Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
On Tuesday, October 6, 2026, the Denver City Council Parks, Art and Culture Committee met at 10:30 AM in Room 391 of the City and County Building. Chair Shontel Lewis presided with Vice Chair Paul Kashmann and members Flor Alvidrez, Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, Chris Hinds, Diana Romero Campbell, and Amanda Sawyer present. The committee considered three action items: a $3,005,589.87 contract for library and cultural plaza design services, amendments to the city’s tree preservation code (Chapter 57), and a package of 15 on-call parks maintenance and construction contracts with a combined potential value of up to $287.5 million.
No public testimony was offered on any of the agenda items, though the agenda had scheduled 15 minutes for item 26-1451.
Mandy Vink and Patrick Riley (Denver Bond Office) presented a contract with Handprint Architecture Inc. for $3,005,589.87 to design renovations to the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library & Museum, Montebello Branch Library, and the Montbello Civic Center Park Cultural Plaza and Shade Structure. The projects are part of the 58 Vibrant Bond projects with a combined construction value of $25 million. The design scope includes HVAC, climate controls, roof and window inspections, space reconfiguration, and community-driven shade structure design. The contract has a 21% MWBE goal. Councilmember Watson asked about incorporating prior community engagement (over a year at Blair Caldwell) and avoiding engagement fatigue. Councilmember Kashmann inquired about library closure during construction; staff estimated Q2 2028 to Q4 2029 for construction, with bookmobile services and relocation to rec centers available. Councilmember Sawyer raised concerns about not overlapping library closures in Southeast Denver. The committee approved the contract 7-0 after a motion by Alvidrez and second by Sawyer.
Elizabeth Judd and Luke Killoran (Office of the City Forester) presented eight proposed changes to strengthen tree preservation and protection, stemming from the 2024 Urban Forest Strategic Plan. Key changes include expanding definition of "city tree," clarifying street tree planting requirements on private streets, enabling authority to require consulting arborists for certain development projects, creating a "Legacy Tree" program for private property listing, updating appeals processes, and establishing a payment-in-lieu fee of $1,600 per tree for infeasible planting. Councilmember Alvidrez raised equity concerns about cost impacts on low-income communities and the inclusion of invasive species like Tree of Heaven. Councilmember Kashmann questioned resident cost for dead tree removal and the value of the Legacy Tree program. Councilmember Hinds noted conflicts between forestry and DOTI over sidewalk repairs and tree root protection. Councilmember Romero Campbell asked about fee implementation and impacts on housing choices. Multiple members expressed concerns about costs to homeowners. Following discussion, Councilmember Alvidrez moved to postpone the bill to the December 2, 2026 meeting, citing a full November 3 agenda; the motion was seconded by Hinds and passed 6-0 (with Sawyer absent).
Kent Sondgerath and Aratiya (Parks and Recreation) presented 15 on-call contracts for citywide parks installation, maintenance, rehabilitation, and restoration services over five years. The contracts are split into a Prime pool (10 firms, $20 million cap each, max $6 million per work order) and an SBE pool (5 firms, $7.5 million cap each, max $1.5 million per work order). Five of the firms are new to Denver Parks work. Possible scopes include concrete trails, playgrounds, irrigation, fencing, and improvements to 58 Vibrant Denver bond projects. Councilmember Kashmann asked about total potential expenditure if all contracts are maxed. A motion by Alvidrez, seconded by Hinds, to approve the 15 resolutions as a block carried 6-0 (Sawyer absent).
Welcome back to this monthly meeting of the parks Arts and Culture Committee of Denver City Council. Join us in the parts, Arts and Culture Committee starting now. Welcome to the parks, Arts and Culture Committee meeting today. I'm Councilwoman Chanto Lewis, and I represent District 8. Today is Tuesday, October 4th, and we can begin with around an introduction to Councilwoman Albido's want to keep us up. Yeah, Flora Lidris, Denver is Lucky District 7. Good morning, Darrell Watson, fine District 9. Good morning, Paul Cash from South Denver District 6. Sarana Gonzalez Cucherez, Councilmember at Large, Diana Romero Campbell, Southeast Denver, District 4. Chris Hines. Denver's perfect ed. Thanks. So we have a number of action items. The first being architectural and engineering design services for bond projects. And so if you all can introduce yourselves and you can get as I know we have a little busy agenda. Patrick Riley, Denver Bond Office. And Mandy Bank, project manager in the Denver Bond Office. Ellie Turner, Denver Bond Office. Awesome. So we're here today to talk about our library's uh original bundle for Blair Caldwell. Um Montbello Branch Library and the Montbello Civic Center Plaza shade structure, also known as La Plazita. Um this is Bill 261452. Um it is a contract with handprint architecture for a little over three million dollars. Um we're gonna talk about the project, why we bundled the project, and what the timeline is going forward. And with that, I'll hand it to Mandy. Excellent. So this design scope will support three of the 58 Vibrant Bond projects with the total value of the combined total value of these three projects is 25 million. As Patrick mentioned, the contract we're looking at today is just around three million. Next slide, please. We're going to jump into the current conditions. Specific to Blair Caldwell, uh, this facility was built in 2003. The building itself overall is in pretty good condition. However, there's a lot of the behind the scenes. The HVAC, climate controls, environmental conditions that need to get updated as well as specific to floors two and three, which is where the special collections are, um, and then the museum is up on the third floor. So wanting to make sure that we have the right right accessible or right access and conditions for maintaining housing and displaying those objects, artifacts, and rare collections within the special collections. Moving on to the design scope. This is what is in handprints contract. It's a continuation of work that began in 2023. So they finished first floor renovations, and this is really advancing it onto that second floor research library and the third floor museum. It will be zone temperature, climate, and UV controls, and then there will also be improvements throughout the entire facility. So HBAC, building automation. Um we're going to inspect the windows, the roof, everything to make sure that once we make those climate controls inside that we have that weatherproofing and and making sure to keep the elements out. Then there will also be just the user experience will be different and improved within the second and third floors as well. Moving on to Montbello Library, current conditions. Uh this building, first I want to point out in the photo on the top photo on the left side. It has failing HVAC.