Denver Mayor and City Council Meeting - Quarterly Goals Update and Stadium IGA Discussion - April 29, 2025
Denver Mayor and City Council Meeting - Quarterly Goals Update and Stadium IGA Discussion - April 29, 2025
The meeting on April 29, 2025, began with announcements from council members and a discussion of the stadium IGA (item 250555) regarding potential tax increment financing (TIFF) for a proposed women's soccer stadium. The majority of the session was dedicated to a quarterly update from the mayor on the city's 2025 goals across six strategic pillars. The meeting concluded with a unanimous vote to enter executive session to discuss pending litigation.
Announcements
- Councilwoman Sawyer announced a successful community cleanup with over 80 volunteers, upcoming East Park and traffic study meetings, and a personal birthday note.
- Councilman Watson promoted the Colfax Marathon weekend (May 16-18) and challenged the mayor's team to a relay race.
Discussion Items
Stadium IGA (Item 250555) - TIFF Reimbursement Discussion
Councilwoman Sandoval called off the item to seek clarification on a follow-up email from the Department of Finance indicating the ownership group's intent to seek TIFF reimbursement for the stadium itself (estimated $150–200 million) once existing infrastructure obligations are satisfied.
- Tracy Huggins, Executive Director of DURA, explained that the existing urban renewal plan prioritizes reimbursement to the metropolitan district for infrastructure. Any reimbursement for stadium costs would require amendments to the infrastructure master plan and other documents, which would come before council.
- Dan Barrett, advisor to the ownership group (CAA Icon), confirmed the group intends to seek TIFF reimbursement for the stadium and will engage DURA on eligibility.
- Councilwoman Sandoval noted the economic impact study projected $135 million in sales/use tax revenue and $359 million in property tax revenue, but Chief Economist Lisa Martinus Templeton confirmed those figures do not account for substitution effects (only ~10% net new revenue estimated).
- Councilman Sawyer clarified that the infrastructure master plan is not directly approved by council but is referenced in documents that council will vote on, allowing future discussion.
Quarterly Update on Citywide Goals (Q1 2025)
Mayor presented progress on six goals, noting the data reflects activity through March 30, 2025.
- Vibrant: 10 community meetings held, over 3,000 survey responses for the comprehensive plan (Vibrant Denver Bond). 16th Street reopening targeted for May 31, with final blocks by July.
- Affordable: 170 affordable units brought online (target 3,000 for the year); most projects open in H2 2025. Applications open for commercial-to-residential conversions downtown.
- Safe: Shootings down 16% year-to-date; homicides down 56%; homicides involving firearms down 65%. Downtown Action Plan launched with mounted patrol, bike patrol, and STAR responders.
- All In Mile High: 1,000 people experiencing homelessness brought indoors in Q1; 500 exited to permanent housing. Councilwoman Lewis raised concerns about service quality at sites, urging partnership with smaller nonprofits and faster invoice payments. Councilman Watson requested tracking of housing retention ("stickiness").
- Climate Resilient: 616 clean energy systems installed (heat pumps, solar arrays, EV chargers). Tree planting planned in spring and fall; none in Q1.
- Family Friendly: 12,000 of 60,000 kids in high-quality out-of-school programming. Summer job fairs: 660 high school students hired toward 2,000 goal; $500 bonus for youth, $1,000 stipend for employers. Councilman Cashman raised concern about rising chronic absenteeism in DPS (37.6% in 2022-23).
Key Outcomes
- The stadium ownership group confirmed intent to seek TIFF reimbursement; DURA will evaluate eligibility for public purpose costs. Any amendments to the urban renewal plan will require council approval.
- No formal votes were taken on the stadium or quarterly update.
- The council unanimously voted to enter executive session (5-0? All in favor, none opposed) pursuant to DRMC 234A to discuss pending litigation and legal advice.
- The next quarterly update will occur in Q2.
Meeting Transcript
Welcome to this meeting of the mayor and Denver City Council. At this weekly session, city agencies brief the mayor and council members on various proposals and projects across the city. This meeting of the mayor and city council members begins now. Good morning, everybody. Uh, thank you so much for being here. Welcome to Mayor Council. I know. We are on the air and live. Delighted to have friends and allies here. Um we will start with some uh uh introductions. Distinguished gentleman to my right, could you start us off? Uh yeah, feeling fairly gentle today, thank you, Mayor. Cashman South Denver District Six just pleased this punch to be here. Thank you for being here. Good morning. Um Sarah Faraday, one of your Denver City Council members at large, not fit as a fiddle. But we'll we're off on I'll just breathe it in. Good morning, everyone. Sad Anna Gonzalez Gutierrez, your other council member at large. Good morning, Amanda. Sorry, District 5. Good morning, Diana Romero Campbell, Southeast Denver District 4. Good morning, Darren Watson, serving the fine district nine. Good morning, Kevin Plum, Southwestern District 2. Good morning, Amanda Fanabon, Recworth Denver District Red. Great. Thank you all so much for being here. We will do some announcements if folks have them. Then we have a general session update on quarterly update on citywide goals. Then we have an exec session too. So we'll have a full morning. But let's start with announcements. Are there announcements that folks have they would like to share with uh fellow members or the listening public? Councilwoman Sawyer. Thanks. Um a couple of things. So first of all, I want to say thank you to all of our uh volunteers who came out this weekend for our biannual parks cleanup, bus stop cleanup, community cleanup day. Um we had over 80 volunteers who came to Montclair um and who cleaned district five parks and bus stops this weekend. So really appreciate everyone in our community coming together to keep our community beautiful. Um tonight we have an East Park meeting uh for residents of East Park neighbors, please come and join us. It is online 5 30 p.m. We do this twice a year to connect our residents to the city agencies that uh do work in the area so that city agencies can hear directly from our residents about some of the challenges that those residents face over in East Park. Uh next Tuesday, 6 p.m., we have our annual um traffic study meeting. So this year we did Holly between 8th and Leedsdale and have some good recommendations that came out of that. So um join us, Farum Pears, who is our traffic engineering firm, our Department of Transportation and Infrastructure that is also online. And then finally, um just a moment of personal privilege. It is my twin's birthday on Friday 15. So happy birthday, Lily and Olivia and Lemon. Happy birthday. Thanks.
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