Welcome back to this biweekly meeting of the South Platte River Committee of Denver City Council.

Join us for the discussion as the South Platte River Committee starts now.

Hi everyone.

Hi.

Hi.

Hello, Council members.

Hey David.

Welcome to the South Platte River Committee.

Thank you all for being here.

We have an overflow ready in council chambers, with also video of the committee meeting.

If we start to get more people than we have chairs for in this room, we are here obviously discuss four action items related to the soccer stadium at Santa Fe Yards.

And want to double check if we have any council members on Zoom.

None yet.

Okay, thank you so much.

So let's do introductions and then we will hand it over to our presenters.

I'll start to my left.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Darrell Watson, representing Define District 9.

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

Good afternoon, Amanda Sanovan, North West Denver District 1.

And good afternoon, Paul Cashman, South Denver, District 6.

Denver is perfect.

Kevin Flynn, Southwest Denver's District 2.

Laura Libres, Bucky District 7.

Sarah Pernie, one of your council members at large.

Excellent.

And I'm Jamie Torres.

I represent uh West Denver District 3 and an honor to chair this committee.

I'll ask our presenters to introduce yourselves and go ahead and get started.

Hi, I'm Jen Millet.

I am Denver Summit FT Club President.

Hi, I'm Dan Barrett with CAA Icon, an advisor to the ownership group.

I'm Jeff Dolan, Chief Strategy Officer for Mayor Johnston.

Thank you, Jeff.

And I believe we have two folks signed up as Rob Cohen on Zoom.

If the real Rob Cohen can raise his hand, so we can um uh bring you into the panel if you would like to chime in, raise your hand again.

Thank you, Rob.

Uh go ahead.

Great.

Well, we'll jump in.

I guess I'm gonna be driving this uh uh the deck here, which is a little scary since I'm like tech challenge, but I'll do my best.

Uh first of all, thank you very much for having us back.

We've had many, many conversations, many, many briefings, multiple committee meetings.

Uh the obviously the floor votes in May on this topic, so a lot has been done since May, a lot of progress.

We're very grateful for all the time you all have invested in this project.

Very grateful for the partnership of all our city agencies, grateful for the partnership from the Denver Summit Group and the Metro District, and you know, just everybody who's been involved in this.

A lot of work has gone in, a lot of collaboration, and a lot of the time from the council members.

So uh I think we, you know, for maybe those tuning in at home.

We'll just reground everybody really briefly in what this is all about.

Hello, Councilman Sawyer.

Great to have you here.

Um, we'll reground everybody briefly in what this project is all about.

Uh we'll probably have about 10 slides or so that we'll go through, and then we'll we'll reserve the balance of time for for question and answer uh if that works for everybody.

So we'll just jump right in.

Uh as you can see here, this is the agenda for today's session.

Obviously, we'll give a quick overview of the project.

Uh we've got some great updates about all the community engagement work that the uh the Denver Summit Club has done, so really excited to get into that portion of the update, which will be new news for a lot of of viewers.

Uh obviously, we'll we'll talk through all the work that has been done since we were last uh here before the committee.

Uh and then we'll talk about the legislative schedule uh that's upcoming over the next two weeks.

So we'll just we'll jump in.

Uh and Jen, I'll turn it over to you for comments on the question.

Yeah, so we just wanted to provide a brief update on just um some of the status and response again we've seen from the larger community um regarding Denver Summit.

And I think what um we are most excited about um with these results is we feel like they are a collective we, um, that we've seen a groundswell of support uh from fans in this market that have engaged and really spoke up and said that they um they want a women's team.

And uh coming from uh spending the last 10 years in sports, the last three, launching an expansion team, another extension team and another market.

I can tell you that uh this has been incredible.

We are on pace to break every record in professional women's sports in this market.

Um, and when I say we, I truly mean that collective of folks that have joined us in this effort um to bring the club to Denver.

Um, so you can see some of the accolades here in terms of season ticket deposits.

Um, our path uh with our inaugural match in Empower Field where we're closing in on 30,000 tickets.

We will host the largest professional women's sports event at Empower Field in March of 2026.

Um we are on pace to do that.

And as we think through these amazing results, I think what's most important for uh Rob Cohen for our ownership group and for our club is not what it means solely around what happens on the pitch or what happened in the stadium.

What we are very um focused on prioritizing is what this means for the culture at large.

Um, what message this sends um to everyone around uh how women should be perceived in the classroom and in the boardroom.

Um, and we truly believe we have the ability to to shape that impact, and feel like this is the largest investment um anyone has made in women's sports in the in the US, and and that message uh we hope resonates.

Um, thanks, Jen.

Um I have one data point for you, Jen.

And I'm not shared this with you or Dan or anybody from council yet, but I was at South High School last night.

My I have two daughters that go to South High School.

It was exhibition night where they had to show projects that they've been working on in their classes.

And Selby Dolan took me through her events marketing class where Mr.

Thomas had required them to do a project on with no prodding from me on whether or not the city of Denver should invest in this soccer stadium project.

And I have the results for you from that from that class presentation.

Uh, you walk into the classroom, there's posters that the kids had drawn all over the building, all over the all over the walls, and there was 10 groups, nine groups uh of four kids each said that the city of Denver should invest in this in this project.

There was one group that said no because they'd prefer that the money goes to the Denver Broncos Stadium.

So but nine to one for whatever that's worth, Mr.

Thomas's class to South High School.

So that was that was uh that was I thought an interesting focus group for this project.

But um, okay, we're gonna jump into next the site.

Again, for you know, everybody here is very familiar with this, maybe folks who are tuning in from home.

Just a quick reminder of the site.

It's the Broadway Station Metro District, uh, formerly known as the Gates uh rubber factory, right?

And what we've all you know talked a lot about is how unique this opportunity is to bring this soccer stadium uh to this site as a catalytic investment that will stimulate hopefully other development through the site because we know that this site has has it says on the screen uh gates stopped manufacturing in 2001.

Actually, I've been corrected that was 1991 when Gates actually stopped the bulk of their manufacturing, and then they, you know, it was basically mothballed until 2001 was completely shut down.

But to think about that, that this site has essentially been dormant since 1991.

Think back to what you were doing in 1991.

I myself was not to date myself, but I was a sophomore in high school in 1991.

You can see how long ago that was when you look at my face.

Um so 1991 really is when this stock this site stopped being useful really to the surrounding neighborhoods in the city of Denver.

So here we are 30 plus years later, and we have a chance to do something about it.

As we all know, there's been multiple developments, uh development efforts at this site that have failed for a variety of reasons over the last 20 plus years.

Uh so um, a lot of work has gone into obviously cleaning the site up and uh you know demolishing buildings, etc.

etc.

So it is now there, it is ready for development, and uh multiple development projects have failed.

So we have a unique opportunity here because of this project to finally develop this site, and we know a lot about this site.

Obviously, it's surrounded by amazing transit, amazing access, roads, et cetera, et cetera.

So it is prime for development, it's it's uh and it's right there for us.

Uh so uh this is a remarkable opportunity.

Um, and so let's jump in.

Uh obviously, a very material update here about all the community engagement work.

I think there's some great news to share.

So, Jen, take it away.

Yeah, so we we do have a positive update to share, but uh I would um also just want to take take a step back and say while I understand that a lot of times clubs and teams are um are sort of forced to enter into these agreements wholeheartedly and with sincerity, it was incredibly important for Rob Cohen, our ownership group, and our club to have this collaboration with the community.

We truly wanted to understand and meet um our future neighbors on this site, understand what their concerns were, understand what they were excited about, and ask and answer questions.

And through that process, um, we we found a ton of shared values that you know we were able to collaborate with the community on and move it forward.

And so as of last Thursday night, um we have reached an agreement with the community.

We are in the process of just going through the legal documents now to sign so that we can share.

Um we are incredibly grateful uh for the time and energy the community contributed to this process.

Um, you know, they spent over a hundred hours volunteer hours uh with us to build this agreement.

Um, you know, 28 meetings starting in June running through December where they showed up uh with the energy of a group that uh was very informed, um very dedicated and were just for Atlantless and advocating um for their neighborhoods.

Um so uh you know, if we if we um several of the of the community members are here uh today, almost said tonight, but I want to recognize Adriana Um Anita Avon.

I can't tell if there's other folks that joined us, but um truly um was amazing uh to work with them on this process.

So, and you do you want to talk just a little bit about uh yeah, the huge range of folks.

So uh, you know, uh the the organization that united to build this agreement with us was West East United.

Um there were four chairs uh that we worked with uh every week uh to draft this agreement, um, representing over 10 RNOs and several other kind of key constituents um, you know, through throughout this process.

Again, I would just say living in Denver, having recently relocated back to Denver, it gives me great hope and um confidence that these are my neighbors that live here, and and the dedication, as I said, that they showed to this process was was tremendous.

Um while we don't have the details um to share with you today, we we will soon.

Um I will say again those shared values that we um that we discovered really across the paths of sustainability, social equity, um, history, art and culture, transportation and infrastructure, and business and labor.

So these were the areas that we spent a lot of time in when uh we were able to share the agreement.

You'll see details covering all of those key buckets.

Um, so legal drafting is underway, and our goal is to have this agreement um prior to the 15th for for this group.

I would say also that this is a first for women's professional sports in the U.S., and we hope that it will be setting a precedent uh for future deals.

Get all sorts of history on this project.

Um just really quickly, since we were last before this committee, uh a lot of work has been done.

Uh thank you for all the questions at the last committee meeting.

Uh we know you all wanted uh all the information and and you know, all complete information.

Uh so that has now all been provided to you, including the completed budget and the stadium site agreement.

Uh we also wanted to follow up on the last conversation about the economic impact study that had been done uh earlier in the year in the April May time frame.

Uh folks had questions about was that still was all that information still relevant and updated, and I can confirm for you all that that is uh that is a yes, all that information is still relevant uh and confirmed, uh, including that the uh impact study had accurate accurately reflected the TIFF capture, uh the tax increment finance capture.

Um we there was some discussion about when to move the the um uh the South Delaware Street uh vacation through city council uh we'd initially thought about moving it uh it concurrent with these other agreements uh we have uh as uh shared with you recently we have decided to hold that until after the close of the of the overall project so that'll be coming back before city council in a few months uh if all these things proceed uh and then obviously we there was a lot of questions uh that were asked at last committee and then we received other uh uh questions from council members uh uh since the last committee all those have been uh answered to the best of our our ability so if we owe you any other uh uh answers to any questions uh I think we can jump into those now so um uh and here's the this is I just wanted to call it out because it is exhibit H of the Stadium site agreement a little buried in the document but this is the breakdown of the funding of how the $50 million remember the city's investment for the on-site work and the the property that the stadium will sit on uh is capped at $50 million this is the breakdown of how the city's funds would be used on site there both to acquire the land uh from the current owner uh to get the rights to the CDOT land there's a sliver of CDOT land that is uh is uh adjacent to the stadium site that we need uh so that's the the cost for the land and then the breakdown for uh just the the other categories of work that will need to happen uh on site there where the stadium will be uh and then this is just uh the look ahead schedule here of of uh again the actions we're asking committee to take today uh in advance of first reading next Monday uh this is you know both the amendment to the 2017 IgA amendment to the 2025 IGA uh asking for approval of the stadium property agreement which has been shared with you all and then the approval of the capital budget appropriation as well and with that okay we can jump to QA great thank you so much um I'll just um remind folks of a couple things here um four action items before us today one is a property agreement uh the second is an intergovernmental agreement with the Broadway Metro uh Broadway station med district third is an approval to remove 50 million from uh our CIP capital um improvement projects and um the fourth is uh department of finance amendment to the 2025 intergovernmental agreement um so um as we move toward questions um we did add an exec session to today's agenda um and so uh whoever whichever attorney ends up coming up forward um if you can let us know if that answer will be provided here in committee or if it needs to wait until exec session if you can clarify um that for us um but I will start with our queue um with um councilwoman albitris thank you committee chair um thank you Jeff for getting us so many answers over the last couple of weeks I know we've really jumped in and I really appreciate everyone that's here in the community West East Neighbors United for all the hours that you all have been working and I would like to just start off by hearing from the community from the chairs of the community benefits agreement um how that process been if you're in agreement that you're at an agreement and um how that's going to be the chairs could come forward.

I have uh prepared statement my name is Anita Van Wells I am the president of Athmar Park Neighborhood Association I have served as one of the four co-chairs of West East Neighbors United we knew and I would like to recognize that we knew members who are here with us today if you're able to please stand up to be acknowledged and applaud before I answer any questions, I want to begin with a heartfelt thank you.

First, thank you to Rob Cohen and to the ambassadors who believe that Denver and our beautiful state of Colorado deserves a new professional sports team, especially one like Denver Summit Women's Soccer Club.

I'm deeply thankful to every community member who has served on the community benefits agreement through subcommittees, committees, and steering committees.

You gave so much time to this process, missing time with family, coming straight home from work, stepping away from your small businesses, and showing up even while carrying personal and family responsibilities.

You did it not only for your own neighborhoods, but for the entire city.

When Mayor Johnston asked us to give us five hours a month, you went far beyond that.

Since May, we contribute well over 100 hours and meetings alone, and that does not include countless emails, research, phone calls, document comparisons, number crunching, and late night reviews.

We dug into the old plans from former Gates Project, learned what a metro district is, and keep pushing forward.

And we are still here today working side by side.

We're here in person today and will be here next week and the week after.

Your time, energy, and commitment are the reason this work has been possible.

A special heartfelt thank you to my co-chairs, Connor Shea Baker, Tim Lopez of Baker, Diana Lopez of Valverde, your leadership partnership, and critical support with the grant writing helped carry this forward every step of the way.

I also want to thank Jen and the entire Denver Summit team, including Kim and Frank for many hours we spent shared and committed you brought to this process.

Thank you as well to Jean from Sun Valley whose study guidance and expertise on grants was truly valuable.

And finally, I want to recognize Jonathan, Lucas, and Noah for their dedication and consistent support in the community throughout this journey.

I'm grateful for each of you.

Now I'd like to address the community benefits agreement.

As you saw in the presentation, we have reached an agreement with Denver Summit FC.

After nearly three months of working together in good faith, we knew and Denver FC are proud of what we have accomplished and we're excited about the outcomes.

I know many of you are wondering where is this legal document?

Our legal teams are drafting it, and the draft is now reviewed by WeNew Steering Committee members and Denver Summit FC.

This work is still in progress, but our goal is to share the finalized agreement with you before rezoning on Monday.

As our city continues to grow and change, as major projects move into our neighborhoods, community members are repeatedly asked to volunteer our time.

We'll ask to help shape community benefits agreements, good neighbor agreements, rezoning reviews, and do outreach on behalf of the city.

So I'm personally asking you to take to think about how leaders can better support communities in this work by helping residents learn and stay informed, by making city agencies easier to access, and by showing up in neighborhoods not for appearances, but to truly listen and respond to what people are saying.

The community benefits agreement between West East Neighbor United and the Denver Summit FC women's team reflects months of long and real collaboration.

The city asked for community leadership, and we knew was created to answer that call.

Today we're asking for your vote to support building this stadium.

We are part of something historic, and we hope you will stand with us.

Thank you.

Thank you, Anita.

Hi everyone, I'm Adriana Lopez, and I'm the president of Valverde Neighborhood Association.

Thank you so much for having us today.

But we look forward to sharing more on behalf of Valverde in the upcoming testimonies on the 15th and the 22nd.

So this is what I prepared.

I'm one of the four chairs of the West East Neighbors United Committee.

Our amazing volunteers who have been dedicated since late June, even through the holidays.

While today isn't a public comment session, I want to reaffirm that Valverde is committed to equity, especially on the CBA committee and as one of the only NAS neighborhoods on this committee.

This timeline has been short, but our community has truly met the moment in every challenge with strength and determination.

My parents and I bring over 60 years of advocacy to this community in West Denver, especially in Valverde.

We're still drafting, and we'll continue to approach this tentative agreement with good faith until everything is finalized and the last pen is signed.

Valverde looks forward to sharing more on the 15th and the 22nd about this project.

Thank you everyone for your support.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the committee.

First off, my name's Tim Lopez.

I'm from Baker, and I'm one of the chairs as well.

There are four.

The fourth one is Connor Shea, who's not with us today.

I must echo a lot of what you've heard today from our folks, and that is in communities, you know, we're not paid, and we make a lot of sacrifices.

One of our chairs had a major accident with her mother, and you know, took away.

So that's personal sacrifice.

One of our chairs had uh two major eye surgeries.

That's personal sacrifice.

I myself lost a family member, chose to come negotiate rather than watch her be removed from the ventilator.

Um other chairs have suffered major home and vehicle issues that have happened, and just community members all the way across the board sacrifice family time, children time.

You know, because during the summer it was okay, but when school got back, it's a whole different story.

We have negotiated in good faith.

I am proud of councilwoman Sandoval and all of you for being fiscally sound at the last hearing that was here.

You know, I am a policy guy.

I think uh Councilman Flynn, Councilman Hines, uh Councilwoman uh Quites, Gonzalez, and Councilwoman Peretti.

They know me both from council and from the state legislature.

I've been the chair of criminal justice, energy and environment, uh, health care, education, and public policy for the Democratic Party at Denver.

So I've worked on policy with city council and the state legislature over 30 years.

But more so, I've worked on this project for 25 years.

I was involved in 2005 and negotiated with Burke Bells and Cherokee.

I was involved in 2017.

Well, uh, also did the work with uh Lisa Engel and Frontier in the Broadway district, and now again here in 2025.

And Councilman Cashman, I mean to leave you out.

We did some work together on immigration.

So, you know, I must say that over the years things have changed.

You know, we've had new communities that have come in and new RNOs, but we've always invited them and worked together, and so it's been an honor and a privilege to be a part of that.

You know, we have a negotiated good faith.

You know, it's concerning when the team has come about and said, Well, you know, we may be moving because that's really not good faith.

You know, we made some settlements that maybe we we felt a little threatened that normally we might have stuck a little harder on that.

But you know, it's a learning curve, and it's not the for me.

I know we should get I negotiate community benefits agreements across the country, and I write guidance for interstate technology regular Tory Council.

I also am the one who organize uh the voluntary cleanup advisory board overseeing the cleanup at Gates because there is no public participation in the CDPHE.

And so we had those documents established over at the Decker Library.

So this project means a lot to me.

I also played baseball for Gates back in the 70s, and I threw a mean 89 mile an hour fastball.

Now it's more like an 87 mile an hour.

You know, it just got up.

But anyway, thank you for having us today.

Continue fiscal sound policy management, and thanks Rob and the team for uh participating with us and going the directions that we've gone.

Thank you again.

Thank you so much.

Um, I'm so grateful for your volunteer hours and all the work that you all have done.

I know it has been very crammed together in a tighter than usual time frame.

But like you said, Anita, you guys are meeting the moment, and I think this is a unique situation where we have someone that's been working on this site for 25 years, and I myself, as an Athmer Park lifetime resident, never felt like my voice was heard in this development or gates site or any of that.

I don't think they reached out to historically the West Side, um, you know, Athmer Park, Ruby Hill, Valverde, haven't been a part of this conversation since this whole thing started.

Although one of my first jobs outside of my family business was on Mississippi and Broadway, and I saw the gate site every day as it was a going vacant as it was vacant as it sat to settle, and as it became dirt, and it has been terribly sad to see dirt in the middle of the district separating our communities for most of my life.

Um, and so of course I was excited when this came forward at the possibility of connecting community and turning something that has been a harm for my lifetime.

Um, although it did provide jobs at one time, it really did nothing good for the community community.

It connects neighborhoods like Athmer Park, Valverde, Ruby Hill that don't have a grocery store over to there's a grocery store right across from the gate site at Sprout.

So I understand that that generation of, you know, being forgotten and not having a voice, and I appreciate that you all are included this time, and that you have spent your spare time, your evenings for your family, and I just want to elevate that and thank you.

And this is just the beginning.

I'll find better ways to thank you in the future.

And I and I agree, and I thank you know, Councilman Gonzalez Gutierrez and Councilman Cashman for their work and trying to figure out how we can do better with RNOs because this is not really right to have people working for free every night.

Um, and so I know that's work in progress, but I want to thank you all for that and um thank the team for your good F-faith efforts in negotiating with and having these conversations with communities that haven't.

We've never done a CBA.

There has never been this kind of development in district seven.

If you walk around, you have historic neighborhoods.

You have Baker historic neighborhood, you have Athmer Park, which has not seen a lot of development, you have Ruby Hill, which has not seen a lot of development, none of this area.

And so I think it's very important that we think about that when there is a fear of gentrification, and we've seen what's happened in the north side, and we don't want that to happen in this low-income area, and how do we do that?

And your partnership is critical.

I do think this is, you know, when you look at that site, it is a small piece of the site, and um, and I think this is a long-term relationship.

I hope I think you hear from our community that we're committed, even though you guys decided not to be committed.

Um, we have been committed, and I have been committed.

Um, and so I just want to share that, but I'll I'll go let the queue continue.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman Mentoris.

Um, Councilwoman Parity, then Cashman.

Thank you so much.

Um, I'm really appreciative of the CBA committee for um just putting our backs into this and really look forward to what came out of that.

Um I have some follow-up questions to things that I've asked in other meetings, and I want to really thank council president for pressing for us to get the breakdown of how our $50 million investment on the site itself will be spent, because that does give rise to questions for me.

Um, I remember originally um hearing that the land and knowing that this is a transaction, but that the land value was likely to be 45 or 46 million, and so now it's appearing that the cost of land itself is 35 million, um, and that um we're gonna be paying the remainder of that 50 million for improvements on the land.

Um, and so looking at those, I just question whether um to me.

There are things that in order to essentially get the site, you know, ready for construction, um, they're likely to be fairly stadium specific.

Some of them you would want to do for any use of that land.

Um, some of them, like building out, you know, sidewalks or utility connections are not going to be the same as what you would want on another use of that land.

Um, so it feels um like a bit of a shift in understanding from the idea that we're gonna pay for this land and then we have the option to acquire it later on.

Instead, it feels to me like we're paying 50 million for a $35 million dollar lot.

So I would be interested to hear um perspective on that.

Yeah, thank you, Councilwoman, and maybe we can tag team this one.

Just I do have a slide up just with the detailed breakdown of the of the 50 million and where it would go uh for so if we want to bring that back up just so it's um visibly available for everybody.

But yeah, the original uh estimates for the land, I mean it was around you know 40 million, but there was obviously there was some detailed work we had to do to ensure that we were paying the most fair prices possible for the land.

I think our our commitment was always to help secure the land and also make the site feasible for the stadium, and that includes a lot of public access requirements, obviously, to make sure that people can uh access the site.

And so the this breakdown of of work that's included in our 50 million reminder that our our investment on site is capped at the 50 million.

We've also talked about the 20 million for the off-site infrastructure that would make the the site uh accessible to the larger community.

But the this, you know, this work for uh in terms of the it's about 15 million or so that would go into uh work uh uh site work to make the site you know feasible for for the stadium project.

So uh, you know, Dan, I don't know if you want to uh expand on that.

Yeah, um unfortunately the costs continue to go up.

Um I think that as Jeff mentioned, and you can see on this uh outline here, uh the on-site costs that we're looking at um are far exceeding the amount that we had contemplated and taking us well over 50 50 million dollars.

Um we just got bids in um yesterday on the 20 million dollars worth of infrastructure improvements, and that's going well over that amount.

The good news for the city is that the team is on the hook for those overruns, um, just like the team is on the hook for stadium overruns.

Um, these elements, I don't know what level of detail you want to get into on them, but you can see that the bulk of of it is in earth work and excavation in order to prepare that site for any development, whether it's a stadium and office building or residential, there's substantial amount of earthwork that needs to happen there.

Um erosion control utilities is going to be required for any any site, um, ADA site work, site improvement safety controls.

These are all um really elements that would be required for any type of significant development that would go on that site.

But it's unlikely that they would be the same.

I mean, other than the earthwork and excavation, which is about half many of those are going to be different, if depending on what you're there may be different categories, there may be different amounts, or um, I you know the um original plan, um uh we don't have the original cost for what they uh estimated, but um given the scale and density, I would imagine that the cost would be similar, if not more, uh, for that type of onset development.

That's not so much my point.

It's that if they're not useful to us, we've paid for them so that the stadium can be a stadium, not so that we recapture that value if the land reverts to us at some point is the point that I'm making.

So, but thank you.

Um, related to the utilities, um it I don't think that Excel is here, so I don't know that anyone will be able to answer these questions, but I'm curious um whether the the connect the interconnection cue that Excel maintains um that I know gets backlogged.

Um I'm curious if the stadium will sort of jump that queue ahead of other users or if it will have to wait its turn and if that's been discussed with Excel as a potential source of delay.

They're having discussions with Excel.

Um my understanding is that there's an adect there is adequate um electric there, Frank, uh, from our team can expand on that if you would want additional details.

I think this was discussed the last meeting.

Yeah, um and what about the queue?

Uh I don't know about a queue.

I would have to have asked Frank on that.

Frank here.

Frank is here too.

Hi, Frank.

Will you introduce yourself?

Good afternoon.

My name is Frank and I'm a consultant to the team's ownership for the Denver Summit FC.

Uh we have been working closely with Excel.

We have submitted uh initial plans to Excel.

They are reviewing those.

Um we got feedback that uh as as Dan has mentioned, there is capacity to uh to serve the stadium itself.

There is also a belief there's capacity to serve uh the remainder of the development.

They are looking at uh providing redundant service, which is still under review right now.

Um, and as far as jumping the queue of any sort there, we are um in their standard process.

We have submitted application, and we are in there in their standard review process with Excel.

Okay, thank you.

And I don't know that process very well, so I'm just trying to understand whether um this project might proceed ahead of other connection requests for say housing development nearby that goes to the same substitution or anything like that.

It runs through their standard review.

Okay, thank you.

Um the other thing I have seen raised is um an issue around relocation of some existing Excel infrastructure on the site.

Anyone know about that?

Just does that ring a bell?

Is this the Excel regulator?

Is that yeah?

Yeah, Frank, you want to take that one?

Yes, happy to do that.

There is an existing uh Excel gas regulator that is located actually in uh the land that is Vanderbilt Park East, so it's actually located on city park land right now, which has not been developed.

Uh there was an agreement for that gas regulator to be relocated uh north of the park to the land area, which is now going to be where the stadium would be located.

So we have been working with the uh Broadway Station Metropolitan District as well as with Excel uh energy uh and uh in coordination with Parks Department to relocate that uh gas regulator outside of the park, but moving it to a separate piece of land that is a district owned tract of land that actually um based on the initial review, appears to be a more uh streamlined configuration and location to move that to uh and can be accomplished within the original budgeted uh estimates for that.

Great.

That's good to know.

Can you just because I assume like me, many of us have no idea what that actually is?

How big is it?

What is it, what are the implications of it?

Can you just give us a little more context for that piece?

Sure.

Okay, that it is a uh it's a gas regulator that is dealing with uh transitions from high pressure gas to a low pressure system uh for distribution within the within the area.

Um it sits on a foundation of something that is roughly 10 feet by 20 feet, give or take.

Uh, and it sits within a it would sit within a shed structure um on the site.

So we are looking at moving that to uh again to a metropolitan district controlled and owned piece of property um outside of the park, outside of any any other uh potential development footprint.

Great, thank you so much.

Um I also we've also gotten more information about the exact source, at least for purposes of our ordinance of the um 50 million, so what we'll be rescinding technically speaking, what funds we'll be you know drawing all that money from.

Um, and it's been interesting for me to see.

I um I see several projects on this list that are sources that are complete, so that's great.

That makes sense to me.

Um, and then I see a lot of sources that I know are still under construction or are more general funds for things like concrete maintenance street roadoville.

Um, could either Jeff or Department of Finance if it makes sense um talk about um how we know that all of these projects are otherwise funded um and will be completed because I know I mean they're bond projects, so just want to ask that in due diligence.

Yes, uh I will phone a friend on this one and bring up Laura Walker from Department of Finance uh to speak to that.

If you don't mind, Councilman.

Thanks, Laura.

And then councilwoman will need to go into queue inside.

Okay, I'll put you back in after this question.

Good morning.

Uh Laura Walker, director of capital planning and programming with the Department of Finance.

And that's a that's a great question.

So all of these projects that you see on this ordinance um have been supplemented through the general fund.

So, but they were all uh voter-approved uh elevate uh elevate Denver bond projects.

So, in essence, we are shifting these projects that were previous the previously uh budgeted in the capital improvement fund to the interest from the Elevate Denver Bond program.

Right.

So, um it none of these projects it will not impact the schedule of any of these projects or the scope of any of these projects.

Okay, um that has been my understanding that we were essentially supplementing with interest, but I think my my larger question is we move them a little bit better.

Are we confident that these are all fully funded and that we don't need additional interest towards these same projects as they're ongoing?

Yes, 100%.

We have uh we have a plan uh and we have um um mitigated all of the risk with the elevate Denver bond projects, and we have the appropriate contingency and contingencies in place to finish the Elevate Denver Bond pro uh program with by 2027.

Okay, all right, I appreciate that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, I've got councilman Cashman and Soundaball.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Uh, thanks for the presentation.

Um so uh I hear a lot that this is gonna be a year round facility, and I'm trying to figure out the the scope of that my understanding is the women's soccer league season runs march to november uh so about nine months um uh 26 games i'm assuming that means 13 home games so uh it's actually we're the 16th team so uh there'll be 15 home games in the 20 and 2028 apologies there's expansion so there'll be a culture 18 so for now 15 home games over nine months um and it's an open stadium that's 350 vacant days um i i know there's lots of other things you can do concerts whatever um but i'm also very aware of levitt pavilion uh a nonprofit entertainment center just across the platte river um that puts 40 to 50 free shows on a year and how you might impact that can you talk about this year-round use of the facility yeah so along with NWSL regular team you brought up concerts but there's actually an opportunity around college athletics um to be out at the stadium so uh the uh team in Kansas City they only own women owned and operated or um operate a facility in Kansas City hosted for example this year's NCAA soccer championship so um those types of events so collegiate events in addition there's some emerging leagues specific to soccer uh in the universe so there's um tournaments that have launched their seven by seven so if you're familiar with women's sports think about the NBA or WMBA has unrivaled so there's special soccer tournaments now that have emerged um for fields of play that bring international talent over um so our hope will be there'll be an abundance of soccer specific sport there but we're also hope open to hosting rugby events um lacrosse events so in addition to concerts which we do hope to um you know host at the venue there's a myriad of other sports where um we're making sure that the venue can accommodate um the field configurations for those things rob comen wanted to chime in on that question if we can turn to him Rob go ahead producer is he in the panel the panel oh okay so how how many days do you hope to use this facility?

I mean I would actually call Jordan and he up or I recognize it too I think there's a combination of different types of events that are going to occur high school was another one that the Jen didn't mention which would be you know a lot of the playoffs right now are leaving Denver to go to Colorado Street.

I mean about how many days major events major ticket events are probably in the 40 to 50 range but beyond that there's likely to be in the 200 to 250 range with meetings banquets weddings things like that that will be hosted in the lounge areas also on the field within the bowl and the concourses I'm trying to figure out how many days a year this facility is going to be in use in a way that's going to bring business to adjacent businesses so weddings that type of stuff doesn't do it for me it's the major things that are going to bring in thousands of people to you know hit Broadway and uh other community businesses um the other thing uh for me the major thing has been and I've talked to Mr.

Cohen a number of times is the CBA and we're at the 10th we have two business days till the weekend we're talking about this on the floor of council on the 15th and we don't have the CBA any good I think good.

I think it's disrespectful.

Something that's that important.

We need time to consider.

So I would love to get it as soon as humanly possible thank you appreciate it.

Um that's what I've got.

Thank you, Madam chair.

Thank you.

I think we've got Rob in now.

Rob, did you want to uh chime in at all?

Yes.

Did you hear me?

Yes.

Yes, go ahead.

All right.

And first of all, thank you for putting up with my travel.

I apologize ahead of board meeting today.

And I'm now trying to run to catch my plane to Denver.

I just wanted Councilman Cashman to know that we've had multiple conversations directly with Levett Pavilion to talk about how we could partner with them, what kind of events we could do jointly, what kind of events they have in mind and what we have in mind.

I have had a number of conversations with the executive director, president directly.

And so just wanted uh to address that issue head on because I know that's something that you asked early in the process, and I wanted to make sure that you know you were heard and that we followed up on it.

Thank you, Rob.

Uh, I've got Council President Sandoval and Councilman Flynn.

Thank you.

Um, so just thank you all for for um coming back, and um I agree with a lot of what was said, and I disagree with some of what was said.

I worked on um a community benefit agreement for Ballerina and a rezoning that did not move any legal tender of tax dollars, and they came to this committee I think two times, and the third time it was an action.

So, with all due respect, this is the second briefing.

This is an action item with 50 million dollars being attached to it, and so it feels like time and time again, um, we keep trying to fit a square peg into a circle hole with our processes, and I've really done my best to as council president to figure out where our not having a streamline, and I've changed our council committees to have more time.

So I and the I wish you, I wish we would have been here a couple more times.

I wish you um, I wish the lead would have been here a couple more times.

I wish we would have had an introduction meeting with you.

I wish I wasn't just sitting here at committee meeting as a woman leader and another woman leader.

I wish this wasn't the first time I was meeting you, I wish that you would have reached out and said, hey, there's nine women on council, and let's get together and figure this out and let's figure out a time frame that works because our time frames um on the city side, they're well vetted and they produce really good outcomes.

And to be pushed into a time frame that has felt rushed, has um caused a lot of work on my end as council president, and I'm sure you can relate to that as a woman, and it's been hard for all of our processes to work as efficiently as they do.

I remember when I first started at as a city council aide, my council member said it takes a lot of time because it's public dollars, and it it matters, it's not my money, it's it's our money collectively, and so just want to put that out there, and I did take it very personal when it was after we were asking questions and getting blank documents, then it was the league was going to move.

I just have to say publicly that as a female and as a leader on council whose job it is to help my colleagues usher this in, felt like a direct tack to me because I was asking questions with 50 million set up to 70 million dollars of public funding, and I just I'm sure you can really, it's not easy being a woman and a leader, it's not easy being a woman surrounded at a table with all men asking questions, asking if you can please get documents to do your job.

And so I just haven't publicly go on the back to say that because I do work in good faith.

I um would never I'm not taking this personal, and I wouldn't I did not come in last time thinking I would have to stop this from moving forward.

I was asking question questions from the documents that I received, and that's all I was doing, and that's what I was elected to do.

So I just have to clearly air for it like that.

That I would like to, if I might just apologize for not doing the outreach.

I think in that that the expediency in which this entire process has happened for us as a club.

You know, the divide and conquer lane for me was to go immerse myself in the community project and and rely on Giselle for the most part on my team to really steer this process.

So uh, but I take your feedback seriously and acknowledge that that I could have done more in that process.

I think um to your comment to to Tim's comment on the community side.

I just want to be really clear that our action coming out of this last session was about securing what we felt was necessary for these players for this fan base and our commitment to to the NWF Cell, and making sure that we delivered for all of those constituents on what they signed up for us to do, which was build a purpose-built stadium for this team.

And so our effort was to make sure that we lived up to that responsibility, um, and and not to uh push back on this process.

Jen, I have a hand up from Rob if you want to chime in.

Yeah, thank you.

I just I just wanted to say first of all, thank you for bringing it up.

Um, you know, uh council president Sandoval, you and I have had a number of text messages and conversations about this.

None of us are happy about how the process evolved.

I just wanted it to be on public record that we did not go to the media, we did not make threats.

Somebody else went to the media and said we were talking to other jurisdictions, and we merely responded to that.

And then we were just transparent in the fact that um if city council was gonna you know do their homework and do their work, then we needed to do ours just as Jen said to make sure that we were protecting the club, the fans, the players, etc.

Um, in case you know something something happened where the city didn't approve this, and so I think that was our fiduciary responsibility to the fans and to the team, and uh, and it's not meant to be personal in any way, and I appreciate the fact that everybody's just trying to do their best and is trying to do what's right.

Um and I told you this long ago.

I'm gonna assume positive intent from each and every uh person that we interact with, whether that's city council or community, etc., that everybody has the best interest of Denver in mind.

Thank you, Raffi.

So the question, um, if you could put the the numbers back up on the screen, producer, that would be helpful.

So um, I think Don, you said that the earthwork and excavation had to get this stadium up has gone up.

My question to you is there's a hundred, I I believe the number I get I might get a few off.

I think there's like about a hundred and sixty-five million dollars worth of excavation and earth work of bonds out currently on the site for improvement.

So I understand that earthwork and excavation takes a lot.

It's 7 million 125,000.

That's nothing in comparison to the 165 million dollars, if that's the accurate number, 155, I think it's 165.

The last I saw that has been done to get this site up and running.

And the reason why I say that is because in Global, we have a super fund fight, three super fund sites that have taken millions and millions and millions of dollars to be able to get um remediated.

So I just want to say that I understand that the number keeps going up, but if your number plus the what's already been done, a hundred and six we're talking almost close to like 200 million dollars worth of excavation and earthwork.

Would do you agree with that?

I don't think that's correct.

I think maybe Frank can weigh in here on what's been good afternoon.

Mark Tompkins, the president of the Broadway Station Met District.

Uh the 165 million is correct, um, Council President San Valve for the amount of bonds outstanding.

Those bonds, however, were used for environmental remediation.

They were used for demolition of the old factory building.

They were used for the installation of the roads, the bridges, the park um trails that uh line the plat that are right there by the new Kentucky Bridge.

And so there was a lot more than demolition or or excuse me, earthwork and excavation that was done.

And then uh lastly, that entire 42 acre site was uh phased to have the east side, then the southeast side, and finally the northwest side, which is where the stadium site is where the infrastructure work was was done, because that was the planned development sequence.

So there has been very little work done on and around the stadium site with the money that has been spent to date.

So there's not utilities in there.

Is there infrastructure?

We need water.

If they needed to pull a water tap fee, could they get a water tap?

Because oftentimes when you get a brownfield site like this, you don't have the the that work has not been done, and that caught that's a huge cost, right?

So is there the minimal infrastructure meaning water tap sewer on the site?

There are legacy water and sewer taps on the site, those are owned by Broadway station partners when they acquired the site.

Um I don't know the arrangements that they've made with other vertical developers on how those tabs will work.

Okay, thank you.

And for Department of Finance, um, with all of the bonds that we've done, I've just had been part of the the one since 2007.

When have we ever shifted bond projects from CIP to interest in the past?

Laura Walter, Department of Finance.

Um, because of the um the high interest rate market uh for the elevated Denver bonds, and the fact that we did supplement the Elevate Denver bond funds bond projects with our capital improvement program to keep those projects on schedule due to the cost of escalations because of COVID, because of a lot of other reasons too.

Um we did uh supplement those projects with our capital improvement fund, and so because of the high interest rates, um, primarily in 2022, there is a slide showing um Jeff, I don't know what showing the interest earned over time of elevate Denver bonds, but you can see once sorry, that's okay.

It's on page uh 19.

Thanks, Dan, for taking your time on that.

So you so you can see that is the elevate interest earned each year, and you can see when it really does start taking up in 22, 23, and 24.

That's when we um that's when the interest rates really kind of ticked up there.

And so then uh now we are uh using the interest to pay for the elevate Denver bond projects that voters approved um that we previously paid for in the capital improvement fund.

Okay, and so with the 50 million of capital improvement, is it correct to say that this project bumped other projects that were on that site on that list?

Because I will say that we have some capital improvement projects, such as the 50 bridge, such as the other bridges that are full, such as I don't know, I've been here for a long time since 2013.

That my project list is a mystery to me.

So we are investing in a site with 50 million dollars, meaning that other projects that have been on that queue for a long time don't get that money.

I think that it's we have to just say that because my constituency is super complicated for the public to understand where these dollars are coming from.

We just laid off 169 people, we have a hundred million dollar budget shortfall in 2025, 100 million dollars in 2023.

Every time we come to committee, everyone says we're doing less um doing more with less people, and now we have 50 million dollars, right?

So I keep getting asked all the time at my household how do you have suddenly have 50 million dollars?

So that means that we found it in the capital improvement project because other projects, where like how are not other projects being funded?

Yeah, so these these funds are restricted uh to capital improvement projects as well as to bond projects because it's the interest from the bond projects and so um I mean yes it's a prioritization process and so just you know I uh the city just really investment into this uh into the redevelopment of the site into the economic uh impacts of the site and so just prioritizing those investments okay um I think that oh and just one last comment that thank you appreciate that just one last comment to the CDA members thank you for your work thank you for your dedication thank you for your responsibility and thank you for getting that time um I don't know what it would feel like to lose a family member and have growth a family member um to be dedicated I do know what it feels like to be a standard because I'm dedicated to this job I do know what it feels like to be accused of certain things um because I'm dedicated to Denver in my job so I just want you to hear from like my heartfelt thank you it's not easy to do this work had no idea what you were going through in your personal life oftentimes we don't get a stop and ask each other what's going on in our personal life right because it's business um so just want to say thank you and to the whoever the powers that be I'm asking you to get us this by Friday give us a confidential draft by Friday it's hard for us to do our job in coming Monday prepared to move 50 million dollars without understanding what you have asked for so even if it's a confidential draft we understand figures move we understand things move please get this to us by Friday so we could digest it and we could come prepared thank you thank you madam chair thank you I've got councilman Flynn then Watson.

Thank you um Madam Chair um Jeff or maybe Lara can you clarify for me the cost of the North Bridge which is being added to the IGA and has always been a concern of mine and where that funding will be coming from.

Great question yes and just to preface that I understand the need yes don't disagree with the need for it I wish it were there when the station was built in back in during T Rex or whenever it was but I want to understand the cost to us now.

And where it comes from great great question thank you and agree that would have been great asset to have back when the station was was put in so uh it will be a great asset for the community uh not just for this project uh but the entire community uh clearly who needs to be if I clarify this for people watching the north bridge would be a pedestrian connector from the I-25 Broadway RTD light rail station over to the west side of the tracks just so people we often speak in the silo here.

Thank you councilman yes thank you and it's actually the second busiest RTD station uh in its district uh so heavily used uh it's obviously intersection I-25 and Broadway so a lot of bus traffic coming in there a lot of train traffic so uh and and this North Pedestrian bridge as we've gone through this process it's very clear that the community needs it wants it and it's gonna dramatically increase the efficiency for folks to get from the west side to that east side of the track so uh yeah we all agree it's needed uh so that's why the cities agreed to take on this this responsibility is not needed for the operation of the stadium uh so the stadium will open before the Ped Bridge is done uh we are submitting this week for our our first grant uh state grant for the Pedbridge uh we are gonna pursue state grants federal grants uh Dr.

Cog dollars we will look at uh every possible source of funding uh including our friends from the federal government who love us so much uh so yes so we will uh exhaustively pursue all available grant funds uh that are available for a bridge like this.

It's the approximate cost is around 26 million dollars, 25 million dollars.

I'm looking at Laura Walter, who just kicked me because I 25.

So Laura, please save me from the 20th cost estimates for the grant that we are submitting uh Friday is 25 million.

25 million.

Thank you.

Do we have a timetable in the IGA by which this must be built?

If we don't get these grants, what's the alternative?

No timetable in the IGA.

What we're saying in the IGA is the city will assume responsibility when dollars are available and we build the capital stack.

We will build the bridge.

Obviously, it's a time consuming process.

We've got to we've got to talk to the railroads, we've we've got to talk to the state.

We've got we need approvals uh from all parties to have the the access rights, right?

So it's it's a multi-year process, probably you know, four to six-year process to from from now.

And but we're having meetings with with uh CDOT, or sorry, the railroads this week.

Uh we've had many meetings with CDOT about about this project.

But uh railroad meetings are this week, uh, and and uh so we're often running uh to get the process going uh depending on how this process with city council goes.

Good luck with the railroad, thank you.

Um, there's also the regional mill levy funds.

Yes, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dan.

I was just gonna jump in with that.

And additionally, as part of the uh the uh amendments before you for uh 2017 IGA amendment, exhibit B part of that amendment does list the North Pet Bridge as a regional project, thus it would qualify for the regional mills.

It's anticipated to have uh right now the regional mills are projected to be about 14 million through 2046.

Okay, not enough in in time, but obviously still good.

Uh and for Rob and Jen and the team, uh, as a recovering journalist, I want to uh I just want to say that uh when the news came out that you would have to look at other alternatives if it's stinger through council.

I did not take that as a threat.

Uh frankly, uh I took it as a reflection of the reality that you have commitments to make, and if the uh the reasonable concerns that this body has uh that that is whole held it up until today and maybe later, uh, that you have an obligation uh to the league uh with your commitments there to look at alternatives.

So I I took that as a reflection of the reality, not as you better approve this or else.

Uh I took it as a fact that you simply have to have a stadium.

And if if it's not gonna be here, it has to be somewhere.

So I just want to I've seen that uh in the news media quite a bit uh as sort of a threat.

Well, if you don't approve it, we're moving.

I take it more as if you don't approve it, we have to move.

Um it was not it was not intended as a threat, as as Rob and Jen said, I think the from the league's perspective.

We had made a commitment to the league to get awarded the franchise, and we had to have a backup.

I took it as not being a similar situation as when the Broncos threatened to move to Atlanta back in the 70s, uh, unless we expanded the old mile high stadium, which which McNichols ended up doing.

Uh so I just want to lay that out.

Um thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you.

Um I just want to be uh send a reminder on time.

We still have an exec session um to hold uh before and come back and vote before three.

Uh I've got councilman Watson, then Heinz.

And Councilman Torres, I'll be pretty quick.

Um, while you while you're coming up, I just want to be very specific.

First and foremost to the community members, thank you so much for your work and your leadership.

And Laura, I'm gonna ask you a quick question uh on this.

Um I want you to be explicit because as we look at the uh movement of the elevate bond funds, um, I know Swansea Rec Center is on that list.

I just need you to explicitly say into the mic, there will be no impact on the completion of a Swansea Rec Center.

There will be no impact to Swansea Rect Center.

Okay, thank you.

And I have a larger question on forecasting as we're looking at outcomes.

I know we're looking at some of the work right now as far as the infrastructure impacts, the cost of actually if this uh is approved and is built.

Um, but you have some projections uh as far as the team as to what the outcomes are gonna be, and I think that's important to community members and also businesses and folks surrounding what would be the stadium.

And so the stadium is projected to generate $82 million per year.

That's your um uh projection of direct, indirect, and increased spending um once operational.

Can you elaborate on um the methodology used to calculate that estimate?

What's the similar um growth based on similar stadiums across the country?

We want to have a sense of where that number is rooted.

Um is that simply a hope, or is that something built on some methodology?

Thank you, Councilman, for that question.

Uh uh I've got a slide uh that's I think I think responsive to this question, you can tell me two slides actually.

The first one is uh just on the uh, I guess the the best comparison we have right now, which is the only other purpose-built stadium that's ever been built for professional women's soccer teams in Kansas City, as Jen talked about earlier.

That's been a phenomenal success the past year since it opened, uh, showing uh over 60 million dollars per year in direct, indirect and induced spending.

Uh uh that jet that project generated over 1400 jobs for uh 1,450 jobs, uh totaling 50 million in wages per year.

So that is a just a great uh template for us here on what we're trying to do.

This will be the second purpose-built stadium uh ever built in in the world as I understand it for professional women's uh soccer team.

Uh so uh it and we have done some projections.

Our uh our our uh our our city economist uh Lisa Martinez Templeton has done a comprehensive economic impact study that we've shared with you all previously.

Uh it it it uh was a you know very comprehensive look at this, and it estimates over 80 million dollars per year in direct, indirect, and induced spending at the site, uh projected to create 1100 jobs.

Uh and and the hope is over 30 years is going to generate $2 billion worth of economic activity.

If you look at the the catalytic investment and impact of this project on the 41-acre Broadway station metro district, but also the surrounding uh neighborhoods that are adjacent to the site.

Thank you so much, Jeff and team.

Once again, thank everyone that's been involved in this very tough process.

Um I appreciate that work.

Let me reiterate what council president said, and I'll be more direct using my voice.

We cannot vote on Monday without that CBA being provided to us by Friday.

I cannot state that more clearly.

There is no way that there is a vote on this on Monday without us receiving a CBA.

So whatever needs to be done, we appreciate in advance that you're going to make that happen.

Uh thank you, committee chair.

Thank you.

Councilman Hines, then councilwoman Sawyer.

Thank you, committee chair.

And um, in your uh uh consideration of time, I'm just gonna have some comments.

Um I do want to acknowledge that um while this is a committee of seven, we have um nearly every council member here and present, and um so I want to thank uh uh the my colleagues for um for demonstrating the importance of this uh conversation by being here.

Um I'll I'll share that I've shared in briefings.

I mean I have five concerns about the project.

One that we engage and listen to the community and incorporate those words in a binding agreement.

Two, that we get clarity on the city's financial commitment, particularly making sure that we understand what the responsibility is of Denver taxpayers.

As we've said before, we are stewarding the people's money, and we want to know what the people's money you want the people's money to buy.

Um three, that the um uh that the ownership group built build the stadium, not the people of Denver, um and while you know having taxpayer dollars subsidize uh stadiums might work for other communities in the US.

That's not something in my value system, and um, and so that's something that uh that we've addressed, uh that you have addressed, so thank you for that.

Um the sources of the source of the funds uh committed by the city of Denver.

Um so I think that was uh mentioned, uh, but you know, the uh interest savings uh is kind of an interesting conversation.

And then the fifth is the importance of no of the North Bridge.

So I think we have addressed, we've at least touched on all five of those concerns.

And so um, you know, while I was the only one to vote to move these items forward uh in the last committee, I certainly um just had this interest um and um and understanding uh of my colleagues to get clarity.

Um it's uh it's it's great that we have nearly every council member here.

I believe that we owe it to the non-voting members who are here present that we've move this out of committee today, and we have everyone the opportunity to vote for this this coming Monday.

Community benefits agreement or not, um, that might affect people's votes.

Um, and then finally to council president's point.

Um, I I feel like we've been pressured to move quickly.

Councilmember Flynn's point, I don't take that as a threat.

I take that as a this is uh the reality.

Um but uh I believe we should honor that by sending this to the floor for Monday.

Um we've heard from ownership as well as the community that there's good stuff in the community benefits agreement.

I hope we can see that by Friday.

Um so uh so I hope we move this forward.

Thank you, Peter.

Thank you very much.

Councilwoman Sawyer, then Gonzalez, thanks, Madam Chair.

Between Councilmember Watson and Councilmember Hines, I feel like they got it for me.

Um I do just want to say a huge thank you to the community for the time and energy that you spent to ensure um that what the community needs is being well represented.

Um cannot wait to see that agreement.

I also want to say thank you to my fellow council members who you know it is okay for us to take time to make sure that all I's are dotted and all T's are crossed on something like this.

So I want to just say thank you to you for um slowing it down if you felt like it needed to be slowed down so that we could get the answers that we got and have those questions answered solidly.

I also want to say thank you to the team and to Rob and Jen, because I I you all have done an extraordinary job um of bringing something to Denver that is an incredible opportunity and incredible source of pride.

Really, really exciting for a huge swath of the entire state of Colorado.

Um and so I think that we we need to recognize that and say thank you to you for that as well.

Um I will just say one final thing, and that is um that I think the the desires and will of this council, our priorities, which we get together every year and we talk about um are not met without dollars, right?

And the idea that over the next 30 years we have an incredible source of pride for our community, an incredibly um exciting economic driver for an uh a neighborhood that has been historically underinvested in, and an opportunity to fill our general fund with a potential two billion dollars with which to provide food and housing and support in so many different ways, like this is um I think all bringing all of that together.

Are you asking us to take a risk?

Yeah, um, have we done our due diligence to ensure that as much as we can in ensuring taxpayer dollars are being used well, um, we are mitigating that risk, yeah.

And so I don't sit on this committee, I'm not gonna vote today.

Um, and I would ask that fellow council members to move it forward so I can because I'm really looking forward to having this conversation.

Thanks.

Thank you so much.

Uh Councilwoman Gonzalez Cutier is then uh Pro Tem Romero Campbell.

Thank you, um uh Madam Chair.

Um, I think um one a couple of requests that I have.

Um, I would like a list of the types of events that were rattled off when Councilman Cashman was asking what are the types of things that will take place at the venue because it is an outdoor venue.

Understanding how many events realistically can be held there.

Um, and so I'm also uh equally anxious to hear the details of the CBA.

Um, I really do want to give a heartfelt thank you to the community members for your commitment to the CBA process, taking your personal time, your unpaid personal time to dedicate uh time to this process in such a short time frame.

I'm grateful for your time, energy, and your commitment um to this because that has been incredibly important to me in the conversations that I have had um with the folks um bringing this forward.

Um I want to just also state because I'm also not part of this committee.

Um I had not received the documents from the mayor's office um that had been referenced, and I had to get those from a colleague of mine.

Um, so please send any information to all of council members so that we're all getting the information ahead of time.

Um that would be very helpful.

And um, I think the last thing that I want to say is that um to validate um council president and and your feelings around um you know, I think everybody has different perceptions about how they felt about what came out in the press.

I will say that um I I validate those feelings about filling uh as a threat, and I wasn't even at that committee meeting.

Um, and um the way in which it was presented, be it coming from, you know, the soccer league or coming wherever it came from.

I can see that perception, and I will say that I had people reaching out to me immediately at the drop of a lot of that, those articles, asking about feeling like oh, like what's gonna happen now.

If you guys don't approve this, like it's on your shoulders, and that did feel in that way.

So I just I want to validate that for you, Council President.

Um, and um and and even for Councilwoman Alvidres, because I know you've been carrying a lot of this, and I appreciate that, um, and the communication that you have provided.

I appreciate that.

Um, and so going forward, you know, again, um, I will agree with the sentiment of my colleagues around getting information, getting it in a timely manner, so that we have time to be able to to uh consume the information.

Um this is a truncated time frame.

This is um a lot of a lot of stuff to take in, um, and to deliberate.

So I thank you for being here today, but again, please send the information to all of us.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you very much.

Uh, pro time Remero Campbell, and then I have a I want to take a couple minutes.

Okay.

Um thank you, Madam Chair.

Uh I just want to thank my colleagues around the table.

Um also uh I think when you go last, it's a lot has already been said, and so I just want to echo the thanks to Councilmember Alvidas for reaching out with um and answering a lot of questions and taking the time to like do you have any other questions?

Um so I just appreciate that.

Um, and I appreciate my colleagues, Council President, for also advocating.

Um I know it's a thorough process.

I love that you know land use.

Um we rely on that, and I just appreciate that you've been um steadfast in that in advocating.

Um I had the opportunity to um and actually let me do this too, because thank you to the community.

Um it is tremendous, and it's a heavy lift, and um I just appreciate your sacrifice that you've made throughout this process.

It's a lot.

Um I sat next to uh a council member from Kansas City uh on a flight, and we spoke for a couple of hours, and we didn't at first I didn't know that he was a council member, a former council member in Kansas City.

Um, and so I felt kind of incognito.

Like, so tell me a little bit about this stadium that you have.

Um it was a really interesting conversation because his answer or actually how he started was I just have to tell you I was not for it in the beginning.

Um, and then he proceeded to tell me um how his opinion shifted over time, um, the impact that that stadium has had in Kansas City, and he was actually excited to see what was happening in Denver and what that might look like moving forward, and so um I just I say that with it's also you know, as we are having this conversation, um, we don't know what the future is gonna look like.

Um after talking to him, I felt like okay, this might be this is gonna be interesting to see what that impact can look like moving forward.

Um council member Gonzalez Gutierrez, I thought you were gonna ask specifically about graduation dates for DPS students.

Because I was like, I was I was hoping that you got it, but since you didn't, I'm gonna say um that would be a really great um piece to have in there as well.

Um I'll just leave it short so that you can have your um so that you can make your comments, but I just wanted to thank everybody for the diligence.

Yeah, thank you so much.

I actually have a question.

Um there's a new slide in the appendix, it's the first slide after um appendix, and it uh lays out the flow of the uh waterfalls.

I'm wondering um Tracy, if you can explain what I'm looking at when I look at this.

Dan did not have to tell me what page that was on.

I found it myself, so thank you.

Good afternoon, Tracy Huggins.

I'm the executive director of the Denver Urban Renewal Authority.

And here I thought we were at the end and I was getting off.

Happy to walk through this because there's been a lot of a lot of conversation in question about the tax increment and how it works with Dura and the Metropolitan District, and then with the Metropolitan District, and how that then uh is transferable to the 2025 IGA.

So I'll take it as far as I can, and then I may ask Mark Tompkins to join me for the rest of it.

So reading from the upper left, but that box that you see is how the tax increment is generated and it flows to the urban renewal authority.

So we have the collection of the sales and property tax increment.

Dura does take a fee, that is how our operations are paid for.

Then following that is what is available.

Our first obligation is to reimburse actually ourselves, Dura for a commitment that DPS was otherwise looking to receive from the tax increment.

So I'm gonna pause right there where it says payment toward DPS obligation and direct your attention to.

Sorry, the slide is a little wonky from a um from a formatting standpoint, but to the outstanding DPS balance.

We have so tax increment is being generated on the site, even though there hasn't been any vertical uh development yet, and so we are almost to the point where we are able to fully repay ourselves for the amount that was advanced to DPS.

So that's almost done.

We think that that's going to be fully repaid at the beginning of next year.

Then we continue down.

After we pay the DPS obligation, then there's pledged revenue, which is a defined term under the bond indenture that we have in place with um for the project.

So the money goes to the bond trustee, we make debt service on superior bonds.

There aren't any.

Those would be bonds that we have issued out into the market.

There aren't any of those.

So we skip over that, and then we go to the junior subordinate bonds.

Those are the obligations that Dura has entered into with the Metropolitan District to reimburse from tax increment the costs that they have incurred from the column on your exhibit B of TIP eligible costs.

Then if we ever get past that, there it can then be used for other things.

So I'm gonna now go back up to the payment toward JSBs and direct your attention to the box that says outstanding JSV principal.

So to date, we have agreed to reimburse.

And we get to that amount by both understanding and evaluating that they've incurred the cost and laying that up against how much increment we think is gonna be generated within the time that we can collect it.

Included in there, you'll see estimate for JSB number four.

That is what we believe we could still agree to reimburse, and part of that would be again remaining costs out of the exhibit B, including the the stadium.

So now we're gonna go back up to the proposed um waterfall.

So, Mark, you can stand ready to either correct me or you can take it from here.

You want me to keep rolling?

I can't roll.

So, um, we have a one percent project art commitment, so we're gonna hold back that to make sure that there's the funds are available for those to get um uh invested in the site.

Then with that, then we just pay over whatever available increment we have to the metropolitan district.

They then have an obligation.

Now I'm gonna point your direction to the red box, they then have obligations to use amounts they receive from Dura for items that obligations that they have in a priority order.

So the first of that would be to make debt service on the bonds that they issued in 2023.

Once those bonds are fully repaid, then they would use those amounts to repay any outstanding uh developer advances made by Broadway Station Partners.

Then any funds available beyond that would be subject to the 90 10 split as uh as referenced in the uh 2025 IGA.

Thank you so much for that explanation.

Um, I know that it's been asked for in the past, but projections of what that waterfall brings in through the life of the tip.

Does that exist?

It does exist, and it was provided to uh Councilwoman Albedrez previously.

Um it it did not make it into this, but I do have um copies of it.

Do you mind leaving 13 with Alyssa?

Um because I'd like to get us into exact session as quickly as possible.

Um thank you, Tracy.

I'm gonna do this only with the ability to go on record as saying please recognize what these are.

They are projections.

They definitionally will be different than what actually happens.

They assume other things get built out.

Absolutely.

And what you see we'll see on there is a map that kind of sort of identifies where the development will happen.

Then it has some outcome projections, including when it might start and stop.

Again, based on the best information we have, which will definitionally be different than what actually happens.

That then generates the increment that you'll see how we would then repay those obligations that we've um that I've just outlined.

Super helpful.

Thank you so much.

You bet.

Um, we are not voting yet, so um uh folks will stick around a little bit.

Um, but I will uh entertain a motion uh to move us into executive session pursuant to DRNC 2-34A, section two, three, six, and seven for the purpose of receiving legal advice related to threatened litigation on this topic.

May I have a motion?

Thank you.

Uh moved by uh councilwoman Alvidas, seconded by Councilman Watson.

Uh so council members will move into Par Weitner next door.

Um, all of you folks can stay here.

And look for the lawyer.

We want lawyers.

On an inhale, maybe bring that leg up a little bit, and as you exhale, maybe draw that leg in just a little bit more, and then go ahead and release, stretch that leg out long, and then find your way to tabletop hands and knees.

Bringing wrists underneath your shoulders and knees underneath your hips.

And when you feel ready, we'll do our best imitation of a cow, a sway back cow by dropping our belly and arching our spine, and then as you exhale, do your best Halloween cat as you round your spine up, and then inhale into that cow, and exhale into cat, and then just continue.

Go ahead and release back to neutral tabletop and let that breath go.

Take your right foot behind you, toes on the floor and press your heel back, release it, and do that a couple of times.

We're just opening up the back of that leg.

And then go ahead and release, bring that leg in, take the other leg back and do the same thing.

And go ahead and release.

Walk your hands over to the right side of your mat.

Keep your hips lifted.

As you exhale, bring your forehead to or towards the mat.

You might crawl those left fingertips out a little bit more as you press your left hip back, opening that left side body.

And then inhale, come back up.

Take your hands through center and over to the other side.

Exhaling forehead two or towards the mat.

On an inhale, come back up, take hands back to center.

Bring your right leg back behind you again.

And then you're going to sweep that right leg all the way to the outside of your left.

And then come down on your forearms.

What you doing there, little buckaroo.

And then begin to slide, if it's okay, begin to slide your right leg back as you sit down on your left heel.

I'm not really supposed to play with you with my fingers.

Coming into a pidgin variant, yes.

And then inhale, come back up.

Take yourself back to table top.

And then bring your left leg all the way to the outside of your right.

Maybe come down on your forearms and then maybe slide your left leg back as you sit on your right heel.

Like this variant because it's a little easier on your knees if you have fairly healthy knees.

And then inhale, come back up.

Find your way back to table.

Let's work on a little core.

On an inhale, bring that right leg back behind you.

You can stay here, or with that low belly engaged, bring your left arm forward.

You can hold here or on an exhale, draw your elbow into your knee as you round your spine, and then inhale, expand.

Exhale, draw in, inhale, expand.

Exhale, draw in, one more.

Inhale, expand, and then exhale back to neutral table.

And you can give your tail a little wag.

And then we'll take the other side.

Maybe your left foot comes back and you stay here.

Or maybe your right arm comes forward.

You can stay here.

Or maybe find that flow.

Drawing in as you exhale.

Inhale, expand and keep moving.

Inhale, expand, exhale, neutral table, let that breath go.

Inhale here on an exhale, float back into child's pose.

Keep your arms forward.

Take a breath here.

And then we're going to come into a little flow from here.

And an inhale, you're just going to come back up to tabletop.

Use the whole inhale to get here.

And then exhale, just float back into child's pose.

Inhale, float back up to table.

And exhale back into child's pose.

Inhale forward into table.

Exhale back into child's pose.

And we're going to change it a little bit.

On your next inhale, we're going to come to a kneeling position with our arms overhead.

Keep that core strong.

And then exhale with a strong cord, just float back down into child's pose.

Inhale, float up into that kneeling position.

Exhale back, child's pose.

One more time.

Inhale, floating up.

And then exhale, floating down.

Inhale up to table.

Take your hands a little bit forward of your shoulders.

Curl your toes as you exhale, find downward facing dog.

Feel free to keep your knees a little bit bent.

And you can pedal your feet, do whatever it is that feels good.

As you come into dog.

There's always one kitten that likes to get underneath people and dog and plank.

That's the one.

So you have to stay in downward facing dog until the kitten moves.

Or alternatively, everybody come to stillness.

On an inhale, roll forward into plank pose.

And then exhale back into dog.

Inhale forward into plank.

And exhale back into dog.

One more time.

Inhale, forward into plank.

And exhale back into dog.

And then inhale, look forward.

And everybody, if you can walk around the kitten, find your way to a standing forward fold at the top of your mat.

Knees can be bent.

You can kind of wiggle your knees.

And then come to stillness.

On an inhale, slide your hands up your shins.

Find a flat back.

And then exhale, fold forward.

Inhale, flat back.

Exhale, fold.

Inhale, flat back, exhale, fold, root through the feet.

Inhale, reverse swan dive up.

And then exhale, release your hands down to the side.

And let that breath go.

Giving your knees a little bounce if you like.

We'll come down to a lunge.

We'll flow down to get there.

Inhale, arms overhead.

Exhale, fold forward, plant your hands.

Float your left foot back.

Come down on your left knee.

If possible, your ankle is underneath your knee.

And then just kind of come back and forth, lubricating that front hip a little bit more.

And then after a few repetitions of this, next time you find your way coming back, we're going to come into half monkey god.

Scooching our back knee a little farther back.

Come up on your front heel.

On an inhale, lengthen forward, exhale, fold over that front leg.

And then inhale, just kind of soften it up.

Exhale, straighten and bow.

Inhale, soften it up.

Exhale, straighten bow and hold.

So even if your leg is able to straighten, try not to lock your knee.

And it's okay if your knee's a little bent.

On an inhale, find your way forward, back into that low lunge.

Make sure your back knee's far enough back so that when you bend it, you're actually above your kneecap.

And then begin to pump that back leg.

Just bend it and release it.

And you can keep doing that.

Or if you'd like a little more quad stretch, plant your left hand down, reach around with your right and take hold of your left foot and draw your left heel towards the outside of your left buttock.

And then go ahead and release.

Bring both hands to the inside of your foot and then toe heel that foot a little bit more to the outside so you can bring your hands underneath your shoulders.

And we're gonna stay here.

Pressing that right shoulder and right knee together, if that's available to you.

If this is really easy for you and you'd like to try to come down on your forearms, you're welcome to do that.

And if you'd like a little more challenge, you might curl your back toes and come up on them, lifting your knee off the floor.

Some people call this gecko pose.

And then go ahead and come to stillness.

Bring that leg down.

If you lifted the knee up, bring hands back under your shoulders, toe heel your foot back to center.

And then just step your left or right foot back.

Bring your left foot forward.

And then begin to rock back and forth into that front hip.

And when you feel ready, go ahead and find your way back into half monkey god, walking your hands back, scooch your back knee a little farther back as you rock up on that front heel.

Inhale, lengthen forward, exhale, fold.

Inhale, soften it up, exhale, straighten and bow.

Inhale, soften it up.

Exhale, straighten bow and hold.

And then inhale, find your way forward.

Again, make sure your back knees far enough back, curl those back toes.

Begin to pump that back leg.

You can keep doing that, that'll stretch your quads, or maybe plant your right hand down and reach around with your left.

Take hold of that foot and draw that heel towards the outside of your right buttock.

And then go ahead and release.

Bring both hands to the inside of your front foot and toe heel that foot a little bit out to the side so you can bring your hands under your shoulders.

You can stay here, or maybe you can find your way onto your forearms.

And again, if you'd like a little bit more challenge, you might come up off that back knee.

I hear crinklings.

And then go ahead and bring that knee down.

If you've lifted it, hands back under the shoulders, toe heel that foot back to center, and then this time float back into down dog.

On an inhale, roll forward into plank.

Exhale back into dog.

Inhale forward into plank.

Exhale back into dog.

Inhale forward into plank.

Exhale back into dog.

On an inhale, look forward, exhale, step, or you can hop to the top of the mat, standing forward fold.

Great through the feet.

Inhale, reverse swan dive up.

And then exhale, hands float down.

Give your knees a little bit of a bounce.

And let's go ahead and work on chair pose.

Everybody's favorite.

So bring your feet about hip distance apart.

Let's start by bringing our hands to our hips.

And on an exhale, just sit down like you're sitting in a chair.

You don't have to bend your knees much.

Bring your weight back in your heels.

You can stay here, or if you'd like to bring your arms forward, you can.

Or you can hold a kitten.

Yes, that's acceptable.

That's an acceptable arm position.

If you want a little more challenge, sit a little deeper.

And maybe a little deeper.

Remember, you can always stand up.

Maybe even a little deeper.

Right now your thighs should be starting to burn a little bit.

Your abs are a little burny.

Inhale, rise back up.

Exhale.

Hands float down.

And let that breath go.

I keep thinking of that clock.

Let's go ahead and work into warrior one.

So bring your right foot forward and your left foot back.

Warrior one.

So your shoulders should be facing the short end of your mat.

Find whatever arm position you would like.

Yeah.

Okay.

On an exhale, bring your arms out to the side.

Roll your shoulders in as you bring your hands behind your back, interlace fingers.

And then roll shoulders up back and down away from the ears.

Apparently, warrior one is not popular with the kittens.

Okay.

You can stay here.

Or on an exhale, begin to fold forward.

Maybe even bringing your arms up towards the sky.

On an inhale, rise back up.

Release your arms back overhead.

And then exhale, hands down, back foot comes forward, knees, get a little bounce.

And then we'll take the other side.

Left foot forward, right foot back.

And then when you're ready, bringing arms into whatever position you'd like.

I don't have a kitten for this side.

And then exhale, arms parallel to the floor.

Roll the shoulders in as you bring your arms behind your back.

Roll the shoulders up back and down away from the ears.

Inhale, lengthen the spine.

If you'd like to fold forward, go ahead.

Eventually your shoulder might slide to the inside of your knee.

You can let your head just kind of hang and look behind you.

On an inhale, rise up, arms float overhead, and then exhale, hands float down, step your back foot forward, knees get a little bounce.

And then let's come into warrior two.

Right foot forward, left foot back.

For those who don't have a sticky mat, just be extra careful in these standing poses.

Make sure that front knee is over your ankle and not going past.

And you can see your big toe on the inside of that knee.

On an inhale, straighten that front leg as you bring your arms overhead.

And then exhale back into warrior two.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Next time your arms are overhead, keep them here.

And then as you exhale, just drop your back hand to your back leg.

Inhale, really reach through those right fingertips, reverse triangle.

And then exhale, arms parallel to the floor.

Keep that front leg straight.

Inhale, reach a little bit forward and then coming down into triangle pose.

Do not worry about getting your hand all the way to the floor.

You can always bring it to your leg.

And that top hand, if it's uncomfortable, you can bring it to your hip.

You do not have to reach up.

On an exhale, look down if you're not already.

Inhale, rise back up.

Exhale, hands float down.

Step your back foot forward.

And now I'm not going to turn my back to the class, so I'm going to turn the other way on my mat.

Coming into warrior two on this side.

When you are ready.

When you are ready, inhale, arms overhead, exhale, warrior two.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Say, Rachel, you want to help her with that kitten.

He's not behaving himself.

Puckish is being puckish.

Timeout.

And then next time your arms are overhead, go ahead and keep them here.

And then drop your back hand down.

Inhale, lengthen with those front fingertips.

And then exhale, arms parallel to the floor.

Flip your palms forward.

Inhale, reach forward and then down.

Triangle pose.

Again, don't worry about bringing your bottom hand to the floor.

And don't worry about reaching your top hand up.

And on an exhale, look down if you're not already.

Inhale, rise back up.

Exhale, hands float down.

Go ahead and step your back foot forward, knees get a little bounce.

And then let's take warrior two again.

Right foot forward, left foot back.

This time we'll come into side angle pose.

So begin to bend that front arm and place it on your front thigh.

And you can start with your toe.

I can say nothing.

That's all I can say.

It was a joke.

It's a joke.

Well, you're not wearing your hoops face, I'll save.

You're not wearing your own space, I can't say.

Welcome back at one.

That was my mistake.

That was what I'm saying.

Welcome back, everyone.

We are on the air.

Thank you so much for indulging us to have that exact session.

Before I call for the vote, I know Councilwoman Haredy, you wanted to make a statement.

Yes, for a comment.

I do think this is ready to the floor for the floor, and I credit that a lot to Council President, quite honestly, not to discredit anyone else, but I really thank you for asking for some of the detail that we needed.

I will be a no on the floor, but I'll be able to yes to send it to the floor because I do think it's ready.

Thank you.

Thank you for that.

Anyone else?

I do just want to say, and um uh for those of you who are here from the CBA group.

Um I knew I know how um disproportionately uh balanced uh being a community member is on the CBA side.

And I wish it were that were not the case, and I know this came through quickly that you had to respond.

I would like for there to be an environment where you have every community has much more support when they're thrown into a CBA because you are not paid, whereas everyone else on the other side of the table is paid for being a part of that process.

They are paid for that time, they are paid for that expertise.

Um community is not, and so it isn't enough for us to thank you for your time.

It's a it's an incredible injustice that you had to provide it for free.

Um so um uh just want you to know that that's on particularly my mind as I have another community that is um digging into a CBA with a multi-billion dollar company as well.

So um thank you so much.

Not to say this was a multi-billion.

Um but uh a CBA as well.

So um I just I understand, I think, the burden that you all took on over these last several months.

Um on that, do we need a roll call vote on any of these four items?

Okay.

I need a motion and a second motion by councilwoman Alvidres for the block of four, um, a second by councilman Hines, and uh we will see you on Monday.

Thank you all.

Thank you.