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

Yeah, I can get here.

I'm really busy.

He has to get here.

And he's not far.

We're starting to start it close.

Welcome everyone to the South Plack Committee.

Thank you for joining us.

It's April 8th.

I want to start with those council members on Zoom if you want to do introductions.

That's hi.

Southwest Denver's District 2.

Good afternoon.

Diana Romero Campbell, Southeast Denver District 4.

Thank you both.

And in the room, Remote Al Vidares, that's Lucky District 7.

Good afternoon, Manitanmouth, Northwest Denver District 1.

And I represent Jimmy Torres, represent West Denver District 3.

Thanks for joining us.

We've got two action items today.

One item on consent.

Our first is a rezoning in on Laramir Street, and we're joined by Brendan.

Take it away, Brendan.

Thank you so much.

Good afternoon, Council members.

Brandon Shaver, Senior City Planner with Community Planning and Development, walking you through a rezoning request at 3232 Laramie Street.

Starting off with the request, you'll see that this property is near the intersection of 32nd and Laramer Streets.

It is requesting to rezone from RME 30 with the waiver to IMX3 D07.

Subject site is currently vacant with some accessory structures and it's under the same ownership as the adjoining parcel that's at the corner.

And that is the reason behind this request.

So this is in Council District 9, uh, represented by Council Member Watson and within the five points neighborhood.

Existing zoning, again, RE 30 with the waiver, which I'll walk through the next slide, but you can see that it is in close proximity to a number of other mixed use districts and some residential districts of higher intensity.

So the existing zoning was put in place in 2007, and RME 30 is a residential mixed use district, which allows for some higher density and some commercial development that is pedestrian scaled.

The current waiver on the property restricts the building height to 55 feet instead of 140.

And then just some interesting history.

For this site, most of the surrounding areas were rezoned to IMX in 2010 with the adoption of the Denver zoning code, but this property was left out due to that customization through a waiver.

And we've also since then created design overlay seven and mapped it throughout this area in 2018, but again, we're unable to include this subject site as it had customization.

So the proposed zoning is IMX D07, I'm sorry, IMX3 D07.

Um IMX districts are really serving that transition between mixed use and industrial districts.

Very characteristic of this area.

High degree of walkability and allows for a number of building forms.

The DO7 is really designed to make sure that new structures can adapt over time, has a minimum street level height and increased transparency and street level active use requirements.

Um surrounded by a mix of other uses, including commercial retail, mixed use, some single unit and two unit residential across the alley.

Um they voted unanimously to recommend approval.

Moving to our review criteria, the first being consistency with adopted plans.

Uh, we find this to be consistent with COP Plan 2040 and a number of strategies that are more detailed in the staff report.

So moving to Blueprint Denver, we have this mapped as an urban center context or a C.

However, the proposed district is going to an I and Blueprint does have some guidance on giving flexibility at the edges when we know that the requested district is still overall aligned with the intent of the context map.

This is a community corridor future place where heights are appropriate up to eight stories, and Laramie Street is a mixed-use collector.

So therefore, it is also in the community centers and corridors growth area, which is 25% of expected housing growth and 20% of new employment growth by 2040.

This is also within the Elyrian Swansea Neighborhoods Plan.

This is because this plan provides land guidance around the 38th and Blake Station, which this is at proximity to, and you'll notice the subject property is mapped in a mixed use area change.

So lastly, the Northeast Downs neighborhoods plan from 2011.

You can clearly see that this property is mapped as mixed use industrial up to three stories.

So that really refined guidance.

We think this is in the public interest and also find it to be consistent with neighborhood context, zone district purpose, and intent statements.

Happy to answer any questions, and the applicant is in the room in person as well.

Great.

Thank you so much, Brandon.

I don't have anyone in queue just yet, but maybe I'll ask the applicant about engagement.

I saw the letters if you want to come up to the mic.

Um and how you went about that and um how that's been looking.

Um so my name is Will Legg.

Um I'm looking to rezone this uh property.

Uh we have been my business partner and I have been attending uh these uh community engagements as well as reaching out to business owners for their comments uh as well as letters of support in the surrounding area.

Um we like to be involved in the community and we like to show up in person.

Uh so uh just hoping to be a community stable within that area and bring some vibrancy and uh some entrepreneurship to this area.

Great.

Thank you for that.

Um is it um you own the property right now?

Yeah, you represent the owner for your tenants.

Yeah, I don't have that much in my pocket.

What's planned for the property?

Um we're honestly thinking of like a green space outside space, um, just as within the Rhino area, there's not a lot of parks or you know, recreational space, so we want to bring people out, you know, to enjoy the nice weather of Denver.

Um yeah, uh make sure that you know people in the community can continue their walkability and you know seek some outside uh space to enjoy.

That's really nice.

Um are they um individual plots or is an organization responsible for it?

They are individual plots, and it's a family um that owns both plots of land right next to each other.

Okay, yeah.

Uh I think they're under an LLC, I believe Sun's power.

Okay.

Yeah, and we are tenants of them.

Great.

All right, yeah.

Thank you for that.

Thank you.

Um, Council President Sand.

Oh, what's the use overlay seven?

Design overlays seven.

Yeah, like oh, so it's um meant specifically for the River North area.

It um has a minimum street level height, um, some mass reduction, and it used to have a zero parking requirement, but now we no longer have minimum parking requirements.

Let's cross the city.

When was it adopted?

2018.

Okay, 2018.

That was around the time that we sent okay.

I thought we got rid of that one.

The incentive overlayed things in the same way.

Incentive we did, though, right?

Because that was that same area as well.

So that's related on top of each other.

This one's remained the same.

Okay, that's what I was looking in the staff report.

I couldn't find it.

I was like, what is this?

Good catch.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Mark Chair.

Okay, perfect.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you guys.

Um, I don't see any hands uh on from online.

Um, no other questions in the queue.

Any emotion in a second?

Thank you.

Okay.

Yeah.

Second by uh council president.

Um we feel good about this moving forward.

Good.

Uh no opposition online.

Um thank you, Brendan.

We'll see you at the floor.

Okay.

I'll do my job.

And we'll transition to our next item.

It's Melissa.

Thanks for joining us, Joe.

Yeah.

Um go ahead and introduce yourself, Joe, and uh take it away.

Sure.

My name is Joe Green with Community Planning and Development.

Today we're looking at a rezoning CPD is the applicant on behalf of DPR.

There's three sites, and we'll look at each of them.

So we'll start with the actual request, get into the location and context, walk through the process, and then look at the review criteria.

So as I said, there are three properties with different zone districts.

Um one of them is coming out of the UMX3, so mixed-use commercial residential uh district.

One is coming out of industrial IB, which is the more intensive of the two industrial districts, and then the third one is I guess walking right to left here.

The third one is coming out of a PUD 319 in Northeast Denver.

This PD has a lot of different things in it, but in this particular sub-area, it allows for commercial uses.

All three were requesting to go to OSA, which is an open space district solely for the purpose of properties owned or run by DPR, Denver Parks and Recreation.

So looking at the locations, two of these are in District 9.

These are the ones that are near the South Platte River, which is why we're here at this committee.

And one of them is in Council District 11.

The two in District 9 are in Globeville.

You can see one is pretty large up to the north of Glodeville, and then there's a smaller property, more central.

And then one of the properties is in Green Valley Ranch.

So again, here's the existing zoning.

You can see the UMX3 is surrounded by UMX3, but there's already an OSA property just to the south.

The Heron Pond site is currently that IB with industrial zoning around it, but again, a budding in an open space site.

And then the Far Northeast maintenance facility is again surrounded by that same PUD that has a lot of different sub-areas and a lot of things different going, different things going on, but again, adjacent to open space zoning.

Looking at the existing land uses, the first site shows up as industrial.

I have a picture in a minute as kind of an empty lot.

Heron Pond site shows as public quasi-public or parks in open space.

And then the Far Northeast maintenance facility shows up as agriculture, mainly vacant land right now.

Here are those pictures.

So you can see the 44th and Pearl, a name site, it's mostly a vacant lot, a lot of concrete.

You have Heron Pond site, which looks like it's developing into an open space already.

And then the Far Northeast maintenance facility is just a big open field right now.

Looking at the process, this application's gone through the standard process, the standard noticing yard designs have been posted both at the when we submitted the application and at Planning Board.

We went to Planning Board in the middle of March, and we're here today.

Planning Board voted to unanimously recommend approval.

And we haven't received any comments from RNOs or any members of the public to date.

Looking at the review criteria, as you all know, there's three review criteria that must found to be true in order to approve a rezoning.

We'll start with consistency with adopted plans.

There's quite a few relevant plans here, so I'll try to move a little bit quickly for them through them.

But starting with comprehensive plan 2040, generally at a high level in lots of different areas.

This plan talks about the importance of parks to communities and how they're an aspect, an important aspect of complete communities, and that we need to be providing high-quality parks for all residents and making sure that there's equitable access to those parks.

So we think it's consistent with this plan.

Looking at Blueprint Denver, there's three different neighborhood contexts that these open space sites fall within all of our contexts, talk about the importance of open space.

In the special district, it talks about the importance of big, or it says that some of these special districts might be big regional open spaces.

In the suburban in general and urban, it just talks about the importance of these in all communities.

Looking at future places, two of the sites, the 44th and Pearl and the Far Northeast Maintenance Facility are both shown as community center in Blueprint Denver.

But again, both of these future places talk about the need to incorporate open space and parks into the community center and how they're gathering spaces for community.

The Heron Pond site is unique of the three, in that it's actually called out as public parks and open space in Blueprint Denver.

So specifically fulfilling that plan guidance.

And then there's a lot of policies, and especially in the quality of life section of Blueprint Denver that talk about parks being a key element of a complete neighborhood, again, similar language to comprehensive plan 2040, that they contribute to the environmental resilience of neighborhoods and the social connectedness.

So it talks about ensuring that all areas ensure high quality parks and outdoor public spaces, and then it's keeping pace with Denver's growth.

Then getting into game plan for a healthy city, which is the parks and recreation plan.

It talks about making sure that we have land and facilities that keep pace with growth similar to Blueprint Denver.

It talks about a 10-minute walk to parks and open spaces being an important metric, and that we need to make sure we have the operation facilities upgraded and to meet the baseline standards.

Then we'll look at the two neighborhood plans for each of those sites.

So starting with the Far Northeast Area Plan, this one specifically to that far northeast maintenance center.

Um that plan talks about maintaining a high level of park service, both for existing parks, but also that there needs to be an operations facility uh to support the more efficient maintenance of those parks.

So it specifically calls for the maintenance facility in that plan.

And then looking at the Globewille neighborhood plan.

Um it again has a lot of language about having accessible and accessible system of parts that's kind of complete throughout the neighborhood, and it specifically calls for that regional open space amenity at the Heron Pond site.

We do find this application to be consistent with those adopted plans, and we'll move into the second criterion, the public interest.

So we do find that it furthers the public interest by implementing the city's adopted plans, talking about the addition of recreational open spaces, kind of throughout all of our plans, and then finally we do find it to be consistent with the purpose and intent statements found in the Denver zoning code.

So with that, we recommend approval finding that all review criteria have been met.

As always, I'm available for questions.

We also have uh Denver Parks and Rec folks here with questions.

We have Owen and Scott.

Great.

Thank you so much, Joe.

Uh, we've got councilman of Vitres up.

Thank you so much, committee chair.

Um, thanks for the presentation.

This is great.

I'm curious about uh do we already own these parks?

Yes.

Or and are they operating as parks currently hi-wells assistant director for parks planning with Department uh Denver Parks Rec.

Um they're not yet they we own all three of them, um, and we're in the process of moving towards creating parks at all of them in different in different fashions.

So Heron Pond is wrapping up, and I think we'll probably um when you say wrapping up construction, um so that is actually a huge deal, and I don't think it's quite enough play.

Um that's a brand new regional park in Global Bill.

It's you know 40 million dollar investment, 80 acre regional park, so a huge a huge thing for North Denver.

Um 44th in Pearl is a site we acquired um in pieces over the last couple years, working with a local neighborhood to think about what is the vision for that space.

Um hopeful that we'll be successful with a grant application that we've partnered uh with Denver Park Trust to kind of run a community design effort on that.

So that's in the pre-development stage, and the Northeast Maintenance Facility is a site we purchased last year so that we could have an ability to fulfill that obligation from the prior bond to deliver northeast maintenance facilities.

So that's in the works as well.

Why did why are we rezoning it now if you've already been constructing a parking lot?

At Heron Pond.

Yeah.

Uh map cleanup, but I would like to get ahead of these so that we have all these when we do acquisitions close in time that we bring like a bundle to you in the next year, so this neatly into OSA before we're moving into development.

I'm sorry, you talked really fast.

Sorry, all the time.

Yes.

We are in the uh this is the second time we've done this in the last couple of years.

We've been doing a big map cleanup effort.

So we probably had like 70 parks plus or minus that just over the history have just been in random, random districts.

So we cleaned up about 25 or 30 last year, which is like our big chunk, um, and we have a couple more that are new acquisitions.

So as those come in, right?

We buy them from on the private market, they were in whatever district they were before.

It just takes a bit to kind of get through this process.

A little trying to think of how we can make this as quick and painless as possible for you because you're usually already signing off on the acquisition of those properties to say, hey, this is to be a park.

Then we have to come back later and say also we should put zoning on it because it's to be a park.

So it's a little, I don't want to waste your time too frequently, so we're trying to figure out the right cadence to do this, but that's that's helpful.

That's the story.

Thank you.

And so is it's just random that these particular parks are bundled together.

Yes, because they're they're newly acquired.

So 44th Pearl and Far Northeast, we are relatively new acquisitions, so it's kind of like the model going forward.

So as we do these acquisitions, hopefully we have smaller and smaller bundles of just like okay.

In 27, we acquired a property or two properties, and we'll come to you.

We just rezoned the Park Hill golf course, right?

Yeah, and that was before we closed on it, correct?

Or like during the purchase process is when we're going to do that.

Yeah, you just put together several actions all bundled together.

Yeah, I think ideally that would make more sense than coming after, and it could change the value of the land, so that's my only concern there as well.

Like changing it sooner so that we make sure that as we purchase we're getting a fair price because it's a park, not something that's gonna make money.

Yeah.

Great, awesome.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Thank you, committee chair.

Thank you.

Owen, um we might still have some more questions for you.

Um, President Semple.

Yeah, so for the one that when did we close it the one on tally?

Um it up here in about five minutes.

Okay.

If you want it back to think we did that.

It was either last year or the year before that we actually did closed.

I can't remember the closing date because the due diligence and the actual real estate transactions end up taking a long time.

Okay.

And then Heron Pond, was that that's been around that I mean that pond was like um super contaminated at one time, like one of the most contaminated place ever.

Did we get is the water what's the water quality like there with the in the pond itself?

That is a good question.

I'll need to check my urban ecology colleagues.

And who'd we acquire that one from?

Uh that's actually a partnership project with Daddy.

That's what I thought.

Okay.

And then the one on Pearl, it was piecemealed, you said?

Yes.

The initial piece of property was um the tiny home village.

Tiny home village.

And taking up additional slices to make that a more sizable.

And then that that's done, you're done acquiring land on that one.

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you, madam chair.

Thank you so much.

Um, sorry, Owen, one more for me.

Um because we're kind of a special committee where we're just capturing things within half a mile.

Are you bringing other ones, other parks through that might go to the planning committee?

This is the only bundle.

I'll defer to Joe However CPD wants to do it, or you want to do it.

Yeah, no, I like seeing these here.

Yeah, just wondering if these got broken up from a larger grouping that's getting rezoned.

No, this is a small bundle, and I hope it's small bundles for everywhere.

All right, thank you so much.

I'd like to welcome Councilman Watson uh to the meeting.

Thank you for being here.

Um, do you have any questions?

I don't.

We um had some uh good briefings that provide immediate information, so I feel pretty solid.

So thank you, uh chair.

Very good.

Um okay, seeing no one else in queue.

Can I get a motion and a second?

I'll move.

Yeah, second.

Thank you, and seconded.

Um CP and uh everybody supportive moving forward.

Great.

I don't see any opposition from those online.

Um thank you, Joe Parks.

We'll see you on the floor.

Looks good.

Um, we have one item on consent.

If you have any questions about that, let us know.

Um otherwise we are adjourned.

Hey, does herring pond still have talk the crazy signs around it?

They you you mean the the painted signs or when I say they're contaminated.

We had two under public work director, we had to put signs that it don't disturb the water.

Yes, they still do.

They're still there.

They still do.

So then they have a