gonna be uh encountering with once they enter in the field.

And we are reliant on donations and just spin about over the last three years.

Uh donations are not that consistent, uh, and they tend to be a lot older vehicle that isn't gonna necessarily uh help the student once they they go into the into the workforce.

And so uh when I contacted uh the councilwoman uh with this request is just to ensure that our students, we can ensure that our students have access uh to the tools that they need uh to be able to prepare uh for entry-level employment, and you know, we hope in the city and county in Denver with all of our uh partners, and and it just seems like a win-win to ensure that no matter what the cohort is, there's always gonna be uh a new vehicle for us to teach on.

just it's been about over the last three years uh donations are not that consistent uh and they tend to be a lot older vehicle um that isn't gonna necessarily uh help the student once they they go into the into the workforce and so uh when i contacted uh the councilwoman uh with this request um is just to ensure that our students we can ensure that our students have access uh to the tools that they need uh to be able to prepare uh for entry level employment and you know we hope in the city and county in Denver with all of our uh partners and and it just seems like a win-win um to ensure that no matter what the cohort is there's always going to be uh a new vehicle for us to teach on so hoping uh that that we can advocate and and maybe see this through it be a great partnership thank you so much thank you um next we'll go to Eric Anderson who is joining us virtually hello um my name's Eric Anderson can you all hear me yes okay uh I'm an assistant principal at Montbello Career and Tech High School we have an automotive program that's also tied to Emily Griffith our teacher's credential through Emily Griffith so students are earning college credit while they're in high school um MCT we call it MCT is um about 150 students it's an alternative school so students um coming from the traditional high schools that you know need a second chance it's a hard to serve population um we serve about 50 to 60 students in automotive a year um we are training them for the industry or to continue in and what at Emily Griffith or other postsecondary institutions um they earn ASC certifications while they're in our program and um we have been using random donated cars for the last this is my seventh year in this role so teachers from my other school I'm at three different schools teachers from other schools have donated we've had school uh cars that are 15 years in the program so we are in constant need of new vehicles for students to work on like Gideon said the hands on experience is what is key um that's where our students thrive and having a system for this to happen would be hugely beneficial for our program and the students out in the far northeast we like I said our our school is about 150 students but we pull from three to five schools in the area so it it would serve this whole community really well thank you so much um for your comment next we'll go to Adam Flores who's also um joining us virtually if you can introduce yourself and you have two minutes for your public comment oh it sounds like you might need to unmute Adam okay we might be having some technical issues I don't know if anybody can get a hold of Adam maybe to let him know we can give a minute for that.

I will send him an email okay okay sounds like he's ready to go great okay so it sounds like Adam you're still muted um councilwoman Torres any he said he has some tech issues okay um Adam uh is from CEC early college um in in council district one um so maybe he can send an uh a letter or something um with his comments okay great all right um well that closes our public comment um portion of the meeting but actually before I close that is there anyone else here that would like to say something on this matter okay no one else all right well then we'll go ahead and move on um any questions from council members I didn't get any councilman watson not so much question it's just uh to you um executive director and acting executive and acting director director and acting executive director Gibson um executive director um garner and uh council member uh tours uh this is one of those things when I had a briefing I was like this isn't already happening is it it is such a smart idea it's such a community focused solution and so no questions just simply it it just makes so much sense and I appreciate you all working collaboratively with community um to kind of come up with this solution um and I'm grateful that you're you brought this to committee.

It is such a smart idea.

It's such a community focused solution.

And so, no questions, just simply it it just makes so much sense.

And I appreciate you all working collaboratively with community um to kind of come up with this solution.

Um, and I'm grateful that you're you brought this to committee.

Thank you, Councilman Watson.

Thank you, community chair.

Thank you.

Um, and I'll just say thank you for doing this work and you know, having a constituent or having somebody in the community in your community come to you.

This is exactly you know what our jobs are as council members.

And so I just think it's amazing that you were able to you know answer that call and bring everybody together and and um you know have general services everybody pitch in and to be able to make this happen.

So I think this is a great opportunity for everyone involved, and and I look forward to seeing how it goes forward.

So thank you so much, Councilwoman Torres.

Thank you.

With that said, I will need a motion and a second.

Moved by councilwoman, uh, Council Pro Tamaromara Campbell.

Seconded by Councilman Hines.

Is there a need for a vote on this?

Are we good to move this forward?

Thumbs up.

Okay.

This will move forward to the full council.

Thank you so much so much, Councilman Todis.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We'll give just a few minutes for transition.

Councilman.

So anyone that wants to join us for this next one.

You're gonna make Tracy be all by her loans himself.

Anyone?

Anyone?

Mueller.

Okay.

All right.

I'll give you a minute to settle, Trinks.

All right, thank you.

Great guy.

Ready?

Ready when you are.

Okay, great.

Um, thank you so much.

Uh we're joined today by Tracy Huggins regarding the Dura Rock Drill tax increment area and redevelopment plan.

Um, so we'll go ahead and turn it over to you for the presentation.

Council members, please let me know if you have any questions and I will put you in a queue.

Terrific.

Thank you.

Again, good morning.

My name is Tracy Huggins.

I'm the executive director of the Denver Urban Renewal Authority here today, bringing forward two ordinances for committee uh consideration.

Those would include uh Council Bill 1222, which is the Rock Drill Urban Redevelopment Plan, and then a companion ordinance, if you will, 1221, which is the cooperation agreement between the city and Dura, because we are looking to utilize tax increment financing to support this project.

So a number of you have heard an awful lot about this project.

It is currently going through another um effort with in regard to a rezoning and a development agreement.

Uh, we've provided a briefing previously regarding the urban renewal plan itself, and so I want to keep this pretty high level and be respectful of your time, but certainly if there are questions as I go through, please uh make sure that that you bring those forward.

So the urban redevelopment area that we are asking council to create is located in the Cole neighborhood.

It is the rock drill site.

I know many of you, if not all of you are familiar with that in Council District 9.

It is about two miles northeast of downtown and uh just point three miles from the 38th and Blake RTD station.

The urban redevelopment area, its size is about 8.4 acres, and that does include the adjacent right-of-way.

And as I mentioned previously, it is a under a current zoning right now, but they are actively looking to rezone the property in order to advance the project that I'll describe here shortly.

So just a little bit of background on the urban redevelopment area itself.

Uh historically, it was first used for lumber and coal bin storage in the 1890s, and then in 1910, it became a manufacturing facility for the Rock uh Denver Rock Drill Manufacturing Company, best known for its production of pneumatic rock drills that were commonly used in the mining operations.

And then in the 70s, the property um was owned by Butler Fixture and Manufacturing until that organization went bankrupt in 1988.

And then it was uh purchased by the current owners, the Weiss family.

They acquired the property in 1992 and have used it for warehouse equipment sales and business.

Um that activity then was relocated around 2017, and really since that time, it has been largely vacant, except for minor uses of storage and warehousing.

So the high the site hosts numerous vacant, historically significant industrial buildings, many of which are over 100 years old.

And the historic structures are really notable for their intricate brick and glassware and the unique sawtooth roofline that is going to be incorporated into components of the emerging project.

Oops, let me back up for a minute here, if I can figure out how to do that.

So I do want to note that this is a site that really evidences the challenges related to its ability to be redeveloped.

In 2017, Dura was approached by a different developer team looking to pursue our assistance in bringing forward a development program at that time.

That program or that project was not able to progress.

And then in early 2023, the current group, the Oliver Buchanan group, along with the Weiss family, approached us to discuss the project.

So in September of 24, almost a year ago, they submitted their application for us.

Again, just really underscoring that this is an important but challenge site, really a strong candidate for the use of urban renewal efforts.

So in order for us to ask council to consider establishing this as an urban redevelopment area, one of the findings that council has to make is that the area is blighted, that is a term in state statute.

We undertake a condition study to bring to be able to bring forward the evidence for council to make that determination.

So the red boundary here is the outline of the condition study area.

This would also be the same boundaries as the urban redevelopment area if it were to be approved.

I do want you to note that in the lower right portion of the block, there is a section that is excluded.

That is because those are existing for sale condominiums.

They are not part of the project and would not be part of the urban redevelopment area.

So based on the outcomes of the condition study, there were five factors of blight that are both present and limiting the developability of the area.

You can see what those are.

I know that when the rezoning was brought forward for committee consideration, it was requested that council be provided a copy of the condition study.

I do believe that that has been provided to you all.

If that has not been the case, by all means, please let me know because it is important piece of evidentiary materials for you to make that determination.

But again, as you can see, these blighting conditions are really reflective of an area that has been underutilized and vacant for a good number of years.

So the project itself is both a new development as well as an adaptive reuse of portions of the property.

They intend to demolish much of the western side of the site in order to allow for new construction.

But the eastern part of the site is where the historic preservation and adaptive reuse is really going to be focused.

You can see in the image on the upper right, the darkest gray buildings are those sawtooth buildings that will be preserved.

And then you can see on the eastern side where there is going to be new construction, including a significant amount of density and height that will be added to the project.

In order upon its completion to deliver somewhere between 700 and 800 residential units, a fair amount of office and retail space, hotel, parking, and hopefully also a grocery store on the site.

So the urban redevelopment plan itself has a number of objectives.

First and foremost is the elimination of the blighting conditions in order to be able to support a revitalized project for this area.

We are have a lot of emphasis on the reuse of the existing buildings, including the historic preservation and adaptive reuse, really looking through the mixed-use component here to promote a diverse sustainable neighborhood economy, work with the existing property owners in order to be able to bring forward the project.

And then, as I'll talk about in a moment, really looking to bring this project as a way to tie together the outcomes that have been acknowledged for this area, starting with Blueprint Denver or Comp Plan 2040, Blueprint Denver, and the neighborhood plans as well.

So speaking of those, again, one of the findings that you will be asked to make in considering the plan is that the urban redevelopment plan and the project advances the objective specific to the other planning documents that are in place for this area.

So those would include Plan 2040, then supplemented by Blueprint Denver, and then there are three different small area plans or neighborhood plans that influence the outcomes for this area.

Those include the 38th and Blake Station Area Plan, the Illyrious Swansea Plan, as well as the River North plans.

And so what you see here on this slide is a pulling out of those objectives from each of those different plans that speaks specifically to this area and the project that we are seeking to support, really focused on creating the mixed use, mixed income community and the goals related to the Denver neighborhoods, helping to make it a complete neighborhood, with again the emphasis on the historic preservation and adaptive reuse.

Included in any evaluation that we do is a look at the blueprint Denver equity indicators that speak to the existing circumstances in the area.

Currently, this project area has high access to opportunity, but it also has high vulnerability to displacement.

It does have high housing diversity, but low job diversity.

And so, in looking at how this project can help in addressing those challenges included in the development agreement that council is also considering is a requirement that of the housing that will be delivered, a portion of that is to be maintained as affordable.

And then with the new retail and office opportunities that are being generated, the ability to add more job opportunities in this area as well.

The project itself has been underwritten by Dura to determine whether or not there is a need for tax increment assistance.

We have done that underwriting and have concluded that the project does require assistance in order for it to be delivered as it has been contemplated.

So we are looking to include in the urban redevelopment plan the ability to create both a sales and property tax increment area, again, coterminous with the project site itself, that would then enable us to the extent the project generates the incremental taxes to reimburse approximately $39 million of eligible costs.

As you can see in the anticipated eligible cost, a significant portion of those are related to the rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of those historic buildings.

The $39 million is just shy of 7% of the project budget.

Again, we really want to be able to maximize the private investment, thereby minimizing the public investment, but still looking to achieve the objectives that the project is seeking to deliver.

And then the TIFF eligible project costs should always have a very direct relationship between those costs and how it is that they are remedying the blighting conditions.

And you can see that the TIFF would be used for environmental remediation, the rehabilitation of the deteriorated structures, as well as bringing utilities, appropriate utilities to the site, as well as in supporting the broader development vision with that legacy building preservation as well as the creation of the publicly accessible plaza and outdoor spaces.

So the plan itself is really what I have covered.

And then there are other agreements that also have to be put in place in order for council to consider the plan.

So the Dura City Cooperation Agreement, you have seen a number of times.

That is the agreement under which the city and Dura agree to cooperate on the collection and remitting of the incremental taxes to Dura in order for us to be able to help support the project.

The tax increment area will have a life of the maximum of 25 years, unless it terminates early, which would happen if the financial obligation is repaid in advance of those 25 years.

And then Dura also requires a number of our own programs be applied to any project that we are providing tax increment support to.

Then we also have to enter into agreements with the other entities that levy a property tax in this uh project area that would include Denver Public Schools, Urban Drainage and Flood Control District, the Rhino Business District, and then ultimately the Metropolitan District, and I'll speak to that in just a second.

So each of those entities have been notified of our intention to request the use of property tax increment and ask that they each determine what impact the use of tax increment may have on their respective ability to deliver services.

So DPS has done that evaluation, and with the addition of the residential components to the community, they have identified an impact via 1.3 million dollars that will be paid to them from the tax increment over 25 years.

Urban drainage and flood control has concluded there is no impact to their ability, and so we are enabling or they are enabling us to uh retain all of the amounts attributable to their mill for the project.

And then with the Rhino Business Improvement District, um we have agreed that any amounts that we collect that are attributable to the bids in levy, we will just upon collection pay over directly to them.

And the real reason for that is that they are working in in concert with the um the efforts that we are trying to do.

So we wouldn't want to capture any of the revenues that they would otherwise need.

With the metropolitan district, there will at some point in time be a requirement for us to enter into an agreement with them.

There is a metropolitan district in place, but they are not curring currently levying a mill.

So there's no impact today, but at such time as the um the mill levies are in place, we will enter into an agreement that will be very, very similar, if not the exactly the same as what we do with the business improvement district.

Upon receipt, we will just pay over to the uh metropolitan district, the amounts attributable to their mill.

So from a timeline standpoint, uh the Dura Board of Commissioners approved the urban redevelopment plan at their meeting uh just a week ago.

Denver Public Schools is considering our uh agreement with them tonight at their meeting.

You've already heard the presentations on the rezoning and the development agreement, and our intention is to bring all of these matters to council the same night at a public hearing on um September 15th, and that would include the rezoning, the development agreement, the urban redevelopment plan, and the cooperation agreement.

So the council has the ability to consider all of these uh components at the same time.

And with that, I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

And I will also just say that uh we do have representatives from the uh developer team here as well, to the extent there are questions of them.

Great.

Thank you so much.

Uh haven't seen anybody join Councilman Watson.

Uh thank you so much, Tracy, and thank you for the team for the briefings and walking us through this.

Um this is a lot of of great necessary information.

I can tell you for all the years that I've lived on the East Side and lived in Whittier, which is next to quite adjacent to coal, um, this rock drill development has been on everyone's tongue.

The idea that this can actually uh become a public uh a space where community can live and public can be a part of it.

And so I appreciate the due diligence of your organization identifying the blight and um finding an opportunity for this TIFF to provide um uh an actual development that will occur.

My questions are um a little bit on the um the impacts for blight.

This is adjacent to 39th Avenue Greenway.

And I know when we speak to public open space, we're speaking specifically to the uh the uh open space that will be within the development.

Is there any consideration from your team as far as uh uh investments in the open space adjacent to properties when you're considering blight and what those impacts are and what investments to make sure there's connectivity between ROM Drail and 39th Avenue Greenway?

I I there may or may not be, but I'm I'm very curious because this was a deep investment of open space and dollars from the city and um having a contaminated site next to our existing greenway.

I was curious if you can share any thoughts on that connectivity that occurs in this process.

So there is part of our evaluation, we do not look at unless there is a specific request from the city, how the tax increment may be able to use to support other improvements in the area.

So while that can happen, that really has not been the case on this project.

We really just did the underwriting of the project itself, recognizing the benefit that the uh existing greenway will have as this project comes forward.

My other question on with the existing conditions study and review, um, is there a clear assessment as to what that remediation cost is?

Uh it's not directly, let me see if it is directly listed.

Yeah, 3.6 million, I guess for the that's rehabilitation, but I'm not really seeing talk through kind of the um the environmental impacts of the soil contamination possible for all the uses over the decades.

Where is that itemized and what part of that the process is that again?

What when do we identify that environmental impact?

Sure.

So there's really two things there.

One of those is in the condition study itself, where the consultant that we engage does a uh very thorough review of the records of the area to be able to say, yes, here are the things that need to be considered.

Then in addition to that, as the developer brings forward their pro forma for us to underwrite, they detail out the costs that they are anticipating incurring to address the uh environmental remediation.

And because that is such a public purpose cost, that's why you're seeing it fall under our list of eligible costs, because again, we can only use tax increment for those costs that have a clear public purpose, and certainly environmental cleanup is one of those.

And finally, thank you so much for the negotiation for the um the IGA with DPS, um, really ensuring that that mill I know you have to do that for each of these, and I think it's understanding the the amount of folks that are forecasted uh to reside here.

I I think this um seems absolutely reasonable and uh appreciate your thoughtfulness in that.

Um those are my only questions.

Thank you so much for seeing your team.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you.

If I may just real quickly add that yes, it is a statutory requirement that we enter into these agreements, but well before that statutory requirement was in place, we have always worked very closely with DPS because we really recognize that the utilization of this tool has the ability to impact their ability to deliver services.

So we've been good partners, and they with us um well before this became a statutory requirement.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I have a couple questions that might be for the developers.

Um I have a couple questions about the um units, the residential component.

Um so if we're on what slide is this?

10, um, where we're talking about all the different um like the 10% of all units are income restricted units at 15% of the area median income.

15% of those will be two bedrooms or larger.

I'm just curious.

Um, so is that the the are those out of the seven to eight hundred units that's being proposed on this?

Is that correct?

That's correct.

Okay, I'm sorry, can you go to set your name?

All of the Canon group, uh part of the development team for the project.

Thank you so much.

So then 10% of the seven to eight hundred units would be at a uh in uh income restricted units at the 50%.

Okay.

And um is it are you only seeking to do the 50% AMI, or will there be any others, or will the rest be market rate or luxury?

Like what do you guys know what that's gonna look like?

Um so yes and no.

I mean, I would say so, you know, the 10% at 50% AMI, the affordable units um as a part of the entire uh providing of residential units, the rest of which will be, I would consider market rate.

Okay.

Does that answer your question?

I think so.

Um do you know if those will be um for sale or uh rent or kind of a mixed share?

All for rent?

Okay.

Okay.

Um, and then my other question was about the office space.

Um and it is looks like 40 to 60,000 square feet of office space.

And so I'm curious, um, just kind of a lot of the conversations we've been having about whether or not people are working in person these days as much as often as they used to before COVID.

Um, just curious if you've heard that there is a need for this like large amount of office space or what you might think this might be for.

So uh I would say we feel very confident in the ability to lease that amount of space when you look at um the site as a whole and how we would really like to um deliver a true kind of mixed-use community.

Umice should work out really well.

The other thing too that I'd like to say is it's contemplated in what we call the Sawtooth buildings.

Um and the space is pretty incredible.

Um so to have such a unique space, um, I think we'll actually be in in very high demand in otherwise challenged office market.

Okay.

And um there's is would there ever be any consideration on the the number?

Because this is a huge development, like seven to eight hundred units.

That's a lot of that's a lot of units.

Yes, it is.

And I've been to the site, I've I've been able, my staff.

We like over a year ago, I think, got to walk through it.

Um, and it is an amazing um site, and there's a lot of possibilities.

Do you think there will be any?

I mean, and maybe it's too late now, but like any thought around increasing the number of affordable units, just knowing the needs that exist in the city.

Um as of right now, there's there's not.

Okay.

All right.

Okay, that's all I have.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

All right.

Um, seeing no other questions, I will um, I guess we need a motion and a second for this one too.

For the this is a block, so for both of those items.

All right.

I have I didn't see whose hand went up first.

Motion by councilman Watson, seconded by councilman Cashman.

Um, do we need to take a uh roll call vote?

I'm not seeing one.

Everybody's good.

All right, this will go forward um to the full council.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

All right.

With that said, we've gone through um those agenda items, and we have five items on consent.

Those um were not pulled down, so those will also go forward to the full council, and we are adjourned.