Favorite thing about your district?

The people.

I love the people of Northwest Denver.

What's your favorite thing about our city?

All of the 78 unique neighborhoods that make up Denver.

They're collectic, they're unique, and they're amazing.

What's your favorite memory from living in Denver?

My favorite memory is going to Berkeley Pool in the morning and being on the swim team and swimming with my sisters.

How long have you been a council member?

Almost six years.

And why did you choose to run for council?

To represent the community that I was born and raised in and have leadership opportunity for the people who I'm so honored to serve.

What's the biggest challenge facing your district?

Housing costs, absolutely housing, uh attainable housing.

What's the biggest opportunity in your district?

The bond, the upcoming bond, I think will have many catalytic projects for Northwest Denver within it.

What are your biggest priorities that inform your work as a council member?

The biggest priorities are collaboration with my um the people I represent, collaboration with my colleagues, and the values that I bring as a person who is born and raised in Denver.

What's your proudest moment during your time on council?

Changing the name of Columbus Park to La Rasa Park and then having it um designated as a historic district.

What lessons had you learned on council?

Reminding people this is always much harder than it may seem, and the need for collaboration with my colleagues and everyone else.

And what message would you like to leave us with today?

That the future is much brighter when we work together and not to lose hope.

Council President Sandoval, thank you for your time.

Thank you so much.

Over the last few years, they found footprints that they have determined date back to 23,000 years.

Those are my ancestors.

That is equivalent to 1,200 generations.

We are the land.

Alright, we're on air.

This is the community planning and housing committee of Denver City Council.

It is there we go.

Welcome to the community planning and housing committee of Denver City Council.

This is uh February 17th, 2026.

Uh self-proclaimed Council Valentine's Day, I guess.

I'm Sarah Parity, I'm one of your council members at large, and we'll do introduction starting on my right.

Good afternoon.

Uh I'm Diana Romero Campbell, Southeast Denver District 4.

Good afternoon, Amanda Sawyer District 5.

Uh good afternoon, Darrell Watson, fine district nine.

Rora Vitres, lucky district seven.

Do we have anyone online today?

Looking here.

I think there's someone coming downstairs.

Yes, we may have a late breaking member.

Um, okay.

I get it.

Your heart hearings.

All right.

Council Member Lewis.

Come in.

We're just finishing introduction, so you are perfectly on time.

Okay.

Oh, Chantel Louis District Eight.

All right.

Um, so we have and oh, another council member.

Okay, from South Denver District.

Awesome.

Alright.

Um, and all we have today, we have four items on consent.

We have one action item that which we um have been excited for, which is an update on the neighborhood planning initiative from community planning and development.

So, you guys want to get settled and introduce yourselves and tell us what's cracking.

Definitely that's this is the most exciting thing to do for today.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Scott Robinson with community Planning and development.

Uh, and thank you, uh, Chairperson Perity.

Uh, as you said, this will be an update on the neighborhood planning initiative.

Uh so just give a brief reminder of what the uh neighborhood planning initiative is, talk about the plans we've completed, uh, what is coming up starting this year, and in coming years, uh talk a little bit about how we decide which plans to do next, and then finish up with some discussion of what we're doing to implement the adopted plans.

So just as a reminder, why do we do neighborhood plans?

The idea is to engage the community and identify what the community members would like their neighborhoods to be like in the future and define that vision in the plan.

Help guide change, show how existing citywide plans should be applied in the area and how they work together, and identify future projects and new ideas for the neighborhoods.

So we do that through the neighborhood planning initiative or NPI, which is our program to get plans for the entire city.

Goal is to get the entire city covered with plans, 100% coverage, achieve consistency with those plans, so you know each area, each neighborhood is different, and the plans will reflect that.

But across all of the plans, we want to be consistent in how we approach topics, the topics that are covered, things like that.

And then making sure we're equitably engaging community members to make sure the plans reflect their needs and desires.

So we generally follow a four-step process in that, starting with understanding the area, doing existing conditions work, and looking at the existing citywide plans and other plans that apply to the area to identify some initial ideas, some initial opportunities, and present those to the community in the second phase, get feedback on those, understand what we got right, what we got wrong, what we missed, take that feedback, turn those into initial recommendations and put those into a first draft of the plan, share that with the community in the third phase, get feedback on that, make updates, share a second draft of the plan, again feedback and updates.

Before in the fourth phase, we take it through the option process planning board and city council.

And our goal is to do all of that in about 18 months.

So throughout that process, we're engaging the community at multiple phases, as I mentioned, through different means, including community workshops, large meetings where we do as many folks from the community together to talk about issues, surveys both online and in person, focus groups with smaller number of people to dive deeper into specific topics.

Um to go out and engage their neighbors and get really good feedback and really help us reach a broad segment of the community in those neighborhoods.

So far we've completed eight plans, with the ninth plan going through the adoption process right now, uh currently scheduled for City Council public hearing in about two weeks on March 2nd.

So that will be the ninth plan, the completion of the third phase, the third round of NPI plans.

Upon adoption of the Southwest plan, that'll put us at just over 50% of the city covered in NPI plans, and that'll be nine out of 19 NPI plan areas done.

So a little over halfway in terms of land area covered, a little under halfway in terms of the number of plans we need to do, with 10 remaining.

So we've done some of the larger geographic areas in the first three areas.

That's why the geography is a little greater than the uh percentage of plans to complete.

So with uh the last round of plans wrapping up, downtown, far southwest and southwest that we did in the third round.

We're getting ready to launch the fourth round here with the near northeast and far northwest.

Uh, and then as you may recall, uh last year we went through the selection process and we came and spoke to you, uh, as well as others, um, and we identified the South Central as the third plan we wanted to do.

Uh, but because of uh the budget reductions last year, we've had to reduce the number of plans we can do at a time from three to two.

Uh so right now we're gonna move forward with near northeast and Far Northwest, and then South Central will follow along later.

Um as you can see in uh the schedule here, um, so again, wrapping up Southwest uh in March.

Uh also working on the Burnham Yard plan.

It's not an NPI plan, but uh we share a lot of resources with the team working on Burnham Yard.

Um then we will uh wrap up the legislative rezonings for far southwest and southwest this spring, and that'll let us launch the Near Northeast plan.

We're aiming for sort of late spring on that one.

We're already working on existing conditions and other internal work on that.

And then later this year, uh launch the Far Northwest plan.

So those will be the two plans we launched this year.

Those will go throughout 2027.

And so that'll be 2028 before we move on to the next plans, and that's where we hope to get to South Central.

And also we'll likely have to do a new plan for the current uh Bronco Stadium site, the Mile High Stadium site, as you're all aware, they're planning to move, and so we need a new plan in place for that.

So that's um what we're thinking right now will be the plans to launch in 2028 is that Mile High Stadium site or West Plan update and the South Central Plan.

I mentioned the budget reductions, just wanted to give you an overview of the impacts of those have had on the NPI program.

Uh as I mentioned, reducing the number of plans we're working on at a time from three to two, and as I said, that's pushing the South Central plan until 2028.

We're also have smaller teams, but we have more of everyone's time dedicated to the NPI plans on those teams.

So we think we still have the capacity to do successful plans just with uh fewer number of people working on them, uh, but more of their time.

Uh, we're also scaling back our goals for the implementation plans a little bit.

We're still gonna have the implementation matrices that you've seen on previous plans, identifying priorities and responsible agencies.

Uh, but we're not going to go into the additional detail that we had hoped to uh on some of the implementation plans.

And then uh we are not planning on launching new legislative rezonings uh for upcoming plans.

So we're gonna wrap up the ones for Southwest and Far Southwest we've been working on.

Uh but the plan right now is not to do is to not do legislative proactive rezonings following uh completion of the Near Northeast and Far Northwest plans.

Um as I mentioned, we went through the selection process last year.

Uh we spoke to, I guess it was Ludi back then, but we came to the committee and gave an update on that last spring.

Uh, but just as a reminder, uh, that process starts with what we call indicators of planning need.

So that's pulling some data for the entire city, looking at areas that are experiencing change or we expect to experience change, uh, looking at the equity measures defined in Blueprint Denver and finding areas that have uh poor equity scores, and also looking at the areas that don't uh have plans, and that gives us a starting point to identify the areas that have the greatest planning need based on the data, uh, but that's not um the only factor that goes into to deciding which areas to go look at.

Uh we also consider impact, where can we have the greatest impact?

Where are there other things happening that we really need a plan to address?

Uh, do we have opportunities to leverage external funding or coordinate with other planning efforts or multiple NPI plans at once?

Uh, and then also looking at geographic equity, making sure we're moving around the city and covering uh the entire city.

So those are all considered, and then uh like I said, we we work go to planning board, we come to um council committee to talk through what these uh findings show us and try to decide on uh which three areas really have the greatest need and we need to focus on next.

And so that's how we settled on those three that we identified last year: New Northeast, Far Northwest, and South Central.

Uh, and so in a couple years when we're getting ready to wrap up the plans we've already identified, we'll come back and have this conversation again to decide uh which plans which of the at that point remaining uh seven plans we need to focus on next.

We've also been uh working on implementing the nine plans we have adopted, or eight plans we have adopted, soon to be nine.

Um some of that is through uh citywide legislative changes that advance some of the uh recommendations in the NPI plans, including uh adopting ADUs citywide, uh the unlocking housing choices project that's ongoing, uh, the Denver Resilient Landscape project that is um close to wrapping up here.

Uh so things like that that CPD leads, you know, are addressed citywide, but also uh address some of the recommendations in the NPI plans and are coordinated with them.

Uh, we also coordinate with finance on updates to the capital improvement project lists, both the six year and annual CIPs and things that go into bond requests.

So what went into what we voted on last year in the vibrant Denver bond.

Also working really closely with Dotti, Department of Transportation and Infrastructure on updating their project database.

So we really coordinated closely with them on the Southwest and Far Southwest plan to directly update their ongoing database of all the projects they want to work on and incorporate the prioritization conversations we've had through NPI into their prioritization process as well.

We're coordinating with housing and stability on updates to the five-year strategic plan, which will be happening this year and the housing needs assessment.

We work with the urban renewal authority on urban redevelopment plans when those are called for uh within plan areas, coordinating with the Downtown Development Authority on implementing the recently adopted downtown plan.

And then also using grants uh such as the federal boulevard TOD grant we got from the Federal Transit Authority or Federal Transit Agency and the Pro Housing Grant we got from Housing and Urban Development to advance the uh work from these plans as well.

And then uh finally following up on those legislative rezonings.

As I mentioned, Raka, um we're not planning to do new ones for the upcoming plans, but just to give an overview of how we decide what goes into those legislative rezonings like the ones we're doing right now for Southwest and Far Southwest.

Uh, first making sure that we're identifying existing districts.

If the plan calls for creation of a new district or changes to existing zone districts, which plans often do, uh, that's not something that can be addressed through legislative rezoning.

That will take a text amendment to make those changes to the zoning code before we can implement them.

So we're we're focused on uh changes we can make through existing zone districts in the Denver zoning code.

Uh, but we're looking for opportunities to improve design outcomes in uh mixed-use areas and centers and corridors.

Uh so getting things out of some of the zone districts that uh produce bad outcomes and into the MX and MS zone districts that uh produce the good outcomes we'd like to see consistent with the plans, also using them to get properties out of the old code, former chapter 59, and into the Denver zoning code.

Uh matching any changes we've made in place type.

So if the plan changes a place type from say industrial to a corridor, rezoning from an industrial zone district to an MX or MS zone district to uh effect that change.

Also aligning industrial policies, so making sure that where we say we want to preserve uh industrial uses, we have the right zoning in place that will actually preserve those industrial uses.

Uh, and where we want to see um change in the industrial uses, again, making sure we have the right zoning in place there.

Also things like um advancing affordable housing by partnering with uh the Denver Housing Authority and other affordable housing developers to make sure they have the zoning they need on their properties uh to build affordable housing.

So we identify all these ideas and then refine that list uh through conversations with the community and the property owners and the council members in the district to get to the final list that we take forward through uh city council and planning board.

Uh so that was the quick overview of uh the NPI program and where we are today.

I'm happy to answer any questions.

Very quick but rich with information.

Um, and I forget I think a number of council members request this.

I know um Vice Chair Romar Campbell requested this, and we finally got it done.

So thank you.

Um I have uh actually Romano Campbell first in the queue, followed by Council Member Lugas.

Uh thank you, madam chair, and thank you for the for the presentation.

I think um one of the things that I was interested in knowing more about on slide six and also on eight of the plans that have you know occurred and then the ones that are in the pipeline, um, there's still a huge gap in Southeast Denver, and just thinking about what would be the timeline.

Um I know that you said you're looking forward to the plans.

Um, there is a lot of uh growth and change and development that's happening um in Southeast Denver, and I think oftentimes when we talk about um larger plans uh or larger uh issues within the city, it's always you know not within a suburban context.

And so being able to have that be, you know, we're always reacting as opposed to being able to have our residents be able to be part of that planning process.

Do you have an idea as to when a plan will happen in Southeast Denver?

Yeah, I think it's listed as.

Yes, far far southeast.

Um yeah, certainly everything you said is true, and we want to do a plan there as soon as we can.

As I mentioned, the uh plans we're launching this year uh will likely run through 2027 into early 2028, and then basically we have the next two plans identified after that.

Um that West Area Plan, Mile High Stadium, maybe a shorter process and maybe more like a year timeline similar to the burn yard plan that's going on right now, uh, but that would still be 2029, probably before we're getting to the next NPI plan.

Um, so sometime in the next uh year or two, we'll come back with another analysis of the areas with greatest planning need, speak to you all and planning board again and identify that.

So that would be the first opportunity.

I can't promise you that far southeast will be within uh that next round of plans because like I said, we have to go through that selection process and identify the ones that make the most sense at that time.

Um recognizing that it is an area that absolutely needs a plan, and we want to get a plan there as soon as we can.

Okay, so 20.

I'm just doing the math, 2020 30.

Yeah, if we can start it in 2029, 18 months, maybe by the end of 2030, would be probably the soonest we could have it completed.

So is it our capacity to be able to?

Is it the staff capacity that is holding back our ability to do these plans or what is causing us not to be able to do have more plans in the queue?

Yeah, maybe I'll defer to Sarah on this one.

Or there may be some.

Yeah, Sarah, you can sit at the table or come to one of the mics, whatever feels better too, but I think table makes sense.

And the corners.

Good afternoon, um Sarah Show Walter, with me, planning and development.

Um, the short answer is yes, that is the primary thing.

Is that we um use consultant services that are a big part of this, but the staff is what really drives the plans, and um that's the number one thing.

I will note it's not just CPD staff.

This has come up before because we've certainly heard and seen the desire for more plans to happen at once and understand where that's coming from, and um have been clear that it um we really need partnership with planners and other departments like Dotti and Parks as well, and you know, the communication staff and the data teams, everything that kind of go to support the plans.

Um so it would if we really were going to add another plan, we would probably need a little more money too, but the biggest, the biggest thing is staff.

Um, okay.

I I think I'm just uh it's it's very discouraging, frustrating, yes, um, just to think about like what it's and I know that it's staff capacity from what I'm hearing, um, but just tremendous change is happening, and I think that uh it constantly leaves us as a city or at least even Southeast Denver being reactive as opposed to really thinking um about what it looks like, especially on our corridors of Hampton and around Colorado Boulevard.

The near Southeast Denver plan was it was really great and um very exciting and took the plan all the way to Yale, but literally that just split University Hills in half.

And so we have half of a community and neighborhood has a plan, the other half doesn't, and so it feels disjointed for us, and um maybe we can continue the conversation offline.

But if there are additional, like I will look for private dollars then, or you know, and I know that we have budget constraints, but to be able to figure out something that could at least help us address some of our main corridors, sure.

Yeah, we're happy to set up some time with you and completely understand your concerns and talk.

Try to get creative.

I don't know, right?

Like, even if we can't commit to a plan on or some other ideas, so I hope you feel like you can be more proactive.

Okay, thank you.

Um I wanted to welcome uh council president and council member Torres, which I failed to do at the last opportunity.

Um, and Councilmember Alvito's next thing you thank you.

Um, thank you for all your work on the Southwest area plan.

I it is very labor intensive, so I could see that I do um, you know, definitely feel and share your concern, even with the South Central getting postponed when there's certain corridors or small things that could really use an overlay or something to help um the community and the community vision.

So I also will say we have some rezonings like in Westwash Park recently, and there is a plan that's from the 90s, and um it had recommendations that were never followed, like design elements or other things that we never did anything about.

So I'm curious.

Well, for the South Central plan, I think we'll just wait since it's only a couple years, which is super quick compared to others, but um just want to raise up that issue that some of the older plans are still somewhat good, but we never followed through with a lot of the details in those plans.

Um as far as the community navigators go, I know they were helpful with the Southwest Area Plan.

I'm curious about how are we teaching them about zoning and land use because they're out there filling out surveys or pointing to pictures, but I am concerned that the community navigators aren't getting the support they need with understanding how to advocate for the community really and help explain.

Because as we went through the Southwest area plan, it was like do you like this picture of a building or do you like this picture of a building?

It wasn't like these are zoning options, this is the current zoning, this is what this new zoning means.

What is zoning?

You know, and so I'm curious if that what kind of education we give to those navigators, yeah.

Um, before each round of engagement, we do a training with the navigators, so a couple hours with them to go over all right.

Here's what's in this latest round of materials that we're presenting to the community.

Um, here's what you need to know.

Here's what we're trying to learn from the community.

Here's the question we'll be asking.

Here's the kind of questions you might get back, and here's some answers to those.

Um, so we try to try to prepare them as best as we can.

Um, but as you know, you know the plans are complex, the zoning code is even more complex.

How all of this works together.

Uh it's hard to teach people quickly.

Um, you know, we spent the year and a half with the advisory committee, and you know, even in that, they're still learning about how everything works uh at the end of the process.

So we try to do as best as we can.

Uh, and we also try to um craft the questions in a way that that gets us useful information and gets um the community an opportunity to meaningfully shape the plan, but ask them in a way that is easy to understand.

So some of those questions of do you like this building or this building?

Yeah, it may seem simplistic, but that does actually give us useful information and informs what goes into the plan.

Um it is something people can react to quickly.

They don't need to understand everything about zoning to say, oh, this seems like a building that's appropriate for our community, this one doesn't.

Um, and so we're always looking for ways to ask those kinds of questions.

That's part of a broad engagement strategy, right?

That's not the only way we're we're getting engagement.

People have an opportunity to read the whole plan and provide detailed comments on it if they want.

So people can dive as deep as they want, but especially for the navigators where they're having quick, you know, two, three five-minute conversations with folks.

Uh, we need to keep the engagement fairly simple.

And what we're hoping is that people get interested, right?

The navigators come up, they have a five question survey, they can answer that quickly, but they're like, you know, this is this seems important, this is interesting.

I'm gonna take the flyer and I'm gonna go home and I'm gonna go to the website and learn more about this and provide more detailed feedback on the longer online survey or on the draft plan.

Um, so it's part of us then providing a range of of ways people can engage and provide feedback so they can uh go as deep as they want.

I appreciate that.

I think a couple hours could be a lot more.

I think when it comes to just understanding understanding zoning is one thing, but also understanding the area that you're coming into because the navigators, although they may be like from the west side, generally they may not understand like the industrial corridors between the river and the train tracks as well.

So I would encourage for more training for them, as far as that goes, and then um I did really appreciate from the Southwest Area Plan the rezonings for especially working with Denver Housing Authority who has so much property on the west side.

Um I'm really excited to see those in home ownership opportunities.

I think that's really powerful.

I'm curious, you know, with the South Central Plan, um, what does it look like when we're not seeing the crazy amount of development that we just went through in the last 20 years?

And how are we thinking differently based on what we've done?

This really extreme amount of development that we've seen, and a slower market.

What are you all projecting in that way, or how are you looking at that into the future?

Yeah, uh, that's a good question.

Um, you know, we want these plans to be to some extent future-proof as much as we can.

You know, they're 20 years plans, and so the the development cycle is much shorter than that.

Um, and so they need to be providing valid guidance for boom times and the slowdowns as well.

Uh, and so that's something we think about as we're drafting the plans and as we're um engaging in the existing conditions research to try to understand what the trends have been lately and where things are likely to go, uh, so that we can provide use of the rights in the short term, whether that's um you know, try to shape a boom of development that we're starting to see, or how to um make sure that what did get built in that boom is is now really being integrated into the community and serving the community, and then how we can set the community up for uh the next round of development.

So, what are the needs uh that were not met in the previous round?

How can we make sure that uh future development is inclusive and beneficial to uh everyone in the community?

So, yeah, it's definitely something we're always thinking of, and something we as I said try to sort of build into the life of the plans because they're they're looking so far out.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, committee chair.

Thank you.

Um, I have council president XMQ, followed by councilmember Cushman.

Thank you.

Thank you all for the work on these plans, they're so essential.

Um, I uh started the ADU rezonings because we didn't have updated plans, and then the next part of my council district has no plan, and I think that along Tennyson Street, that's where we've seen tons of redevelopment, and um when we rezoned the streets next to Tennyson Street to you um two zone to two zoning.

Um, we see a lot of big mansions, like half duplex, and they're selling for like one million dollars more.

I had a duplex just sell in Sloan's Lake for 2.5 million dollars, a half a duplex in Northwest Denver off of Sloan's Lake.

Um, so and it's like 7,000 square feet.

My little tiny house is like eight, nine hundred and fifty square feet.

So appreciate these plans.

I have a question on the um legislative rezonings that follow these plans.

How long is that stalled?

Is that forever?

Is that just for right now?

Is that a moment in time?

Can you give some insight to that?

It's a great question.

Um, the honest answers, we don't know.

I certainly hope that it's temporary in nature, but it's very much related to the budget reductions and not having staff, and so I think we have to kind of figure out together as we look into coming years, like where do we prioritize, particularly the planners that have a lot of expertise on the regulatory side because that's often the staff that's then implementing the zoning changes.

So if we do fewer updates to the zoning code, for example, then that frees up more staff that could actually work on proactive legislative rezonings to implement the plans.

There's just no easy choice.

That's what's really hard, right?

Because we need all the work done.

And I think part of it, honestly, too, is we're waiting to see what the economic outlook look like, and is there going to be opportunity in the next year to actually add positions back?

That would certainly be a priority for our department.

We look at all the areas we had to cut is wanting to bring this back.

I think we all agree it's the best practice and the right way to do things, is we should be proactively getting the zoning in place to match the plans.

Thank you.

So one of the interesting things when I rezoned Tennyson, like when I created the design overlay eight for active street use and corridors, um, little did I know that there was gonna be 500 units put on that corridor from 38 to 46.

So 500 new units went in in the last 18 months, which now someone just told me last week.

They were like, Oh, your design overlay is really working, it's buzzing along Tennyson, and uh there's tons of retail that's gone in, and I said, Yeah, because we have 500 units just between 38 and 46th Avenue, less than 10 blocks, plus the other units that went in.

So it was a combination of all of the units there that actually can support the retail.

I think that that's one of the important things that we're looking at.

So when I rezoned from our plan in near Northwest, I rezoned 44th Avenue to have the design overlay eight, but then I upzoned it to allow more density there because you have to have the density to have to have the retail work.

Uh, you actually need the bodies, that's one of the things that we're seeing on the downtown development authority downtown is the retail's not working because we don't have people working in the offices anymore, and we don't have the the overwhelm the bodies for lack of a better word in that corridor because we just have people working from home, including the city and county of Denver.

We not we were huge players and the state of activating our downtown and there we're just not here anymore.

So these plans I can't emphasize how important these plans are.

I appreciate the process of um how it's going, and however we can be helpful, helping teach community how to opine on these, it's really hard.

You don't usually start getting engagement until the very end because there's something to think about, and you're like, oh, I actually don't like that zone district, or hey, I actually don't like blue plant timber, doesn't work here.

Like what we did in Sunnyside for the near Northwest Plant.

Excuse me, thank you.

But these are so important, as you all know, because we these plans will guide density, and we need sales tax in order to be able to get these positions back for you all to for us to have the um our coffers full.

So these plans just aren't important for neighborhoods, they're also important for economic um growth in the city and county of Denver in a time where lots of from what I'm understanding, sitting on UF ULI and doing deep dives into other cities, we're not an anomaly.

This is happening a lot of places, um, and I haven't seen one city solve for it.

Um that is a great indicator of how the economy's gonna come back, but in all the research that I've been doing and uh talking to all my fellow other member of the Urban Land Institute when I go to those conferences, everyone is saying they're struggling with this.

So it will be interesting to see how the plans that we just adopted can impact the economic revenue of Denver and have create placemaking in Denver because the this plan expanding housing affordability, and all of these processes are all vital to how Denver grows in the next 10 years.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you.

Um we have Council Member Cashman, followed by Slayer.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Good to see you folks.

Um, the these NPI plans are absolutely critical.

We got to get you guys more money.

I mean, I don't care if we put off paving or streets three or four years, but I'm looking at the near Southeast Plan, which Scott, you were so instrumental in, it is already paid off in providing guidelines to direct the development in line with what the community uh said its values were, you know.

So when I look at, you know, there were a couple of areas when I looked at the map in advance of coming down here.

One was uh councilwoman uh Romero Campbell's area down uh far southeast, and then up in uh my friend Mr.

Watson's neck of the woods up in the GES area, these areas that are under so much pressure and such different needs, but pressure um to just sit here and know how to do what we need to do.

So um I'm this probably painting you guys more than us, not having the staff to do the job I know that you want to do, and I I budget rolls around.

I'm gonna be cranky about this one.

Uh like I said, there's certain areas that aren't as critical.

I think we really need to be looking at things in that way.

But yeah, I mean, my my district has benefited already from that near Southeast Plan.

That's all I have done.

Great.

Yeah, thank you.

Councilmember Sutter.

Thanks, Madam Chair.

Thanks you guys so appreciate this.

Um I am a little concerned about the timeline, right?

We adopted comprehensive plan 2040 in 2019, the week before Councilman Torres, Council President Sandoval, Councilmember Hines, and I came into office.

Um, and so it has been in place since 2019.

Um, it's called comprehensive plan 2040 and the Denverite plan because it's supposed to go through 2040, and it says look to the area neighborhood plan when you're looking for guidance, right?

At this rate, we are not even going to get neighborhood plans in all of the neighborhoods by the time 2040 is here, and we're gonna need a whole new like overarching comprehensive plan.

So I guess I'm just like I don't I know that this is not you guys, right?

Um, you can only do what you can do with the resources that you are provided, but this doesn't make any sense.

Like, it doesn't make any sense.

Now, I'm not sure my residents would prefer area plans over road paving, but I do feel like my residents would really, I mean, I most of District 5 has never seen an area plan, right?

Um, and places where there are nest neighborhoods like Windsor, um, that have no area plan, have never seen an area plan, have no guidance at all, except for the overarching guidance of comp 2040 and blueprint Denver, which do not say what the residents want in those neighborhoods.

So I guess I'm just um like again, this is not on you because you can only do what you can do with the resources that you are provided.

Um, and I really appreciate the work that you're doing, but I agree with Council Member Cashman.

The value that we have seen in our neighborhoods that have those plans is extraordinary.

Um I don't I don't know what the right answer is, except I think to stress to the mayor's office who's not here that it is important um that we make sure that we are funding these plans to get the outcomes that our residents have said that they want.

Um, so that's number one.

Number two, second piece.

I would say my other concern is with the neighborhood plans that we have, where there are recommendations that are waiting for additional work, and again, this is a staffing and budget challenge.

Totally understand that, but also we have to we either cannot be making recommendations in our neighborhood plans that require additional follow-through work that never gets done, or we need to find a better balance between the neighborhood plans and getting those done and implementing the recommendations that are in the plans that already exist.

So, and I don't know if you guys have had conversations about that.

Um, but how I guess do you find that are you finding the balance between those two things?

And I know that the answer might be you're not because you just don't have the staff to get it all done, right?

But like, what's the plan?

Yeah, it's a great question.

I mean, I will say, because it's kind of crazy how long I've been at CPD now, um, that is an ongoing challenge, regardless of the budget uh climate we're in.

Um, it's just that because part of a role of a plan is to just get it all out there, document it all.

What is everything that makes sense for the next 20 years and be a little resource problem?

Like you can't be crazy about it, right?

You have to be reasonable and and try to be clear on what priorities are and have a clear implementation strategy, but that's not unique to this time, nor unique to Denver, having worked in other communities too, right?

Like that is an ongoing struggle, and I think we actually are often looked to across the nation as one of the cities that's doing um phenomenal work around prioritizing implementation and not just leaving plans on a shelf.

We get um, you know, we do it to other cities too.

We were calling them and being like, hey, we want to pick your brain, but we get that a lot on implementation in particular, and we've really prioritized um all kinds of ways, right?

Whether it's um the people's budget, um, how we think about and prioritize what to change in the zoning code next, because there's always way too long of a list there as well, and looking at our adopted neighborhood plans to say that's that's something we have to consider.

Like, look how many neighborhood plans, that's why we're doing unlocking housing choices, right?

As an example, as opposed to other things we could because there's we're like there's just too many neighborhood plans at this point that each have their own version of how do we get more missing middle housing.

So, yes, we we hear you, we agree that um it would be great to have more resources to put towards implementation, but I also think we've made really good progress in this area in the past few years, and that also includes building the partnerships with other departments, right?

Because oftentimes the implementation is something that um requires us to have more seat at the table with the capital budget, for example, which we've really made good progress on that as well.

Um so I think it's a balance, you know.

Yes, we we can definitely do more, we need more resources there, but also like let's take a moment to recognize how much we are accomplishing and some of the great implementation that has been done.

Yeah, I really appreciate that, and having implemented in my from my office, a lot of the um neighborhood plan, the two neighborhood plans that cover my district, like I get it.

Um, but I guess I will say that you know, you pointed to unlocking housing choices as one of the you know conversations we're having to be able to prioritize these things, but like we just met um with the planning board about unlocking housing choices, and the resounding feedback from both council and the planning board was we're not focusing on the right things to get done what we need to get done when it comes to the unlocking housing choices choices project.

So, like I'm not I hear that, but I'm also concerned about it, right?

I mean, I've been talking about uh the fact that the Near Southeast Plan makes a recommendation to um rezone a number of different sections of the Near Southeast Plan to two unit from single unit, and that the community was 100% on board with that with one caveat, and that one caveat was not if you're scraping an attainable 700,000 home for two two million dollar duplexes, and um that is something that has to be managed by CPD then, right?

It hasn't happened, and that's not something that's really being discussed in the unlocking housing choices.

Not what they presented to us at our last.

I was at the presentation, so I feel like maybe we should set up a briefing with you so we can do that.

Yeah.

No, I'm not like missing the point here.

It like we definitely talked at our last um meeting with planning board about how that is not necessarily meeting, like their recommendations are not meeting what our expectation is of that.

Um, and that was really clear.

And I will give you another example.

Um, there is no duplex building form in the suburban context.

So you can't actually even build two two million dollar duplexes in the suburban context, even if you did rezone the properties.

That is also something that we have been talking about since 2022.

Um, so I think that, like, this is where my challenge lies.

Like, there are just there are clear things that are not being done that make it so that these area plans cannot be implemented in the way that the community envisioned them being implemented, and I think like that challenge.

I don't know, I don't know how to get that challenge to be put in front of CPD and get on a work plan.

Like, how can that not be on a work plan?

It's 2026.

Right.

Well, let's do so.

I'll again um not sure where the disconnect was.

We'll definitely take ownership for that.

And I was at most of that work session, so I'm not I'm not following the disconnect either, but um, what you described is exactly what is in the scope of unlocking housing choices.

So the number one thing we're trying to do is figure out how to add more density in a way that preserves existing homes so they aren't just scraped and replaced, and or adds has some level of affordability for what gets added.

Um, because it's not just this neighborhood plans in your district, but all over where that was like a resounding theme across Denver.

So that is actually exactly what's in the scope now.

So I feel like we need to work on our messaging and communication, so I'll take that back.

Yeah, please do.

Cause that's not the recommendations that came to us from that meeting, um, are things that the market will never bear.

It's not realistic what has come out of there up to this point.

Yeah, well, let's have more.

I if you're up for it, would love to spend some time with you on that.

I was briefed, I gave my feedback.

CP the CPD planning staff has heard.

I think since then we've done like there was a there was a shift that happened after the planning board meeting.

So you're not wrong about kind of how at least I have the same perception of where things stood as of that meeting, and I think it's opened up again a little bit as a result of that meeting.

So I think I think that's what's happening.

I think that's good.

Great.

Well, and I think we have our next planning board session.

We do have a joint work session in the next week or two.

It's really coming up, right?

Which is why I have like it's on the top of my mind.

So it's a good point.

We don't need a briefing, you can come to that and you'll get the update.

And um, what you'll learn there, um, and of course, councilman Flynn and Councilman Torres are on the committee as well and are a little more up to speed, but we have been doing financial feasibility.

Like, we're not interested in passing zoning code changes that nobody's the market won't bear, right?

Like what um sound like one of your concerns was so we take that very seriously and and heard that, certainly.

I I do agree with you there.

That was a big theme from the last work session.

Um, but I think we have some interesting um data.

We didn't have them because we've actually done the financial feasibility and are trying to understand better, like what we think um actually could get built on some of these lots.

Um so more to come, but I think more important, I just want you to hear the message that like we agree with you that where we can, we are trying to prioritize work program decisions that implement our neighborhood plans.

Yeah, I appreciate that.

I just I don't see it.

I mean, we're talking about the fact that there is no duplex building form in the suburban context, and the near Southeast Area Plan, which is almost entirely in the suburban context, says to rezone all of these areas to duplexes, so like I don't know, I just, I'm gonna let it go, but I just I'm very, I am very frustrated.

I understand the challenges that you face in terms of the lack of staffing and the lack of availability, but I also think that this is a prioritization question, and I do not understand how something that is that clear could not have been added to the work plan at some point over the last three and a half years.

Um, one thing that might be that I would love to see after this, even though we've seen bits of pieces of it all along, I to me it's helpful when I look at what again these highly specialized staff are doing, because you look at that and you're like, what would I take off that list?

You know what I mean?

And so it would be useful for us to maybe get us a short retrospective of what you guys have done within you know all of it.

I mean, you've done some really heavy lifts, right?

Um, and we all know that.

I'm not, I know you know that Council of Sawyer, just to be clear, um, but I would really like to actually see that list, I think, if that if we could do that, um maybe back three years after this meeting, because I know like we had to bump off doing one code in order to do other things, right?

Like we have the school of getting totally off chapter 59, which we wanna do.

So it I think it's I think the like truth here is just that um we don't have enough of these like um very specialized staff, and and there's all these it's almost like we really do need to do all of it at once.

So with that, are you do you have an okay?

Okay, cool.

Um, Councilmember Watson, and then I have a few, and then Lewis and I have a few questions as well.

Uh thank you so much, committee chair.

Uh thank you, uh Sarah Scott.

Uh first wanna say uh we are beginning the process for the near Northeast plan, which is long time in coming, and so I I know that the community is excited.

Um many of those neighborhoods have never had um an area plan before.

And so I think it's it's gonna be a big lift uh for them, and I appreciate it.

But his team has been really aggressive in support of making sure that our navigators, our advisory groups, all of the steps we need to to be able to start and to continue the community engagement.

Um I think he and his team are doing a great job.

I looked around to see if he was here.

Oh, yeah, there he is.

So I think they're doing a fantastic job.

So I at least want to tell you all that.

Um I have uh one question um and then one comment.

So, question on uh capacity and funding.

Uh even if, not if when we find additional dollars to kind of maybe fill some of the hole that you're in to make sure that plans that are or programmed aren't um put back for later years.

Um I'm not sure if we can find enough dollars to move on all the things that you all need.

So my question to you as you're looking at your capacity management, are there opportunities with let's say CU Denver?

Are you currently working with partners that may, based on a academic or educational step, can maybe step in and provide support based on their relationship with the city and take on some of these roles for folks who are studying to do the work that you're doing.

I'm not sure what your um public um uh participation with universities or anything, how to call that looks and if do you if you have curriculum or or or stuff to do that, but I'm curious if that has been, I called out CU Denver because that's my that's where I went to school.

Um but any of the other um schools within the metro area that has um planning or architecture or whatever.

Um as to what those partnerships look like, if any.

Yeah, no, we definitely have partnerships.

That's a great idea.

Um, and it is primarily through Denver, just because they're um a lot of the work we're doing is would be at a graduate level, especially if you're trying to kind of fill in gaps, and they're the they are the school that has a um program, whether it's urban design, planning, architecture.

Um, and yeah, we have used, we've had great partnerships with them over the years and continued that.

So not only I'd say a big one is um using studios, which are in the planning school in particular, right?

A very common way to um tackle like a real problem in Denver or challenge, and then have students um do a lot of the work that can be the beginning of a neighborhood plan, and we'll have an expert that's already working on a plan in that area or might soon be working on a plan in that area, um, often be involved in the class and be part of the panel and like get the students a lot of ideas, but then we get the great benefit of getting a bunch of ideas from the class.

Um so that's one example.

We've also used graduate students to do research projects for us.

Um they can do um their own like independent study.

They have uh an entire program out of UCD that they advertise every semester.

Like we're looking, you know, we have students that are looking for research projects, and so we'll identify topics, and some of that has fed into projects that we're now doing.

Um, so yeah, I think they're and we're always open to exploring it more, you know, and getting creative, but I think we already have some really good partnerships, and we've seen the benefits of that.

Can I add council chair, please?

Uh so we you don't have to wait for CPD to do that.

I have a I have every fall I get a capstone, I get information from UC Denver, and they ask me if I want a capstone student, and I give them a problem statement.

So one of the things I'm doing right now that you all will see in a couple weeks is West Highland, the design overlay eight.

I had them the whole because there were shallow lots.

And so they gave the whole report, and he was an intern for CPD at the time.

I gave CPD the report, and then we were able to rewrite the rezoning.

I had to do all the outreach, but literally they helped tackle the issue for me, they helped me with ADUs, they've helped me with planning board suggestions.

Um, so like when I'm not council president, where I want to have them research something for the South Platte River.

So you don't have to wait for CPD anyone can get a capstone student, and I now that they know me, I actually go sit in on their studios and give them constructive feedback.

Sometimes I'm a dream crusher.

I'm like, uh that's not actually doable.

Um, but they always are appreciative, and um they I know they've done a whole study for Spear.

I think I took council mentores, they did a whole entire study on Spear Boulevard from my council district all the way to Colfax.

So they're a great resource.

You just have to plug in with know how to plug in, and I happen to know that.

So if you want that info, I'm happy to make that intro.

But you don't have to wait for CPD.

I'll love that.

We did a a very targeted studio for 38th Street Underpass, and that's where I started calling Scott and Sarah every second saying it needs to be added to the bond.

So that helped drive my team.

But I was um so I appreciate that, Council President, and I'll take you up on that to get a deeper dive.

My curiosity is on a material um relationship, like um as Councilmember Sawyer described the um the suburban form and the duplexes if we're moving to um housing choices, um, um if there's not an implementation on that.

Is there a class I can take that on?

I know you've got enough stuff on your hands, but that was part of my curiosity as far as the material um gains.

If you're not able to put a dollar to capacity, are we able to scale based on students and student power, student leaders on some of these capacity steps?

Not sure if it's possible.

And the final thing is um on a five-year plan for um host.

I know that's not you all, I'm just seeing it because we're um it's this is being recorded.

That uh process uh six years ago took about 12 months of work, and I'm not sure committee chair, if it's an opportunity, maybe ask.

I don't know if it's this committee or another all the committees will turn turn around from whose reports to whom, but I'm not sure where what the status is on that uh five-year plan.

Um, and it's a lot of work, and so I am certain they're doing everything they can.

Um, however, that doesn't start the new the I think the target was July.

I think it's like July, August.

So there's a timeline by which that five-year plan kind of expired with the expectation of a new plan movement moving.

So would love to see if there's an opportunity to hear from host on that plan.

Obviously, there's been some change with leadership at host, and um the housing stability strategic advisors actually are should be coordinating with community and informing city council on those steps.

So I'm not really sure where that's at, and that informs all of our plans for housing starts, black home ownership, all of the other things that are um going to um um conclude when that plan um stops um when the five years of that expires uh this year.

So curious on that.

Julie noted, yeah.

Um we do need an update.

Okay, thank you for that.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

And you're right that those things talk to each other.

Um I have Councilmember Lewis next to you.

Yeah, I just I just um have a quick uh brief comment.

Sorry, I can get my words out.

Um, regarding the uh resource conversation that we were having, it's just a reminder to council members that we have the opportunity to run budget amendments.

Um I know I read a budget amendment, which I know council members were supportive of regarding the neighborhood planning initiative, something that wouldn't have benefited my council district, but I know would benefit other council districts, and so just a reminder that we have that um opportunity.

Um okay.

I also have questions, and I I'm really glad that we did this today.

I think um it's good to hear an update sort of between budget sessions about how these budgetary decisions unroll throughout the year, um, and again, I understand it's not totally budgetary, it's also expertise, you know, and other limits.

So, one area of curiosity that I've had is um, I don't keep close tabs on.

I mean, we have a ton of really experienced planners in CPD, that's not a department that like the planning area where I feel like I have turnover.

Um, but I'm curious for you all.

First of all, if any planning positions were lost in the layoffs, and second of all, um just to get us a sense of like if if you you know, say that we budget for more planners, which again we don't have any money, so it's all deeply hypothetical.

But if we were to do that, how hard is it to hire um and sort of grow people up into those roles?

Like, just talk to us a little bit about that the actual staffing resource constraint side of things, which it doesn't directly translate to dollars, but like you know, if you had all the um positions in the world, what would that look like, you know?

Yeah, um, yeah, we did lose, I think it's 11 positions.

I'd have to double check the budget book, but I think there's 11.

You know, we had um there's 59 or 60 total positions across our entire department that were lost.

Um, and yeah, so that's that's why this is so difficult, right?

It's like that you really feel the impact when you lose that many positions.

So um, and yeah, right now, anyway, um, the little bit we're able to hire, um, primarily right now on the planning side, the hiring we're doing are for grant funded positions.

Um, we're so lucky that we have the TOD grant that's focused on equitable TOD on the federal corridor from the FTA, and then we also have of course the HUD Pro housing grant.

Um, and uh, but we're also hiring, even if it's not just planner roles, you know, planning adjacent roles throughout the department and um hiring is going really well.

So I think when we get positions, you know, knock on wood.

Um we're we're well set up.

You know, a we have some pent up um promotional demand because we haven't been able to hire for a long time.

So, what would probably happen if we got a lot of positions is you'd see some internal promotion, and that would eventually trickle down to eventually hiring externally as you kind of backfill positions, but it would take some time.

Um, but we've we've been very lucky.

You know, Denver is seen as uh amazing city to be a planner.

Um we've always done a great job attracting talent from across the country, and it's a good balance.

We also like to have people who already know Denver well and are here, but then it can be really beneficial to bring people in outside perspective and expertise and your topic for working in other cities struggling with similar issues, so I think that's less of the challenge is the hiring and the um it's really just the where do you find the money to create the positions?

Okay, thank you.

That's actually really helpful.

Um, and then I had a shooting related question that I probably lost.

Um, I wanted to go back a little bit and um talking about some of the these implementation details because it's true, like this um this council body has a has a role in that, but we we can't sort of unless you're council president Sandoval with a council student working for you, which I do take your point on that.

Um, it's a hard area for us to like freelance legislate in, right?

It's just so nuanced, and you guys really have such deep expertise.

Um, there's other areas where we can call on our own resources and outside resources and um get an ordinance together and do something right, and this is different than that.

And so um another dynamic that we all have is the more the more we get invested and like want to make certain things happen, then we're sort of like nudging your work plan around, you know.

And so we are cognizant of that, and that's part of why I'm glad that we have sessions like today, so that we um so that we're all thinking in that way collectively about like what's sort of the most important.

I do think there's a high level of agreement that um this unlocking housing choices package concept that has to deal with um yes, the density, but to Councilmember Sawyer's point and others, um, also what guardrails do we put in so that we get that in the way that we want it, you know, um, and so that we don't end up um just scraping existing structures, which is bad for climate, and that we don't end up having all the change going to certain neighborhoods.

So that that conversation has been percolating, percolating, percolating.

We now have the UHC committee happening, and I think we're gonna collectively face a big challenge of figuring out how we get like 13 different council members who can file bills about different things.

Um CPD and also the other agencies that um that relate to all of these problems because it's obviously not just you, a lot of it is over in Dottie and host and other things, and how we like uh figure out how we're gonna use the legislation that doesn't totally like break your work plan.

So I'm glad we do have that next planning board session on March 17th.

Um, good you found it.

Oh no, Luke found it.

Um and I I wonder, Sarah, if you could um spend a moment telling us, like, I I'm just curious what the I want to make sure that everyone is on the same page, sort of uh communication wise with like what's happening in that space, and Councilmember Torres who serves on that committee, would it be helpful for individual members who are really interested in that, which is a lot of us to connect with you before the planning board session?

Should we just wait and do it then?

Like, what do you think would be the most useful to make sure that we're all um kind of on the same page about what's being discussed in that um committee?

Yeah, I mean I would encourage you to, especially if you have something top of mind, I don't think there's a reason to wait.

Um, it's it's okay to wait too and be like, you know, I I'll see what I get out of the session and figure out if I need more time, but that cannot help our team that's planning for that session, make sure that it um accomplishes what you all want.

So I don't think you need to wait.

Um, you know, Andrew Webb and Rob Haig are the leaders of that project, and I can also help connect if you don't already have their email address, but if you have something you have top of mind, you can just go ahead and reach out.

Okay, thank you for that.

And that gave Council Member Cashman a question.

Yeah, I just sorry, man.

We try to just when will this wrap up?

Yeah, great question.

So March is gonna be exciting because not only do you guys have your next joint work session, um, apparently we'll all be wearing green that day, so it's not um, but we're kicking off all the public outreach.

So one of the things that I remember also came up in your last joint work session was um the you all noticing, like I I can't remember which one of you said it first, and then like everyone nodded their head.

Like, I'm pretty sure if you ask people living in my district if they've heard of this project, who is you, council president, they would say no.

Um, and so that's like a huge thing we're gonna need your help with this spring, because we won't.

I am gonna actually answer your question to when does it wrap up?

But like a key step to getting to the wrap-up is we we have this huge phase ahead of us, which is this committee's been amazing that's been meeting the advisory committee that represents so many different groups and perspectives in Denver, and they know that part of their charge is to go back and educate and get people engaged.

But we are now like kind of officially gonna get into the full-on community engagement mode, and we'll really need support from your offices because what we want to avoid is our goal is to have this adopted by the end of the year, and this gets to the this is why it was phase one, and I think um a little bit of what came out of the last work session, um, is we are trying to figure out what you can get in that first phase that we think still accomplishes something meaningful, but can be done by the end of the year.

That is our goal.

Um, and that will only work if we can avoid a lot of last minute community freaking out.

Like, like we never heard about this, right?

How could this be happening in my neighborhood?

When did the committee kick off this?

When did this process kick off?

I do not remember off the top of my mind.

It's been months.

I can tell you it's definitely not last.

I think I remember when it was first brought up.

Someone from your office saying it'll be about an 18-month.

I was gonna say, I think it was in the fall, but don't quote me on the like I don't remember when the first committee meeting.

I think it was met in August or September, the committee form in medicine.

They contacted Torres and Flynn in July.

Sounds right, yeah.

We were doing so much internal work, you know, way before, but that's about when it really went public, or we launched the committee.

We created the website and started some initial engagement.

But the the really focused community engagement period will be starting in March, like through the summer, and that's when it would be so critical to get because obviously, this is gonna act impact every neighborhood in Denver, right?

Every single neighborhood.

That gives me pause that the critical community engagement phase is in the summer.

Well, it starts in March.

So we have a bunch of public meetings happening in March.

Yeah.

So I wouldn't call it the summer.

I'd say we'll um because we hear your people are on vacation and we don't want to.

You said summer, so that's what got me.

Sorry, it'll we'll have opportunities for engagement all the way through the fall, too, right?

It'll be that's that however it unfolds obviously we need plenty of time when people are not at the beach.

Exactly.

Yeah, and sorry, I you're right.

I didn't mention summer, but the it will start in the spring and there'll be ongoing opportunity.

Um we're gonna have a virtual option and then several in-person options um in March and April.

It'll be the first big round.

I would probably be really helpful if the CPD could come out with some sort of uh FAQ that we can put in our newsletters.

Okay, you know, so people are worried about a 20-story building in their single unit neighborhood.

Right.

Um I have one last question.

Yeah, you go ahead, and then I do too, but we have tons of time.

Okay, um, I have a question about no more legislative rezonings.

So if I see or councilman Sawyer or Councilmember Cashman see something in their council district and want to rezone, you could rezone any private citizen can rezone, right?

At any time.

Sure, not legislatively, though.

Only CPD or city council can enjoy.

So why can't we?

You can.

I mean, we can't take away your legal authority.

I think where we would hope to have partnership with you is it depends a little bit what it is.

Some of um the legislative rezonings are more straightforward and don't require a lot of our staff time.

Yeah, um, because it's a like I mean, the first huge thing is there's already an existing zone district that does what you want, and we don't have to spend time to write new zoning, right?

But even then it can be a lot of work depending on what it is, because we want to like study well what will be the impact to all the property owners on the corridor or something like that, right?

And so when we say like no more legislative zoning, what we were trying to get is like the things that we've truly built in, oftentimes you all are a sponsor and obviously a critical partner, but we have already proactively dedicated staff to do legislative rezonings to implement a plan, is what we just can't do anymore.

Got it.

Because there are there's one more place that I've heard about the design overlay eight, and that I haven't utilized a lot of CPD staff time, right?

I mean, it's been I've done all this the research prior on the shallow lots.

I gave it all to you, you all confirmed it.

It was G um GIS GIS who did the mapping for the legal description, so things like that.

I mean the sunny side extravaganza was the like crazy, right?

And even creating the design overlay eight was a lot.

So I understand that, but it's really important that I think when one comment that came to me just over the weekend was um from a neighborhood where they're like, Well, if we see something in our plan, shouldn't we be proactively reaching out to you so that we can work on that?

And I said yes, yes, yeah.

Yeah, we always want to have the conversation, right?

And I think, again, like we can't say no, you are not allowed to do this, it's just that recognition of like how much staff support might there be.

Yeah, how does that fit in with the other stuff that those staff are working on?

Alright, thank you for the clarity.

Thank you.

Yeah, that's where that list of both work plan and then legislative resonance going back a little bit in time.

I want to look at that as like one thing because we've experienced things going by us, but I just want to kind of get my eyes on that, and I appreciate you guys sending that up for the meeting.

Um, I remember the other thing I wanted to ask about, because you caught my ear, Sarah, when you said that um Denver is actually among other cities, um, we're viewed as being pretty, I don't I don't want to put words in your mouth, but that we actually do a pretty good job of like doing our planning and you know, so that that was what I was curious about.

I kind of wanted to ask like is there um any other city of any comparable size that is on a that does a better job of turning over its its plans and having you know it the entire city have like fresh plans.

Um I'd be super curious about that because it feels like a combination of um like anything else sort of budget and resources and also just the nature of planning that often you start planning and it just slows down and bogs itself down over time.

And I know that we I've seen even changes in CPD where you've um become more nimble about these things, um, even in the short time that I've been here.

Um, so that has not gone unnoticed, but I just wanted to hear a little more about like is there some city that magically has you know so much planning staff that they just you know get the whole get all their plans refreshed constantly, like cities do this very differently, but I'm curious about that.

Yeah.

I honest I'm not aware of one, they're there we can get back to you.

There might be people on our team or if anybody here today knows of one.

Probably in Europe, right?

Yeah.

I mean, we when we did the program update a couple years ago, we talked to multiple cities that have somewhat similar programs.

Some of them uh so like Charlotte, for example, they did all of their neighborhood plans at once instead of doing three at a time, they um were all much more closely tied to the comprehensive plan and were less um customized for each area, so they were able to do uh 15 plans at once.

Um but there are so there are other approaches where they they don't go as depth on the engagement, they don't go as depth on the uh addressing unique issues in the area, but they get the plans done uh in a few years instead of a um multi-year rolling program like we did.

So there are different things.

It makes sense that those would be the trade-offs, though.

Um, okay.

That was all I wanted to ask anybody else um since we do have time left in committee.

Any other questions?

We don't get time with these guys too often.

All right, thank you so much.

Super super helpful.

We'll see you guys soon.

There are four items on consent.

Um nobody wants to call those off.

We are done for today.

Good.

Thanks.