Hi everyone, Jay Adams here from Denver Water. You know a drip system is really the best and

most efficient way to water your plants. So in this video we're going to show you how to set

one up for your WaterWise garden. Before installing a drip system you'll need to reduce the water

pressure on one of the zones of your irrigation system. This is an important step so you don't

blow out your new drip system. Let's look at two ways to reduce your water pressure. One way is to

add a pressure reducing valve at your sprinkler valve box. If you're not

comfortable doing this, contact a professional from the Associated

Landscape Contractors of Colorado. So another option for you is to use one of

these spray to drip conversion kits in one of the sprinkler heads in your yard.

You can learn how to install a conversion kit by clicking on this video

link. So here you can see we've rounded up all the different parts that you're

going to need to set up your drip system and you can find all these at your local

hardware store or online. A half inch or three quarter inch polyethylene or poly pipe. Quarter

inch drip line tubing, aka spaghetti lines. Drip emitters. Plastic barb connectors. Some

goof plugs. A hole punch. A saw or scissors. A rubber mallet. Landscape pins. And a drip line

end clamp or plug. Okay, now that we've got all these parts, let's go see how they all fit together.

First off, unroll the poly pipe, which is called the main line. Then use the rubber mallet to

hammer down the landscape pins to hold it down. Now we're ready to start connecting the smaller

quarter inch spaghetti line to the plants. Grab the hole punch and poke a hole into the main line.

Then push in a plastic barb connector and connect it to the spaghetti line. Next,

run the spaghetti line to the plant, cut it to the length you need, and put the appropriate

dripper on the end. Then stake down the line so it stays in place. Another option is to push the

emitter directly into the main line and connect it to the spaghetti line. Then just run the tubing

to the plant, cut it to the right length, stake the line. So it's okay if you do make a mistake.

Just use the goof plugs in the main line to plug the hole. Once you're done installing everything,

run some water through the main line to flush out any dirt.

Then either cap it or fold the line and put on an end clamp.

When you're finished, it might look a little crazy

seeing all those tubes twisting around like a bunch of snakes,

but your hard work will pay off,

and your new drip system will really make it easy

to water your plants and keep them healthy.

So it's important to remember the water needs of your plant

when picking out the emitters.

These come in a variety of flow rates,

and that's based on gallons per hour.

Hey, thanks for watching, and for more landscaping tips, check out denverwater.org.

slash conserve.

Welcome back to this weekly meeting

of the Community Planning and Housing Committee

with Denver City Council.

Your Community Planning and Housing Committee starts now.

Alright, we are on air.

This is the Community Planning and Housing Committee of Denver City Council.

It is Tuesday, January 20th at 1.30 in the afternoon.

We have two action items today and I will start with committee introductions on my left and I'm Sarah parity one of your council members at large.

Jamie Torres West Denver district 3.

Amanda Sandoval Northwest Denver district 1.

Amanda Sawyer district 5.

Laura Vitres Lucky district 7.

We will pause in case I think there might be someone online.

We will move on.

We're starting out with community planning and development with Libby.

Thank you for having me, Council Members.

I'm Libby Gluck with Community Planning and Development, and I'll be presenting the proposal to rezone West 32nd Avenue in West Highland to include the design overlay eight.

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

So, Council President Sandoval is proposing to rezone a portion of West 32nd Avenue in West Highland, roughly from Perry Street to Julian, to include the Design Overlay 8 or the Active Centers and Corridors Design Overlay to ensure this commercial node remains a commercial mixed-use node.

So, now we'll discuss the location and context.

So, it's located in Council District 1 in the West Highland neighborhood.

The current zoning is urban mixed use two stories and then PUD 162 for the western portion.

And then the eastern portion is urban main street three.

So these districts mostly allow for a mix of uses with heights ranging from one story in the PUD and then three stories for the eastern portion.

So this proposal has two parts to it.

So the first is to rezone the portion of the corridor that currently has that UMX2 zoning and the PUD162 to UMX3 to allow for up to three stories in height.

And then the second piece is to rezone the entire corridor to include the DO8.

So it would be UMX DO8 for the eastern portion or western portion, excuse me, and then UMS3 DO8 for the eastern portion.

So the current uses along the corridor are commercial, retail, public, office, and residential uses.

And it's adjacent to mostly lower scale residential.

So these images show some pictures within the rezoning area.

So on the bottom is a bank.

And then to the north you can see it's kind of one of, it's like more of a strip mall with setback building and parking in the front.

So now I'll go through the process.

So this application was complete in mid-October, and then it went to planning board in mid-December, and we're here before you today for the committee.

So Council President Sandoval did a lot of outreach prior to submitting for the rezoning, so her office sent mailers at five different points and then held four town halls.

Two were virtual, and then two of them were in person.

As for public comments, we've received a letter of support from the West Highland Neighborhood Association.

And then also 16 comments from neighbors.

So 14 are in support, and a lot of those are from business owners along the corridor.

And then we received one comment from a stakeholder who is concerned about parking along the street.

And then one just submitted a question asking for more information.

And like I said earlier, this went to planning board in mid-December, and the board voted unanimously to recommend approval of the rezoning.

So now we'll go through review criteria.

There are three review criteria that must be met now in order for rezoning to be approved.

The first is consistency with adopted plans, and there are two plans that are applicable to this area.

The first is the comprehensive plan.

I won't go through this one, but you can find more in your staff report, so we'll just focus on blueprint.

So the future neighborhood context for this area is urban, and all the proposed districts are within the urban context.

The future places is local corridor.

These are mixed-use places, which are consistent with both the Main Street and mixed-use zoning.

And then the street type is a residential collector.

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

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

So going up just one story for the western portion will accommodate this growth, as well as requiring the active ground floor uses could bring more jobs to this area.

And then all large map amendments like this one should be guided by the equity concepts.

So this area generally has more access to opportunity, with the highest scores being in access to centers and corridors and the social determinants to health, and the lowest scores are in access to transit and health care.

For vulnerability to involuntary displacement, this area has low vulnerability to displacement,

and this rezoning will likely have little impact on this measure.

It also has moderate housing diversity, so it's more diverse in terms of home size and ownership rates,

but less diverse in housing costs, middle density housing, and number of affordable units.

Again, this may have little impact in that the rezoning will require non-residential active ground floor uses on the first floor.

And then for jobs diversity, it's mostly retail jobs.

It also addresses a couple strategies within Blueprint Denver.

So it will implement plan recommendations through city-led legislative rezonings.

And then it will also ensure an active and pedestrian-friendly environment that provides a true mixed-use character in our centers and corridors.

So this proposal addresses equity by making sure that this area remains a commercial corridor and providing access to amenities and a variety of goods to nearby residents.

And then it addresses climate, again, by facilitating actual mixed use environment with ground floor activation and maybe above residential, which will allow more residents to access basic needs and a variety of amenities without using a vehicle.

vehicle. This meets the public interest and that, as stated previously, it will make sure that 32nd

continues to be a commercial corridor in this area providing amenities to residents. And finally,

it's consistent with the neighborhood context of urban, the mixed-use district's purpose,

as well as the DOA, and then the specific intent of the UMX-3 and DOA district and overlay intent

statements. So finding all review criteria have been met, staff recommends approval of this

rezoning and that the committee move it forward to a vote of the full city council. I'm happy to

answer any questions. Great. Thank you. I want to welcome Council Member Lewis online and Council

Pro Temer Romero-Campbell in the room. Sorry, I just noticed something in the chat, but it's

a producer issue, not a me issue. And then I want to give Council President the opportunity to speak

first since she's considering this. Thank you. So as you all know, I developed this overlay for

Tennyson Street, and then it's been used on Santa Fe. It's now been used on East Colfax. Now it's

been used, I rezoned on Federal, and now I'm using it on West 32nd Avenue. It's been a labor of love.

I started this probably in 2020, 2022.

And it took a long time for the neighborhood to get comfortable.

We don't have a neighborhood plan in West Highland.

We only have Blueprint Denver.

And so to talk about the overlay only works when you have three-story zoning.

So to talk about incentivizing zoning in an area before I got elected that had no high rise in Highland on a landmark issue that actually led to Councilwoman being ousted by my predecessor because of this exact area.

And so there's lots of history, lots of failing.

and I know what happens when you have ground up retail and turn it into residential.

What I was really concerned about was that where Pizza Alley is, if that got torn down,

it could all be like a whole three-fourths of a block of an apartment with no commercial,

which it doesn't do well when you only have one side of commercial instead of both sides.

I've done lots of studies on what serves commercial really well.

So it's, once again, it's been a total labor of love.

And just want to say thank you to my council aide, Melissa Horn.

She was there with me every minute of the way.

I had tons of Zoom calls.

I think we had more than we listed.

She and my council aide, Alessandra, walked up and down the corridor, I think, three or four times doing outreach.

and so just cannot give a bigger enough shout out and enough acknowledgement to my council aides

also to the neighborhoods um they came together everyone wanted a quick pro quo they wanted me to

change the parking regulations because we have a neighborhood like like same on broadway same in

your neighborhood we have that um permit parking the street area access plan i can't do that i can't

regulate the right-of-way. That's not in my realm. So I had to educate everyone. This is regulating

the private use development from the right-of-way all the way in. So that took like one town hall,

literally educating on people on right-of-way. We also had a town hall with Dottie that's not

in this presentation because of 32nd and Lowell speeding issues. So I hosted a town hall with

because we really wanted this rezoning.

So the one thing that is a little odd is we had one story, two story, and a PUD.

And now we're just cleaning it all up to be three stories and active street use along this whole entire corridor.

I will say that there's a couple historic districts along this corridor.

So we kept those properties out because you can't redevelop them into three stories because it does not meet the plan guidance.

So if you're wondering, if you look at the map more closely, why does it look like a little bit of Swiss cheese?

It's because they're in a historic district.

And I just feel very adamant that I'm not going to apply any other regulations to a historic district.

And why give it three-story zonings when it can't ever go?

It's codified in time.

So that's my story. I hope you all support this going forward. And I don't think I have any more overlay extravaganzas coming forward in the near future. I've done, I think this is my sixth one since I've been elected.

So it's been an honor to represent Northwest Denver and such an honor to bring my community together to agree on something instead of disagree on rezonings, which can be very divisive in a community.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you.

I have Council Member Torres in the queue.

Thank you so much.

Just so I'm understanding what's getting rezoned, the PUD will become MX3?

Yes.

Can you walk me through what that PUD was requiring?

Yes.

Let me.

And just that PUD, there are others on the eastern side that are not getting rezoned, right?

Correct.

So, yeah, that's the only old code property that's included.

And the PUD allows for a paint shop or uses that are allowed under the B2 district, which I think is how it became a bank.

It's no longer a paint shop.

And it allows a maximum height of one story or 18 feet.

Okay. So it's not being used in that way at all, so it could easily turn over. And then what it looks like is what was MX2 is now MX3. And what was with the DO8? What was MS3 still is MS3. It just adds the DO8. That's it. Okay. Thank you.

I'll just check it one more time.

Council Member, sir.

Thanks.

Random but adjacent question.

We ran into this on East Colfax when we did the DO8 there.

Is the idea of accessory uses.

So the issue on East Colfax was more of an issue around putting in EV charging stations in places.

And I'm just curious, it was one of those things where like CPD was like, that is on the list of things we need to take a look at.

But it came up on the DO8 in East Colfax specific to EV charging stations.

So I'm just curious whether you guys have taken a look at that kind of in the context of the DO8 and if you have a plan on that one.

Yeah, I'll have to get back to you, Max.

I don't know.

Okay, great.

That's it.

Thanks.

Yeah, thank you. Good question. I share that question. Anybody else? All right. And if not, I'm watching a 2nd, so moved. I can't wait for a 2nd advice. Everybody give me a thumbs up.

All right, looks like we are good to go to the floor. Thank you so much.

And then next up, we have another item, the return of the landmark designation at 1555, my friend street. We have Abigail. I think.

Thank you.

Abigail Christman, Principal Planner with MREC Preservation.

And yes, I am returning with an application that previously came to committee on December

2nd.

There were concerns with what kind of the designation of contributing elements within

the boundaries of the designation. So following that meeting, work was done.

Councilwoman Sandoval really worked with the applicant to kind of see how it could be revised.

So I am back today with a revised and updated application.

So the boundaries are remaining the same as they were previously, but the parking lot,

which was the subject of concern, has been changed from being contributing to non-contributing.

So this is 1555 North Grant. It's in Council District 10. And when it came before you before,

it really had three contributing elements. A 1928 event hall, a 1963 meeting facility,

and then a parking lot also added in the 1960s.

So now in the form it is coming to you today, it has two contributing resources.

So that 1928 hall that you see there to the right, and then on the left, that 1963 hall.

So the parking lot will still be part of the boundary, because generally with historic designations,

best practices to include the whole historical boundary that was associated with the property,

but it will be non-contributing.

That means that within landmark guidelines, there is the possibility for changes to that use.

It would not have to remain a surface parking lot.

Part of the lot could be built on.

Part could have new uses like community park or playground.

So there provides flexibility.

because it's still in the boundary.

Any work there would go, any proposed changes or construction within the boundary would come to landmark for review.

But as a non-contributing part of it, there's opportunities for change to occur there.

So this is being brought forward by the owners of the building, the Knights of Columbus, District 539,

and then also along with Council President Sandoval and Council Member Hines sponsoring.

So here is the proposed boundary.

So you can see that is not changing. It's just that now

other uses, development, that might meet

landmark guidelines would be allowed where the parking lot is located.

So to be eligible

for landmark designation, a structure needs to maintain integrity,

be more than 30 years old, are exceptionally significant, meet at least

three of ten criteria and our commission is tasked with considering the historic

context. So in this case this is being brought forward for designation for

meeting, sorry I realize it's a typo at the top of the page, for meeting four out

of ten criteria for recognized kind of persons with an influence on society,

for the architectural style, for it being a significant example of the architect's work,

and displaying significant innovation or technical achievement.

So just to give you a sense of the development of the site, in that way, I think it's a really

unique site that really demonstrates how this part of Denver has really evolved from, you know,

this corner once was residential, you know, kind of mansion row residential properties.

But you can see there too, that's the house that was originally on the lot, but you can

see if you look to the rear there, to the left, that is the hall that is still standing

today, that 1928 hall.

So you can see in that first map image from 1897, that's when you had the mansion and

then you had the stables to the rear.

Then 1929, those stables have been kind of redeveloped and turned into a lodge hall and connected to the house.

And then you see there in the 1967 map that the house has been removed.

And then you still have, though, that 1928 lodge building and then also a new 1963 meeting hall.

And that is the form that the property still has today.

So it is being proposed for designation for its association with the history of the Knights of Columbus in Denver, significant to Denver's Catholic community, as well as a gathering place for general public in Denver, hosting a lot of events and lectures.

particularly a lot of political speakers came and held events here.

So used a lot through the community, a lot of community dances, conferences.

Then also was especially significant during World War II because this was the Denver base of the USO.

And so hosted half a million service men and women here being hosted during World War II, as well as then hosting local groups that were doing things like collecting Christmas cookies for soldiers.

And then it also is significant for showing the post-war population growth in Denver.

And with this, needing kind of a new modern hall to deal with the nationwide increase in the popularity of fraternal orders following World War II and needing new space.

And so this is just an image from the Archbishop of Denver blessing the new building.

So then, under architecture, being recommended for designation as a good example of mid-century

modern style with its clean lines, simple flat roof, combination of concrete and brick,

and really lack of embellishment.

And then, as a significant example of the work of a recognized architect, John Melan,

He designed around 700 projects in the Colorado-Denver metro area, so an extremely prolific architect.

But we do not have anything else designated of his work currently designated in Denver.

He did a wide range of project types, from residential to commercial to community schools, church buildings.

He particularly worked a lot with the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver.

and he was known for really being experimental in his projects. When you go through, I did a lot of

the newspaper research looking and you, you know, pretty much every time one of his new buildings

was being promoted in the press, it was, oh, he's trying this new thing. He's now using concrete in

a new way. Oh, he's now revolutionizing the form of this nursing home. Oh, now he's, so he really

kind of marketed himself on looking for new modern approaches. So I think in this way, this

building is a great example of that because he was really using materials in a new way,

particularly the pre-stressed double T concrete that he was experimenting with here.

So the building then is also being proposed for designation as, you know, a significant example

of new technology. So there was a lot of experimentation with the products after World

War II. Particularly for a while after the war ended, there were still a lot of material shortages.

So architects were often looking for new materials that they could use, things that would be more

efficient, that could take the replace of more traditional materials they could not get. And

there was also a big boom in the concrete industry, particularly with the development of the interstate

highway system. And that kind of ties into this. So while pre-stressed double T concrete is common

And today, at this point, it was kind of more just being introduced, particularly for using

it as a building material like this, as opposed to using it in road construction or bridge

construction.

So this was really new and cutting edge, particularly the way he applied it, that he here is using

the double T concrete, not just as like the floor, but he's using it as the floor and

the walls and the ceiling.

So he's really using this material in a really unique way.

The first known use in buildings was in 1961 in Florida.

So we believe that this was likely the first use in this way in Colorado.

So the property has good integrity, pretty minimal changes.

The only real significant change to the 1928 hall is replacement of windows with glass block.

and then on the 1963 hall a porch has been added. But you see it's a pretty simple porch.

Landmark does not find that this significantly alters the former significance of the building.

So under our Landmark Ordinance, encourage when you're thinking about a designation to also think

how does it fit into the larger context of Denver history. In this case it's really tied to the

history of the Knights of Columbus and their role in Denver, the evolution of this property,

how it evolved from this kind of mansion row into then being part of downtown, how this has evolved

and how you can continue to see this evolution through the 1928 building and the 1963 building.

So the period of significance begins in 1928 with the dedication of this new hall.

kind of turning what was formerly a stable into an event space.

And then it extends to 1982, which is when the Knights of Columbus celebrated their 100th anniversary with a large parade through Denver.

So we feel that really kind of encompasses the significance, you know, kind of good range there to encompass the night's significance on this site, on this property.

We have received one letter in support of the updated designation from Historic

Denver. And the Landmark Preservation Commission voted unanimously to approve

this and forward it to City Council Committee. So we are recommending approval

and of the designation with staff recommending that it is forwarded to the

full counsel. Thank you so much. Council President, since you're sponsoring again, feel free. Thank you. So last time it came through committee, I felt uncomfortable voting on something that would have codified a parking lot as a contributing structure. And so I reached out to actually Melissa again reached out. I can't thank her enough for all her hard work. Reached out on behalf of my office and we put together the application.

made phone calls within five days. And we wanted to do that because I had called the assessor's

office and I asked him, because if you remember last time they were here, the Knights of Columbus

mentioned that they would get assessed on their current zone district. And so I asked him if I

got this through the queue in quarter one, would he not push that assessment? Could he push this

property out a little bit? And he said, yeah, that he understood what we were doing and that he

We understood that we were trying to make an impact, that we were trying to preserve,

and also understood my concern as a land use commissioner of codifying a parking lot as

a contributing structure.

This would have to, if the parking lot got redeveloped, it would have to go through landmark

preservation through design review.

And so we felt that was a safeguard.

And I think it can't go as tall.

It can only go as one of the tallest structures on the zone lot.

Is that correct?

There's not a specific set.

It just can't be so much that it significantly overshadows.

So it could probably go a little taller than what's there now, but it just is that it needs to be compatible.

So I felt very good with that.

I just want to say thank you to the Knights of Columbus for letting me work on your behalf to make sure that this got through.

I know sometimes, especially in government, it's hard to trust your government right now in today's day and age with a lot of unknowns out there.

I love land use.

As you saw right before this application, I really spent 13 years studying land use in the city and county of Denver.

You don't know me very well.

I'm not your council person.

But thank you for trusting in the government and the process and being so responsive to my office.

And I gave you my word.

And when I give my word, that's all I have in life, I feel like.

And so hopefully this can reassure you that we are all looking to make Denver the place that we all love.

I grew up here.

I want you all to be successful.

So I just want to say thank you so much for believing in this process.

And then one last thing is with us as the applicants, the application fee gets waived

because they had already paid the last application fee.

So anytime I can be the applicant on behalf of my community, whether it's a landmark

or a rezoning such as what I just did, I feel like it's good governance because I'm leading

that process and I would rather have them spend $1,000 or $900, $850, whatever the application

fee is in supporting their organizations not doing this work when I can be the applicant

on behalf of it.

And then I reached out to Council Member Hines because it was in his council district.

He had written a letter of support before.

And so I felt like it was important for him to understand what was happening.

And it was happening so fast that I literally needed to put the application together in five days and submit it so that we can make January 6th landmark preservation.

So we could be here by the end of January.

So then it could go to public hearing by mid-February and it could be signed, sealed and delivered to the mayor.

So thank you all for this committee, for the support.

I think I addressed most of the application, all of your concerns.

and we went back and watched the video to see what every council member said so that

you could your concerns were addressed in the application as well. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. I have Council Member Torres next to you. Thank you. You answered my question about

the assessor's role and what information they were playing and just want to thank you for

for taking it on and thank you for working with President Sandoval to get this through. This

feels much better than it did before so thank you great um thanks um ditto i was gonna ask the same

thing about the assessor's office um thank you for taking this on thank you guys for fixing this

really appreciate it i feel much much better about this without the parking lot being in there um as

a contributing element so really appreciate you working with council president sandoval

I feel like we've come to a really good spot with this.

So thank you.

Thanks for doing that, Council President Sandoval.

Council Member Alvidris.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council President, for your work and getting that through.

I think about how important this history is and how we're missing that history right now as well.

I remember, and I actually was curious if I could ask a question of the Knights of Columbus.

I know there is one in my district on Mississippi and federal.

Is that still in your ownership and are there plans there?

No, it looks like you can still come up and introduce yourself and answer.

Hi, my name is Tom Viles, representing Knights of Columbus, 1555 Grand Street.

No, the councils are all separate actually.

Oh, interesting.

Yeah, so 539 is the oldest council west of the Mississippi.

And when we took it over then, it became, you saw a social hub, but it's also separate

from every council.

So it just happened to be they had their own building, they were able to buy it because

they were downtown. But no, they're, and a lot of them, a lot of them are going away that the

Supreme Council that governs the Knights of Columbus doesn't like owning property.

So we actually had to separate it several years ago. And so now it's open to the public as well,

the hall itself. Wonderful. Thank you for that. And I just, you know, remember going there when

I was a kid to get Christmas presents. My father is a Mexican immigrant. My mom moved here with

her mother who was in the Air Force, but she got based out of Kansas after she left Lowry Air Force

space. And so they had no family. It was just my mom and my dad. And so that acted like a support

system for my family at that time. So I just want to elevate that historical context. And

it's something I think we're missing is like spaces for community, especially in my district.

I feel like there's not a lot of them. And so thank you. I'm glad we're preserving this and

found a way around and a wise and responsible way around. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Um, council for tomorrow, I think you, madam chair. I echo a lot of my colleagues comments about being able to find a good resolution to this. Thank you. Council president for really taking it on. And I think, um, I think as we all walked out, it was just.

You could, I think it all weighed heavy on everyone. And so I just appreciate that you were able to shepherd this through. Um.

And I, I know that there were also not just with the rezoning of this property and what this looks like for you, but that it has tremendous impact on the sustainability of your ability to survive as an organization.

And so I'm glad that hopefully this resolution will help you be able to find that pathway.

Thank you. Thank you. All right. That was pretty much everyone in the queue.

the queue. I will just say ditto to what everyone else had to say and also that I had fun researching

a little bit about Knights of Columbus and in particular reading about some of the history of

like offering integrated spaces for troops which a lot of places didn't do during World War II

and sort of standing against the clan and things like that. So since I was doing research you will

get to hear about it now too. All right with that a motion and a second to get to the floor.

So, moved by a proton, second by Torres. Anybody need a voice vote? Sounds up. Okay. Great work. You guys, we look forward to seeing you in the chamber or not the chamber anymore in the library.

I kind of hang and look behind you.

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