Welcome to the city council.

Our Councillor Boulier is running a few minutes late, but we will get started and we will go ahead and start with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thank you so much.

Click back.

Can we please get a roll call?

Mayor Tapia Vega?

Here.

Mayor Pro Tem Barnes.

Good evening.

Counselor Polier.

Councilor Friedland.

Here.

Counselor Callevas.

Good evening.

Councilor Giannola.

Here.

And Councilor Jensen.

Here.

Mayor, we have a quorum.

Thank you so much.

As I said, Councilor F Councillor Bullier is only a few minutes away.

He'll be joining us soon.

As with every city council meeting, we will begin tonight with uh public input.

For those of you who wish to speak, just fill out one of these speaker request forms there in the back through that glass door and hand it over to our city clerk.

When you do come up and speak, just state your name and address for the record, and then you will have five minutes to speak.

If you don't have a good gauge of what five minutes look like, don't worry about it.

There's a little clock right in front of you that'll tell you exactly how much time you have left.

Uh just in terms of fairness and equity at the five minute mark, I will stop you just so everyone gets the same exact amount of time.

Um and with that, oh actually, and if you're not here, you can also speak uh to us online.

So we have public input, and that phone number is on our website.

And with that, uh we will speak we will start tonight with Mr.

Frank Archuletta.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor, Council members here, staff.

Staff, stop insulting all the 270 plot owners.

It is time for the truth.

Council, you must allow coffin burials.

Council, do not betray the citizens who paid and own 270 burial plots.

Your integrity, your ethnics, your leadership is important.

You must maintain the loyalty and honor to your oath.

No justice for the senior citizens who paid and owned 270 burial plots.

The Colorado State archaeologists and city staff have no evidence or proof to be able to shut down all 270 burial plots to no casket burials.

The city of Lafayette paid 83,000 to SWCA, the environmental consultants for ground penetration radar, GTR.

The executive summary states, the cemetery appears, overall organized, appearing in roles, and no evidence of stack or overlapping.

It is recommended by SWCA, Environmental Consultants.

Any excavation be undertaken with extreme care.

The agent recognition to say shut the cemetery down to all casket burials here, basically.

You must not pass the resolution 26 to the S 13 here.

The state archaeologists did not have the authority to recommend to staff to close all casket burials in the domain 270 plus.

The state archaeologist was here in Lafayette for only three days.

Two of them maybe.

How can she make a recommendation to city staff to close 270 plus for the city casket burials?

Beverly Smith, 22-year Lafayette City Clerk, a professional, and an expert said no major problems with coffin burials.

Three years ago, the Law Human Right Commissioner wrote a letter on April 26th, 2023 to Monty Stevenson, the director of parks and recreation ahead of the cemetery.

HRC endorses halting burials in the cemetery section known as Potter's Field.

Henning had 100 plus.

He was burying two for six people in one area there.

I also share this information with City Council and staff.

We will not be here in the situation right now we're in, only if council did closed Potter's Hills three years ago.

Now councils, if they would have stopped digging here recently, the state archaeologists would have never been here.

That's what happened in Potterfield there.

The city has six coffin burials that I know of in the last year.

Four were on city owned properties.

Here in the United States and throughout the world, if they hit a coffin left or right, basically do with move right, left.

As a public servant, you must uphold justice for the 270 owners and stop all this pain that they are all going through here.

Now I'm gonna come up here.

This is from Nancy Green here, 1999, and they went ahead basically in 2000.

What they did, they stole out the rest.

And we can come up here.

This area is a map of everybody else buried in that cemetery, and everybody at own plots.

But they escape right here, basically what they did.

All clocks and everything, the owners of the plots and all that.

This is the complete 99 from 1901, basically.

But it's organized, folks.

This cemetery is organized.

This is what they get all the way across.

It is all organized.

This is from the state, by the way.

All organized, all the way across.

I'm not sure we see this.

Basically, what we have right here, folks.

This here is a map of everybody that's buried in that cemetery right there.

And also all the names were on the plots.

There is room in the cemetery.

I would like to take all council members of the cemetery and walk every body through that entire cemetery, and you'll see.

Oh, I got 42 seconds.

Yeah.

Okay, Ken, thank you.

But anyway, yeah.

Now, evidence and the proof that staff has presented to you is nonsense.

Total ridiculous nonsense.

That recommendation must not pass, and basically, what you ought to do right now, allow anybody that dies, allow them to be buried.

Plain and simple.

Their spaces are available and everything else.

And according to your $83,000 survey, no stacking, no evidence.

As you did when you went ahead and had a moratorium on the newspaper, staff said there was basically overlapping.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Archalena.

Up next, we'll hear from Ernie Garcia.

City Council.

I uh I take it that none of you grew up here.

I mean, I've never known the family.

I know your names, but maybe or even once school.

But you know, we have generations in our family that are buried here at Lafayette.

And uh my father's buried there, my mother's still alive, and she's very concerned that she won't be buried there.

We are located when you enter the main entrance and the cemetery, right to the right.

You've never had a conflict about remains or something there that uh conflicts with what's going on.

And uh, you know, I just like to say that you know, the GPR has shown overall organized graves appearing, which means they're all in a row, there's nothing overlapping or anything, and there has never been a problem on the uh south end, which is the entrance, and the potter field, yeah, they found a couple remains there, but they moved from people being buried, they've moved them over just a little bit.

So I don't see why you have to close the whole thing down when there's so many people and loved ones that are buried there, and people that want to be buried next to their chin, you know, it's just not right.

And uh, you know, if you were in that situation and had generations buried there, you'd feel the same way if you had plots, you know, just humanity just think about it, you know.

If it was me, and I have family there, and they told me I can't be buried there next to them.

How would you feel?

You know, I just have to say think about it before you make the judgment where nobody can be buried, or just uh people that are cremated can be buried there because there's a lot of people that don't believe in cremation, never have my family especially.

We've never believed in cremation, and like I said, my father's there buried, and my sister, my loved ones around there, the only one left, it's me and my mother, which you know she's in her 90s, and she's so hurt over this.

So take into consideration.

They should GPR each um site that is still open to burial that people have, and just do it right there, and if there's nothing there, have them buried.

You know, that's all you have to do.

But you know, instead of going the other route and having people marry this town, because then you're gonna put it with uh wherever.

So thank you.

Thank you so much.

Next we'll hear from Gary Posey.

My name is Gary Cosey.

I live at 309 Cedar Avenue for 60 years.

I only get enough for 72 years.

So I'm not quite as old as some of these folks.

I've been here a lot longer.

But anyway, my story's a lot like the ones I didn't come to the last meeting.

I watched it.

So mine's story is the same as theirs.

We have family up there.

My wife's family has four generations.

And there's one plot left.

That's mine.

I don't want to meet any myself.

I think we're at a point where we need solutions now.

It looks to me like as I watched that last meeting you guys had.

The state lady made a recommendation.

To me, recommendation doesn't mean close.

This is our tongue.

You guys are here to represent us.

Why do if it's if it's the state we gotta fight?

That's who we have to fight.

And I think we're at the point now where we need solutions.

I think it sounds like there's 27 plots that we're talking about.

Why can't we block those 270 and say we'll deal with them one at a time as each situation comes up?

You know, most of us are in our 70s and 80s, and we don't have you guys made it indefinite.

So the way it is right now, as we die off, the time is on your side, not ours.

So I don't know why we can't block them out, deal with one situation at a time as they come up.

Uh there maybe there's a better way to do each individual plot.

As far as I know, that wasn't done.

It's a whole cemetery thing.

And I I think there's got to be a way to get through this.

And we should have been having these discussions before you guys passed what you already passed.

And we need to correct that.

So thank you.

Thank you so much.

Next we'll hear from Mitch Blunt.

My name's Mitch Blunt.

Uh, I currently live in Broomfield.

Um, but my family's been in Lafayette Louisville area for uh generations.

I have I believe it's three generations before me buried um in the Lafayette Cemetery.

And we have multiple plots that are being affected by this.

Um to me, this is a gross problem with a very common sense solution, and that solution is that there's 270 plots, and they all need to be taken care of accordingly.

Um you have a whole room of people here that have given their blood, sweat, tears, time, and hard-earned money to this town and to this community.

You should do what's right by them.

What's right by them is letting them be buried with their loved ones and seeing this thing through.

If the cemetery closes after that 270, that's great.

It's fine.

But the people that currently own plots that paid for them, some of them 50, 60, 70 years ago, that are expecting to be laid to rest with people that they care about, just like I would assume all of you guys anticipate happening at the end of your life.

Do what's right by those people.

Let's find a common sense solution to this.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Next we'll hear from Chris Donlinger.

Hi there.

Um, I wrote mine out.

Um I'm here to speak about about the cemetery resolution, the moratorium.

I feel very bad I was not able and didn't know about the previous meeting, and I wasn't able to be here to speak with everybody else and help everyone out.

From reading everything on your website and watching the council meeting, everyone spoke about the emotional side of this issue.

My parents are some of those that have a deed that they purchased a plot a long, long time ago.

My brother was killed in a car accident at age 18.

And my mom is next to him.

We have one more plot for my dad, and he just got done speaking to you, Gary Posey.

He would like to be buried next to her.

They were together for over 60 years, and they have plans to be next to each other in the cemetery.

We have four generations of people, like my dad said, and our family buried, all buried there.

Since the day my dad heard about this, it has caused him undue emotional stress about his final resting place.

With my mom and my brother.

I know you heard it before, but he can't be buried in Lewisville.

It's just a thing.

You can't do that.

I personally go to the cemetery every day for my peace and healing to talk to my mom and my brother.

My dad needs to be with them when it's his time.

I have been trying to do everything I can and do um everything and read everything on your websites.

I watched your meeting, and most of the families and speakers, they're all my dad's friends.

We all grew up together here in this town.

I went to the city hall to ask if I could talk to someone about the cemetery.

They said no, there was no one to talk to.

The only thing that I could do, they gave me a phone number of a person named Cindy.

I called and left messages for four days in a row, and she finally returned my call and said she did not have any answers to any of my questions, but she could take my email and we would be informed of the dates and times of the public input meetings that the city council was going to hold for all of us.

So my dad and I anxiously await an email each day to see what day that meeting's gonna be to meet with you all.

After listening to the council meeting over the YouTube video, I heard some of you ask if the city had information on the 270 grave sites.

Thank you for asking about that in that meeting.

The deputy city manager said no, that she was really busy, and that was really hard to get.

So today I went to the city and I volunteered my time to help gather information on those 270 sites for you to help to make sure everybody knew about the information, like we did not know about.

They told me that there was no one to talk to to call Cindy again.

So I began leaving messages again.

I spend a lot of my time um volunteering at the Lafayette History Museum because I like to help preserve, promote, and protect the beautiful history of this town.

It's a great place, and you can tell by all these people that are here.

When we walked in today, everybody's just family because we all grew up and knew each other, and there's several generations of us here.

Watching the council meeting, I sincerely appreciate those of you willing to represent our position as elected officials and try to help with solutions along with understand the deeper emotional stress that is on so many people.

Thank you for hearing and representing all of us that voted for you, and we all trusted you.

I beg you to continue to exhaust any and all options before approving this resolution to close the cemetery.

The state experts even said that this is only one of the methods that there are out there.

I'm looking forward to discussing these options with you at those public input meetings that Cindy talked about.

Please remember that this may be just a yes or no vote to you all.

But this is a forever eternal decision for many of us that gets affected for many generations.

Thank you.

So before we move on, just two things real quick.

The first one is we we we love the public input, and we certainly appreciate you all uh coming here and speaking to us.

Just to be clear, and I've had two people reach out to me to make it clear.

The cemetery uh is not on the agenda tonight, so there will be no council action tonight.

With that, we do appreciate your public input.

And secondly, just in terms of clapping and cheering after people speak, we would want to not do that, and that's for a couple reasons.

A just to make sure that we we keep um uh efficiency and we make sure that we we do things uh correctly here.

But the other part is we certainly, if someone were to disagree with you, if someone were to have a different opinion, we certainly don't want to uh intimidate them from speaking.

So we just want to make sure everybody gets the exact same opportunity to speak and everybody feels safe when coming to speak with us.

So if you could please just refrain from cheering or booing or clapping or whatever it is, but we certainly appreciate uh your public input tonight and every other night.

Uh with that, we will speak.

Uh we'll move on to Donnell Don Delinger.

Hi there, my name's Danelle Donelinger.

Um, eight eleven's went down away.

Gary Posey is my grandfather.

Chris Dondelinger is my mom.

Um we didn't know about the first meeting, and I'm apologize for my emotion as you can tell.

This is really impactful to our whole family.

Um Mr.

Mayor Council, I'm standing here just asking for what you're asking of us.

You're asking for fairness, you're asking for equity, you're asking for every side to be heard, and we sat in that living room and watched the whole hour and 32-minute meeting twice.

We we sat there and I wholeheartedly believe that you guys were on the side of Lafayette.

It's pronounced Lafayette.

Somebody needs to tell the surveyor lady that.

Um, but I truly wholeheartedly believe I can see it in your eyes that you want to help us.

I know that you have our backs, I know in your hearts that you know this is wrong, and we just need solutions.

And so I'm sitting here watching my grandpa's world fall apart, watching my mom's world fall apart, my grandmy and grandpa are love story.

They've been together since they were 15, and they need to be together eternally, and this is a lifelong decision.

If there's anything we can do, you have a whole room of people that's willing to help you brainstorm.

You guys are so bright, you guys are so smart.

I read about each of you.

Every time your letter comes in the mail, my grandpa reads about each of you.

And you're here for a reason.

These people put you up here for a reason.

And we need your advocacy, please.

I'm asking if there's anything we can do if you read through all that.

I was listening to that gal and everything she said, and we can't use an excavator.

That's okay.

You know what?

We need shovels.

We can hand dig, we can be careful, we can do other things.

There are other ways.

If you look up the history of burials in Colorado, which I spent a lot of time doing recently, there's overrides in Denver that have had this problem happen at several places, and they went to vertical stacking.

And is that perfect?

Is that ideal for anybody?

Is that the perfect solution?

I don't know that there is a perfect solution because I know you guys are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

But I'm asking that you please advocate for these 270 people.

And we just exhaust every option possible.

If we could please meet with other cities, if we could please go and my mom, my grandpa, we're all willing to donate any and all time that you all need for this.

We'll find solutions, we'll figure out something.

If you need an extra shovel, I'll help with every single burial.

These people are my family.

This town is my family.

And it's everything to us.

And these people, they don't deserve it.

And watching my 82-year-old grandfather sit there and suffer last night.

I just, I couldn't live with myself if I didn't ask for your help.

And you're the people that can help me right now.

So I don't know if we need to go to vertical stacking.

I don't know if each family needs to pay for an individual plot survey, and I could help fundraise money for that.

If it's too expensive for the city to do, there's gotta be some way to help these people, and there's gotta be some way to help us.

And I know that it's it's not us versus you, and I know a lot of people's voices are coming out of anger right now, but it's not anger towards you all.

It's just love and our love for our families, and we feel like it's the only way that we can advocate, and we're given five minutes to share our whole heart up here, and I don't know how hard this decision is, and I know I couldn't be in your all's shoes, but I'm sincerely just standing here asking for my family legacy, asking for our generations to be protected.

I'm a sixth-generation Colorado native, and all my family is in there, and my grandpa deserves to be at rest with my grandma after 62 years.

And you guys are the only people that can help us.

So, like I said, if we can meet with the Denver cemeteries that have had to go through this, if we could meet with anybody else in the states, there are other states that have had other solutions as well.

If we need to have each family pay for individual plot surveys, because it sounds like the north, if you talk to my grandpa, like I said, he knows the whole history before the cemetery was there.

The north side is more crowded than the south side.

If we need to individually plot survey anything, I don't know you guys.

I'm asking for your help.

I'm asking for your advocacy.

I'm a high school teacher, and I go to school every day, and I go in there to advocate for my kids because I know that's my job, and I know that we all elected you guys to do your advocacy duty for us.

So I don't have a whole lot to say, and I'm just willing to donate any time, effort, expended see that I can.

I'm I'm willing to help anybody in here to be able to have their eternal rights be protected, and I'm asking for equity.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Next, we'll hear from William Brueger.

Hello, my name's uh William John Bruger, my father John Bruger, my uncle.

We were a lot of brooders in this town for a long, long time.

I currently live in Littleton.

Uh but I do have a plot.

My father left me.

I put my father there three years ago.

So glad he got in.

Um I just hope that you guys would consider those things are purchased, those people were expecting something, and I think they should get what they expect.

Thank you.

Next we'll hear from Mark Don Delinger.

Hi there.

My name is Mark Bondelinger.

I'm not great at public speaking, so please give me a little bit of leeway here.

Um I'm here to speak for all the 70 people.

Um in particular, Gary Posey is my father-in-law.

His son passed away in 1985.

His son passed away in 1985, and he purchased three lots for sponsor in the cemetery for his son, for his wife, for himself.

That was a contract between him and the city.

Someone here at the city, prior to y'all, made an agreement.

They signed the paper, they took the money.

There's a contract there.

That should mean something.

When DePosey passed away in 2022, and she's buried there by Scott.

Their son.

And there's a spot there for Gary, and he deserves to be able to be buried there.

They purchased that intentionally so they could be together for eternity.

I don't understand how soulless bureaucrats can cancel that contract between the people that purchased the plots and the good faith and the city who willingly sold that lot and took the money.

Gary's been a pillar to the Lafayette community.

He's lived for over 70 years.

He graduated from Lafayette High School.

There's no one in Lafayette that is prouder to be a Lafayette Bobcat than Gary.

There's no one prouder to call Lafayette home than Gary.

When he passes, there's no one more deserving to be buried in the Lafayette Cemetery than Gary Posey.

He's one of the founders of the LYRC, which was the early iteration of Lafayette youth sports.

Many kids in the 70s and 80s and Lafayette were able to participate in baseball, softball, football, wrestling, and basketball because of Gary Posey.

He organized the city teams as well as organizing the leagues that they played in.

He coached many, many kids over the years.

He literally has given his heart and his soul to this city, and he deserves to remain here for eternity.

Please honor the contracts that you have given everyone in this room, the 270 folks that deserve it, especially Gary.

If you have a heart, if you have a soul, if you have any compassion, you'll allow these people to be buried.

Were they contracted with the city?

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Next we'll hear from Alan Garcia.

Good evening.

Grew up in Lafayette.

Moved to Brighton in 2013 when I retired from the city of Boulder.

Our family has great grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews in that cemetery.

When I purchased my plot and my two sisters' plot in 1999, I was told at that time by Susan that there was only nine sites open.

That this the cemetery would no longer be open.

So my question is were their plots sold after 1999?

And that was in July.

Second, I too talked to Cindy about eight months ago with the cooperation of Jacqueline Allen, Channel 7 News.

And I was informed that my plot, my two sisters' plots, we will be buried.

And Jacqueline Allen was told the same thing.

So I am a little confused here.

When the last plot with the city of Lafayette was sold.

And if it was sold after 1999, that's a big problem.

We are going on 27 years now.

Where were you?

Where was the city of Lafayette?

The councils.

We're going on 27 years in July.

I have communications and stuff with the City of Lafayette, and it took myself.

Several attempts to contact Cindy to talk to Cindy.

When we finally held our meeting, it kind of upsets me.

Because three of the four plots that I bought, you guys had the deeds too.

One was missing, one of my sisters.

Luckily, I had it.

And she made a copy of it.

What does that say?

What does it say about your office?

What does it say about, you know, we, the people here, pay your wages.

We really do.

And it upsets me that you can't even keep a file.

When I talked to Susan, she showed me that map.

Oh, the plots that were empty.

I asked her for a copy.

So I got a copy of it and all that.

And I am just surprised.

Uh now the city of Lafayette, City Council, as well.

Thought it was okay 27 years later, almost 27 this July.

To barely or to get a hold of people.

I'm going on 70.

I will be 70 this year.

My sisters are in their 70s.

You know how we stress how you guys have stressed us out?

Nephews and nieces.

I didn't want them having to bury me.

Because that's who a bell on.

Because I lost my wife and my kid in 1980.

So this time I'm left by myself, not by myself.

I have nephews and nieces who love me.

But why did it take almost 27 years?

I know you weren't here, but at the same time, you guys have been here for a while.

And you want to troubleshoot, you want to pay for more surveys or what have you.

No.

That ball field on the north side of the cemetery was when we were kids growing up, cemetery.

At some point, somebody decided when they put in that recenter, and we don't even know how that field got there.

That was part of the cemetery, Lafayette Cemetery.

If you have no answers, that needs to become the Lafayette Cemetery.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Next we'll hear from Aaron Eckhoff.

Good evening, everybody.

On behalf of Gary and Linda Posey and the Donald Linger family.

Gary's been more like a grandpa to me than my own grandparents have.

And I've not from Lafayette, I didn't grow up here, but from my time here, I've for one been inspired by the voices I've heard and all the emotion.

And I know you say that the grave sites aren't here on your agenda tonight, but I guarantee for every single, every single person in this room is going to be on their agenda every single day until a solution is come up with.

Um I don't know if there's more ways to do that several times so we can really narrow in the exact location for each plot that would minimize the risk for finding something else while you're dating a new plot.

Um and just finally the determination to come together to find a solution.

I think you've got a lot of people here that would pour more of their blood, sweat, and tears into Lafayette, whether that's finding those two 775 people and you know, coming up with a spreadsheet of do they want to would they rather be cremated or they're already on another burial plot or vertical stacking or some other kind of solution.

Like I said, I think this is the time for solution.

I think we've heard a lot of the emotion, and I agree with a lot of that emotion.

I think that emotion needs to be heard, and like Gary said, I think this is the time for solutions.

Um let's work together to make this right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we'll hear from Carol Sadler.

Hi, my name is Carol Sadler.

I live at 2204 Tamaron Lane, Lafayette, Colorado.

My family has been in Lafayette since the 1920s, so over a hundred years.

So you know that many, many, many people have been buried there.

One of the things that I wanted to bring up is you had that GPR survey, and in it it said that the cemetery appears overall organized with most graves appearing in rows and no evidence of stacked or overlapping graves.

My question is who started this and why did they start it?

Was the administration too lazy that they don't want to do cemeteries anymore?

Because I understand they don't do the digging.

They have another company that comes in and does this.

Why was it started?

When was it started?

You know, most of these people that you're listening to tonight have been here their whole lives, like I have, 79 years.

Um they have volunteered their time.

Like my husband, he was a volunteer fireman here, gave of his time for over 25 years.

Plus, there are other ones whose husbands have been firemen that have taken the time who fundraised to get deluge guns, did spaghetti dinners.

This is a community.

Lafayette has just been noted for being one of the best places in the United States to live.

I don't know if you all saw the article, but I've seen it.

Um the two places in Colorado, I think are Lafayette and it's either Littleton or Lakewood, one of those.

It's a community because the people love the place, and they stay here.

I mean, we wouldn't have stayed here had we not loved it here.

So I'd like to know who started this, why they started it, and I know it's not the councils.

I mean, you were elected to serve us, but the administration, I think has given you wrong information, and the administration that's here, they're not longtime residents.

You know, after they're done with their jobs and stuff, they're gonna be long gone.

But we're still be here because we care about our community, we love our community, and we you know, we uh grew up around a cemetery.

My God, we went to high school at where Sanchez elementary is.

That was our high school.

Then it was the middle school.

Our children went there.

And our grandchildren went to they therefore around here, played in LYRC football and all those things.

So I just urge you to look at this community and what we are, and to rescind the vote that you did before, and do another one where you where you take into consideration the people of Lafayette and why we're here, you know, and why you wanted to be here too.

Okay, that's all I have to say.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we'll hear from Beverly Smith.

Hello, my name's Beverly Smith, and uh I live at 1280 Scorpial Circle here in Lafayette.

And just so you know, I just had a birthday in March, 84.

So I've lived here for 84 years.

Anyhow, um really love Lafayette and hate to see what you're doing to these people.

You know, and Carol, who just spoke, she's my sister, so we have the same thing to say.

I agree with everything she said, and I just don't understand after paying eighty thousand dollars to get that company to come in, and they say everything's good.

Then you have an archaeologist come in one day or two days and say, Oh, you can't have any more burials.

I just urge you to rescind everything and let as each one comes in, somebody dies.

You just do what's necessary for that burial.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we'll hear from Sharon Stetson.

Good evening.

My name is Sharon Stetson.

Um my address is 626 Glenwood Drive and off yet.

And I'm also here to speak about the cemetery.

About a month ago, I called the city clerk's office because I had not received a notice of the moratorium that you'd placed.

And I had a brief but pleasant conversation with the deputy city clerk and updated my mailing address.

And then after the May 5th meeting, I called the city clerk's office again, left a voicemail, but instead of the deputy city clerk calling me, I received a call from Joyce Keller.

She said that the city had hired her company as a go-between the citizens and the city.

I want to tell you I was very disappointed in that.

She told me she did not have that information.

Then I asked, would it be possible for us to hire someone to do an test excavation of our lots to see if there were any remains buried there?

She told me no.

In the case of our plots, they are adjacent to six plots in which five caskets are buried.

The deceased are fire department friends.

And we personally know there were no issues when they were buried.

The husbands of the widows whose concerns were addressed at the last council meeting were also buried without issues.

In addition, in all indications, these plots should be vacant.

And I want to know how we can make an infirm informed decision about the management of our plots without having the information of those test results.

In addition, the testing company did not say that Casco casket burials should not be allowed.

They stated that they should be done with caution.

Therefore, I am requesting that council does not pass the resolution to prohibit casket burials, but instead to be allowed with caution.

Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you.

Next we'll hear from Jill Ortega.

Good evening.

My name is Jill Ortega.

I live at 603 East Baseline Road in Lafayette.

I was here on the 5th, and the thing of it is we're numbers don't lie.

There's 270 plots.

So if there's 270 plots, and you guys sold it to all these lovely people, they should be honored.

And the tests that you have, did they even go over them?

You have rotor reader or eater that can go down deep under the ground.

There are other ways that you can look at it.

It's a cemetery.

There are other places, New York, Pennsylvania, even in Denver at the botanical gardens, where my sister even sent you all a letter that stated there are bodies there.

So we know this.

However, in Lafayette, you sold these plots.

These plots should be honored.

They should be given to the people that you sold them to.

That's what we're talking about.

We're not saying bury everybody in Lafayette there.

We're saying the 270 that you sold.

So I don't understand why this is an issue.

It should be honored.

And if you have to sit there and say, okay, well, somebody's in Joe's plot, but then their husband's there, then we come with a solution, not a problem.

My God, then do the staff bearing if that's what we gotta do.

Find out how deep that that other uh body is there.

But as far as everybody knows, and when you sold them, you said that they were free and clear, just like any other cemetery.

One, two, look at the other options, call other cities, find out.

Boulder has old cemeteries too.

Hell, I may have a dead body in my uh house.

That seriously, that they have you know, died in the 1800s.

Think about it.

Pioneers were coming from the East Coast going to the West.

People were being buried in cloths or a pine box if they had them.

You guys know this.

And we should be able to have the privilege to have our loved ones being buried by their loved ones.

And even if they bought five plots or whatever, that we're talking 270 plots.

Then take the time you spent 83,000 from the scientists to go and verify.

Well, did they verify the other?

And like Carol was saying, did you people even question?

You know, we didn't even get a letter, we didn't get proof of it.

If you're gonna have a meeting, put the documentation out so people aren't getting upset.

This is a highly emotional thing.

This is also our healing place.

This is also a place where we bury our dad to heal and talk to them.

Maybe you guys don't go to the cemetery, we go to the cemetery to see our loved ones.

And it is wrong.

It is totally wrong.

And you people need to give us the documentation, the proof that okay, you can't be buried here.

Let's have a solution.

Like one gentleman sat here and said, let's have a meeting in the uh public library or here to go over it and give us the proof.

Show us what you have.

Because we don't know.

We're going from our heart.

We are sitting here thinking, oh, I can't bury my mom by her husband.

You know, other people are feeling the same way.

No, it's not right.

And you people have to really think about what you're doing and not do this to our community.

It's wrong.

So wrong.

So please look at it and figure out what you're gonna do with the 270.

If there are more than 270, put that in the number.

Give us the proof, give us the documentation, let's find a solution, not more problems.

We are a community.

You are bringing a division with us towards you because you're not doing your job.

That's how I feel.

And someone didn't do their job by selling the plots.

Yes, no?

It's a very simple question.

Yes or no.

Who the hell didn't do their job?

And then all these poor people are sad, hurt.

That's bad.

That is bad.

That is very bad.

And I'm ashamed of you guys for not helping and standing up and giving us the right documentation to help us to go forward and honor our dead and the people that want to be with their loved ones.

So please, please, let's communicate, let's work it out, find a solution so we can move forward and let these people be with their loved ones.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Up next, we'll hear from Shar Walker.

Hi, I'm Char Walker.

Um I live in Platville, Colorado.

Um, my grandparents and several other generations are all buried in the Lafayette Cemetery.

Um, I know several of these older women that are getting ready to leave.

They were a part of my childhood, bringing up in the spaghetti dinners like some of them mentioned and stuff like that.

When it comes down to everything, you guys were talking about 270 people who are supposed to be buried with their loved ones.

I use the cemetery to come and talk to my loved ones that have passed before me.

And we owe it to those 270 people that we honor our contract.

You can't tell me that you can't fulfill a contract or that you're just gonna tear up a contract because the city doesn't want to deal with the issue at hand.

It's 270 burial plots that we're talking about.

Can we talk?

Can we um deal with the each individual contract as it comes up?

Like there everybody has said before me that we are part of a community.

I'm sure that there are a ton of people.

I live an hour and 20 minutes away from here, and I am willing to come down and um dig someone's grave very carefully so they can put their loved ones next to their spouses.

Um I didn't intend to ever leave Lafayette, but I got married again, and that's what it is.

But I'm here to help that 270 people that are still here that still deserve to fulfill their contract with the city of Lafayette and do whatever it takes to support them.

They choose you guys to represent Lafayette, they choose you guys to have their backs and stand up for them.

That's what they're here for.

They're not leaving because they have a they have a choice to leave, but they want to be here till the moment that they pass and they can be with their loved ones.

And I don't know, my heart goes out to everybody that that 270 people that don't get that option because you guys are taking that right away from them.

They paid for those plots to be next to their loved ones for the rest of their lives, and that's what they get.

That's what they deserve.

You shouldn't have this man here deciding on whether or not he's gonna be able to be with his wife of 62 years.

I don't even know this guy, and I'm sorry.

But I grew up here, I spent 43 years of my life here, and it's a community.

And you guys are supposed to stand up and speak for the community, and that's why you guys were chosen as the um part of the council as the mayor, everything.

You guys have a job, and your job is to protect everybody that's sitting back here, especially the 270 people that still are not buried in that um cemetery.

It hurts me that this is even a topic of conversation that has been for years.

This is the very first meeting that I've been aware of.

Um, I would love to have more information on if there's gonna be others because I will make the track down here to be able to support everybody that is here.

Like I don't have any other cemeteries here or cemetery plots here, but I'm willing to stand up behind every single buddy that's here, the 270 people that get to have that option and be with their loved ones for the rest of their lives.

And I am not afraid of getting dirty.

I own I have a farm where I live, and I will um help um dig those graves if I absolutely have to.

So that's all I have to say.

Thanks.

Thank you so much.

Uh, this next one does not have a last name on it, but Drew D.

Thanks, Council members.

You've heard a lot of the passion, obviously, from this community tonight.

And I'm just here to echo those things and uh urge you to be deliberative and find a solution here.

Um we owe it to these folks in our community.

Um if we're gonna find that solution, let's at least define the problem.

Let's start there, right?

Of this 270, there's likely a subset that's okay with some of the solutions that have already been provided.

So let's see how many of those 270 are okay with those solutions, and let's define.

Is it 150, 200?

What's the remaining number?

And let's uh get creative from there.

For the remaining 200 or however many there are that um are not okay with the existing solutions.

Um let's offer a um localized probe or a more specific site-specific scan rather than the globalized um report that was done.

Um the state law's clear.

If there's existing remains, they can't be excavated, and everybody understands that.

Well, let's figure out what subset of that 270 actually have this problem and alleviate the pain and suffering on the those that don't.

For those that are going to face this really tough problem, let's let the families then make that deliberation themselves and make that choice rather than having it dictated from the city that everybody is not allowed to be buried.

Again, I just urge you all to be really deliberative on this.

There's precedent in Texas and many other places for grandfathering clauses, especially in the case of surviving spouses.

I just really urge us to be considerate of that.

And it's only 270, yes, but as you can see here, each of those 270, or if it's the subset that's 200 or 150, let's define it.

But it's a major, major, major deal for these folks.

And it's up to us to be really deliberative and really put our passion into this and find a solution rather than fast tracking a dictatorial stamp on us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we'll hear from Kathy Erickson.

I'm Kathy Erikson, and I live at 860 West Baseline Road, apartment 132.

It's a 55 plus community.

But I was born in Lafayette, been here my entire life.

Unlike Carol, we grew up together, we were best friends, still are.

You know, I mean, we have so much love for each other.

And we married high school sweethearts.

Carol married that big guy that she's saying about be here anymore.

But anyway, he's not from here.

But we you know, we dated friends.

We've we've been so tight with each other.

And I wasn't gonna say this, but I feel like I need to.

I was 16, and my husband was no, I was 14, and my husband was 16 when we started dating.

That was a long time ago.

We've been together all these years, and he died in 2016.

We had we bought 11 plots there.

My mom and dad, my brother, his wife, his daughter.

Um brother-in-law, my sister's supposed to be buried by him, but I was told last time there's no way that we're gonna be buried by our husbands.

And I think that that's really a hard thing.

It's hard for me to accept.

My husband was in Vietnam vet, he belonged to the fire department, the VFW.

He was coach for the Little Lee, you know, L Y R C.

All of us, like Gary was saying, all of us are together.

All of us.

We grew up together, we're still here after all these years.

We're still here, we're still friends.

And you guys need to stop and look at us as human beings, not as a burial plot.

Because I want to be buried by my husband.

And I was told, nope, there's no way you can be buried by your husband.

You could be cremated.

I said, I don't want to be cremated.

I don't know why they can't check my plot and my sister's plot to see if somebody is already there.

We bought those 11 plots.

We have eight graves up there.

Not one of them was already full or had somebody in it, eight out of eleven.

And there's only two of us that want to be buried there.

And I just don't want to be separated from my husband.

We've been together our entire lives.

You know, and now all of a sudden I was told last time, well, if you don't want to be cremated and buried by your husband, I mean, yeah, be buried by your husband, and we'll cremate you and we'll bury you in another plot.

No, you know, that really crushed me, taking me away from my husband.

I'm 79, and I was 14 when my husband and I got together.

That's a lot of years.

But yet she's willing to take me to another plot in the cremation.

That's why I want you guys to look at us and look at us as people, feelings.

I mean, it's it's unbelievable.

The survey that they did said that there was there wasn't any problem.

Now all of a sudden, the lady comes and she does the survey, and she decides, or not her by herself.

I guess there was a committee that decided okay, there's enough evidence that the entire cemetery is contaminated with bodies or something, a stone, a tree, something is buried there.

I would just like my sister's plot and my plot, and the 270 people of which my sister and I are, my brother-in-law and his wife.

There's people here that are wanting to be buried together.

That's very important to us.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Uh, we'll next hear from Christy Erickson.

Hi, I'm Christy Erickson.

I live in Loveland.

Um, I guess basically all I need to say is ditto, because it's the same thing that every single one of these people have seen.

Um, I think it's very easy for us nowadays to be far removed from a community, from your neighbor.

Um I grew up in Lafayette, born in Boulder.

My grandmother was actually born here in Lafayette.

My mom was born here in Lafayette.

My dad came here when he was 13 from Minnesota.

So it is very important for people who lived in that community in that time for them to be together.

My dad, like my mom already said, my dad was a coach for people's children who are in this room.

We hung out with Gary Posey and Chris.

We we all went to Scott Posey's funeral, and that was devastating.

You guys cannot not let Mr.

Gary Posey not be buried with his son.

You might just don't know if you're not from here.

The devastation, the community, the town went through when Scott passed.

It was devastating for all of us.

So somehow you guys need to figure it out.

I'm a registered nurse.

When I take care of a patient, I advocate for that patient.

I go balls out for them.

I've been doing it for 30 years.

Trust me, every single one of you would want me as your nurse.

I'm strong.

And I will go toe-to-toe for you.

So I'm asking that you advocate for these people.

When I go into a patient's room, I treat them as my own family member, and I treat them as my employee because, or my employer, because without them, I don't have a job.

And that's how you guys need to look at this.

I this is the first time I've come to anything like this.

Obviously, everybody kind of looks stone cold up on this wall.

You know, there's no emotion whatsoever.

Whoever's standing here has emotion, whoever's back there has emotion.

I guess we can't ask any questions and get any answers from you guys because I hear questions being asked, but I don't hear any answers.

So I guess that's off the table.

I apparently am late to the party, because this is the first time I've heard about this until two weeks ago when my mom called me and was totally devastated.

Being told she's not going to be able to be buried next to my father.

To be honest with you, my whole family who is up there right now, they could all hold hands if they weren't in caskets.

That's how close they are.

You need to look at every single one of these people as an individual.

I don't know if we need to take a field trip.

So you guys can have it be a personal, you can feel it in your heart as they feel it in theirs.

But my whole family, immediate family is like right there.

We are all right there.

Up there.

And I talk to her.

Every single night is the same subject.

The few the cemetery, this cemetery, this cemetery.

You guys are gonna put her in an early grave.

She's like, if I don't die by October, I'm not gonna be able to be with your dad.

I mean, I I don't understand why we just heard about this two weeks ago.

And on top of it, when is this gonna be on the agenda?

Because you guys are like, well, it's not on the agenda.

Well, when is it going to be on the agenda?

When are we gonna discuss this?

And have it come to order.

Instead of all these people coming here, pouring their heart out to you on a Tuesday night.

I mean, come on, you guys, we're all human beings.

We treat our dogs better than we're treating each other in this room.

I have all my damn dogs in my house.

These are people.

They're from Lafayette.

I don't know if you guys are, but they are.

This is something important to them.

Thank you.

Up next, we'll hear from Susan Hudson.

My name is Susan Hudson.

Um, I a friend of mine, Sheila Mansfield, could not be here tonight.

And so she wanted me to read this to you.

Um, I own this plot, and at the time I purchased it at the city, did a check for the casket barrel, and it was deep and it was demeaned visible.

Many of my relatives are buried in the same grid as I am, greatly distressed, and I am greatly distressed to find out that all that this is not the case.

I believe that those of us who own the plot should not be denied burial, right?

Rather to be casket and remains.

I know I speak for all the Lafayette residents who have been affected by this, that this is unjust.

Please consider your actions from the viewpoint of all of us.

And I too and I grew up here in Lafayette, and my father were uh was set on the city council years and years ago.

And at the time he bought 11 plots, and my mother and father, my grandparents on both sides, and uh my aunt and uncle are all buried here in Lafayette.

And my brother and I have plots here, and we would like to be in the family plot.

And we this is just really heartbreaking that Kathy and Gary, and I knew Gary, I grew up with Gary and his wife Linda, and Kathy's husband, and it's sad to think that you will not consider opening this to casket graves.

It's just really, it's heartbreaking to think of this.

So I would like you to consider something to do about this and solve the problem.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we'll hear from Michael Watson.

You know, there's a uh someone that I know, a friend of mine um watching this right now, who sent me a text during the middle of it saying, I am angry and ashamed right now.

You know what I am too?

This is hard to watch because these people deserve better.

The town deserves better.

Like I know it's a minor issue, but if they want to applaud, let them applaud.

Like that's the line you draw.

That's the part of this process that that upsets you that they're applauding for each other.

Come on.

So far, we've actually here heard a lot of community proposed solutions for how to solve this.

I wrote some of them down, expanding into the ball field.

Deal with them one at a time.

Talk to the families, figure it out.

I went by um I visited uh David, uh Kathy Erickson's husband, ETN3.

Um HM2 Watson, so I introduced myself.

Um it's a navy thing, nobody knows.

Um I looked at the map that is included in your last uh in the in the presentation.

They have the little overload overlays of where the the caskets, where the um uh ground penetrating radar found uh found the caskets, looked at his grave, looked at where she's supposed to be buried.

You know what?

I grew up playing Tetris.

I could do this.

This is not hard.

This is not some astronomically complicated problem that we have no expertise in town to to solve.

I mean, between Katie Doling and Megan Davis, they soak up half a million dollars of taxpayer money every single year for their salaries, and this is what they give us in return.

We deserve better.

If you're that ridiculously well compensated, I'm sure you can figure out a solution to a problem like this.

And it starts with viewing the people as individuals, as human beings, as families who have loved ones buried in that cemetery.

Um shovels, not excavators.

That's common sense.

I mean, if it's crowded, like don't go in with an excavator.

I'm happy to volunteer my time.

It would save me the trouble of working out for a day.

Um volunteer time.

Like we have people in the community that would be more than willing to go to bat.

You've seen them come up here tonight and talk to you about what's happening, about how they feel.

Now, I don't want to just come up here and complain.

What I did at home, I did the research.

There's there's three possible motions that you could make tonight.

I as far as I know, I checked the charter, I checked the the code, and I checked the council handbook.

There is absolutely nothing preventing you from using any one of them.

Um the first one is basically just just forcing the city staff to to set up a community meeting to listen to the families, to sit down as equals to listen to the people and come up with with a long-term solution to settle this problem.

That is not a resolution, it is not an ordinance, it does not require notification, it does not require need to be on the agenda.

You can do it now.

It is if you look at the York chart of Lafayette, it's we the people up on top, then it is city council, and then it is our soulless bureaucrats.

Um second one is a full full revocation.

Just just strip it out.

As far as I know, there's actually nothing preventing you.

A resolution does not need to be on the agenda the way an ordinance does.

I might be mistaken.

You're more than welcome to to consult with Mary Lynn and see if that's legal.

Um motion C requires nothing.

All you require is no resolution or I mean, all you're basically just directing the city manager to exercise her exemption authority under section three of the resolution 2025-77, which is the original moratorium.

That is your right.

You are her boss.

You can tell her what to do.

Like I know in the in the the council retreat, nobody put oversight as like the part of the the job that you wanted to really really do your expertise at, but that's what you're up there for.

Like bureaucrats do not run the show.

You do, you are the elected officials.

Step up to the plate.

Um so does anyone want to do any of these resolutions?

Like you can you you um I have 43 seconds left.

If anybody wants to speak, I do not mind being spoken over.

I'll play this game.

Uh Mr.

Mayor, I moved to direct the city manager to schedule a public meeting with Lafayette Cemetery plot owners and their families as soon as humanly possible for the purpose of developing a comprehensive long-term solution, with that solution to be brought back to council for a vote at a future meeting as soon as possible.

Uh so counselor, I appreciate it, and I guess we can pause the time.

Um applause my time.

Um I'm I'm okay with it.

Twelve seconds, any second.

Anyone else?

We are second.

We are we are under once, going twice.

These are the people.

Look them in the eye if you're not gonna help them.

None of you.

Are you kidding me?

Shame.

I just want to make it clear we are under public input right now, so no motions can come to the table.

But I appreciate it.

Next we'll hear from Ron Smallton.

Wow.

Shane.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council.

Ron Sporting 1326 Elder Radaway, Colorado.

Totally different topic.

They needs code update.

I agree 100% with the staff recommendation on page two to table the neighborhood service serving commercial NSC and to continue moving forward to approve the overall land use code update.

Reasons to table the NSC.

Mixed feedback from the general public.

More feedback from the public is needed.

You need the plan unit developments and HOA feedback, direct communication with staff.

The city survey is not statistically valid.

We have 30,000 population, give or take.

How many actually responded to the survey?

Many residents' concerns with the NSC.

Confusion on the definition of what is a collector street.

More study and public outreach, and PUD and HOA input is needed because of controversy among the residents.

Col Creek Village is a plan unit development which has three HOAs.

I lived in Col Creek Village for 15 years, chose it because of one of the PUD and HOA.

Not all PUDs and HOAs are the same.

They can have different covenants conditions, restrictions, different sizes, et cetera.

Cole Creek Village is a PUD HOA with CCRs.

We have, as staff is calling it in the report, we have missing middle housing.

We have single family, pair duplex, townhomes, patio villas, and some are three stories tall.

We have open spaces, two neighborhood playgrounds, walking biking trails, etc.

We do not have, nor do we want, neighborhood serving commercial.

We are built out.

There are no open lots for such a zoning type.

Little background.

I was on various boards for the past 10 plus years.

Member of the Master HOA, President of the Attached HOA, member of the Architectural Review Committee, member of irrigation committee.

I've been involved personally with some very contentious issues over the years.

But none was more contentious than when Mr.

Telarico, one of the developers of Colcree Village, went to zone and build a commercial retail property on lots on the north side, the west entrance to Col Creek Village at the public road, Old Army Trail intersection.

The community went ballistic.

To Mr.

Tallerico's credit, he held a community meeting and afterwards amended his plan to zone it for townhouses, thereby eliminating any possible chain chance for commercial retail in Col Creek Village.

We now have a very nice townhome area coming into the neighborhood.

One final point.

People live in a PUDHOA because they know what they are getting as described in the HOA, CCRs, and PUD agreements.

If the city is planning to introduce NSC zoning over HOA and PUDs, what happens to existing HOA, CCRs, and PUD agreements with the city?

Which document has authority over the neighborhood?

There are too many unanswered questions to pass this NSC code now.

We need more time to think it through and avoid any legal action by PUDs or HOAs in the future.

I'm not a lawyer, but I did a little research.

A municipality generally cannot pass a zoning code that overrides or conflicts with an approved PUD if the PUD agreement guarantees specific rights.

Once a PUD is finalized, it acts as a binding contract and site-specific law for that property.

Attempting to override it often violates vested property rights.

If you have an approved PUD, your development rights are legally vested, which prevents the city from passing zoning actions that alter or delay your project.

But with any legal process, there are exceptions.

I don't know in this case.

The main point on this is I don't think we know how many plan unit developments or HOAs are in the city.

The survey, you know, I mean, fine.

I went online.

But for this one specific point of the land use code needs a lot more thought and app and outreach to the neighborhoods so that you know what's going on.

To pass it now would be a mistake.

And I'm certain that's certain to you to certain HOs would have legal council talk to the city.

Thank you for listening.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Next we'll hear from Dwight Erickson.

Evening.

My name is Dwight Eriksson, and uh it's hard to follow what's all been said by all the people of Lafayette as far as the cemetery goes.

And uh I I believe in my heart you should honor the 270 plots that are left for people that home plots to be buried in the cemetery in any resolutions that you guys, the problems that you're having or anything, there have got to be some type of solution form that you can correct where the people can have access to their plots and be there in the cemetery.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we'll hear from Vicky Euland.

Hi, I'm Vicky Ealin, 303 West Simpson Street, and first of all, I support everybody who has spoken tonight and taken so much effort to do that.

And way to go, Councillor Beaulier.

I'm I there are two things I want to talk about.

The first is the 701 South Public Pocket Park contract and plan in your consent agenda.

There was a group of us who talked to Katie a while back about making this property into a park, and she liked the ideas and got the ball rolling.

Some of the things we discussed are first of all, the house that was on the property that was torn down was made of rare historic bricks, and we were told those bricks will be saved and used in the pocket park.

Is there a reference in the plan as to where and how those bricks will be used and recognized?

The second thing is the park furniture.

The contract calls for 128,000 to be spent on benches, tables, and stools, which look really generic.

One thing we discussed was asking our arts organizations and boards to design or at least weigh in on the park furniture.

We could do cool things like have a contest to design seating and also get children involved.

It feels like if the contract furniture is approved as is, this is a really wasted opportunity to make this park uniquely Lafayette and something that people can take ownership of.

Plus, it might save us money.

The final thing is the plantings and irrigation.

The goal has been to have a pollinator-friendly garden with native and xeric plantings.

I ran the plantings list by the Friends of Lafayette Gardening Group and Friends of Cole Creek, and they like the mix, but Casey from Cole Creek suggested having some fall bloomers like dwarf rabbit brush.

So I hope that will be considered.

Also, we had talked about having a demonstration pollinator garden with signs or programs so that people could learn how to do this in their own yards.

I don't see anything like that on the plans, so I'm wondering if that can be addressed.

Also, I'm wondering how the irrigation is going to be water-wise, and can we highlight that so people can learn to do that in their yards?

The other thing I want to talk about is the land use code update.

Speaking to you as a member of the land use code working group, we have not had a meeting since March, so the feedback from your April meeting and the proposals from staff in your packet have not been run by us.

I think this is of concern because we have talked so much about these topics and have no opportunity to weigh in on the staff proposals in your packet.

Regarding neighborhood commercial, I support tabling this, especially since we still don't know what the collector streets are, despite what feels like a thousand asking a thousand times.

Attachment A in your packet has collector streets outlined in orange, but it only tells us some of their names.

Can we please get a list of names of all of the current collector streets so that the people who live on them will know how this will affect them?

This also has a big impact on the missing middle housing proposal.

Regarding building heights, I support the staff proposal of establishing a height modification process in the new code that requires the Planning Commission recommendation and city council approval.

I think this is good because it allows council to directly weigh in on what incentives are proposed in exchange for taller buildings.

For old town commercial building heights, I'm really frustrated by the staff proposal.

The land use working group was assured over and over again by the consultants and staff that the new code would not include buildings more than two stories tall on public.

Then at our last meeting, the consultant proposed that the new code allowed 35 feet on public, which could be three stories for a flat roofed building.

So there was no time for the working group to discuss this.

And now your packet says staff recommends additional study of reducing the current 35 feet building heights that quote considers the potential impact on existing commercial development and redevelopment in old town.

An additional engagement effort with property owners is also recommended as this change was not something the city explored through the current code update outreach.

So we've spent nearly three years discussing how the code can be changed, and now the staff recommendation is to not do that regarding old town building heights because there has been no opportunity for outreach on it.

I always support more community outreach, but why wasn't this done before?

Why was this sprung on the working group so late in the process?

I'm really concerned that if this height isn't taken care of now, it could take months or years to happen.

This is really important when we have two major properties, Chase Bank and Lafayette Florist, that could be redeveloped soon, and we could end up with three-story buildings that are taller than any building we have ever had on public.

We know this could happen based on plans submitted to Lure in 2020 for developing the 700 block, which have multiple three-story buildings.

I think any public outreach about building heights needs to not only be commercial property owners, but also residential because there are more than 100 homes that are across the alleys of public, baseline, and east Simpson, and will be directly affected by this.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Next we'll hear from Nick Doris.

Good evening, Council.

Nick Torres 905 Jasmine Place.

Um not here to speak about the cemetery, but um I you know I've been to a lot of council meetings in a lot of different communities, and this is the first one that I've ever heard folks volunteering to dig graves for for folks that they care about, and I think that says a lot about um what makes this community great.

And I I hope, as a newcomer to Lafayette, um, I hope that we're able to maintain um that core of our community.

Um I was really moving to hear a lot of those comments tonight.

Um I'm here mostly to talk about uh the tobacco retail license.

Um but also um wanted to just shout out Coach Rob from Lafayette Recreation.

Um it's a busy season for recreation, and we just wrapped up Pee-We soccer for my son, and I just can't say enough about um the staff there and how they grew his uh confidence after a reluctant first practice, but he he went above and beyond his patience was um uh encouragement was was really uh notable.

So shout out to Coach Robb.

Um also wanted to really thank communities that care and a lot of the youth who have started the ball rolling and have advocated with a lot of you on the topic of the tobacco retail license.

Um thank you also for many of you who um let me uh uh chat with you at farmers markets and um art night out.

I think including one of you um flagged you down with a handful of Samosas in my hand.

Uh jogging down to just try to catch it here.

So I appreciate your your openness to talk about this.

Um my day job I work for the American Lung Association.

Um so you know, I I I can tell you in a lot of ways that tobacco control policy really does matter.

Um, there's a lot of places around the country where they don't require any kind of special licensing for tobacco retailers.

Um, you know, where tobacco taxes are basically pennies, um where you can still smoke inside a restaurant for that matter.

Um not surprisingly, those places tend to have much higher smoking rates.

Umplementing a local tobacco retail uh licensing policy is a policy choice, like a lot of other uh policy matters, but in this area um it empowers us to better monitor um the access that we're having we have in our community to these highly addictive products.

Um back in 2017, the surgeon general declared a youth vaping epidemic.

And you know, back in 2017, the Surgeon General declared a youth vaping epidemic.

And there was a product that was on the market called Joule that really changed the game in a lot of ways for uh tobacco products.

Um we saw vaping rates skyrocket.

Um I think Colorado was maybe among the highest levels of youth vaping in the country at one point.

Um we're still kind of dealing with some of the ramifications.

Um those products have evolved.

Um the concentrations of those products have evolved, the flavors of those products have evolved.

Um it's important to note also that a lot of those products are still on the market and available in retail shops here, including locally, but available um against the law without uh FDA um authorization without FDA review.

Um you might be familiar with the Healthy Kids Colorado survey, it's a biannual survey that um that asks uh a lot about a lot of behaviors, um risky behaviors, attitudes on everything from alcohol to marijuana, tobacco.

Um I think actually this year's survey data, the most recent survey is up out in the next few months, but the most recent we have is from 2023.

Um Centaurus and Peak2Peak both participate.

Um but looking at some of those data, I think um, we made some progress in reducing youth vaping rates, but there's some really important things to note, I think.

Um so, for example, in 2023, um 87% of uh BVSD high school students, so the the data are by school district, not just, I should say that, not just for Centaurus and not for the Lafayette for P2P, but BBSD.

Um 87% who tried to buy tobacco products at a store were not refused because of their age.

Um 57% of all high school students in the survey said that uh BBSD high school students said it was very easy or or at least easy to buy tobacco products.

Um, and so those things really called out to me.

Um, in a lot of other ways, some of the data points show that we might be making progress uh on the whole, reducing smoking rates, reducing vaping rates, but um that we're missing certain segments of the population.

Um Latino students, for example, are more likely to uh to use these products.

Um we're also showing that by the end of uh high school students' uh years in in high school and BBSD at least students are basically at the state average for smoking rates.

Um so we know that these products, when initiated at a young age, um, are likely to uh to hook these kids.

Um you know, we're also in an era here the FDA just made news last week for by authorizing the first flavored vapes for the for market.

Um, you know, and as a result, the FDA commissioner resigned in protest.

Um but we're making progress at the state level as well.

So the TRL, the tobacco retail license, is it a way that we can work here locally to empower ourselves to do what's in our own power to address uh youth vaping, youth access to tobacco products.

Um, and so I just encourage you to continue the ball forward on that.

I'm here to um offer my support, but thank you very much for your time.

Thank you so much.

Uh the last form I have uh we'll hear from Bonnie Freeman.

Hi, my name is Bonnie Freeman.

I'm the one who made the map of how the proposed land use codes for neighborhood serving commercial and missing middle housing will apply to Lafayette, given our current distribution of HOA neighborhoods and non-HOA neighborhoods.

Uh it's a pleasure to meet you today in person.

It's difficult following the comments about closing the cemetery.

I fully support opening up the decision to further discussion with the families that were impacted.

Um mainly here to talk about building height in Old Town.

So staff recommends in your packet exploring a reduction in the current 35-foot building height allowance through an additional study that considers the potential impact on existing commercial development and redevelopment in Old Town.

I would really like to see a decision made tonight about building height in Old Town instead of kicking the can down the road yet again.

I have heard the question, why can't we have three-story buildings in Old Town?

To me, the number one reason is because three story buildings will create canyons on old town's narrow streets.

And how do I know this?

Because I'm a GIS person and I measured it.

South Public Road doesn't widen out to 45 feet until the first interstate bank building.

And the buildings in Old Town are right off the sidewalks.

Is that four feet, five feet?

If you allow baseline Simpson, a North Public Road to South down to the bank to be lined with three-story flat roof buildings, and you know they will be if you open the door to it.

We'll have 35 foot high structures separated by 30 foot wide road.

I think about it.

When you leave tonight, if you go north on public.

How much is the city spent to date on the land use code update?

How much more money are we going to pour into additional studies?

Just so residents can say yet again that they only want two story buildings in Old Town.

We can't even fill the commercial space.

We have the three and four-story buildings around City Hall.

Please protect our Old Town Main District from becoming a sunless canyon.

There is no need to spend more money and time simply for the reasons staff suggest in their menu, in their menu, in their memo.

And that is because most proposed zoning changes are intended to modernize development regulations and right-size certain standards.

Is the goal here really to modernize our historic Old Town District?

Thank you for your time.

Thank you so much.

Seeing no more uh speaker request forms.

Is there anyone else uh in the room who has not yet had the chance to speak or would like to speak?

Not seeing anyone, I will turn to our city clerk to see if we have any calls.

Uh no callers tonight.

With that, I will close public input and before we move on to consent agenda.

The one thing I will do just uh for clarification.

We have the opportunity to discuss anything that council would like to report out on, anything that councillors would like to uh speak out on and of course respond to any comments made tonight.

Unfortunately, the way the meetings work, we have to go through the agenda and at the end are in our council reports.

Any counselor can speak on any any item they would like to report out on.

So that's uh just that.

And next we'll move on to the consent agenda.

And there's a few items on consent agenda tonight, including item A, the April 21st, 2028 City Council meeting minutes.

April uh item B, April 28, 2026 City Council Workshop Summary.

Item C, which is the first reading for ordinance number 11 series 2026 authorizing a supplemental budget appropriation to reflect forgiveness of a debt for the fiscal year 2025 budget.

Items item D, including items pertaining to floodplain improvements at the water reclamation facility.

Uh first is a contract for B2 excavating LLC for Col Creek floodplain improvements, and the second is a resolution number 2026-14 approving license agreement with the town of Erie for temporary trail detour.

Item E, items pertaining to the local licensing authority hearing officer, uh, including resolution number 2026-16, appointing Amanda Bellhash as hearing officer for the local licensing authority for alcohol beverage licensing and approving an agreement for hearing officer services.

And the second is resolution number 2026-17, approving Clayborne M.

Douglas as alternate hearing officer for the local licensing authority and approving an amendment to his hearing officer services agreement.

Item F, a motion approving an intergovernmental agreement between the Boulder Valley School District and the City of Lafayette for the shared use of designated recreational facilities.

Item G, motion approving an intergovernment intergovernmental agreement between the Mile High Flood District and the City of Lafayette regarding the design and construction of drainage and flood control improvements for Col Creek Drainage Ways number two and number three.

Item H, which is a contract with the Leite Industries Incorporated for 701 South Public Road, the Pocket Park Project, and item I, change order number two for B2 excavating LLC for 120th Street Ditch Repairs.

Are there any items council would like to pull?

Not seeing any, I will take a motion.

Mayor, I'd like to pull item H.

Any other items council would like to pull?

If not, I'll take a motion for the remainder move the consent agenda without item H.

Second.

We have a motion, we have a second.

Any for the discussion?

Seeing that, all is in favor say aye.

Aye.

Anyone opposed say no?

None opposed that passes unanimously.

Uh item H, Councilor Gian O.

Thank you, Mayor.

I think some of the comments that we've received about the pocket park need to be addressed and incorporated into the plan.

Um I realize that we're tonight approving the contract, but I don't know what the ability to make changes to the plan are at this time.

So I just want to bring that up before we uh get into that.

And in particular, you know, that the discussion of the pollinator uh pollinator garden, pollinator designation.

Um I think the comment earlier about the the park furniture is also interesting.

Um the bricks, the bricks.

Bricks, yeah.

So just for clarification, are you hoping are you saying we should not pass it?

Are you saying you want something?

I'm trying to understand what the implications of passing the uh the consent agenda item R to making changes to the plan.

Mayor, we have our parks open space golf deputy director here if you'd like to talk about that because there is still a lot of flexibility since it has not been fully designed, but I'll let him speak to those three topics if that's okay.

Of course.

Good evening, council.

Uh councillor Gianola.

So I actually just had some of those ideas passed to me today in an email.

They're actually really easy to change.

We don't have a pre-con meeting with a lead until next week.

Um I can add in the uh dwarf rabbit brush.

The signs for the plants and the pollinators are actually in the plan.

There is a budget line for them.

We just haven't designed them yet.

We never gonna wait until we get into the project a little bit because we do have time on that.

And then what was the other thing?

I couldn't really hear too little people.

The furniture and the bricks.

Oh, so the bricks are stored at the service center.

They are planned to go in.

We've got a place for them up front.

I think Ariz was still uh you know, working on some like final design of where they can go.

They're really brittle, so we have to be very careful with them.

So we were gonna have some signs like explaining those, but they were gonna be in the uh landscape.

But but yeah, I've got two pounds.

Okay.

Um so then help me understand, you know, is the parks design completed at this stage, and we're hiring the uh I don't know if it's the contractor who's going to put it in.

Yes, the lead will the league will install those.

Yeah.

So for the contract tonight that you're approving will be for a lead to build the park.

According to the current plan.

Yes, exactly.

Yeah, it won't, the plan won't or the build won't deviate from the plans.

It is easy to you know change some plants if there's a desire for some fall pollinator.

And I just spent you know a lot of time making sure that it was very water wise.

It was actually a really fun challenge because the water use on that park is so low.

I was having a hard time finding some of the water requirements.

So it is extremely low in its water use.

Council Jensen.

So lots of people I know are allergic to rabbit brush.

It seems like it's one of the things that a lot of people have trouble with.

Are you aware of that?

Or I've never heard that.

We've got a there's a lot of it.

Um around, yeah.

I know.

And so I I'm just wondering, is there another alternative?

I and maybe maybe just my circle, you know, and the people I know who happen to be allergic to it.

But um wondering if you could look into that.

And that that'd be awesome.

Yeah, there's there's a lot of alternates and stuff like that with the planting plan.

Um, and sometimes you know, even when you've got the plan, like depending on what's available sometime.

You know, I've uh oversaw the planting of the Pearl Street model for almost 10 years, and every single year we would have hundreds of different alternates that we would kind of look because things just weren't available.

So it's fairly common, but there's other things that you know will work in their place and that are pollinator friendly and water-wise.

So the the uh comment from the public about getting more creative about the furniture and incorporating some sort of contest or uh for the price that was paid.

It is a lot of money for park furniture, and I recognize it's got to withstand weather, which makes it cost a lot more than you maybe the stuff in my house.

Um, but is there an opportunity to do something creative on the furniture?

I'm thinking of you know, NIWAT has because it's Naiwat, those hands, you know, that left hand uh that are seating in some of their parks.

And there may be some creative thing like that that we could do.

Um I'm not sure.

I mean, because we you know we definitely had uh the public weigh in on these concept designs as they were going forward because there was going to be like a little stage, you know, where people in a seating area, like you could have performance, and then you know the benches in the center and everything that could bring people together that were weighed in on by the public.

But honestly, if you all um uh approve this contract, I need to get the PO going tomorrow so that we can hopefully have them delivered by October because that is our goal to have the park done then.

So for something big like furniture or the playground stuff, I don't really have room to be redesigning and changing that now.

It's just good to know.

Yeah, if you guys recall on the site plan, we do have a public art piece that we're putting on the uh public road facing side.

Yeah.

Yep.

So we're trying to incorporate in areas that make sense as well.

Council Bullier?

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um just huge kudos for all the excellent work on the pocket park.

I can't wait till we are able to replicate this and do more throughout the entire city.

Um I do want to say I personally be having trouble focusing on the pocket park in the context of what we've heard for the past hour and a half.

So as soon as this uh moment is finished, I'm gonna make a motion for us to respond to the public that came out two weeks in a row.

I now recognize and know a number of your names and faces.

So I think we owe it to the community that's come out two weeks in a row, clearly signaling we failed them after May 5th to respond sufficiently.

So thank you so much.

The pocket park is amazing.

I can't wait to hang out there and replicate it.

Um and just let me know, Mr.

Mayor, when I can make that motion.

Any other questions from council, thoughts from council, or if we feel comfortable with the contract, uh the motion I believe is in our packet.

I move to approve item H from the consent agenda.

Second.

Uh we have a motion, we have a second.

Any further discussion on this matter?

Seeing none, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Anyone opposed say no?

None opposed.

That passes unanimously.

Thank you.

And with that, we will close our consent agenda.

Um before anyone wants a regular business, Council Bullier.

Thank you, sir.

Um, Mr.

Mayor, I move to move uh agenda item eight next in the agenda so that we council may have uh opportunity to respond to residents who came out and seeing can you say that again?

I move to move agenda item eight up earlier in the agenda to now so that we can use that spot for council report to respond to the residents who came out and seating.

I'll second.

So we have a motion, we have a second.

Just one quick clarifying question for our city attorney.

Do we need five yes votes on this one?

Council, you can uh you can change your agenda uh order, I should say.

So you can change the order of items that are already on your agenda.

Can I ask a question?

That's it.

Do we even need to do that or are we able to talk about something in a meeting without moving our council reports agenda item?

Um if council would like to respond um to what they heard during public input that is up to council.

I do think that would take a motion if it's not to move an item already on the agenda under the open meetings law.

I just want to uh for the uh public's information and for council's information, um, responding to the public is fine if that's what you all choose to do as a group.

Uh however council cannot make new policy or change existing policy without putting that on an agenda so that other all members of the public are entitled to notice of when you're going to do that.

Um so I hope that makes sense.

So no policy change can happen without it being on the agenda first.

But you can certainly, if you choose as a group, to um to respond to public input, that is entirely up to council.

So I think I would just maybe make a friendly amendment to your motion that what we should be motioning is the ability right now to respond to the public comment and keep council comments generally still at the end.

So moved to support that friendly amendment I'll second.

Okay.

We are simply opening it up for discussion uh to respond to public input.

I just want to be clear before great.

We do have a motion we do have a second.

Uh any further discussion on this?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Anyone opposed say no?

Not opposed.

Okay.

We can now respond to public input.

Uh Council Bollier, you brought this up.

Would you like to kick us off?

Yes, please.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, first, thank everyone so much for coming out for your passion uh for your heartfelt remarks.

I I'm feeling a little bit of shame up here.

This is now two weeks in a row that we've listened to you, and I'm it's always a privilege to listen to you.

But I don't know that we have done our job as council or our job as city in addressing your concerns.

Um I we should not be putting this is a comment and then a sort of a question group.

I don't think we should be putting our residents in the position of having to creatively figure this out by offering creative solutions.

That's our job.

And I feel that the May 5th, I think some of us we've tried to provide direction to a very overstretched staff to attack this problem with urgency and haste.

And I know that there is good work being done behind the scenes that I would like for us to have the opportunity to tell the public about.

But clearly, by the large number of very impassioned residents and neighbors and family members out here tonight, we collectively failed.

Uh that message is not going out.

If it is going out, it's not being heard.

Uh there's a lot of folks who are asking why are we doing this and can we just dig?

I I think there's a variety of reasons that we can answer that, but this format, as I said two weeks ago, where we sit up here on the dais, and someone mentioned that we're we're just kind of like looking at people while they pour their hearts and soul out to us with their fear and their anger justified while we look at them is is disgusting.

This is disgusting.

I but I want us to have a flat conversation where we sit in a circle and we hear and we talk and we engage, and not something that feels like folks are testifying on whether or not they can bury their loved ones next to their loved ones.

We're we're as a community, we're better than this.

I do want to set the record straight.

There are folks on this diet who are from Lafayette and who do get it.

Uh I'm not one of them, I'm not from here, but I do feel like I get it.

And and I know a number of folks up here on the dais in city staff do get it and care.

But clearly that's not coming through to you.

So we need to do a better job of that collectively.

And so I would ask, and I would direct, if I have that power, that we get our stuff together and put something on the calendar as soon as possible, do a full court press PR campaign, so we articulate what it is that we are trying to figure out.

Because I do think there is a gap in understanding from in the public's eyes in terms of what is possible and what is actually possible.

As a number of us said two weeks ago, we are not going to dig up other people's remains recklessly.

We're absolutely not going to do that.

Nor does anyone on this dias or in city staff want to just say, take a hike to the 270 plots.

But we have failed to address this for decades.

Much of that is before many of our terms, but now we're here, and now we need to take this seriously.

And I do not want to see all these wonderful people on June 2nd as they say the same things back to us because we have again failed to emphasize that we hear them and we are taking this seriously.

So forgive me for going on too long, but it is not these folks' jobs to figure out how to hand dig graves.

It is not their job to intuit the GPR.

It's our job.

And while I take umbrage with some of the impassioned emotion that's been uh relay, uh I do think that the anger is justified.

I am angry thinking about putting my family members in this position, and I know to God's sake that all of you are frustrated as well.

So we we need to figure something out where we're not on the dais, watching them testify and cry in front of us, and we just kind of look at them, and then our agendas are structured so that we have to wait two to three more hours after a public hearing till we can respond to them.

So thank you for letting me get my emotions out.

But we have to do right by each other and by our community, and I think that we can all collectively, myself included, do better.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor.

Uh though.

I I I won't I won't try to follow that.

I agree with most of everything you said.

I grew up in Lafayette.

I'm here.

The one thing I do want to say is uh and maybe give our staff the opportunity to talk about it a little bit.

But the one thing I I think more than anything that this needs is just input from community, and I I think you're right.

I don't necessarily think that this is the venue to do that.

I don't think this is the most effective way uh to speak to community, and I don't think that's necessarily anyone's fault.

This is just the system that we kind of live in a city council.

Uh but the one thing I will turn to staff to is because I think uh while there was uh a couple suggestions that came to us.

The the meeting and the talking to community is already is already in the works.

So from my understanding, this is already something that we have directed staff to do the last time we were on this diet, in fact.

So if they are ready to speak about it at all, I would turn it over to someone on our staff who can speak about how this is going to go forward and whether this is something that's that's even viable in terms of uh this council speaking to our community.

Thank you, Mayor.

I'll take a stab at that.

So yes, at your last meeting you did direct staff to develop a community forum conversation piece, and we have been working diligently to find both the site and location and enough time to notify people to do counselor believer that full core press.

And so we are anticipating in early June.

We will be getting letters out this Thursday, I believe.

So we'll be sending counsel that.

I encourage anyone in the public that one didn't receive a letter or would just like to verify that their information is correct, please contact us.

That's our biggest issue right now is because a lot of these lots were sold 26 years ago, 50 years ago.

We really want to make sure we have accurate information because we want you guys to be able to participate and be there.

So we'll try to do a lot on social media.

I'll look to counsel and also using your guys' connections to be able to reach out to people.

But yes, the plan is already in the works.

Thank you.

Uh with that, I will turn it over to other members of council who'd like to counselor Jensen.

It it seems to me that there's something missing here in terms of solutions.

And I'm not that expert, and even though I understand the passion from the community, I'm not sure that allowing people to dig their own graves is the answer.

Um there's a lot of if you do discover something when digging, what do you do?

You know, there's some requirements about that that we, as the city are required to follow.

And the state architect, when they were here, one of the things they said to us is you can't just keep finding bones and calling me and telling me I have to come here and watch you and trying to figure out what's under the ground, and that is not a workable solution.

So given that that that's what we heard from the architects, um, it seems to me other communities have probably had this kind of problem.

And I heard people mention stacking.

I've also we talked at our last meeting about rearranging some of the roads uh in the cemetery.

We talked about whether there's any way to take some of the land that's currently in recreational uses, but again, some of that depends on knowing how many of those 270 people actually want to be buried there, and we don't have that answer just yet.

But there's a piece of that kind of work that needs to be done.

And I'm unclear whether it needs to be done before we have this meeting with people so we can show them options, or if we need to listen to people first.

But it seems to me it might make sense to let staff work on some of those possible options and also put price tags on them for us so that we know what we're talking about when we have the meeting with the public and we can share with them what our staff has found out about solutions.

Otherwise, it's just more of people saying, please, please don't do this to us when we don't have an answer for you at that point.

And I wonder what other people think about doing some of that homework first before we have a community get together about this.

Interesting point.

Um Thank you, Mayor.

Uh Ole and I agree with Councillor Jensen and part of the reason for the time that this is taking is that there's a long history of this problem coming to fruition and it didn't err.

This is not the way it should have come to your attention.

Um I'd like the rest of council to apologize for the way this came forward.

With that said, there's a lot of work that we can do.

One one of the things that I think is super important to hear from you all.

And again, this is not the way I wanted it to happen.

And I do appreciate your coming to us with this.

And uh one of the things I would I I this falls in the category of our doing work before the community meeting is a listening session.

And that's different from a community meeting.

It's not a discussion between counselors.

It's to hear your stories.

And I know we've heard two weeks in a row, but I'm sure there's stories that we haven't heard yet.

Um I've been in the cemetery.

And you keep telling me where everything is.

I want you to show me where it is.

I would I'd like to be.

What I like to do is see people who can make it to the cemetery to tell me show me.

Uh I've heard multiple times that there are people who there who are there on the regular.

Like I don't know if it's daily or weekly, but I know that you go to the cemetery to be with your loved ones.

So I don't know where you went, but one of the people who comments all the time was here.

And you know, I've been offered to do a second visit.

Because I've already walked the cemetery once with him.

I'd like to walk the cemetery with you all.

And I don't know if my uh colleagues here are interested in that, but uh I'm tired of looking at maps, I'm tired of hearing the stories.

I want to like be there so you can point to where family is, where your lives were.

Um because I think that's part of what we need to know.

And I didn't grow up here.

But you know, people up here did grow up here.

They and and I've heard multiple times people love this city.

They and part of what makes the city great is the attachment that you all have shown.

And I've seen for years how people, how attached people are to the city, and now I'm starting to see why the reason why that is.

Y'all started this.

And um your families and your people are you know, one of the reasons it may one of one of the reasons that this city is great.

We have we have a real problem here, council does, and I don't want to miss anybody.

So part of what I'd like to do before that community meeting is to be in the cemetery with whoever can make it there.

Um to show me what it is that what it is that means so much to you.

And uh I wasn't ready tonight to say this because I don't have a specific time and date to do that, but um, and I didn't ask my fellow counselors if they were interested in doing this, so I don't mean to put them on the spot, but um that's something I'd like to throw out to them right now and see if they're interested in um being in the cemetery.

Well, how about Memorial Day?

We all go to celebrate Memorial Day when they do we are the only place that honors our value.

Thank you so much.

I unfortunately I unfortunately do have to uh just make sure we maintain decorum.

I appreciate it though.

I I understand.

That is a good date, though.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor Proton.

Counselor Gianola, did I see your hand?

Yeah, thank you, Mayor.

Uh one of the things that I've struggled with this throughout the entire process is just the communication.

You know, I I had asked that we give the ground penetrating radar study to the community as early as possible, and it seems that they were given it on the day that the agenda was published.

And I believe last meeting I advocated that we would delay any vote on the motion so that the community could actually take the time to read that study, look at that study, understand that study.

We had a great meeting with the archaeologist and their expert who told us about the ground penetrating radar study that was state of the art, top notch.

Everyone's asking for this more ground penetrating radar study.

We've got it.

You think that your plot hasn't been ground penetrating radar?

It has.

We have the information.

I want you to really study that report and really understand the thing that has been proposed to council.

Understand that this was not a council decision.

This is something that's been proposed to council.

But the communication part of it, I feel is is where we're falling down on the job.

We don't have all the names, we don't have uh all the the in the names that we do have, people have said they haven't received the report.

So we need the community to to engage with us and tell us if you have a plot, let us know.

Let us know that you didn't get the report.

Let us know that you want to know when the date of the meeting is.

We need to get that information so that we can do the communication.

I won't say do it right, but at least we can do it better.

Thank you, counselor.

Counselor Fridlands.

Thank you.

Um the first thing I want to say is I I hear so much pain in the room.

And I recognize that when you look at us, you might not see the emotion, but I hope that you truly do understand the amount of emotion that we have about this topic.

I couldn't imagine my mother not being able to be with my father when she does.

I couldn't imagine that.

So believe me, when we hear your stories, we truly do hear you.

And we are trying, counsel and staff, to find solutions to this.

I know it doesn't always seem that way, but I hope you that you will hear us when we say that we are.

To that end, I think a few short-term things that we could do in between now and the meeting.

And I I'm hearing them up here already.

Confirming what's the actual number, right?

We have 270 plots, we know that.

How many?

Thank you.

Gentleman in blue, I think your name was Drew.

Um you had great uh points that I think we should consider.

How many actually do we need to solve for here?

And then with the GPR data that we already have, maybe we go back to that firm and we say, look at the exact plots and tell us where there's conflict and where there maybe isn't conflict, so that we actually have understanding.

Um I don't know how much that will cost.

We have council contingency, we're about halfway through the year.

I think we could consider putting some of that money towards that to be ready for the the listening session, the community conversation in June.

Um those are the two things I would say that we should consider um, you know, directing staff to tell us what that would look like and how much work and money that would cost in the future so that we can be ready for that meeting.

Thank you, Council.

Counselor Golders.

And then just a quick point about communication.

I saw a lot of you posted to some of the various social media sites local to us about coming to tonight's meeting.

I was wondering if staff when that meeting date is set, if we could have members of our community also help us share.

And I heard some frustration about people having to reach out to a specific staff member.

Could you clarify their name and contact?

We're gonna look into it.

I believe I know who it is, but yes.

Okay, we'll make sure.

Thank you.

I know we can't ask a question, but we reach out.

Who are we supposed to reach out to?

So what you just asked.

I'm sorry.

Uh yes, we would reach out to staff, and that information should be going out.

Counselor Jensen, did I see your hand up?

I can provide a phone number real quick.

You guys do have it.

And if you do have issues, please just call the front desk as well, and we'll make sure to then they'll know that calls will be incoming.

But the number is 303 604.

303 604 351.

So I I wanted to echo a little bit of what counselor Fridland said.

I think after the last time we heard from y'all, every one of us was just incredibly sad.

Nobody, we this was not something we generated and said, let's do this.

You know, it was something being imposed on us where we're told we don't have a choice.

So I know I spent time debriefing with friends of mine in tears about how sad this is.

And so we're hearing you, okay?

Just know we're hearing you.

Um, but at to your point, uh, Counselor Barnes about the cemetery.

I don't think I need any more to feel bad.

Uh to like going to the cemetery is not gonna make me feel any worse or emotional than I already feel, and it isn't going to answer the question of what's below the ground, that's our problem, right?

We'll be able to see the cemetery and we'll see the plots, but the answer about whether we can dig or not is not on the surface, you know, it seems to me.

I think that gets to a whole nother question.

I I don't object to going, I just don't think it'll answer the questions that we have.

That's all.

Um, but you guys should know that we really do care, and this was presented to us by the state.

I said architect before, but I meant archaeologist, um, as a problem that we have to deal with.

And so at some point that cemetery closes, whether it's after the 270 plots or some other point.

And at that point, even though families have been together for a really long time, somebody's gonna be the last one, you know, and the door is gonna be closed behind them.

And I I I feel the pain of that, you know.

I really do.

So I think we have some possible things to work on, you know, that uh like whether we can reconfigure the roads or whether we can uh stack uh coffins, I don't know the answers, but I I did a little Googling of what other places have done.

Not all of them are very good.

Like some cities have like taken coffins out in the middle of the night and disposed of them in ways that were were not uh this was you know quite a long time ago.

But this that if you Google how do you deal with overcrowding in the cemetery, you're gonna get some bad stories.

Um I I'm not saying we should do those, but I'm saying there are a few things we can check into and try and see what we might be able to do.

So give us some time, and I and I do think if we could get a date certain for that meeting, and I understand that is what our city manager is working on, and give us enough time between now and then to try to do as much homework as we can.

We can try and have a conversation about this with proposed options where you guys see what we're facing, which is it's none of the solutions are good.

You know, they're it's not an easy problem to solve.

And I don't think just saying dig and you're not gonna find anything is not what is being supported by the state archaeologists.

They are telling us every time they dig, they run into remains for the last few years.

They have not had a burial without finding remains.

That's a difficult thing to face.

We are disturbing somebody else's remains when we do that.

So it's not an easy problem.

And um I hope you'll give us some time to try to come up with whatever we can before we have a community meeting.

Any other thoughts from council?

Mayor Proto?

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor.

And just to clarify the visiting the cemetery is not to make anybody feel bad.

That's I think I'm there.

Uh then ask for anybody to come to the cemetery to feel bad.

Um we have a responsibility to our constituents to hear their story in their place.

That's why.

I would be there.

So I can point to the places where it's happened.

It is.

That's where they go.

Um, we and I'll say it again, we can look at maps and we can talk about this, we can look at numbers.

Uh that's where the place is.

And I don't expect everybody on council to be there, but I want to be there.

Uh I've been there before.

I want to have my feet on the ground.

I want people to tell me this is where my mom is, this is where my family is.

Um we're here representing them, and that's if I feel bad, that's my issue.

Great.

Okay.

Mr.

Maryland, Councilor Billier.

Uh it's it's almost like the gentlelady could read my brain.

Um so we have we have a POC number that our city manager just shared.

Uh-huh.

And so I think something that we can really collectively push on is I don't know if we need to make a web page, but there needs to be like a single spot for these folks to all look at with the most up-to-date information.

Um who the POC is, what the understanding is, et cetera.

That way, we're not kind of all spelunking and sleuthing and trying to figure it out on a Facebook page here or talk to a relative there or asking folks to drive an hour half, you know, snowstorm a couple of weeks ago.

So I think for me, like just being very clear and then publicly communicating as much as we can where everyone should go beyond the phone number.

And I understand we can't create a website like that.

It's already created.

Well, we have a website, folks.

So uh maybe we can add that to our YouTube.

So there's the website for folks to go and uh and a POC.

But then I think an ask maybe from council to the community is I think folks have heard, like we have heard you and will continue to hear you, and I would love to visit the cemetery with with you, Mayor Proton.

But I think like please continue to help us because we're gonna miss things.

Y'all have institutional and historical knowledge uh that we don't have, that staff don't have, some staff don't have.

So I guess they ask is can you help us collectively get to yes?

And I said this two weeks ago, and I'll say it again.

It may not be possible for all 270 to go into the confines of the current plot.

We should be very clear.

We should not gaslight you and say, oh yeah, yeah, we can figure it out.

No one up here is a magician.

But I think we can collectively commit to doing our best to get to a solution and be as transparent and forthcoming as possible.

And so my ask in return is help us do that.

Because this is a hard problem, but it's an important problem.

And I think together we can make a lot uh of a dent solving it together.

So thank you, Mr.

Thank you.

Um just the final thing I will say is thank you to our community.

Um my day job is community engagement.

It's what I do.

I I love my community more than anyone in the world.

And when Councilor Burlier was talking about there's people in this diet who grew up here, and he's talking about me.

I grew up here.

I was just at Pioneer Elementary a couple days ago uh for the hundredth anniversary of the school because I now serve as mayor, but at the time, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, uh I was uh I was a tiny little kid who went to Pioneer Elementary School.

So uh these these issues, I I just have to say this, these issues are also personal for me.

It's unbelievably difficult for me to make decisions like this.

Uh but I'm not talking about myself there, and it's not unique to me.

These decisions are difficult for every single member of this council.

Uh so I appreciate you all coming out.

This is a course the the second meeting where we have talked about this and we've had this, we've had this topic in front of us.

And I I will also say I understand the other side of things, which is our staff side.

Uh from my day job from that community engagement job, I understand what it means to to have something in front of you and just not really know what to do with it.

Uh, trying to understand and really find a good solution for something this difficult, because even if we find the best solution in the world that fits this, it's still going to be unbelievably difficult to get it through this council and for for everybody to truly understand it.

So uh I I just want to commend our staff members, but of course, our community.

You are you're the reason we're up here, you're the reason we do this, and I'm I'm looking forward to that community conversation and those listening sessions uh when they do happen.

So I appreciate you all coming tonight.

I appreciate your input.

I appreciate your continued engagement with us.

Uh, my personal phone number is on on our website.

Our emails are on our website.

I'm sure every single member of this council will say the same.

And truly, we appreciate you.

And with that, uh, I was gonna move us to regular business.

However, uh, I was asked if we could take a quick five minute break.

So let's do that.

Uh, we'll take a quick five minute break, and we will come back at seven fifty two.

Thank you all so much for that quick break.

I'm gonna go ahead and bring us back.

Uh for regular business and the only agenda item under regular business is agenda item H the public hearing for resolution number 2026-15 approval with conditions and application for a special use review and site plan and architectural review for lot three C SOLA filing number one, replat C two three seven eight highway two eighty-seven.

Uh better notice that's car wash.

The next item on the agenda is a public hearing consideration of resolution number twenty twenty-six-fifteen approving with conditions application for a special use review and site plan and architectural review for lot three C Solo number filing number one, replat 2387 Highway 287.

The public hearing was noticed in the daily camera on May 8, 2026, in accordance with the Lafayette code.

The public hearing is now in order at 803 p.m.

Tonight the City Council will hold a public hearing on the special use review application, review the applications for special use review and site plan and architectural review and make a final decision on the application this evening.

First, because this is a quasi-judicial matter, the city council is bound to buy constitutional due process principles to provide a fair hearing to remain impartial and to make a decision based on the city's existing code and the evidence presented in tonight's hearing.

Two questions.

Staff analysis report from city planning staff regarding the site plan and architectural review criteria and the special use review criteria for these applications.

Are there any objections from city council into entering these items into the record?

No.

Hearing none, those items are entered into the record.

City Council will now hear from the city city planning staff and the applicant.

Good evening, Mayor, members of council.

My name's Jake Mitchell's.

I am the current planning manager.

And tonight's objective is to, as stated, consider approval of a special use review and a site plan and architectural application for a proposed car wash that is approximately 4,900 square feet in size and located at 23 2378 State Highway 287.

Just a brief overview of the agenda for this presentation.

I'll do a brief introduction followed by the applicant's presentation.

I'll get back up and do an overview of the staff analysis, and then we'll be available to answer any questions, both the applicant and myself, and then uh public testimony followed by council discussion and a motion.

So the proposed car wash is on the last undeveloped lot uh within the solar development that's directly adjacent to highway 287.

That's highlighted in yellow here.

Uh the PUD for this calls these the highway 287 lots.

There's five of them in total.

Uh the proposed pro or the property is uh 1.4 acres 4 acres in size, and that includes approximately half of the name wrong, balmstone drive.

Uh since that is a private road, it's kind of it's about half of it falls within this property.

The zoning is C1, our regional business district, and the PUD uh overlay is the Sola Commercial Institutional PUD amendment number two.

Car washes do require a special use in the C1 zone district.

However, it should be noted that the Sola, the approved solar PUD specifically has car washes called out as an anticipated use on the plans, but that doesn't take away the need for the special use review.

So just existing conditions and kind of what's around the site.

Uh this is kind of a cluster of auto-oriented uses directly north.

We have a gas station to the south.

We have the Carls Jr.

that was recently completed, the financial institution with drive-through, and then another coffee shop and uh uh fast food restaurant a little bit to the east.

If we look out a little farther, we have some multifamily to the north and northeast, some undeveloped lots to the east, the hotel southeast, and obviously the medical complex south of the sample and the residential on the other side of 287.

So just to briefly walk you through the site here using the landscape plan, but the access, the vehicular access is right here on this point of curvature of the road.

This was determined to be the safest location for the drive access for vehicles entering and exiting the site.

Once you're into the site, you can either choose to go into the vacuum bays or uh queue in one of the three stacking lanes here.

There is an escape lane here.

If you decide you could you need to get out, you can go back through the vacuum base and exit it.

And of course, you go through the tunnel car wash, come around, and and then exit the site.

The employee parking is located over here, trash enclosure is here, and then uh you have a variety of of landscape improvements that I'll focus on later during the uh site plan and architectural review criteria.

Lastly, before the applicant's presentation, I'll just do a quick overview of the process and applications.

Uh again, the both of these follow the same path.

The site plan architectural review and the special use review planning commission makes a recommendation, and city council is the final uh determination.

What's the word I'm looking for?

The determination body.

Decision making.

Decision making.

I only use that every other day.

Okay.

So with that, I'm going to turn it over to the applicant, and then I will get back up uh afterwards and kind of give an analysis of the uh of the approval criteria.

Oh, that's yeah, I forgot about that.

Hi everyone, I'm Ted Lopez.

I am actually Ted of Ted's Express Car Wash.

I did not name it by the way, my brother did.

Um, so that's an ego thing.

That's not me.

Um I own this car wash you currently see on the screen in Nervada.

It's uh near Candellas.

Um it's uh about twice as big as the one that we're proposing here because of the orientation of the uh of the car washes a little bit different here because of the site, just layout and so forth.

So just gonna give you an overview of what we're currently doing.

Uh, this is my first car wash, and uh learned a few things, but uh it's in it's like I say it's in Candellus, and it's uh like I say it's about 150 foot long.

This one we're looking at doing here is about 80 foot long, so it's about half the size.

Um, so we've got um an 80-foot tunnel, north um there we go, north to south.

And um we've got about I think 16 vacuum vacuum spaces in this area.

Uh we have the entrance here as uh Jake had mentioned.

Real quickly, one of the important things I think is the queuing.

One of the things that we did here was uh typically we have two sale points here, but what we would like to do here was to provide it like a members lane only.

Obviously, memberships are a part of a key important part of what we do as a business.

And uh this members only lane kind of provides like a legation on any sort of queuing so members can go through quickly without stacking up behind the the areas where we're either selling or some people are doing a single wash membership or purchase or what have you, and then come through and then uh again to go north and out.

So you can either elect to leave or come back into the vacuum area and so forth.

So we've done some uh we provided all the sound around the vacuums.

Uh uh just anecdotally, I feel pretty confident that our sound at their vacuum area is much less than 287, uh having been in that area quite a bit.

The vacuums, the the producers, which are the suction part of the vacuum machines, are actually in this uh containment area here, which is also the trash enclosure.

So those walls are eight foot wide or eight foot tall to prevent uh any sort of additional sound occurring in that area.

Uh what did my thing go?

Okay.

So um having said that, this is the tunnel.

I don't know that we have the actual plan.

Plan drawing.

Um, this is a little bit hard for you maybe to understand, but anyway, so you enter here, come through.

We have the office in this area, small office, and then the equipment room.

Pretty simple structure.

I mean, I've I built stadiums for about 18 years, so this is really honestly a really simple structure.

It's about four walls and and a roof.

Um the landscape, I think we've done a pretty good job on the landscape side of things in terms of put providing a pretty good landscape plan around this.

I know we had some criteria to the west, which is the side where 287 is.

And uh as you can see, it's pretty heavily landscaped in this area as well, and over here where the employee parking area is.

I'm pretty happy with that.

I think the division between us and everybody else is kind of nice, quite frankly, for a car wash.

Um the building itself, I don't know if there's anything else really discussed on this site plan.

The building itself is um kind of in line with what we see with the uh I think it's blue uh credit union.

They have the kind of the sloped roof and so forth.

So we've kind of tried to follow that a little bit.

Um we provided on the on the west side, which is the side on 287, a little more presentation.

You can see Ted's Express car wash.

You can kind of get a feel for what this is and see it as you buy bypass this.

Obviously, 287 is a very extremely busy highway.

And uh, and you know, kind of have that presence on that side of the road.

Uh lots of window space.

I think we met the criteria on the window space and so forth.

So that's an important part component of it as you go through the tunnel, get lots of sunlight.

We try and minimize our sunlight or uh use of uh all of our lighting is LED, which is obviously low usage on on the uh on the electricity side.

Let me go back a little bit here.

So on the site plan and on their operations itself, I know water's a big issue, which we can talk about, but this car wash we expect to do somewhere around 250 to 260 cars per day.

That's our financial model.

And our car wash, we typically use between 15 and 20 gallons per car.

Um so for reference, um, I've actually looked this up.

Most people take a shower in about 10 minutes and use about 20 gallons per shower, which is pretty interesting considering we're less than a shower per car wash.

If you go to wash a car in your in your driveway, it's somewhere between 80 and 100 gallons per per car wash.

So, you know, from that standpoint.

Now, having said that, operationally, we have high pressure nozzles in this car wash.

We restrict everything tightly, all of our chemicals.

We pull all that stuff down as tightly as we can.

Obviously, we don't want to use any more water than we have to.

Um that affects us financially in our model and so forth.

So that's a very important part of what we do.

We recycle about 80% of our car our water.

So that's a really, really important part.

One of the things you can't quite see in this four in this plan is right here, there are four reclaimed tanks in the ground.

And those what those tanks are designed to uh take the water off the car wash into the tanks.

Basically, there's sediment tanks where they settle all the all that solids out.

And we take that water as it's clean because it's clean, run it through a filtration system, a cyclonic filtration system, and then reuse it back in the car wash, if that makes sense.

So we really are are really tight on our on use of our new uses of the water.

Um anyway, from an operation standpoint, that's something we have very good managers in place to make sure that's in that's taking place.

Certainly on our chemical side, we want to restrict that.

It cost us about on the chemical side, about 45 cents a car wash.

So all those numbers are really tight.

I mean, we really watch this, watch these numbers because it affects our financial around doing something like this.

Obviously, we're investing a lot of money on a on a facility of this sort.

Um we employ this car washer probably employ about 12 people.

And it's great because during the summertime, like right now on the other car wash, we're we're grabbing high school kids to come in and be out front and meet people and so forth.

We like it as an owner.

I like it because I have kids, and it's kind of nice to have them out front doing sales and so forth because they learn a lot of different skills, honestly.

It's pretty it's a lot of fun doing that and pushing them out front, kind of getting outside their comfort zone to do that, that kind of thing.

I have a 13-year-old, 11-year-old, and I push them out front.

Yeah.

I make them get and meet people.

They were here at the last meeting, by the way.

Um that part of it in terms of being in the community, I enjoy that.

Um, like I say, we we'll pull probably employ about 12 people, which would be in this area, and we'll uh we'll try and pull them in and teach them how to how to operate this and so forth.

So not super complex, but there's some certainly some skills to learn here.

It's kind of it's been a good model for us, and we really enjoyed being part of that part of that business.

Um the butting itself on the elevation, it's block, pretty simple building.

Um we have metal panel here and uh stone veneer in this area.

We see this kind of different graphic uh stone here as well.

And then um, this is all a metal panel veneer.

We use um we don't have any solar panel on this roof at this time, but we might consider doing that.

I know we have solar panel capabilities.

Um real simple.

This area right here is the office space.

So give in terms of communicating with folks as they come through.

Real simple, get in and get out.

And then I know the signage is an issue in terms of us making sure that we address the signage.

Um, not super you know, dynamic, but it's you know, you can just kind of see who we are.

Again, the floor plan, straightforward through a tunnel, wash your car, get out.

So uh real small office, and then oh, all right.

Well, that's it.

I don't know, but I have a lot more in this area to talk about relative to what we do.

It's car wash.

Pretty simple.

We're not we're not curing cancer, we're washing cars.

So good enough.

All right, there you go.

Yeah, cheers.

All right, now we'll get into the analysis.

Obviously, we provide a pretty detailed analysis with the memo, so I'll kind of keep it high level, go over them, and then if any council members want to kind of delve deeper into a specific criterion, I'm more than happy to answer any questions.

So we'll start with special use review approval criteria, first of which is compliance with the municipal code.

Uh we found this to be in compliance with that, with one separation exception that you can waive, and we'll talk about that on the next slide.

So compatibility with care with the character of the surrounding area was another criterion.

You know, this is kind of a cluster of auto-oriented uses, so we did find that this uh criterion was met.

Uh potential for adverse environmental impacts, we really didn't identify any, and in fact uh in some ways this will actually have some environmental uh environmental improvements uh when you wash your car out of a car wash, it goes through a sand filter and then it goes into our sanitary system and gets treated when you wash a car in uh your driveway or your home, it's gonna end up in the stormwater system and enter into our streams and creeps without being treated.

And and uh we also can't really control the soaps and the chemicals that that homeowners use effectively.

So uh this does control some of that stuff.

So, you know, I think you could even frame it as there is some small environmental benefits there.

Uh compatibility with the comprehensive plan in the analysis.

We provided some specific you know policies and strategies.

But uh I also wanted to speak to kind of put it in context and acknowledge that these smaller lots, uh, especially like pad sites in larger commercial areas, it gets really difficult to analyze them in light of the comp plan and either in uh being compatible or incompatible with them.

But I think when you kind of zoom out and you look at the larger commercial development that it's located within the solar development, and you look at all the different land uses, multifamily, the hotels, the different restaurants, and then you also look at the fact that they dedicated trail usements around the perimeter, at least the south and the east, and a little bit of the north and built trails there.

You know, I think if you look at it from that perspective, you could really make an argument that it likely likely meets objectives, policies, and strategies within all four frameworks of the comprehensive plan.

So staff found that this criterion was met.

It also talks about specific impacts, and I'll just briefly touch on these traffic.

This was reviewed by city traffic engineering and CDOT, and it was found not to have significant traffic impacts.

Obviously, car washers don't generate high parking demand, so we don't see any issue there.

They have screened everything that's required to be screened, and we'll go over that in a little bit more detail with the SPAR approval criteria.

Noise, there's some legitimate concern there.

They have those motors or producers, as I found out they're called.

And then the blowers can be a little loud.

And we did get a manufacturer noise study that says they'll meet our noise ordinance at the property line.

And then given the location of the blowers and the ambient noise from highway 287, we felt comfortable that this criterion was being met too.

Light, their lighting is similar, what's what's along 287 in this area.

They did add some screening from the queuing lane that we'll talk about a little later that'll help mitigate uh light impacts on 287.

Really not a lot of dust associated with car washes.

And then infrastructure capacity and ability to serve.

That talks about traditional utilities, but it also talks about emergency services, schools, things like that.

And uh this was referred to all the typical outside referral agencies and reviewed by SAF and we do not anticipate uh any infrastructure capacity issues or ability to serve issues.

And lastly hours of operation, very similar to what's there.

Actually, I think it's I think the typical hours are seven to eight, maybe a little longer in the summer when they're when it's uh light later.

So this is is similar and we have no concern there.

Lastly, there's a car wash specific or drive-thru and car wash specific criteria, and that's related to separation.

And uh specifically, there's a 200-foot separation from essentially either lots that have residential now or that could have residential in the future.

There's nothing within 200 feet that meets that criteria.

And then lastly, there's a hundred and fifty-foot separation between point of service of drive-through or drive-up windows, and that's the separation that they're asking to get trunk down to about 86 or so.

Point of service on the car wash would be the southernmost kiosk here.

On the Carl's Jr.

site, you're looking at the menu board with speaker here, again, just over 80 feet.

Uh the code says this can be reduced as long as uh traffic impacts are minimized and it addresses visual aesthetics.

It doesn't really guide us on what that means, address visual aesthetics.

Uh, but the traffic impacts is clear.

They're on different lots, different access points, no shared access, no cross access.

So we felt comfortable there.

And regarding the visual aesthetics, we really had the applicant uh put additional landscaping in this area to kind of visually separate the two drive-through lanes and just provide uh a little beautification from the landscaping.

Planning commission recommended proving this reduction for the reasons I stated.

They also pointed out that they thought if we did require the 150 foot, we'd have some kind of what they call dead space or underutilized commercial land.

So they did support that reduction.

Next, we'll go into the spar approval criteria.

As you know, we there's something like 24 criteria, and we lump these into their overarching kind of topics and we talk through them.

So we have architecture, landscaping, circulation, screening, lighting, and then some car wash specific criteria.

And we'll go into each of those in a little bit more detail.

So the architectural approval criteria talk about scale and proportion, character and compatibility, visual interest, and durability.

So I think that's pretty obvious the scale and proportion and compare character and compatibility are very similar to what's directly adjacent to it in the surrounding vicinity.

And the visual interest, uh, I feel Ted kind of played this down.

I mean, as far as car washes go, this has a lot of visual interest.

There's some interesting roof lines, roof line variation.

Uh, there's a lot of windows for a car wash, the use of multiple different materials, uh, metal siding, standing seam roof, all these and in all these materials are also uh very durable materials.

Uh I don't know that there's any wood siding going up to memory because I know this there's metal siding and then some uh cementatious stucco, so the good stucco, uh, not eFus.

Uh so we find that really this meets the architectural uh criteria.

So, next, moving on to landscaping that talks to the function and use of open areas, buffering, and just general enhancement.

There's not really a lot of like functional open areas because people aren't really getting out of their car here, uh, other than the land uh the vacuum bays, which have been heavily landscaped beyond what's required by code to both buffer the vacuum bay area and provide some shade and and so forth for uh the uh drivers while they're vacuuming.

Also, some other improvements.

They planted some street trees along Ballmstone that'll enhance the pedestrian uh pedestrian realm.

They also added some foundation planting on the front next to 287 that will provide some additional visual interest, and then these southern, the southern planting that was added to really uh kind of meet that criteria, the separation requirements above, and also just distinguish their drive-thru from the adjacent one.

So we found that this criteria, these criteria were met.

There's a single criterion about pedestrian and vehicular circulation.

I talked through a little bit about that.

This was the spot chosen off uh Ballmstone.

They have that spelled wrong there.

Uh to uh max, you know, just to make it the safest spot to enter and exit the site.

The one area that we kind of identify both in our technical comments and planning commission was this pedestrian crossing right here that crosses right in front before they enter the uh tunnel.

Now, this is partially driven by our code that says you cannot have car wash doors face the public road.

They really want you to have the the the front of the building facing the street.

Uh and we felt that uh out of the options that were left, which was bringing people up here and having them cross multiple queuing lanes, or bringing them through this side where they cross the exit uh the end of the car wash where cars aren't forced to slow down for other cars and they can kind of get out of there.

We we really felt this was the best place, and uh planning commission had an additional condition of approval, which which staff fully supported, and it was along similar comment that staff made in our technical review, and we'll touch on that a little later.

But for these reasons, we felt that uh this criterion was met.

So then we get into screening.

Those really talk about what requires uh what requires screening and that ensures that they've uh screening is compatible with the building.

You'll see these are called out at six feet eight inches during planning commission.

Uh the applicant mentioned that they would be eight feet, so that was an additional approval uh condition of approval that staff also supported, and the applicant was more than happy to do.

Um everything that's required to be screened is here.

We have the trash enclosure area, it's screened with uh split face CMU that's similar that is the same as some of the split face CMU used on the building, and then the the units on top of the roof are screened by a parapet wall.

So we find uh found this criterion to be met.

Uh going on to lighting.

So there's one area here.

This it this speaks to again compatible with the building and then minimizing impact on adjacent properties.

There's an area down here in the kind of southwest where the light levels get a little high, they're reading like 2.8, 2.7 foot candles at the property line.

We've asked the applicant to explore shielding that a little bit better.

But this is also the drive aisle of the Carls Jr.

And it doesn't really have a light immediate uh adjacent to it.

So if it spills over even at this level, it's really probably just gonna even out the light between the two uh sites.

So we weren't really strongly concerned about that.

So we find this uh criterion to be met also.

And then just an image of the of the you know the kind of standard wall pack and parking lot light fixture, both fully downcast night sky compliant.

And then lastly, here obviously staff recommends uh approval of this with the condition in the staff report.

Planning commission recommended approval with 3-1 vote with these two additional conditions.

First is that the applicant shall provide a high contrast and visually differentiated crosswalk above and beyond standard painted crosswalk striping at the entrance to the car wash tunnel to be approved by the city traffic engineer, and then the wall uh surrounding the waste collection area and vacuum producers shall be a minimum of eight feet tall.

And like I said, staff supports both of those, and the applicant has not indicated any uh any objection to those either.

So with that, I'll turn it over uh to questions.

Amazing.

Do any council members have questions for staff or for the applicant?

Council Friendland?

Um my first question was around the condition from planning commission about the crosswalk.

Can you help me understand why do we have a crosswalk there?

Well, we have a requirement that we have to get people from the sidewalk on 287 to the building.

And we're not we can't get them into the So it's just where do we put it?

Yeah, exactly.

And we kind of think this is the best place because cars are trying to stop there, they're waiting.

They're there's not they're not on it, it's not on a curve or anything.

They've got good visibility as they're coming in.

Uh, you know, we'll probably also ask that they you know put a little sign in that says stops when pedestrians are present, uh, and then try to really have that be uh a strong visual contrast and stimuli that they see that they kind of hope some hopes hopefully the drivers will be aware.

Also, a lot of car washes I've been to, Ted, which is not yours, sorry, uh, have a person standing right there a lot of the time.

So hopefully that person will also be able to kind of assist with any pedestrians crossing.

It's similar to what we have at Carl's Junior too.

Uh it's it's just kind of uh it's a something forced to deal with.

Yeah.

It just seems I'm trying to imagine the scenario of someone.

I guess if they're like vacuuming their bike and they walk their bike across the cross, I don't know anyway.

Yeah, employee, yeah, employees from the bus stop on 287.

Right.

And I didn't highlight this, but they did a bike rack, uh, which our party commissioners often like, and you know that likely they'll have some high school kid that hopefully can bike from home and lock up there.

So they have that too.

Okay.

But you're right, there's not going to be a lot of pedestrian traffic.

Yeah.

I'm curious about water too.

You mentioned uh uh you had a great story to tell about water.

So am I correct in assuming there are some water rights that need to come with this?

And how did you calculate that?

Because I heard you said what, 250 cars a day, and then you said a number for gallons per car and then an 80% recycling rate.

How did you get to the number to decide here's how much we need?

We don't have a final number.

That's determined during the building permit time, but that's when we get their specifications of their recycling system and their filtration system, their fixture account, all of that.

Uh they will have to dedicate 100% of the water they're expected to use.

Also, as a high water user, would they will be flagged and we will monitor them on a we monitor all water commercial non-residential or even I think some residential water users, but uh we what we monitor Jeff will correct me if I'm wrong.

All commercial water users and then high water users we monitor more frequently.

And if we notice an uptick in usage, they will be required to bring in that delta too.

Right, right.

Understood.

No, and I I do take the point and appreciate it that on net in our community, this probably you know, hopefully leads to reduction on net because people are maybe not you know doing things themselves.

So thank you so much.

Appreciate the presentation.

Of course.

Councilor Bolier, I believe, I saw your hand.

Yes, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh outstanding presentation from both the applicant uh and our city staff.

So thank you so much.

Um two questions slash comments.

Uh this wouldn't affect my decision, but I would love to see solar panels on top of this, considering the free energy from the sun, alignment with uh our comprehensive plan, and also energy prices are continuing to go up, way up.

My main question slash concern is around idling.

Um we know that any time people are in lines for fast food, pick up kids, what have you, that's a lot of cars idling, a lot of emissions.

Um I don't know, and I'd be curious about this when most folks get car washes, uh, what time of of day, week, month, et cetera.

And so then since most folks get them, then there's the line then, and then there's more emissions at that time.

So just wondering if you think through strategies to mitigate that.

Sure.

We um historically what we've seen at at our Washington, Nirvana, which is I think pretty typical, it's a it's a bell curve in the morning.

It it's actually interesting, even on the weekends, it's kind of like slow and then it ramps up around noon.

It actually drops off a little bit after like two or three, and then it comes pulls back up again when you get kind of uh people coming off of work and so forth with like, hey, I'm just zipping through.

This uh our car wash in our bada, it takes about two and a half minutes to get through as you when you pull in, roll through the best two and a half minutes of your life.

That's what I tell everybody, especially married couples.

Anyway, um this car washes 80 foot long, so it's about a minute and a half to get through, so it's a pretty quick turn.

Yeah, so sorry.

Anyway, um it's about it's about an it's about a minute and a half.

What about idling?

You do have typically use you told me you typically have people standing out here at the kiosk.

Is there any like encouragement to shut off automobiles while people are waiting or anything like that?

Well, we all have our auto shut off anymore, right?

And we get a we get a an enormous amount of electric vehicles, which is interesting to watch if from from my perspective, because a lot of them don't know how to put it in neutral.

So when they pull in the tunnel, we're like, you know how to put this in neutral?

They don't, so it's a lot of work.

But uh, it happened to me.

Yeah, a lot of people don't know how to do that.

So we get a lot of electric vehicles right now, which is interesting to watch for me just as an owner and kind of having been an oil and gas, quite frankly.

Um but it's about a minute and a half.

Yeah, yeah, I know I'm totally offset things with this.

Um it's about a minute and a half.

So we do have people queuing.

Uh we'll have two staff members out here, obviously doing membership sales and addressing questions and so forth and so on.

It's a pretty quick turnaround.

Most people, and that's what I'll really like, honestly.

Because we had originally taken this down to two lanes and not three, and I'm like, you know what, we've got too many members that just come through and just want to go through and don't want to wait, and that would reduce the idling where they're sitting waiting for me if I'm buying a single wash or something like that, and I'm asking questions.

So it's kind of I'm I'm honestly pretty happy that we've added this third lane back in to just let people come through and not do that.

Um but we get a lot of electric vehicles, which is interesting to watch.

So discount, right?

No.

No.

Sorry.

No discounts.

The police come through for quick.

Um so yeah, so it's like I said, going through that tunnel is about a minute and a half, something like that.

And then uh we push them through pretty quick.

I mean, obviously it's in our best interest to move through as quickly as possible.

So yeah.

Um can I address one real quick thing?

And and Jake's right.

This is a little bit wonky having this cross path here.

There's almost no traffic on this, as you guys know.

I go to Flat Irons Church.

I mean, I've never seen very many people walk through here.

We do have staff member at the entrance of the tunnel 20 every time we're uh when we're open.

So this is fairly easy to manage from a from a just perspective standpoint and watching people and how things go back and forth.

We're very, very careful about loading cars and and staff and so forth.

So it's pretty easy for us to manage at that point.

Oh, that's great.

Thank you very much for the answers.

Just real quick.

Sure.

You win the lottery tomorrow, you decide you hate car washes.

What tends to happen to car washes when for whatever reason it's time to conclude that use of a facility.

Obviously, you're gonna be in business forever.

No, I'm not.

I'm 61 years old.

I'm getting the heck out of here.

Um honestly, typically you'll sell this to like private equity or something like that, and it'll be a cobblestone or or whatever, but who knows?

I mean, if it just from business perspective that cash flows, we'll just run this thing.

You know what I mean?

So I'm just being honest.

But uh that's a great question.

I mean these things run for a long time.

Now if you get somebody else that comes in and they'll switch out the equipment or so forth, these things can go for a while.

But you gotta run them right.

And that's what we do.

So yeah.

Thank you.

Counselor Gallegos.

I'm curious about noise impacts outside of business hours.

So uh real quick, so I didn't address hours.

During the winter time, we are seven in the morning until six o'clock at night.

Um usually when it gets dark, people are no bueno, I'm out of here.

They're not washing their cars.

If they do, they come through real quick, they're a member.

You turn your vacuums off when you're not on the turn the vacuums off at night.

Um during the summertime we go from seven in the morning to seven at night.

And you know, still light out at seven o'clock at night, so we're kinda wrapping things up.

All this stuff turns down at night.

We leave uh at least some security lights on.

Again, they're all LED.

Um but from a sound perspective, those what those vacuums come on in the morning when we turn them on and then we turn them off at night when we leave.

So there's almost there's well, there's no there's zero sound.

It's odd, kind of odd actually.

But uh yeah.

Great, thank you.

Sure.

And if you've walked along 287, pretty loud.

Mayor Proto.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh I'm one of the people who's on that path.

So uh there you go.

Like I'd be the one coming up that path.

I know.

It's a good bike path.

Yes.

And thank you so much.

And I have a c I have a question for for you.

So and uh believe it or not, I've been in this council long enough to uh sweat Carl Jr.

about how they're getting people off of that bike path.

Yeah.

And um I really appreciate the fact that you have a bike rack.

That's just I mean, I'm a road biker.

So there you go.

Um so why 17, I think is the bike rack.

Why is it way over there?

Uh you know what?

Well, that's a great question.

My landscape guys did that.

Uh we can put it anyway.

Honestly, it'd probably be near the office.

Is there another one that's different than the one I'm thinking about?

Yeah, I think that's oh, I can zoom.

Oh, I can zoom in on this dog.

I remember doing this last time.

Yeah, it's where that minus right there.

Yeah.

You're right, that is a weird location.

And if you have kids on a coming to you, they're gonna ride over the grass.

There should be more down here over the office space.

I agree with that.

Yes.

And the the where it's the 90 degree turns on that five foot wide.

Right in this area.

Uh where off the path.

Uh more where you're a jog at rather.

On the other side of the building.

Oh, you're talking there, you're not about this job.

Yeah.

No, not that dog, the one down here.

This one.

That one, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

That's funky jog.

Yeah, kind of elevation.

Do you know what's going on?

When you see that's the big ADA route.

Do you know why?

Well, it's ADA for in case someone's in a wheelchair.

You have to meet that wheelchair.

So that's why it's 90 degrees?

Well, that's why it's a will it's it's it's compliant with the elevation change from here to here.

In order to get people out.

In order to get if you're in a wheelchair to get you got to meet the ADA requirements for getting down to this elevation.

Thank you.

The other thing is if they're biking, they're gonna straighten out.

We can make more curvy.

I would like to do that.

That's a great point.

That's actually a really good point.

Yeah, I would do that.

Yeah, that'd be easy to do.

Awesome.

Yeah, I love it.

I love the fact that you raised the.

I'm an architect by the way.

I built stadiums for 18 years.

We did course field.

Um I I agree with you.

That's a little weird, isn't it?

That just that hard left and right.

I agree.

Yeah, everybody's gonna straighten that up.

Yeah, I agree with that.

Even your realtors might come off of that.

Yeah, you know.

I agree with that.

Um thank you.

You gotta have the flat spaces too.

You can't just zip down, right?

Right.

Unless you want to have one phone.

I'm there.

Yeah.

Yeah, we can do that.

We can look at that doing that for sure.

Um and I was wondering about the light bleed over to blue.

Um there's landscaping down there, so doesn't that help uh mitigate the two-point?

But potentially, it's relatively low.

And it's the the Carls Jr.

too, directly south.

Okay.

And it's like their drive lane, and and I looked at their plans and they don't have a like a pole light.

Oh, it's not blue, it's Carls Jr.

Yeah, yeah.

And they don't have like uh they don't have a uh light uh pole light or anything over there.

So it really I think is gonna actually kind of be beneficial to them too, because it's just kind of gonna uh it's just gonna shine light on their drive-thru aisle, really.

Okay.

Well, we're not on and again, we're not open that way.

So it's not really.

I don't know how how long Carl's Jr.

is open court.

When are they close?

Probably 10 o'clock at night, right?

Probably, yeah.

Yeah, why not?

We're we're long gone by then.

Okay.

Yeah.

And that's something like I said, they're gonna explore like a a little shield off the back to see if they can break it down a little.

But again, it's you know, three foot candles, two to three foot candles is kind of what I've seen in like areas in most codes to begin with, so they kind of fall within what I'm comfortable of seeing and uh anyways.

You know, you wouldn't want that like on a residential shared property line, but on another commercial, uh it's not really all that worrisome.

It's pretty it's pretty similar to what I've uh seen in other codes and other municipalities.

We're not open in the dark.

Nobody nobody that's really rare.

Oh, by the way, I'm going to post to have chicken after this thing.

Okay, okay.

Uh so two more things.

Yes.

Um, is the angle of the roof that might have solar panels on it?

Is it angled to the east?

To the north.

Jake brought that up.

He's gonna explore.

It so just sort uh I'm saying hey, just as under the threshold for m for requiring solar, which is 5,000.

And I forget if that's solar ready or actual panels.

I think that's solar ready.

Ted has uh indicated that he's willing to to look at flopping that that shed roof.

I think it might look a little bit weird if you have the shed going the other way.

Yeah.

But he's gonna look at he's gonna try to explore some opportunities to make sure he's got decent solar access.

I think you know, I think I heard one of the council members mentioned that at one hearing recently about like the about the city's water complex or something.

And then it's like, oh Ted, I get the first thing I thought of and I said.

So we just uh and I didn't address this either.

So our all these equipment, all the equipment, all the pumps right on VFDs, variable frequency drives.

So if if there's nothing in that tunnel, they're not running.

And they ramp up and they ramp down, ramp up, ramp down.

So there's not a constant pull on anything in this equipment in this tunnel.

And our and quite frankly, all the all the lighting is all uh LED and so forth, so that's not a big draw, but all the pumps that run in this equipment, they're all VFDs.

So they're all they're all uh micromanaged in terms of electricity usage standpoint.

So our our I don't know where our kilowatts are, but our bill is like three or four thousand dollars a month.

I mean, we really obviously it affects us in terms of our economics around something like this, but they're like say they're all on BFDs, so it's highly controlled by by a by an uh MCC panel.

Okay.

So yeah.

I I was just asking because I I mean I would understand if you if it would make sense to put solar panels on it, it's angled.

So you know, uh well, so this on the solar side, if we put solar on there, I and I'm not an expert on this uh in terms of the electrical side of things, but I don't know that it would affect the VFDs that much.

Oh, okay.

And we don't really draw that much from a lighting standpoint.

I mean it's obviously it's all LED stuff, so it's pretty low draw.

So it's a it's it it'd be interesting to do the analysis on that and kind of see if it really kind of helped us at all, to be honest with you, in reducing our energy uses.

One last thing.

Uh I appreciate the fact that you put the third lane in to keep people getting in and out.

Uh the big problem we have is with ozone, which forms late in the afternoon, and a lot of it is from vehicle emissions.

So uh our counselors who are mentioning that is like we're trying to reduce the amount of VOCs getting pushed into the air through pass-through, because uh a lot of these people might be coming off of 2D7 passing through.

So if they don't leave us our their VOCs, I'm happy.

Yeah.

Uh and if the regional air quality council knows that you're like considering, you know, you're thinking about that with the new lane and like getting people through, I'm sure they would like appreciate the fact.

I think what would be interesting for us, and I've never done this.

I'm glad you kind of brought this up.

At our current car wash, it might be kind of fun to do kind of analysis of how many electric vehicles we see on a daily basis.

Like like for a reality.

I think you're onto something there.

I'd love to kind of have my staff watch that and just kind of do a count and see what that looks like.

And we'd like to hear.

I'm an owner, I'm gonna I'm a I'm a local guy.

I've stood in that tunnel a lot and guided cars in.

I'm like, I own this place, right?

So I'm meeting people, and then I I want to be one of the community and so forth.

So I've met a lot of people.

I'm standing in the tunnel.

Well, I wouldn't say it's half, but man, it's gotta be 30 or 40% of these cars are electric vehicles anymore.

Because half the time I'm telling how to put the damn thing in neutral.

Because nobody puts it in neutral.

Yeah.

So I'd be I'll do that.

I'll um our folks take a look at it.

It'd be interesting to see.

Appreciate it.

I bet it's a high percentage.

Yeah.

Councilor Janola.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you so much for the presentation.

I did have the question about the roof pitch, so thank you for scooping that.

Um I'm the one who uh has a be in my bonnet about the pitch of the roof at the great outdoors water park being north facing instead of south facing, because it's a prime location for solar panels.

I think here you have a lot of opportunities for east-facing, west facing.

There's I I think there's a lot of uh good opportunities there, but I did that was one of my questions.

Um I want to talk about lighting for a minute, I think during the presentation.

Um you mentioned light similar to 287 in the area.

And if that's the case, I'm I live across in the neighborhood across 287.

So I'm real close.

So that I'll I will say the noise from 287 is gonna dwarf whatever noise we have here for sure.

But the lighting at Murphy's uh express, which is to the north, they have lights that point up into the sky, and it makes me pull my hair out something else that makes me pull my hair out.

Um so I hope when you say you're similar to the lighting in the area, you're not similar to the to the gas station.

Correct.

And this is all downlit, uh downcast.

But also uh gas station canopies are notorious like bright spots for lights, and and most jurisdictions regulate those canopies like separately than other lighting to try to minimize those impacts.

Uh so I'm guessing that's a large source of it too.

They're not gonna have anything like that in their hours of the city.

No, it was it's the lighting on the building actually at Murphy's that points up instead of down.

Yeah, which embezzled by that.

Most most communities out of night sky law, you know, night sky regulations.

We don't have it on the books yet, but we constantly are put telling uh applicants that they need to have downcast.

And it's nice to see these.

Yeah, and they want they have one other set of lights, but I didn't show it because it's all under canopy, like hidden recessed up in the canopy, so there's nothing to really show.

So they have some of those around the building too that'll be fully uh night sky compliant and downcast.

Yeah, there's nothing up, no architectural lighting or anything like that.

I've never noticed them.

I'll know I'll pay attention when I leave.

I I only noticed it because we had a wet day recently, and I was probably driving home from a late council meeting, and there was kind of misty, and I just see these pillars of light at the at the gas station and realized what it was.

Well, so I when I heard light similar to the 287 in the area, I said I hope not.

Yeah, that would have been.

I like to say we close at seven on a on a summer night.

Yeah.

Um we turn off all the lights except for the security.

Some parking lot, security lights, and then the uh whatever signs we have on the building.

So I didn't I never notice those signs yet, but I do have some more questions.

Thank you for for giving a discussion about the water recycling.

Your community is, you know, we're all worried about that.

So I mean, I think you can really play this up, and you know, I'm I'm uh you know, I live in the neighborhood, so I wash my car in the street, so appreciate the comments about the storm drain versus the municipal uh water water treatment uh lines.

Um I I think there's a lot to play up for the community for the recycling system.

So I'm glad that you I was gonna ask you to explain that, and you did a great job uh ahead anticipating my question.

Um I do have a couple more questions about the traffic flow.

I I'm a little bit confused why the traffic flow isn't upside down.

Switched around from from this because you're you're talking about kind of this point right here.

Yeah, when you come in, you've got to make a left turn, and when the cars exit, you're turning and there's this collision or you know, I don't want to say collision, I think conflict potential.

And this project was here before me.

I have my own thoughts on why that is, but I'll see if if Ted can tell us specifically.

That is a great point, by the way.

I uh I worked on I debated this a lot.

What uh what really the driving factor for us was queuing?

We don't want to buy queuing back possibly back on towards the street.

I think there's a lot of there's a ton of queuing here, more than I have at my current location.

Yeah, that was a bigger driver around it.

Full disclosure.

Uh would I have flipped it, possibly.

But here's the thing for uh from an operational standpoint.

We we like the southern exposure on the entrance because in the winter time we don't want anything freezing up.

Yeah, that's that was the biggest driver piece of this thing.

Yeah, so you hadn't considered the queuing from a safety standpoint.

We want that as thawed out as possible.

And you know, we're in Colorado, right?

It that north end is gonna be a little different than the south end, yeah.

And that really was a driving factor.

So queuing is a big piece of it because we didn't want anybody backing out now onto the street getting at a shorter distance and hold on, just you get the benefit of the parking lot.

Yes, that's exactly right.

So if I've got queuing in this area and we're queuing here, it's not impeding people coming in out of the back area and getting out.

Yeah.

If we flipped it, we were concerned about possibly impacting what was going on with the vacuum area.

Because if they back up, then that's a big issue.

So the access point was a fixed point where everything kind of developed from because of the location on the curve of the road there.

So that was also like a fixed, a fixed position.

Yeah, yeah.

I I think it all makes sense.

I want to talk about landscaping a little bit.

Sure.

Um I appreciate the low water usage.

We've seen some other proposals uh kind of recently, site plan, and I think this is a similar one where we're looking at like a third of the allowed usage.

Yep.

And I actually meant to touch on that.

So third, it's a little over a third, and it's and it's more than double the area.

Yeah.

And so I think that's a really uh it's a great plan.

I was confused by the use of sod in part of it in the northern kind of border, and then seed in the southwest, southeastern portion, why we're putting grass in.

Well, I agree with them.

Yeah, let's keep it as thought.

Yeah, and we and you know, with the way the state's moving, uh, I will say this was uh uh began this review before the state started regulating that.

You still can use like the low uh low water mixes, which I'm sure he is, but we can definitely explore he saliums open to it, uh so we can explore doing some it's none of us really like functional turf area, so like to your point of what's the need for it though.

Yeah, and I thought the state is regulating that, but then I realized, yeah, there there are some of these hybrid or uh low water usage grass that's allowed.

If we put hardscape in that area, it's gonna affect your drainage, so you know we wouldn't have yeah, it's just something to think about.

I I I think the low water usage turf there is is pretty acceptable and from the water budget, I feel really comfortable with this to begin with.

100% agree with you.

That's a lot of vegetation on this side, it's more than we're required to do.

It's a lot.

And I I but keeping that alive and making sure it looks like we want it to look like and all that stuff.

That's that's uh that's definitely an issue.

Just just something to think about.

Um then I had one more question about landscaping at the exit of the car wash.

Looks like you come around and there's this boulder wall that is there.

Yeah.

Does the boulder wall extend all the way down to the exit?

Or is it flat ground there at the exit?

Yeah, I can let me verify it with the degrading plan, but I believe it just uh wraps that corner uh just to make up some elevation east to west.

And my concern is to uh Mayor Pro Tem's point of people cutting across the grass and walking where they're trying to get through.

Are they going to come across where that exit is despite there not being a sidewalk or a crosswalk?

And so is there some way to kind of screen that a little better, maybe with some extend the landscaping that goes from the building, or you you build a a half wall or something just to discourage.

Are you talking about like in this area right here?

So from walking right across here.

Yeah, that I mean that's kind of useless flat work, so like we can definitely explore something and uh I think it's on the on the west side.

If you have a half wall or something that kind of wraps that corner.

You're talking about just sort of like pedestrians crossing because there's there's uh uh flat work here and the crossing on that side and maybe just uh eliminating some of that.

The pedestrian crossing.

Let me do that.

We'll knock that out all day.

Right.

Love that clean car.

100%.

So we can gas station.

Wouldn't you do that?

I would totally do that.

Well, I mean well, that there's a ballers right there.

You could freaking all right, sorry, you could run right in that place.

But whatever, you won't let me do that.

Um, I think that's all my questions.

Let me just check one more thing.

Oh, and I guess you are willing to do the um the recommendations of the planning commission with the eight-foot wall and the better marking.

Okay.

I'm not sure all my staff says six eight.

But those were pretty simple things.

The wall really runs about where it's shown there, and it's a two-foot tall wall.

Yeah, that's what I feel like if it just wrapped that whole corner, it just kind of discourages pedestrians from crossing.

Yeah, we can look at some additional landscaping.

Also, like maybe the flat work doesn't extend past the quarter of the building, so it's not encouraging.

Yeah, uh, yeah, we can definitely explore those.

Would you all be opposed to me reducing some of the landscaping?

Because that's a lot to water.

I'm not sure.

Not a lot of things.

That's a lot of water.

I mean, I think that we don't need to waste.

You're you're already saving a lot of water, and saving more is good in this this day and age.

I mean, there's there are the requirements of how much landscaping you require.

But I mean, that's a lot to maintain.

It's a lot, it's expensive, and it's it's just a lot to water.

You keep alive and make it look good, quite frankly.

I think I'm I'm good.

And that is a low-growth seed mix, so it's a low water seed mix that they're proposing all that.

Well, you're pretty much right at where you need to be with trees, but with the existing ones, you have some additional shrubs we could explore.

Okay.

Uh so yeah.

Okay.

Counselor Judson.

Well, with regard to reducing the landscaping, I think one of the things that makes it attractive is the landscape.

Yeah, of course.

Yeah.

And um and you're already pretty low in your water usage.

Yeah.

And if you get rid of the turf and use a drought tolerant grass, I think you'll be even more.

Yeah.

So I don't I don't know.

I'd have to see something different before I would be okay with uh getting rid of the landscaping.

I like the native grass in those sod area versus sod.

I agree with you.

Because you mow it twice a year and you can occasionally make it look good.

Yeah.

Yes, you do.

Um I I have a question about you mentioned um that you monitor because it's a high water use business, you monitor it more carefully.

What are you monitoring for?

Are you monitoring for leaks?

Are you monitoring for if we are in a drought situation?

How much water they're using?

What is what goes on there?

Yeah, we're monitoring, we're monitoring their like total annual usage and making sure it's in line with what we approved and what they dedicated for water.

I think we're mostly switched over to smart meters, so we we do monitor for leaks, but and we do have and we do have restrictions on car washes with recycling, and it's once we hit a class four uh drought is my understanding.

So they are included in that uh in that plan uh but they're treated differently because of their water, their water recycling and reclamation.

So what does that mean?

What I actually have had residents already ask me this about uh, you know, when they saw this on our agenda, uh, which is why are you building a car wash when we're in a drought?

And I knew enough to know that it's a more efficient way of washing your car than washing it at home.

But I did not know if we got into a severe drought, what would happen to the car wash and what would be the things that kick in.

Yeah, I I'm not familiar with that plan really deeply.

I know that they do fall into water restrictions when we hit stage four from based on kind of planning commission.

Yeah.

But the drought the draft drought plan includes that as is stage stage four number of things go away, and one of them is car washes.

Just to clarify in terms of the monitoring, um, what applies there is they will be required to dedicate water rights.

We will do that based on their estimated demand, and they'll work with um our principal utilities engineer to come up with uh appropriate dedication.

If, as we observe over time, they're using more water than they've dedicated.

The code allows us to go back and require an additional dedication.

So if if they decide it's a certain number of acre feet and we agree to that.

So that's primarily what you're monitoring for is to make sure they have enough water.

Yeah, and in all accounts we we have meters and we are we're able to um set alarms and monitor that data, but the piece that's specific to monitoring is related to that water rights dedication.

Okay, and to be clear, and stage four, if we were to be that far along, they just wouldn't be able to operate.

What happened what would happen?

I mean, that's what's in the draft plan.

But again, stage four is really severe.

We're you know, we're eliminating all outdoor use and basically all discretionary uses.

So if that would be a good thing.

We'll have a lot of dirty cars.

Yeah, but it you know, if we get to that point, it's we're seeing what the bottom of baseline reservoir looks like, and we're making sure that we have enough for you know essential drinking, bathing, cleaning type things and the severely restricted across the board.

All right, thank you.

That's all.

Great.

Any other questions from council for staff or for the applicant?

Okay.

Here are no more questions for the staff of the applicant.

We want the public testimony.

Uh at this time we will hear any answers from members of the public who wish to address the city council about the special use for reapplication for proposed car wash.

Please fill out a speaker form if you haven't already and hand it to the city clerk when you come to the podium.

You must state your name and address for the record.

And I'm going to note for the record that it is now 8.59 p.m.

I don't have any speaker request forms.

Uh so what I will do is just ask if there is anyone present who would like to speak and be on the public record.

Okay.

Uh and I will check with our city clerk to see if we have any calls.

Okay.

Seeing no speakers and saying no calls.

Uh we will close public testimony one minute later at 9 p.m.

I have to ask, uh, but I don't see the applicants anymore.

Uh does the applicant wish to respond to the public testimony, including the written public testimony that was included in the meeting packet for the hearing record.

Uh city attorney, this is an interesting one.

Because he ran out of the room.

Since he did step out, let's uh wait a moment.

Okay, we can see back.

Let me see what you have next.

I think um now there's an opportunity just for any other questions before you all wrap up the hearing.

I have a question of you.

The motion in our packet doesn't say well, I it may ref uh the resolution, sorry, I don't have it in front of me.

Um does the resolution have the planning commission uh recommendations in it?

It it does not, and I can explain that, Council.

Um so when we draft the council resolution, we do include the staff recommended uh conditions only in the resolution, but we do provide you the planning commission um resolution in case you want to add their own.

Okay, so the motion language you provided us would need to be amended to include the planning commission.

Yes, that's correct.

Great question.

So now that the applicant, sorry about that.

No, you're fine.

Uh I just have to ask if you wish to respond to the public testimony, including written public testimony that was included in the meeting packet.

And just for your there was no one who spoke, so it would just be the uh the written testimony that was in the packet.

If you would like to respond, now is your time.

I'm good.

Okay.

Thank you.

Okay, I'll turn it back to council and just want to make sure if there's any final questions either for staff or for the applicant.

Okay.

Seeing that there are no further questions for staff for the applicant, I will close the public hearing at 9 01 p.m.

And we'll move on to council deliberation and a decision.

Okay.

The item for discussion is resolution number 2026-15.

Approving with conditions an application for special use review and site plan and architectural review for lot 3C, solo filing number one, replat C, 2378, State Highway 287, uh TETS car wash.

Just as a reminder, as we begin deliberations, council should focus on our discussion on the evidence presented in the record during tonight's public hearing and the applicable review criteria for both applications.

We are required to make findings regarding whether the review criteria has been satisfied.

Section 26-15-4A of the code sets out the criteria for municipal for review of a special use application.

The first criterion is number one compliance with municipal code.

Uh does council have any discussion regarding this criterion?

Can I just circumvent staff went over all this with us and indicated to us that they believe that met all those criteria?

And unless anybody has any objections, can we move to the motion?

We can always move to the motion.

However, I will say uh recommendation from staff is different than what the council will pass.

I just want and even if we move to them really quickly, just for the record, I would love to just go through each at least the special review.

Uh special use review criteria.

Did I see your hand up, Councilor Jim?

I was going to say the same thing.

Okay.

Perfect.

Uh seeing now, now we'll move on to the second, which is compatibility with character of surrounding area.

Uh is there any counselor who would like to speak on this criterion?

Seeing that we'll move to number three.

Uh potential for reverse environmental impacts.

Mr.

Mayor, this is the only one that gave me pause.

Um, but I appreciate the explanation from the applicant and staff, um, particularly on emissions, and I love Mayor Pro Tem's comments as well.

Um fingers crossed we'll have more EVs and that'll be less of an issue.

But this was the only one that I was concerned about.

But I appreciate their answers.

Great.

Moving on to number four.

Compatibility with uh comprehensive plan.

Well, compatibility of the proposed use and the site plan with the comprehensive plan.

Seeing none, we'll move on.

Number five, uh the longer one.

Taking into consideration any proposed mitigation measures, especially use shall not create significant adverse impacts on government services and existing developments in the surrounding neighborhood, or on any anticipated future development permitted by this chapter, uh significant impacts included are but not limited to a significant impacts in traffic generation and parking, lack of screening of parking, loading, traffic circulation, or outdoor activities, garbage collection facilities and storage, significant intrusion on noise, light, dust, or glare onto nearby properties, significant increases in burdens on housing schools, public utilities, or governmental services such as fire, ambulance, police, library, and or recreation, or hours of operation.

Is there any counselor who would like to speak on this particular criterion?

Perfect.

Or the 150 foot separation from drive up point of services, which is the one that we are changing ever so slowly.

Uh any counselor who would like to speak on this one.

Seeing none, great.

We can see you?

Sorry, I didn't see it.

Please mayor put that.

Um I think we should allow the the uh exception simply because the the windows, what's going on in those different areas is not just 80 feet apart.

It's also an diagonal.

So I don't think it's uh I think the intent of that 150 foot separation is met by the by the applicants and the location of those windows.

So green stuff they're planting there.

Counselor Janella?

Yeah, I'll just add I think that as I read that my understanding of that separation is to not cause a traffic problem.

And these have totally separate entrances to the traffic circulation.

So if you actually look at the point of traffic circulation to get from one kiosk to another, you'll have to go quite a way distance way more than 150 feet.

Fantastic.

Not seeing anything else.

We can move on to the spar approval criteria.

And if staff want to pull that up, uh just that one slide.

But they have kind of put these into chunks for us, which are pretty easy to read.

The first one is architecture.

Any members of council want to speak to the architecture?

Seeing none, we can move on to landscaping.

Uh any members of council who would like to speak on the criterion for landscaping.

I would just like to say I don't at this moment support decreasing the landscaping that's there.

I'll I'll agree with that.

I mean, I I appreciate that they have this low water usage.

Um that's well below the you know the maximum they can do.

It's all you know highly uh trout tolerant, these kinds of things.

Right.

I I would agree.

Uh moving on to circulation.

Councilor Gianola.

Yeah, I mean I raised that issue of the upside-down nature and the potential for the pedestrian crossing at the exit.

Uh that that one's the one that gives me pause, you know, to where could it be worthwhile to put some kind of uh condition on to ask them to provide some screening at the exit to discourage pedestrians from crossing.

Um it sounds like they would be open to that.

You know, I don't know if that's something that you know again.

This is all still kind of new for me, so I don't know if that's a kind of condition that we could ask for.

City it's running.

I'd like staff to tag team this one with me.

Yeah.

Uh I mean I think there's lots of solutions to that issue that are that aren't a really burdensome.

I mean, it could be as uh simple as uh a little bit of a just a railing extending off the building in this area.

Exactly.

Uh so I I think the applicant would be willing to explore that.

I've put made some notes too uh in terms of some other things we could do, so we can we can explore something like that.

I don't think that's a major issue.

Okay.

And the circulation, I think I I'm satisfied by the applicant's response of why the circulation has this kind of crossing of traffic direction that I was concerned about.

Um I I feel comfortable with that.

Great.

Any other member of council?

Yes.

Uh screening similar issue, but not seeing anything.

Uh lighting.

Right?

And then uh the car was specific review criteria.

Lighting.

Counselor Jensen, please.

Um I know that as part of the building code, not the land use code, right?

We're going to be doing dark skies requirements soon.

Would this be if it were passed now?

It's not required to do that, right?

And does it meet those requirements anyway?

Can we ask if they'd be willing to do the dark skies requirements?

I am pretty confident that those are already being met.

I will see if the cut sheets include like the third party designation.

Uh but I I I believe they they are consistent with uh the fixtures I've seen on in other jurisdictions that have dark sky uh regulations.

So I I feel pretty confident they are can we just clarify that we'd like them to be?

Yes, staff pushes for that with everybody, even though it's not in the explicitly in the approval criteria.

So that is something we are we are very aware of and talk to the applicants about from the very beginning.

Uh let's see here.

I don't know if I'll be able to give you other notification, Mr.

Mayor.

Obviously, we would all love for them to be compatible with that, but if that's not yet part of the actual code, that's not a reasonable thing to judge on.

Is that correct?

The question I have then is could we ask for a condition that they do it anyway?

Essentially, I can tell you so we say what you said again.

Do you say that anyway?

Can we have a condition that says we would like this to be dark skies compliant?

See, my understanding is the same as staffs that we push really hard for all lighting to be dark sky compliant, even though it's not expressed in the code.

And there might be something in the plans that will directly say that.

Um I'm wondering if we identify that before we make it a condition.

And I guess the other thing is the building code will dictate that when the building codes are updated.

So if they're getting their building permit at that time type of uh the billing code typically won't address like parking lot lights and stuff, other than running the electrical to it.

I see.

But it doesn't, it doesn't necessarily regulate it to the best of my knowledge anymore more than that.

I can tell you the pole light fixture has a third party, and I'm not familiar with this one.

Uh nighttime friendly.

I'd have to look into what that third party designation is it meaningful, is it valid?

Uh I don't see one on the on the cut sheet for the wall uh pack, which is like kind of the flat one, but it looks to be completely nice guy compliant.

And then they have the ones that are under the canopies that are recessed in the canopies, those would meet all those requirements.

So uh I feel pretty like I said, pretty confident that it that it would meet those requirements.

I'd like to research the wall pack a little bit more before I fully felt satisfied with that.

But uh they they look like kind of nice side compliant lights.

The lights are recessed up inside of them, they're downcast at a 90-degree angle, so sorry, I don't have the perfect uh absolute answer for you.

Okay, okay, great.

Uh well, I think we've moved through all the criteria.

The one question I have for for council is the planning commission recommendations.

These are not the resolutions.

We would have to go out of our way to amend them into the resolution.

I just kind of want to hear from council.

How do we feel about the recommendations uh for the for what our planning commission gave us?

For the two conditions is what I mean.

I agree with them.

Okay.

I'm seeing agreement.

I'll just say I agree with them and I also agree with the condition that was brought uh forth by staff.

I think I think we uh this is uh this is something that was done well, and I I appreciate everything that went into this.

Uh is there any further discussion regarding these applications?

I I just have one more question for the staff.

There were some technical conditions.

Can you just speak to those quickly?

Yeah, it's been a month or two since we released those, and you want to get through this process before making them, but like the crosswalk, it says, you know, crosswalk, and I said, well, provide us a detail.

What does that crosswalk look like?

What design is there?

Some of the the keynotes that are referencing uh that are referencing like building facade materials are mislabeled.

Uh there's some more significant ones than that, but it's it's basically we want to get them here early enough where when you guys make change, like make suggestions like, hey, could you reroute this the sidewalk or something?

They're not like I paid my architect five rounds of reviews.

And so we're we're trying to be draw the right line in the sandwich where we know that the comments we're making aren't going to have like a snowball or cascading effect on the on the property where one change results in another change or results in another change.

So they're all minor enough that we we don't expect them to have any other effect other than that.

There's probably some uh landscape labels and uh it's been a while.

Like a lot of it's like dimension your walkway and do things like that so we can just you know we can dimension it in our software, but like also just calling it out so we can see it there.

So it's a lot of stuff like that.

And I don't want to make it sound all labeling and mislabeling because there is more than that, but it's it's all pretty minor stuff.

You would probably change it.

You would probably notice it if you were looking at it side by side.

I see.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Any other discussion or questions for counsel?

I'll only know if this has been fantastically well done.

So thank you.

I wish uh the last one we did it was as straightforward.

So thanks so much.

Uh for our stuff.

Do you mind just putting the motion line with bad enough?

Sorry.

I'll move to approve resolution number 2026-15.

Approving with conditions, an application for special use review for a car wash and site plan and architectural review for lot 3C, solo filing number one, replat C located at 2378 highway 287, with the following additional conditions.

Um like to add the I don't know if I need to say the staff technical corrections, or are those included in the resolution?

You can say that one that's included in the resolution.

Okay.

I I'd like to include the planning commission um conditions of the improved visibility on the crosswalk and the higher uh higher wall on the trash enclosure for sound screening.

We have a motion, we have a second discussion.

Yes.

Aye.

Anyone say no?

No one opposed, that passes unanimously.

Thank you.

We will give Seth a second or two to set up, but uh we will move into our economic development update.

Thank you, sir.

I appreciate that.

She's awesome by the way.

She knows good job.

She knows we talk.

Thank you guys so much.

I appreciate this amazing.

I don't know, crossbike.

Not this one.

You need a nice still on now and just block that thing now.

Probably not.

Ready?

Yeah.

All right.

I'll turn it over to our economic development director.

Thank you, council, and thank you for having me this evening.

I'm joined with Ill Isabella Nunez, who is on my team.

Um tonight we're here to just give you a brief update on economic development.

So our agenda for this evening is I'm gonna touch briefly on our strategic plan.

That's our North Star.

Uh, and then hand it over to Isabella to talk about our partnerships and programs, some things that we're excited about looking ahead, and then questions.

So short and sweet.

Um background and strategic plan overview.

So in 2022, the city launched our economic development and housing strategic plan.

Um, and we were really looking to answer three questions.

Um, where are we today?

What is our current economic base and housing stock?

What direction should we go?

Um, and how do we get there?

What are our goals and strategies and strategic opportunities and how do we develop an actual plan that we can implement?

Um and this was intentional to put economic development and housing together.

Because we want to grow our economy, we need to think about how we're living here.

So council approved our strategic plan in 2023, so it's still fairly new.

Um, and with that, we have a community-based economic development approach.

So our department is committed to supporting a resilient, diverse, and sustainable economy that allows residents to live, work, and thrive in this community.

I think often when people think of economic development, they think of sales tax, next big box, um development.

But really, we have a more holistic approach for how we do economic development with Lafayette that aligns with our values in our comp plan.

So in our strategic plan, we have business and industry, people and place-based goals.

For business and industry, this is really focused on the retention, expansion, and attraction of new and existing businesses, and a real emphasis on small businesses and minority and women-owned enterprises.

Um you think of downtown, we think of small businesses, and so that is a real anchor in our business industry goals.

For people, our goals and strategies are surrounded by um providing opportunities for individuals to participate in the local economy.

This has a lot to do with affordable housing and the housing piece of that plan, and then also workforce development and partnerships through that.

And then lastly, place, uh, enhance the community's quality of life through unique and diverse development.

This can be as small as making sure there's safe routes to school, as large as building the park, um, or even uh selling a bank for hopefully an awesome project.

Um so a lot of great things within the place category.

Uh we are a small but mighty team.

Um so I'm the economic development director, as you know, I have another hat as the DDA director.

Um I report to our city manager, and I also report to our DDA and uh our chair is Duran Kagan, our fabulous executive director of the Wild Children's Museum.

Um and Isabella is on my team as a senior project manager.

So with that, I'm gonna turn over to Isabella to talk about our partnerships and some um programs that we have right now.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council.

So as Bridget mentioned, we're a small but mighty team, and so we really rely on our external partners to bring their expertise into the community.

And so one of the partners we work with is the Boulder Small Business Development Center that we've been working with since 2022 after COVID, realizing that our businesses needed some extra support and guidance.

And so they offer no-cost consulting to businesses and also provide a dedicated representative that comes out into the community once a month and does business visits as well.

And then they also host specialized workshops for Lafayette, Lewisville, and superior businesses.

Last year they provided over 200 advising hours to a hundred clients and had a little over 160 advising sessions.

And then we also had 52 Lafayette attendees to the workshop.

So when you look at those numbers compared to the other communities, we had the most participation.

We also work with the Latino Chamber of Commerce of Boulder County.

So they have had a longstanding presence in the community, but we formed a formal partnership with them last year, which we're very excited about.

As we know, Lafayette is home to a very strong network of Latino owned businesses, and so we really wanted to be able to more effectively support those entrepreneurs.

And so the Latino Chamber already has those developed relationships and trust in the community.

This year they're working on creating digital content and business exposure for Lafayette businesses.

They're also continuing collaborative programming, including educational sessions and networking opportunities.

Not too long ago, they hosted a marketing and AI summit in partnership with our Lafayette Chamber and some other organizations as well.

And one of the things we're most excited about is last week they hosted an entrepreneurship pathway event focused on supporting women to help them learn an income generating skill that can lead to self-employment opportunities.

And so they hosted this at Sister Carmen, and they brought in a baker that showed them how to decorate the cake, and then also had an SBDC consultant there to talk to them about how they can turn those skills into starting their own business.

So that was well attended, and we were very excited that they put that on.

Of course, we also partner with the Lafayette Chamber, so they host different business networking opportunities, do ribbon cuttings, put on community events, and provide other business resources.

And lastly, we partner with the workforce Boulder County Business Services Team.

So they provide a variety of no cost services to businesses that help them kind of build their workforce and the recruitment needs.

They can do things such as job fairs, hiring events, post jobs as well.

And so we work with them and our counterpart at the city of Louisville to co-host events.

So this year we hosted one on apprenticeships, and then we have plans to host two of their two other events this year as well.

One of our other programs is our small business capital grant program.

This came out directly out of a response of our strategic plan.

And this was approved by council in 2023.

This is a 50% matching grant up to 7,500 for real property improvements.

So this includes exterior and interior improvements such as flooring, plumbing, mechanical, etc.

And we really intentionally designed the program to be kind of straightforward and accessible, knowing that business owners have a lot on their day-to-day plate, and so we want to make sure that they're able to tap into it easily.

Funds are dispersed on a first come, first served basis, and so each year all the program funds have been allocated.

So that strong demand still exists there for the program.

On the right on that map, each dot represents an application that's been approved.

So since the program inception, we've had 56 applications approved, which is great.

One of the other things we look at too is private investment and public investment.

So in their application, we ask what the project cost is, and we translate that to private investment.

So since an inception, we've had a little over two million, and then the city has put in a little under 300,000.

And so for every dollar in public funds, that generates about nine in private investment.

One of our other resources is our small business toolkit.

So this acts as a centralized resource, not only for new businesses, but also existing businesses as well.

We have four different sections in there, one being our department contact list.

So we have a specific contact for each department, so if they need to reach out to planning, public works, or whoever they know who to reach out to.

We have a section on permits and licensing, so if they need to pool a building permit, apply for an alcohol license or their business license, they know how to move forward with that.

We also have a section on incentives and grants, so not only our programs and economic development, but also our partner programs such as PACE and the Lafayette Downtown Development Authority as well.