Welcome back to this weekly meeting of the Community Planning and Housing Committee with Denver City Council.

Your community planning and housing committee starts now.

All right, good afternoon, everyone.

It is Tuesday, November 3rd, election day.

Everyone of you have not voted, please go out and vote.

I don't care how you vote, but get out there and do it.

I'm Amanda Sawyer.

I have the honor of representing the residents of District 5 and also vice chairing the community planning and housing committee.

Before we get started, why don't we do a round of introductions and I will start to my left.

Jamie

Torres, West

Denver District 3.

Good afternoon, Paul Cashman, South Denver District 6.

John

Taylor is District 8.

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

That is District 7.

All right, we have a quick one today.

Well, it might not be quick, but we only have one item to discuss today that is an action item in 1627 historic preservation tax credit application.

So

why don't you introduce yourself and take it away, please?

Sounds great.

I'm Jen Capetto.

I manage the landmark team for community planning and development.

So I'm here to present uh a proposed amendment to section 30-10 of the Denver Revised Municipal Code, which is the landmark ordinance.

It's the section about tax credits.

Just a quick reminder that uh the landmark ordinance was established by City Council almost 60 years ago.

We are 59 years right now.

Um, and uh looking forward to next year, which will be our 60th.

Um the purpose was to designate preserve and protect properties in Denver, but also to foster civic pride, stabilize and improve aesthetic and economic vitality and promote good urban design.

So the proposal here um before you is to amend Chapter 30 10 or section 30-10 of the um revised municipal code.

Landmark preservation is a certified local government by the National Park Service.

And as a certified local government, Denver Landmark Preservation, my team is um has been delegated to review tax credits for non-commercial properties in Denver County.

So those are properties that are uh not they they could be residential, but they are non-income producing properties.

Um we've been doing this for many years, um, and last year the Denver Landmark Preservation Commission certified almost $550,000 in tax credits uh for non-commercial properties in Denver.

So those went back to the property owners who then use that to help with their contractor payments and their um their uh work on their um homes, their architecture payments and things like that.

So um it's really great.

It's a wonderful tax credit program, um, and we're excited that we're still doing this.

But what we're proposing to do is to uh remove a reference to an expired state statute.

This is the 1990 state statute that is no longer um in effect.

There is an updated statute that is still included in our ordinance.

But we also would like to allow landmark preservation staff to review tax credit applications and certify those rather than this the landmark preservation commission.

That is something that the um state has said is fine.

We are one of the only municipalities in the state that requires our commission to approve them, and they were actually wondering why we do this, and we thought it was there for regulation.

It's

not.

Um so we also would like to clarify that that the landmark team's only reviewing residential, which is non-income producing tax credit applications.

The state is responsible for the commercial um income producing ones.

So um got a very messy ordinance with things that are taken out.

Um, but here's the cleaned up version, and it's that the executive director out um and the staff uh of CPD shall act as a reviewing entity.

We've updated the CRS is the correct um current tax credit program, and then appeal, which is the state's program.

Any appeal of um staff's decision would go to the state uh review board, which is their process that they have for the state through their rules and regulations.

That's all I

have.

That was easy.

Uh okay.

We were we did have, because this is a change to the DRMC, 15 minutes of public comment set aside.

No one signed up for public comments.

So we will go to council member questions and we'll start with councilmember Torres.

Okay, thank you.