City Council - Regular Meeting

Hey, Denver. It's time for the weekly general session of your Denver City Council. Tonight's coverage of Denver City Council starts now.

Tonight's meeting is being interpreted into Spanish. Sam or Jasmeen, would you please introduce yourself and let our viewers know how to enable translation on their devices?

Yes. Of course. Thank you for having us. Hello, everyone. My name is Sam Guzman joining you virtually with the CLC and along with my colleague Jasmine, we will be interpreting today's meeting into Spanish.

Please allow me a quick minute while I give instructions in Spanish on how to access interpretation. Thank you very

much, Sam. Welcome to the Denver City Council meeting of Monday, 03/02/2026. Council members, please join council pro tem Romero Campbell in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of

The United States Of America to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible,

with liberty and justice for all.

Council members, please join council e pro temer Merrill Campbell as they lead us in the

Denver City Council land acknowledgment. The Denver City Council honors and acknowledges that the land on which we reside is the traditional territory of the Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Arapaho peoples. We also recognize the 48 contemporary tribal nations that are historically tied to the lands that make up the state of Colorado. We honor elders past, present, and future, and those who have stewarded this land throughout generations. We also recognize that government, academic, and cultural institutions were founded upon and continue to enact exclusions and erasures of indigenous peoples.

May this acknowledgement demonstrate a commitment to working to dismantle ongoing legacies of oppression and in inequities and recognize the current and future contributions of indigenous communities in Denver.

Thank you. Madam secretary, roll call.

Council members. Gilmore? Here. Hines? Here.

Here. Cashman. Here. Lewis. Here. Parity. Romero Campbell? Here. Torres? Here. Watson? Here. Madam president Sandoval? Here. 11 members present.

There are 11 members present. City council has a quorum. Approval of the minutes. Are there corrections to the minutes of February 23? Seeing none, the minutes stand approved. Council announcements. Are there any announcements for members of council? Council president Marathama, go ahead.

Thank you, madam president. I wanted to invite the District 4 community to come to a community open house, next not next Wednesday, in two weeks on Wednesday, March 18. Doors open at 5PM. It's gonna be at Thomas Jefferson High School. We have a number of agencies that'll be there to answer questions, talk about different projects that are happening in in the district, and councilwoman Gonzalez Gutierrez will also be there with the table to to answer questions as well and just interact with community.

So we're really happy to have that, and we invite you all to come. I also have another just announcement acknowledgment, and I just wanted to acknowledge you, council president Sandoval, for it's a big week, and you will be graduating. And, usually, we congratulate after a graduation, but I think that this is a really special week for you. And so, for those of you that aren't aware, but I think most of you are, that she will be graduating from the University of Colorado Denver with an executive MBA. And so I just want to extend a congratulations, to you for this accomplishment.

Thank you. In the labor of blood. Councilmember Alvidrez. Thank you

so much, council president. I wanna start by thanking district seven community for showing up so amazingly on Saturday. We had an amazing show with Modus Theater. People were able to show and share incredible stories about love, adversity, and community, and I'm so grateful for the turnout and the power that was brought to this space. There was not a dry eye in the room, and I feel like it really conversation in District 7 and telling the stories of what's happening.

Also, I wanna congratulate Aguanile. I was able to host their or attend their grand opening. We have our first Puerto Rican bar in Denver right outside public transit of Alameda Station. So that's, like, two of my favorite things right there. It's a beautiful place with amazing cocktails and food, so definitely support our Puerto Rican neighbors and visit Aguandiles soon.

And then I also wanted to thank DPD district three. They were able to get the person that was assaulting women on South Broadway, so we feel a lot safer. We're still having our self defense class on Saturday, so come one, come all to that. Very happy and grateful that that person is no longer on the streets. I also wanted to address some of the conversation around Alameda Avenue recently and start by saying Alameda never had a plan for just two lanes.

It's always been three lanes. The mayor on city council member last week said some things that were not accurate, so please reach out to us if you have questions. I also just wanna say it's wholly inappropriate to label my constituents as Trumpian or dismiss their concerns as conspiracy theories. These residents who are worried about their safety are participating in a democratic process. They're showing up.

They're asking questions, and they're advocating for their families. This is not extremism. This is civic engagement. And at a time when our country is so divided, local government should be the place where we model respect and bring people together. As elected officials, we sign up to be criticized. We sign up to be challenged, and we do not get to call our community members names, call our no leaders names. And a lot of this council that signed on to these letters, are they also under this Trumpian word that he just used to describe people that are advocating for themselves? We can debate design. We can debate data. We can disagree on the best approach, but we shouldn't be demeaning the people that elected us to serve them.

And my commitment is to keep the focus on safety, transparency, and respect for every resident in Denver. Thank you. Thank you.

Council member Cashman?

Yeah. Thank you, madam Perez. First, let me start by thanking my colleague, councilman Alvidrez, for her words, which I I agree with a 100%. I was surprised and disappointed in the mayor's characterization of our residents. Couple of things I wanted to share.

On April 1, the District 6 office will be hosting our annual, we call it the academy and the community, at Cook Park Recreation Center from six to 8PM, we'll have about 30 city agencies and outside partners at tables for people to come in, ask questions, get answered face to face rather than sit in chairs and listen to talking heads and tell you the way it is. We'll have parks and rec, public health and environment, community planning development, transportation infrastructure, dozens of other city agencies. We'll have Xcel Energy, Denver Water, and as I said, a bunch of outside partners. So it's a great opportunity to meet folks face to face and get your concerns addressed. The final thing I wanted to mention, I have a proclamation going through on consent this evening.

Pamela Walsh is a resident of the Virginia Village neighborhood. 2019, Pamela left a twenty year career in the corporate world to start a an important nonprofit called the Love Project, and she spelled it l o v v e for Virginia Village. Over the years, Pamela, her board, and a group of couple dozen volunteers have been delivering fresh meats and fruits and vegetables, hygiene projects to literally thousands of Southeast Denver families, primarily through McMinn and Ellis Elementary's and most recently adding Placebridge Academy to the mix. Pamela and her husband are relocating. And fortunately, she's leaving the Love Project in good hands, and the good work will continue on.

But I just wanted to raise her name and tell her how thankful we are for the good work she's done for her families who really needed her services. Thank you, madam president.

Thank you. Councilmember Lewis.

Thank you. And thank you councilmember for your your words, excuse me, regarding Alameda and your constituents as the chair of the transportation and infrastructure committee. I've actually been very impressed with your constituents and their engagement and the amount of expertise that they hold regarding this topic. So, was also pretty disappointed to see that characterization. So, thank you for standing up for them.

I also wanted to make a few announcements. So, this one is in regarding in 13th And 14th in my district. So, myself, Councilwoman Silery, Councilwoman Gonzales Gutierrez, councilwoman Parody, and councilman Hines submitted a letter to director Ford within the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure regarding the rollout of the construction of 13th And 14th with which was quite chaotic. And I am pleased that we received a response from director Ford. I'm not gonna read the full response here, but I did wanna say that I appreciate that Dottie and director Ford are taking responsibility for how the project was rolled out.

And I quote, I would like to start by apologizing as Dottie recognizes that our communication around this project was not at the level it should have been. So director Ford also responded with doc what will Dottie what Dottie will be doing, going forward to be able to address this issue. And so, again, I quote, an enhanced chain of command approval process before any project hits the streets. That includes a review of stakeholder engagement and communication checklist. We will immediately review projects that directly impact residents that are pending in the near and medium term to ensure that we provide sufficient public notification prior to proceeding.

This will include a review of when and to who the engagement and notification occurred. And then finally, a call for staff to pause implementation of any project found to have inadequate notification or engagement in order to complete the process prior to proceeding. I mean, so we'll continue to keep an eye on this situation, and we'll continue to discuss the roll with Dottie and to hold them accountable to these commitments. That said, do appreciate director Ford for admitting the mistake and working to figure out how to improve it as we look at the other segments in my district and outside of my district. Additionally, we have community panels.

It's that time of year again in the council eight office. We'll be hosting community panels for input from constituents in D 8 this year. We will have four meetings, which will be virtual sessions on Wednesday, March 25 in the evening. It's free to sign up and attend. You can email Jesse.Curie@Denvergov.org with the subject line community panel for more information and to

sign up. And so I

do hope that you will. I also wanted to thank all those who were able to join our joint town hall our our joint r and o town hall last Tuesday. We had robust conversations with the agencies as well as talk thirteenth and fourteenth and another of other resources for District 8 in particular. And then I just wanted to conclude with thinking of the everyday people in Iran tonight and hoping for peace, not just there, just in this country or in this world in general. Thank you.

Thank you. Council member Watson?

Thank you, council president. I wanna first thank the members of the community for coming out last Tuesday evening to our discussion around data centers. And so there were over 200 individuals that came out to a meeting in Swansea community to share their thoughts and to communicate clearly of their expectations for data centers as far as the impact to our environment, our air, our water, and to make sure that we have a robust process to provide feedback and for our community voices to be included. I wanna thank council member Cashman for sharing the opportunity to speak to the administration on a moratorium of any building of data centers and look forward to collaborating with my colleagues as well on regulatory changes for data centers. Next tomorrow let me pull up the on March 3, tomorrow, we're holding our first, Welton Next Steps, community advisory group meeting, from 05:00 until 6PM at the Blair Caldwell African American Library in Five Points.

This would be the first meeting of the community advisory group to look at the mobility study that DOTI is working in collaboration with the regional transportation district as well as with community to look at really what steps can we take to increase multimodal options throughout the Welland Street corridor. We encourage all neighbors to show up. We had about 30 folks that applied for the community advisory group. We selected about 18 folks through that robust process. Anyone that applied to participate is also encouraged to attend each and every single meeting.

We plan on having at minimum three community advisory group meetings. So once again, our first community advisory group, the Welcome Street next steps process, it will be tomorrow from five to 6PM at the Blair Caldwell African American Research Library in the amazing 5 Points. Thank you, madam president.

Thank you. In honor of three zero three day tomorrow, which is tomorrow, March 3, I wanted to share three things that I love about Denver. First is La Raza Park. If anyone knows me, La Raza Park is in my council district. I love that park with every fiber of my being. And good news is it's opening soon, hopefully, right before Cinco de Mayo. So that is fingers crossed. Second is La Casita where I grew up being raised by my father who was a Tamalero, and I learned a lot of the skills that I get to apply right now. And fourth is the neighborhood I represent, the North Side. I think I live the North Side with every fiber of my being.

I talk about the North Side all the time. It's where I was born and raised. I went to high school where I raised my kids. I don't know. Council member Flynn, we I might have the highest point. I just got some new data. We have an ongoing joke who has the highest area. I have Inspiration Point all the way to Sloan's Lake, all the way down to the Platte River, and I'm just so blessed to be able to rep represent that community. And then on Sunday, March 8, we celebrate International Women's Day by honoring the strength, leadership, and achievements of women in Denver and around the world. And I would just like to recognize this council.

We have councilwoman Torres. We have councilwoman Romero Campbell. We have councilwoman Sawyer. We have councilwoman Alvidrez. We have councilwoman Lewis.

We have council councilperson Gilmore, councilwoman Parody, and councilwoman Gonzales Gutierrez, and myself. And people like my mom and all of our moms and all of the women who helped raise us have lifted us up that we have a majority of women on council. And so I just wanted to recognize that on International Women's Day and celebrate all the late lovely women and how wicked smart you all are, how thoughtful you all are, and how over the last year and a half, you all have helped me become a better leader. So I just really wanted to call all of us out on this on for March 8. And last but not least, my little girl, my her birthday is on Wednesday.

And so I just wanna give a shout out to my daughter, Bella, who has made me such a I love being a mom. Like, she's my first kid, and she's one of the greatest things that's ever happened to me besides her brother. So happy Bella. I say I get to say I have a favorite daughter because I only have one daughter. So seeing no other council announcements, there are no presentations. There are no communications. There's one proclamation being read this afternoon. Council member Alviders, would you please read proclamation zero two two four?

Yes. Thank you. A proclamation honoring Arelante Latina Day. Whereas International Women's Day observed annually on March 8 is a global celebration of social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women and a call to action to accelerate gender equity across all sectors of society. And whereas International Women's Day traces its roots to labor movements led by working women demanding fair wages, safe working conditions, and the right to vote, reminding us that the fight for gender equity has always been rooted in courage and collective action.

And whereas the Adelante Latina Convention holds an incredible place in the heart and soul of Latina Coloradans, Adelante Latina Convention will be a Spanish language Latina convention in the city and county of Denver on 03/07/2026 in commemoration of the International Women's Day. And whereas Denver's cultural and linguistic diversity is a source of strength in Spanish language spaces like the Adelante Latina Convention ensure that leadership development and economic opportunity are accessible, culturally rooted, and inclusive. And whereas the Adelante Latina Convention is a celebration of culture, community, innovation, entrepreneurship, empowerment, and leadership that uplifts Denver's wealth of cultural and linguistic diversity. And whereas Adelante Latina convention will be held during celebrations of International Women's Day with the Adelante Latina convention reminding us that the city and county of Denver's identity is a fabric of diverse traditions and is bonded together and that we must embrace equity. And whereas Latina entrepreneurs, professionals, educators, parents, leaders, and community members are part of the city and county of Denver's strength, Latinas value of faith, love, family, and loyalty to the community highlight their strong contributions, and whereas Adelante Community Development is committed to the success of Latinas in the city and county of Denver.

Their commitment to prosperity of every Latina girl and woman to help them thrive by offering educational opportunities, entrepreneurship opportunities, and access to a better quality of life, removing barriers, and ensuring Latinas have what they need to thrive and continue creating their economic wealth, providing equity in education opportunity and ensuring equitable access to health and well-being. And whereas the American dream has been built and sustained by immigrant women whose labor, leadership, and love have strengthened the families and communities across generations. And whereas this month, we honor the critical work that Adelante Latina Convention provides for Latinas in the city and county of Denver and statewide. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by Denver City Council, section one 03/05/2026 is Adelante Latina Day in the city and county of Denver. Section two, that the clerk of the city and county of Denver shall affix the seal of the city and county of Denver to this proclamation and that a copy be transmitted to Adelante Community Development.

You.

And I'd also like to welcome Kim Jatt. I'd like to welcome councilman councilperson Gilmore to the meeting. Council member Alvidrez, your motion to adopt?

I move that proclamation 26 dash zero two two four be adopted. The question

has been seconded. Comments by members of council. Councilmember Alvides. Thank you, council president,

and thank you for your beautiful words. I think all women are a part of uplifting our community. And the more we stick together, the more we advance together. Adelante, what they're doing here is very, very important work. It's a time where Latino people in general are experiencing a level of racism and prejudice that we haven't experienced in a while.

And the fact that immigrants add to our community, that add to the economic opportunity for others, that the values are about inclusivity. And what I appreciate about it being in Spanish as well is Spanish has been spoken in this state for a long, long time. In fact, our constitution was also written in Spanish. And so having a space for women that speak Spanish, they often feel left out. They often are embarrassed to speak up.

They often are seen as less smart because of an accent, and that is absolutely not true. We can speak often more than one language. And maybe we don't speak the second one perfectly, but we are going above and beyond what the average American who only speaks one language can do. And so I just wanna thank all of you for everything that you do. And I feel like as Latinas and as immigrants, we have to do way better than the average person because we have to meet where other people are, and then we have to prove that we know just as much, that we work twice as hard, that we are just as smart as everybody else.

And so the work that you're doing and the space to be an entrepreneur that speaks Spanish, which is most of my family, which is was me being an entrepreneur in construction in a male dominated industry where people would often tell me, we wanna talk to your dad or we wanna talk to your brother who my brother never even worked in construction. Sorry, brother. But this is important, and I'm so proud to be uplifting you all today.

Thank you. Thank you. Madam secretary, we'll call.

Council members Gilmore. Aye.

Aye.

Lawyer. Aye. Albidres.

Aye. Flynn. Aye.

Gonzales Gutierrez? Aye. Cashman?

Aye. Lewis? Aye. Romero Campbell? Aye.

Torres? Aye. Watson? Aye.

Madam president Sandoval?

Aye. Madam secretary, close the voting, announce the results.

12 ayes.

12 ayes. Proclamation zero two two four has been adopted. We now have time for the proclamation acceptance. Council member Alvidrez, who would you be inviting up to who will you be inviting up to accept the proclamation?

Mariah, will you

please come accept the proclamation? Thank you.

What an honor. Thank you. I am joined today by our board of directors and Adams, representatives from Adams as well and a lot of community Latina entrepreneurs, immigrants. On behalf of all of our community, we wanna say thank you. And we wouldn't be here if we don't stand on shoulders of woman like Catherine Archuleta, who joins us here.

Polly Baca, Rosemary Rodriguez, Ramona Martinez, Patricia Varella, and many, many others that have opened the doors for Latinas like me and others to really come and thrive in opportunities when they are open. City and County of Denver, I really want to express this, our deepest gratitude for proclaiming Adelante Latina Day and for recognizing the economic, cultural, and civic contributions of Latinas in our city. This is an act of representing more than a symbolic moment in the current political pandemic that we are living. It is a public commitment to equity, opportunity, and the leadership of Latinas who strengthen families and build businesses and uplift communities like Denver. A special thank you to councilwoman Flor Alvarez for her leadership and for really championing this proclamation with clarity and conviction of who we are and what we are standing for.

Your support really sends a powerful message to Denver to see Latinas that value our work and our discipline and our courage, but we're also ready to stand with us and to continue to build wealth for our prosperity in Denver and the entire state of Colorado. On behalf of Adelante community and all over the community that we represent for the last ten years, We wanna thank you for making this space as historic recognition for really making sure that Latinas have a space to celebrate in Denver and across the street and that we will continue to work with pride and responsibility to expand real opportunities to see more Latinas to thrive. Thank you so much for this special moment for us.

Thank you. Madam secretary, please read the bills for introduction.

First Biden, the business committee.

26 dash zero one five one, a bill for an ordinance approving a proposed agreement between the city and county of Denver and Public Service Company of Colorado to grant the Public Service Company of Colorado access to install and maintain utility infrastructure. There is no fee. The grant is for ninety days for install and then access and maintenance until terminated in Council District 9. 26 dash zero one five three, a bill for an ordinance approving a proposed second revival and a mandatory agreement between the city and county of Denver and Community College of Denver to support the Denver construction careers program incumbent worker training program citywide. 26 dash zero one five four, a bill for an ordinance authorizing capital equipment purchases from the airport enterprise fund.

From the South Platte River Committee 26 dash zero one three nine, a bill for an ordinance relinquishing an easement in its entirety reserved in ordinance number 31 series of nineteen forty one recorded with the Denver clerk and recorder at book a dash 26 pages twenty five through thirty one located at 1100 North Federal Boulevard. And from the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, twenty six dash zero one three eight, a bill for an ordinance relinquishing a portion of the utility easement reserves in ordinance number zero zero two, series of 2,002, recorded with the Denver clerk and recorder at reception number (200) 200-8116 located at 2500 East 2nd Avenue.

Thank you. Council pro temer Mary Campbell, you make the motions for us this evening?

Yes, council president. And I'll

do a recap. Under resolutions, council resolution zero one zero five has been called out for postponement due to pursuant purse called out for postponement pursuant to rule 3.6 by council member Lewis, and council resolution zero one five eight has been called out for postponement pursuant to rule 3.6 by council member Lewis. Under bills for introduction, no items have been called out. Under bills for final consideration, I am calling out council bill zero one two eight for comments, and council bill zero one two five has been called out for comments and a vote by council member Lewis and Alvidrez. Under pending, no items have been called out.

Madam secretary, please put the first item on our screens. Council resolution zero one zero five, a resolution approving a proposed agreement between the city and county of Denver and Comply AI Inc for the implementation and ongoing support of I AI guided plan review platform. Council member Lewis, what would you like to do with council resolution zero one zero?

Thank you. I'd like to call this item out for postponement because I wanted to be able to look into modules two and three to be able to sort out some information.

Okay. No motion is required, and council resolution zero one zero five has been postponed to the meeting on Monday, 03/09/2026. Madam secretary, please put the next item on our screens. Council resolution zero one five eight, a resolution approving and providing for the execution of a proposed grant agreement between the city and county of Denver and state of Colorado regional transportation district concerning the RTDDR doctor Cog surface transportation block grant central corridor vision and alternatives analysis program and further, therefore. Council member Lewis, what would you like to do with council resolution twenty six zero one five eight?

Thank you. I'd like to postpone this item as well. I'm in the same manner just to give me opportunity to connect with RTD as well

as Dottie to better understand this contract. Alright. No motion is required. And council resolution zero one five eight has been postponed to the meeting on Monday, 03/09/2026. Madam secretary, please put the next item on our screens. Council bill zero one two eight, a bill for an ordinance regarding fiscal reporting to the city council. Requires quarter quarterly financial reports to be submitted by city council. Council member Sawyer, do you wanna go ahead first?

Yeah. Thanks, madam president. I wanna just say thank

you to you, madam president, for your partnership on this. Really excited to have this ordinance come through and wanna also thank the Department of Finance for their willingness to work with us on this. The charter gives city council budget oversight authority, and we work really hard to make sure that we are elevating the concerns of our residents priorities, which we create as counsel over a series of two days, well, like a day and a half. One where we talk through overarching priorities, and then the second where we really get down into the specifics of the policies that we would like to push forward and make sure that on the operational side are being funded, which are policies that really matter to us as council members because that's what we have heard from our residents. And, of course, it's our job to ensure that we are elevating the voices of our communities.

That's what we do here. So really excited about this ordinance because the the biggest challenge we find is that we don't get enough information about the city and county of Denver's financial picture. We only really get it twice a year. We get it July 1 when the base budget is released, and then we get it September 15 when the proposed budget for the following year is released. And that's not really, in my opinion, enough to do our job well.

That's not oversight. So I will say, you know, there was a there was a day when I had to do a craft project where I cut up two different budget books and taped them together onto a piece of paper in order to see the trends that were kind of going across time between information we had been given over the course of a couple of different years. And I don't want any future councils to have to do that. And I really appreciate that the Department of Finance recognizes and is willing to work with us on that. So thank you all very much for the opportunity and for your support on this.

We're really excited about it, and we do think that it will start to provide us more information. It's not gonna be a silver bullet, but it will start to provide council more information so that we can sort of see that bigger picture of what the budget actuals look like so that as we're having these conversations about what programs and legislation we want to fund and how we wanna fund it so that we can ensure that the voices of our residents are being heard. This is a a key piece of information that we need in order to do that. So thank you, madam president.

Thank you. And I wanted to say thank you for working on this with me. It's just good governance. There's lots of municipalities that do this. And so for those who might be confused what this means is quarterly at this meeting, at the very beginning, you heard me say, are there any communications?

So during that portion of the council meeting, when it says council communications, we'll just read a sentence into the record, and it can remind you that there is a dashboard that we can all go on, and we can start looking at that dashboard. Oftentimes, this work is so vast that things are out of sight and out of mind. You kinda forget until you're like, oh, I got the budget in July. So this will just help us all remember and hearing it from the council president, whoever serves in this role, is a great way to codify it, and then it's in the record for anyone in the public who wants to see it. So and thank you, the department of finance and the administration for working on this.

I think it went went pretty smoothly. And you all agreed that it was also good governance as well and actually implemented a dashboard that you had created and would highlight and elevate that dashboard. So thank you all. Madam secretary, please put the next item on our screens, council bill zero one two five, a bill for an ordinance amending chapter 28 of the revised municipal code concerning law enforcement officer identification. Council pro tem Rumira Campbell, will you please put council bill zero one two five on the floor for final passage?

Yes. I move that council bill zero one two five be placed upon final consideration and do pass.

I'll second.

Okay. We have a motion by pro tem Romero Campbell and a second by councilwoman Alvidrez. It has been moved and seconded comments by members of council on council bill zero one two five. Council member Luis Alvarez, I'm gonna just let you two figure out who goes first.

Okay. So thank you so much. I really appreciate it. So before you all knew the names of folks like Keith Porter junior, Renee Nicole Good, or even Alex Pretty, once a woman, Nelby, just and I started working on this piece of legislation, because we thought it was really important for communities. We wanted to make sure that we were keeping people safe and help Denver to keep, to help Denver to continue to be a welcoming place.

In the interviewing intervening months, unfortunately, we've seen why this policy is so necessary, not just for the communities that have been targeted by federal law enforcement, but also for those who watch out for those communities, as you saw with Alex Freddy, as well as, Renee Nicole Good. I'm proud of the bill that we have here tonight, though, there's always room for improvement. And I hope that we may serve as a model for other municipalities across the country to do exactly what it is that councilwoman Alvidrez and I set out to do. I'm thankful for my colleagues and the questions that you all answered and the feedback that you all provided in regarding this bill. I believe that it is in a much stronger place because of the collaboration with each of you.

And with the passage of this bill tonight, we will increase transparency, we'll increase accountability, and protections for the citizens of Denver. And I also wanted to say because this has come up with communities, that because we are making sure that there are protections in place for folks who are in our community, there is nothing in this that lets you all know that we support the illegal deportations of the communities or the kidnappings of the folks in our communities. I can't underscore that enough. And then finally, I called this out for a vote tonight because I believe firmly in the principles it represents, and I wanted to be able to cast a vote that reflects that belief. So thank you, councilwoman Albydress, for your work on this.

Thank you, councilwoman Lewis. And to all of our colleagues who I feel like everyone played a role in pushing this forward and to council president as well, I think, you know, councilman Cashman speaking up and other people just really thoughtfully caring about their constituents and caring about the constitution of The United States. And what we were sworn on our oath as council members to uphold. And I would say councilwoman Lewis started working this on her own. I was working on this on my own, and then they were we were told that we were both working on the same thing.

And that means so much to me to know that you were already working on this before, you know, I had reached out. I had reached out because I got calls from people in my community that were telling me I've seen people with masks. I don't know who they are. How am I gonna know if this person, a criminal or a law enforcement agent or not or whatever else they are. And it was Laura Safalza is the first person that called me, so shout out to you, Laura, and really held me to task.

She's like, what are you gonna do about this? How can they whoever these people are, whether it's federal agents or rogue individuals, because there was so much confusion a year ago where I was hearing that there were bounties placed on immigrants' head for snatching them up whether or not you are a law enforcement agent. And I think councilwoman Parity said it best when she said we've taken for granted that law enforcement doesn't wear masks. We never thought that we had to ask because we haven't had to ask our DPD or our local law enforcement not to wear masks. So I think this is critical when someone is in their home and someone's knocking on their door and they have a mask and a gun, who's gonna answer the door?

Why would you? You need to know there is the basic constitutional requirement here. This is literally the bare minimum that we can do. And we've said that over and over again. This isn't the greatest legislation ever packed to per protect immigrant rights. This is literally trying to find the bare minimum that we can do to help people have some sense of safety and security in our city. So thank you for your partnership. Thank you to all my colleagues who have helped us get to this point,

and thank you, Jonathan. Thank you. Can I

just add one more thing? Yeah. And and then I'm done. And thank you for saying that, and I think it's really important because I think what councilwoman Alvedrus and I would hear, and you all probably heard from your communities, is when ICE gets here, when ICE gets weird when ICE gets here. And ICE has been here for quite some time just maybe to not the degree and visibility that we've seen in other communities. And so we have been prepared for ICE to be here, and so thank you for that foresight. Thank you.

So the queue, you have to do manual. We're doing old school. So if you need to be in the queue, so I have councilwoman Gonzalez Gutierrez followed by council member Flynn.

Thank you, madam president. I wanna thank you both councilwoman Lewis and Alvidrez for working on this issue. This work began months ago. As I know, councilman Lewis, you you you and I had talked about it, so I'm really glad that you all took the steps necessary. This was brought up way before an executive order was announced, as we heard last week from the mayor, and I'm thankful for your leadership, both of you.

Our council is bold and diverse. We come to the table with different perspectives, and there's a lot of power in that. Regardless of the executive order, I want to encourage us all to continue working on solidifying things to live in our code, ensuring that we have the protections for everyone regardless of who is in leadership. We talk about this all the time. It's important to codify these things and protections for people in our city, and that's exactly what we are doing this evening.

And so I'm thankful for that. There's a lot of work that has been done in the past, and now I'm proud to vote yes tonight on this legislation to continue strengthening our communities. I'm grateful that we are answering the call from our community and that this is the step in the right direction to promoting community safety. Again, I'm thankful

for your leadership, and I look forward

to future collaborations to continue building protections for our community. Thank you, madam president.

Thank you. Next up, we have council member Flynn followed by council Mantaras.

Thank you, madam president. As a first, as an American and secondly, as a retired journalist, I spend a lot of my time consuming a lot of news and reports, court rulings, original source documents, and following this issue. And I I was struck by how many voices I've heard, not just on the left, but also on the right, on the libertarian right, on the conservative right, and in the center where most Americans are, frankly, on what we're seeing in the streets as far as immigration enforcement in this current administration, which, by the way, is unlike immigration enforcement in the first Trump administration, in Trump one point o. It was not like this. And so I was I was particularly interested in reading commentators from the Cato Institute, which is right leaning.

And here locally by the Independence Institute, John Caldera. And if John ever watches this, I I hesitate to quote him favorably, but I will. John Caldera noted that masked law enforcement increases distrust of police. And it's very harmful for our Denver police when we're trying to have the community trust them and be able to reach out to them when they need to, to have the public think that law enforcement could be massacred. I don't know who that is.

The Cato Institute has had commentators on this, and I encourage people to read that as well. So when I looked back at the numbers of both removals and returns of of undocumented immigrants through the last one, two, three, four, five, six presidencies, four of them, three democratic and one republican, George Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and, yes, Joe Biden, all had higher numbers than Trump one point o. And in the first year of Trump two point o, higher numbers. But they were doing it following the law, following due process, what our constitution requires. So it's very disturbing to me as an American to see masked agents on the street.

I I don't know what the best way is to enforce our immigration laws, but I think I know the worst way when I see it. And so I think this is a a prudent measure for us to take, and I I hope that it's followed. Thank you, madam president.

Thank you. Councilmember Torres? Thank you,

madam president. Thank you to the sponsors. I think you did really good work here on an issue that is sometimes a little hard to nail down exactly. What what does the what does the language look like? What does it mean to us in application terms?

So I thank you for taking that on. Working on immigration policy at the local level is always really hard because people will constantly tell you that's a federal issue. And we know there are things that only the feds can do. We have families who come every week asking for work permits, and we can't give them that. But I appreciate you zeroing in on something that we can do as a reflection of what we expect in our city borders, and you could put it into policy here in a way that made sense, right, to all of the actors that do law enforcement and their advocates, community as well.

I ran Denver's Immigration and Refugee Affairs Office for thirteen years, and it wasn't until 2017 that we really had to show what we were about as a city. And we did that through policy. Policy. And so thank you for taking on the hard work, taking the feedback, and making it better because I think you did, and I'm honored to vote for it tonight. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilmember Watson?

Thank you, council president. First, thank you, councilmember Alvederez. Thank you, councilmember Lewis. Like I said all along, this is a slam dunk. This is not a controversial or should be a controversial thing.

I also shared personally for both of you as mothers, as individual heads of your household. This discussion is very has been an extreme on all points. You both have been put on point of personal attacks, And your families, their safety, even outside of the legislation in itself of you protecting other families, your family's safety has come into jeopardy. And so I thank you both for standing up and putting this forward. I've gotta say as, a black man on this camp on this campus

That's fine.

The MOC, black

man on this council. About, I think, was 1998, I helped to create the biased policing task force within the city and county of Denver. And I did that because innate within our public safety construct, there are biases. And when you add a bias process with a masked person grabbing folks from their homes, from grocery stores, from the places of work, that is scary, and it's even scarier for people of color because we've been through this throughout our history in this country. And so this was an easy call, but it doesn't mean it was easy for y'all to sponsor and to deal with what came at you during this process.

So I thank you for your leadership. I thank our colleagues for moving this forward, and I am enthusiastic, yes, on this vote tonight. Thank you, madam president.

Thank you. Council pro temer mayor O'Campbell.

Thank you, madam president. Again, thank you to the sponsors. Thank you, council member Lewis and council member Alvidrez. I think it took a lot of courage to and and to bring this forward and to not let it drop and to work through and have those, you know, I think taking feedback and really working through something that is strong and very, I think, elegant in how it's written. I think this is a good ordinance. And so thank you bringing it to Denver. I do hope that there

are other cities that look

at what has happened here and model it off of off of this work. So just thank you again. I think this is good for not only for the everybody living within Denver but I think it's good amongst our agencies as well. And so I appreciate the support of the safety department in this as well. We don't mask and nobody else should. So thank you. Thank you, madam president.

Thank you. Council member Hines?

Thank you, madam president. Anyone granted the authority to use deadly force must be held to the highest attainment of accountability. That starts with transparency. The public has a right to know who is exercising that power. If someone cannot do the job without hiding their identity, then they should not be entrusted with the responsibility to take a human life.

And when that authority is abused, there must be real consequences. And the only way we can have consequences is to understand exactly who is abusing that authority. To Councilmember Torres' point about there are many things that we can't do at the local level. City's number one job is public health, safety, and welfare. It's why a third of Denver's budget is police, because we're a county, sheriff, fire and community corrections.

But so I would say ensuring our law enforcement is accountable and transparent is our job, just as our role at the local level explicitly includes public safety. And so I want to thank our sponsors for this, and and I'm really looking forward to see it implemented here in Denver. Thank you, madam president.

Thank you. Council member Cashman.

Thank you, madam president, and my colleagues have been extremely eloquent. Thanks again to the sponsors. I'll just say what I what I said in committee. One of the first lessons I learned as a child was bad men wear masks. If someone comes up to my car with a mask and a gun, I don't care what it says on their shirt or their coat. I'm I'm not opening the door, and I'm certainly not answering the door at my home to someone wearing a mask. Again,

thank you

to the sponsors. I look forward to supporting this. You, president.

Yeah. Thank you both. Thank you, council member Avideres and councilman Lewis, and thank you for taking my calls. Thank you for going back around and circling back with all of our colleagues and working with all of the agencies to make sure it's enforceable. No one wanted anything on our books that was not enforceable and operationalized, and so this is operationalized, and it's powerful.

I get emails all the time asking me what am I gonna do, and one of my answers has been vote yes on this bill and vote yes on this ordinance and make sure that it can be operationalized. And so that's a powerful thing that a way for me to be able to have been responding to my community. So thank you for this and in full support of this moving forward. Madam secretary, I think everything is working now. Madam secretary, roll call on council bill zero one two five. Council members Gilmore.

Aye. Heinz.

Aye.

Sawyer.

Aye. Alvidrez. Aye. Lynn. Aye.

Gonzales Gutierrez. Aye. Cashion?

Aye. Lewis? Aye. Romero Campbell? Aye. Suarez?

Aye. Watson? Aye.

Madam president Sandoval?

Aye. Madam secretary, close the voting and announce the results.

12 ayes.

12 ayes. Council bill zero one two five has passed. Congratulations. Thank you all. This concludes the items to be called out. All bills for introduction are ordered published. Council members, remember that this is a consent or block vote, and you will need to vote by. Otherwise, this is your last chance to call out an item for a separate vote. Council pro tem Romero Campbell, will you please put the pro proclamations and the resolutions for adoption and the bills on final consideration for final passage on the floor?

I move that the proclamations and resolutions be adopted and bills on final consideration be placed upon final consideration and do pass in a block for the following items. In series 26, zero one four five, zero oh, zero one four six. It's going fast. Zero one four seven, zero one four eight, zero one one nine, zero one five two, zero one three four, zero one three five, zero one three six, zero one two one, zero one three seven, zero one four zero, zero one four one, 0142, 0149, 0150, 0159, 0175, and 0128.

Thank you. It has been moved and seconded. Madam secretary, roll call.

Vice President Gilmore.

Aye. Heinz.

Aye.

Sawyer. Aye. Alvidrez.

Aye. Oh,

sorry. Flynn. Aye.

Gonzales Gutierrez.

Aye.

Cashman?

Aye.

Lewis? Aye. Romero Campbell?

Aye.

Cortez? Aye. Watson? Aye.

Madam president Sandoval?

Aye. Madam secretary, close vote and announce the results.

12 ayes.

12 ayes. The proclamations and resolutions have been adopted, and the bills have been placed upon final consideration and do pass. Tonight, there will be a required public hearing on council bill zero zero two six, changing the zoning classification for multiple properties along West Avenue in West Highland, and a courtesy public hearing on council bill zero one zero three approving and accepting the Southwest area plan, which plan shall become a part of the comprehensive plan 2040 for the city and county of Denver pursuant to section 12 through 61 of the Denver revised municipal code. If there are no objections from members of council, we will recess until 05:30 before reconvening the regular meeting. City council will provide a half hour general public comment session to hear from the public on city matters.

Except for any matter that is scheduled for a legally required public hearing, the general public comment session will begin at 5PM.

Hey, Denver. Here's what's happening around the mile high this week. Four films, one night, a defining moment in climbing. Come see the world's best climbers take on some of the most challenging mountains from around the world. Come watch the next generation make history at the Mellow Film Tour. Join Indy one zero two point three as you celebrate three zero three day with a big loud local party. This year's lineup is listener approved. Three of your favorite local three zero three artists of 2025 take the stage. Bruja, great

get to you today. Please join us next week or submit your comments in writing. The next session will be held on Monday, March 9. Sign up begins at 5PM on Thursday, March 5. We look forward to hearing from you again, and thank you for attending.

Thank you.

Council will now reconvene from our earlier session. There is no unfinished business from the earlier session. There are no proclamations being read this evening. We have one required public hearing and one courtesy public hearing tonight. As a reminder, council members need to turn their video on during the vote.

For those participating in person when called upon, please come to the podium. On the presentation monitor on the wall, you will see your time counting down. For those participating virtually when called upon, please wait until our meeting host promotes you to speaker. When you are promoted, please accept the promotion, turn on your camera if you have one, and your microphone. All speakers should begin their remarks by telling council their names and cities of residence, and if they feel comfortable doing so, their their home addresses.

If you have signed up to answer questions only, state your name and note you are available for questions of counsel. Speakers will have three minutes. There's no yielding of time. Translation if translation is needing needed, you will be given an additional three minutes for your comments to be interpreted. Speakers must stay on the topic of the hearing and must direct their comments to counsel as a whole.

Please refrain from profane or obscene speech and refrain from individual or personal attacks. Council pro tem Romero Campbell, will you please put council bill twenty six zero zero two six changing the zoning classification for multiple properties along West 30 Sec West 32nd Avenue in West Highland on the floor for final passage.

I move that council bill 25 dash zero zero two six be placed upon final consideration and do

pass. It has been moved and seconded. The required public hearing for council bill zero zero two six is open. May we please have the staff report? Yes.

Hi. Thank you, council president. I'm Libby Glick with community planning and development, and I will be presenting the rezoning for West 32nd Avenue. So first, we'll go through the request and then the location and the context followed by the process and finally, review criteria. So council president Sandoval is proposing to rezone the corridor of West 32nd Avenue from about Perry to Julian from mixed use two story districts, PUD 162, and then a Main Street three story district to a three story mixed use district with the design overlay eight and then UMS three or three story Main Street with the design overlay eight.

And so now we'll go through the location and context. So this is located in Council District 1 in the West Highland neighborhood. So as stated previously, the current zoning is U m x two for the western portion, which is a two story mixed use zone district. There's one property that is in the former chapter 59 zoning code, and that's an existing bank that's in PUD 162. And then the eastern side of this corridor is a three story Main Street district or UMS 3.

So the heights range from one story in the PUD to three stories for the eastern portion. And then surrounding this corridor is mostly single unit zoning. So the propose this proposal is there's two pieces to it. So the first is to rezone that western portion that's currently two stories to allow for up to three stories. So that's going to U M X 3, And this district is you know, it allows for a variety of uses and, again, up to three stories.

And then the second piece of this rezoning is to map the active centers and corridors design overlay or the d o eight as you'll hear me call it. And so this is an overlay that would go along the whole corridor, and it doesn't allow the drive through building forms. So you'd have to do either shop front or townhouse, and it requires a portion of the Ground Floor to be nonresidential active uses. So the goal is to really maintain the existing commercial character of this kind of main street area. So the current land use is mostly commercial retail.

It's mixed use. There's one multi unit residential property, and then it's surrounded by a lot of lower scale residential uses. So this is within the rezoning, these images. So on the top, you can see one of the examples of, like, a strip mall within this rezoning. So it's kind of set back. There's a large parking lot in the front. And then on the bottom is the PUD, which is that existing bank that has a drive through. So now we'll go through the process. So this application was complete in October. It went to planning board in mid December, and we're here before you today for the final public hearing.

So prior to submitting the application, council president Sandoval sent five mailers to property owners as well as residents. She held town halls both virtual and in person. I know she had a lot of just one on one conversations with businesses and property owners that I'm sure she'll be able to speak to. And then she also submitted letters of support with the application. So we have a letter of support from the West Highland Neighborhood Association.

There's also 22 comments from neighbors and properties and stakeholders as of Thursday when the staff report was submitted to you all and posted on the website. So 19 were in support that this will preserve the commercial character of the corridor. One is concerned about parking along the street, and then we received one with concerns about allowing up to three stories, how that will not maintain the existing corridor. And then we received probably about double this amount today or over the weekend that hopefully you all received in your inbox all in support of the proposed rezoning. As stated previously, this went to planning board in mid December and the board did vote unanimously to recommend approval of the rezoning.

So now we'll go to our final piece, the review criteria. So the Denver zoning code has three review criteria that must be met in order for rezoning to be approved. The first is consistency with adopted plans, then it must further the public interest, and then it must be consistent with the neighborhood context zone district purpose in the intent statements. So in for the first one, consistency with adopted plans. There are two plans that are applicable.

The first is comprehensive plan 2040. So this will further the goal of making Denver more equitable, affordable, and inclusive by improving access to a variety of resources and amenities, and that the DOA will require nonresidential active uses for that ground floor. It will also further Denver's environmentally resilient goal, again, by encouraging a mix of uses. So by having that commercial component on the ground floor and then residential above rather than an all residential structure, for example. And then it will also promote strong and authentic neighborhoods by facilitating vibrant mixed use corridors, making sure that the infill development is appropriate for the neighborhood in this corridor, and creating pedestrian friendly areas.

So now we'll move to Blueprint Denver, which is the city's land use and transportation plan. So the future neighborhood context in Blueprint is urban, and the proposed districts are currently in the urban context as are the proposed districts. The future place is local corridor, and these are areas that have a mix of uses but also are pedestrian friendly and kind of typically along a street. And then the street type is a residential collector, which does have some small retail nodes. So by applying the d o eight, we'll ensure that this does remain a a commercial corridor for the West Highland neighborhood.

The growth area strategy is all other areas of the city. This is where we anticipate to see 10% of new jobs and 20% of new housing by 2040. And then all large map amendments like this one should be guided by our equity concept, which are access to opportunity, reducing vulnerability to involuntary displacement, and housing and jobs diversity. So for access to opportunity, this area has moderate access to opportunity. It scores higher in access to centers and corridors and social determinants of health, and then the lowest scores are in access to transit and then health care.

So this rezoning will make sure that the access to centers and corridors for West Highland is maintained. And then for vulnerability to involuntary displacement, this area has low vulnerability. And, again, the requirement of requiring nonresidential active uses may it's likely to not impact vulnerability to involuntary displacement. And then expanding housing diversity. This area has moderate diversity, so it's more diverse in terms of home size and ownership and less diverse for housing costs, middle density housing, and affordable units.

Again, this rezoning is mostly about maintaining and requiring commercial uses, and so it's likely to not have a major impact on housing diversity. Jobs diversity is mostly retail jobs on this corridor, which a variety of commercial office uses are allowed. So it may change. But, again, this will just maintain those commercial uses on this main street. It also furthers two strategies in Blueprint Denver.

So it will implement plan recommendations through a city led legislative rezoning, and it will ensure an active and pedestrian friendly environment that does produce a true mixed use character on 32nd Avenue. It addresses climate by, again, ensuring that there's a mixed use corridor here with both commercial and residential uses. So now moving to the second criterion, the public interest. So similarly, this will promote the public interest by, again, maintaining the mixed use, the commercial node so that people that live in this neighborhood can continue to walk to a variety of amenities and services. And then last, it's consistent with the neighborhood context of urban, the purpose of the mixed use zone districts, and that the specific intent of the u m x three in the d o eight over or zone district and overlay.

So finding all three crate review criteria have been met, staff recommends approval of the proposed rezoning. And that concludes my presentation.

Thank you so much, Libby. We have five individuals signed up to speak this evening. First up, we have Eric Ramirez in person. Eric?

Good evening, council members. Thank you for your time and consideration for this matter. My name is Eric Reimars, a resident of the West Highlands. Address, 3401 Quitman Street. I'm also on the board of the West Highlands Neighborhood Association and serve as the chair of the Land Use and Planning Committee.

On behalf of the Neighborhood Association, I'm here to express our strong support for the proposed design overlay aid and associated rezone. I'd like to specifically thank Melissa Horn for her seamlessly tireless support with communication and public outreach. We partner closely with the council office to engage property owners, business owners, and neighbors, a process that resulted in overwhelmingly community support. While we have encountered some opposition, it generally falls into two camps, concern that the measure doesn't provide enough density, which is a separate planning discussion, and concerns regarding protection of historic buildings. On the latter, I believe that the overlay offers more protection for our historic fabric than the current zoning allows.

Highland Square is a charming, walkable Main Street for our historic neighborhood supported by small businesses, a place where neighbors run into each other on the sidewalk, where families gather for dinner and the line for sweet cow overflows into the parking lot. Our small, locally owned businesses embody the character that makes this neighborhood and our city special. However, that character is currently at risk due to compounding pressures such as rising taxes, insurance costs, and minimum age increases. Our small businesses are struggling. We've recently seen the closure of Lululemon at our local jewelry store, Meadowmark, is moving to Cherry Creek.

Historically, pizzeria locale, Oasis Brewing, Nova Coffee, F and G, Rooted, Salt and Grinder, Candelaria, and even our local pet store has turned over. Some of the spaces are still vacant. Bakery four moved to Tennyson. Sassafras is currently in for sale. Legacy outlets like Westside Books are consolidating their space in efforts to keep the lights on.

If Highland Square loses a major retail anchor, which DOA is trying to protect against, every surrounding business will suffer. Further, considering parking minimums are no longer required, the prospect for replacing retail with walk up or denser residential products becomes increasingly attractive to developers. Based on current zoning, someone can knock down the strip mall at 32nd And Lowell, build row homes or apartment complex with no retail, which would create a very similar situation to what happened on Tennyson, which prompted the inception of d o eight. This measure has support from the strip mall owner for reference. Overall, we believe retail is accretive.

More retail promotes more foot traffic. Less retail results in less cuss customer visits. This measure is a necessary intervention, protects our retail corridor, supports our small business community defined by local coffee shops, independent restaurants, and family run boutiques that Highland Square depends on. Again, this re rezoning takes a thoughtful and proactive approach to protecting our neighborhood's identity for future generations. I urge your support. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up, we have Jesse Paris virtually.

Yes. Good evening members of council, those watching at home, those on the council chambers. My name is Jesse Lashawn. I'm Paris, and I'm representing for Black Star Action Movement for self defense, Positive Action Committee for Social Change, as well as the Unity Party of Colorado, the Northeast Denver Residence Council, Frontline Black News, Shabbat is Black Experience Enhance, the Revolutionary Agenda, And I reside at the roach and bedbug infested legacy loss in Tederman Watson's district of District 9, defined District 9 historically black District of District 9. I've seen this playbook too many times already.

This area of town has been rapidly gentrified. The Highlands, they call it high low, low high, whatever other nonsense. Those are terms of gentrification. I don't see how this rezoning is going to mitigate any of those effects of gentrification. The North Side is where the gentrification began and it is under full rapid gentrification like all other areas of the city.

But the North Side is where it started off at. And you literally have a council member that's from the North Side that could go against this rezoning because I don't see how this is preserving the historical nature or context of the neighborhood. I don't see how any of that, especially if the residents who call this area home for generations can't even afford to live there anymore. So you want foot traffic. I hear the same thing over here at Five Points.

We want foot traffic. We need more foot traffic. But the thing is the people that you want to patronize the businesses do not patronize the businesses And the people that called the area home can't afford to patronize the businesses because they don't live in the neighborhood anymore. So what is NEST having to do about that? What does NEST have to say about that?

Has there been any mention of NES in regards to this? We keep talking about retail this, retail that. It's going to be unintended consequences from all of these rezonings that you continue to pass Denver City Council. So I would hate to see any more unintended consequences come from these rezonings, which are literally neglecting the people that call this area home for generations and making way for newcomers, gentrifiers, yuppies. There's a lot of names for them.

They're not native to that neighborhood. They come over there. They're not going to patronize those historically Latinx businesses. They're going to go to the little coffee shops and the little, bodegas or what have you. They're not gonna patronize those businesses that have historically called this area home. So I don't see why you would pass this tonight, but you're gonna do it anyway. So I will see y'all on the next one.

Thank you. Next, we have Morgan Rose. Morgan? Next up, we have Bill Hair.

Good evening, counsel. My name is Bill Hare. I live at 3715 West 32nd Avenue in West Highlands. I literally live within the district, the territory, the rezone that we're talking about. I do want to take a moment, Eric did as well, to thank Council Aide Melissa Horn. Her work the last couple of years. We've been working on this for four years. Her work the last couple of years has been tireless and is much appreciated. I've been vice president of the West Highlands Neighborhood Association and a member of the Land Use Planning Committee for five years. My message tonight is simple.

This portion of 32nd Avenue, what we lovingly call Highland Square, is a treasure treasured retail node dating back to Denver's streetcar era. This zoning change is a preemptive measure to protect the retail character and functionality. To be clear, West Highland residents, businesses and building owners are all dramatically in support of the DO8 overlay. For now, Highland Square has critical mass to be a shopping destination, but all it would take is the loss of a handful of those retail shops, and that critical mass could easily evaporate. As the Vice President of our R and O, my responsibility is to listen to all of our neighbors.

So let me summarize two things we have heard in opposition. First, parking. There is a conflict in West Highlands between residents and commercial businesses relative to parking. There's a shortage. That is not going to be affected by this.

And this issue has brought the subject up, brought it up, and we are having good dialogue within the community about that. Secondly, for various reasons, some would like to see five stories in parts of Highland Square. This is not an issue for today. With programs like unlocking housing choices, and most importantly, Far Northwest area plan that's going to get started in the fourth quarter, We will have a vigorous neighborhood conversation about that issue. So in conclusion, and again thanking Council President for her leadership.

She has been with us. We instigated this, but she's been with us all the way through this for the last four years. I would ask that you support the rezoning, and I thank each and every one of you for your service and for your thoughtful consideration of the rezoning. Thank you.

Thank you, Bill. Next up, we have Alejandra Castaneda virtually.

Hello. Good afternoon. My name is Alejandra Castaneda, and I live in District 1. I have considered West 32nd Avenue Highland Square part of my community since I first moved to Northwest Denver in 2008. I'm speaking today out of concern for what I consider a harmful pattern in my community, namely council led rezonings that stand housing growth, diversity and access, as well as the use of a limited definition of community.

I was recently sitting at an organizing meeting against ICE policies and actions inside a church right off of West 32nd in the impacted area and wondering. Is Denver truly a sanctuary city? A city that welcomes immigrants and cares about homelessness and kids sleeping on the streets if we continue to approve council led rezonings like this one? Resonings that stunt our ability to provide dignified access to healthy homes for everyone who needs one, especially in neighborhoods like West Highland. Are we not able to ensure that this, and I quote, historic strict car commercial corridor retains its vibrant commercial character, end quote, while at the same time ensuring this increasingly high income neighborhood contributes its fair share to the 20% housing growth it is supposed to contribute by 2040 based on our adopted city plans?

Why not rezone some of the properties to UMS five, like on nearby Tennyson where business businesses are thriving, by the way, or West 44th where there are also five story zones? Why is access to more housing a separate conversation, not an issue for today as mentioned by the Neighborhood Association representatives? It was said that this proposal has been community driven from the beginning. And I can't help but wonder, how do we define community? Is it mostly current property owners and business owners whose letters of support are sought?

Does our definition of community include the service workers forced to commute to Highland Square because they can't afford to live here? Does it include the people who drive to West Highland neighborhood to clean homes, provide childcare, teach, build ADUs, fix the plumbing? Does it include the operators who drive the RTD bus along 32nd Avenue? This is also an area indicated as having low vulnerability to displacement. Should we bring more access to housing here to relieve pressures from other areas more vulnerable to displacement?

The application states the proposed design overlay may have an impact on housing diversity by leading to fewer new multiunit dwellings that otherwise will be built since it restricts homes for a portion of the ground floor. We already have a few five story buildings just off of West 32nd. Why not have a few more? Why are we spending time, energy, and public resources on rezonings that make Denver more equitable, affordable, and inclusive? A Denver that is economically diverse and vibrant and environmentally resilient. Thank you.

Thank you. That concludes the public. Hold on. Sorry about that. That concludes our speakers. Do we have questions from members of council on council bill zero zero two six? Seeing none. Seeing none. The the public hearing is closed. Comments by members of council on council bill zero zero two six.

So you all heard from my community very different comments that are happening. This is part of my neighborhood that has no neighborhood plans and hasn't had any neighborhood plans. And will the neighborhoods as this public speaker stated, will start in the fall. When you only have Blueprint Denver as a neighborhood plan, it's hard to go five stories. I'm not gonna lead that conversation.

My conversation was about protecting the character and the small local businesses that are there, that have historically been there for a really long time. I mean, Pizza Alley's been there. I don't know how long Pizza Alley's been there been there my whole entire life. And that's what my community asked me to do, and that's what I was elected to do is bring the people who have been working on this for a long time to fruition and get this done. I just wanna say thank you to West Highland.

When we first started this conversation, they didn't have a land use and planning committee. They started one for a lot of this work that's happening in West Highland, and that's not an easy feat to have a land use committee. As you all learned, it's a lot it takes a lot of time and dedication. So just bravo to you all. Just wanna say publicly for starting that. And you all don't have a lot of resources. As we know, these neighborhood associations are led a 100% by volunteer, and I just wanna say thank you to everyone to for all of your help. As it was mentioned, Melissa Horn, my council aide, was vital to this. I can't have I couldn't have done this without Melissa. And I have to just give a shout out to Gina.

She scheduled all of those public those public meetings and sent out calendar invites. And Alessandra and Melissa walked the corridor numerous, numerous times to be able to get input. So this has been a long time coming. I first started talking about this when I got elected and when we did Tennyson in the height of COVID. So it's been a really long time coming.

And for me, as one of the public comment commenters spoke, who is community? It's the people who show up. It's the people who participate, and it's the people who are often underserved in my community who I feel like I represent. So with that, I ask for all of your support on my last overlay that I think I've I think I'm done. I think that this is, like Jamie always laughs. I think this is, like, seventh my seventh overlay in my time. So it's just been an honor, and I meet meets all the criteria, and thank you all. I ask for your support. Council pro tem Romero Campbell.

Thank you, madam president. I didn't have a question, but it's it's more of a comment, and I think that this overlay and what is being what is before us today, I'm looking at some of the dates back from twenty twenty twenty four. It's a long time coming. So it seems as though there has been plenty of time for that community engagement and feedback. I do think that what I see in this is that ability to create to be able to preserve the uniqueness of the neighborhood and respecting that in the ways that many of our neighborhoods, they all look different.

And there are different times when we bring you know, when things come forward and we talk about what does it mean to preserve the neighborhood and to keep it special to those who live in that community. So I'll be supporting this tonight, but I do think, you know, in the zoning palooza, this is really something that gives neighbors it it helps preserve what makes their neighborhood special. And so I'll be supporting this tonight, but thank you for all your hard work on this. Thank you.

Madam secretary, roll call.

Council members Gilmore? Times? Aye. Sawyer?

Aye. Albitres? Aye. Flynn?

Aye.

Gonzales Gutierrez?

Lewis? Oh, I'm sorry. Councilman Cashman? Aye. Lewis? Romero Campbell? Aye.

Torres? Aye. Watson?

Aye. Madam president Sandoval?

Aye. Madam secretary, close the voting, announce the results. Nine ayes. Nine ayes. Council bill zero one zero three has passed. Thank you all. Oh, sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Council bill yeah. Wait. No. 0026. Oh, two six. And council president or council pro tem Romero Campbell, will you please put council bill zero one zero three approving and accepting the Southwest West area plan, which shall become part of a comprehensive plan 2040 for the city and county of Denver pursuant to the sections of 12 dash through 61 of the Denver revised municipal code on the floor for final passage.

I move that council bill 26 dash zero one zero three be placed upon final consideration and do pass.

It's been moved and seconded. The courtesy public hearing for council bill zero one zero three is open. May we please have the staff report?

Alright. Hello, members of city council. My name is Fernando Bou. I'm the project manager for the Southwest Area Plan with community planning and development. Here with me is the rest of my team at CPD Will Prince, Scott Robinson, and Cortland Heiser online.

And we're here today to share with you an overview of the Southwest Area Plan and the adoption criteria. So I'll start with the the plan overview. For the people in the room that don't know where the Southwest area plan is, we're talking about five neighborhoods in Southwest Denver that include Westwood, Ruby Hill, Marley, Atmar Park, and Overland. This area is the home to around 52,000 residents, The majority of them Hispanic or Latino. It's a younger population, half of them below the age of 30, and the area has a greater amount of larger households as well.

We started this process back in the 2024, and I'll talk a little bit more about each of the phases, but we just wanna highlight part of this process. We work with community organizations, with community navigators or promotoras, with four organizations, Camun, Buenamanu, Nesperanza, Buku West, and Colorado Asian Pacific United. So just wanted to take the time to thank them since they were very instrumental in helping us with the engagement and outreach throughout the process. The plan is usually organized into these three elements of what makes a great place, Land use, which talks about what gets built and how it looks and where it goes. Mobility, talking about how we move around the area.

And the quality of life chapter, includes elements that make the your quality of life better, including parks, natural features, or just culture and other elements. Throughout this almost two year process with the community, what we worked on together helped us identify the six community priorities. So I'll go through each of them. The first one, the diverse cultural hubs in the plan talks about what we heard about this area wanting to remain a an important vibrant diverse cultural hub in the area regarding people and businesses. So the policies that support this, they include topics such as affordable housing, support for local businesses and food, and elements about place making and design they relate to history and culture.

The second community priority is about safe communal spaces. We heard a lot about the need of having places to gather for the community to come together. And the policies that support this include a topic such as community institutions, a our mobility corridors as public spaces, as well as safety in in our parks and greenways and trails. The third community priority is housing stability and options. So talking about a the area remaining a housing stability and affordable that is able to provide options for a diverse background and needs.

And the policies that reflect that talk about affordable housing and supply in the different sub areas of the Southwest area plan and how that relates to the history and cultural architecture of the area. The next community priority is talking about the integrated industry. This area does have a large part of industry and industrial areas next to the river. So we heard the need to support those existing businesses, but making sure is integrated to the surrounding communities. So the policies that support that talk about the different needs on the industrial uses and how and build form and how it looks, different commercial notes within that larger area, better improve connectivity to the river and through these industrial areas, and how these areas can be better neighbors to the surrounding communities.

Finally, improve infrastructure talks about creating better connections through major barriers and providing a safe and comfortable mobility in a variety of different modes. And the last one, talking about natural resources, this includes the parks in the area, but also the South Platte River, which is a big component of this area. Policies that talk about that include elements of the health and preservation and protection of the South Platte River, a safety in our parks and trails, as well as a flood reduction and green infrastructure. In addition to those community priorities, the we we have different focus areas in the plan that helps provide more guidance into this geographical areas, which include Morrison Corridor and Federal Boulevard, as well as other neighborhood shopping centers in Marley, Admiral Park, and Mississippi Avenue. And the larger focus area here includes the River Corridor and the industrial areas along it and other uses, which we're calling a Riverside Communities focus area.

So that was an overview of the plan, and now I'll walk through the different adoption criteria starting with the inclusive community process, then I'll go into the consistency with comprehensive plan, and then how it demonstrates a long term view. So starting with the inclusive community process, as I said, we started this in a 2024. At the beginning, the first phase, we started a building relationships, getting to know the area, the different organizations that existed there, and just attending community existing community events. During this time, we also formed the advisory committee, which is composed of 22 members representing a diverse perspectives and different neighborhoods. We hosted nine meetings and three equity subcommittee meetings with them.

In your package, there was also a letter of support from that group. And I just wanna thank take some time to thank this group that was with us throughout the the whole process, almost two years, and they helped us connect us with resources or even helping us support in a staff, like a board at public meetings and stuff like that. So just wanted to mention that and thank this group as well as the community navigators that helped us. So during the first phase, we we had a we called in more saturation engagement. We really wanted to get out there and share that this plan was starting.

We sent postcards to every single household around 23,000. We had our kickoff meeting, which was really well attended. Around 220 people join us. We went to the existing RNOs. This is where the community navigators started to help us with paper surveys.

We attended almost 40 community events, including attending high school classes. So we took all that input and all that information, and we put it into the first draft of the plan that we then release in 2025. With this phase of engagement, we also hosted an open house and r n o a workshop tour visiting all the different r n o's, kind of having mini public meetings, but at their existing locations. The community navigators during this phase, they helped us a lot with gathering a lot of paper surveys. During this phase, we also hosted two student workshops here in the city, allowing youth and high school students to provide input while also learning from careers at the city.

We hosted some focus groups during this phase as well, and Kapu during this phase helped us with some of their one on one conversations that they had. So we took all that input and revised the draft into a second draft that we released towards the 2025. This part of the the engagement phase was more focused since this was the second time going out to the public with the draft. We kept options to provide a comment online also with the navigator surveys. And during this phase, what we really focus was in more focused conversations.

We work with a council district seven on a more focused conversation around the industrial and the river area as well as with a business mixer. And we started to hear at the end of this phase, part of the input was strong support for the overall area vision as well as for the neighborhood visions themselves. And that brings us to today, this final phase. We went to planning board on January 21. It was approved unanimously, and then it went to the South Platte River Committee February 11, and we're here today at the hearing.

We did get a letter of support from the advisory committee group, as I mentioned. We also got a letter of support from the Admire Park Neighborhood Association and one general comment in opposition during the planning board phase, but we didn't get any other comments for today. So based on all that, we do find that the Southwest Area was developed through an inclusive community process, fulfilling that first part of the criteria. The second part of the criteria, a consistency with comprehensive plan. We did found comprehensive plan in Blueprint Denver over 40 policies and over a 100 strategies in each of these plans that are consistent with the plan itself.

So we do find that this plan is consistent with the comprehensive plan 2040. And the last part of the criteria talking about a long term view, we we create we worked and drafted the Southwest Area Plan having a 2045 planning horizon. So in working in a vision that is aspirational, that will take many years to achieve. So we do find that it does demonstrate a long term view. And finally, as a based on finding that this criteria have been met, we recommend adoption of the Southwest Area Plan as a supplement to the comprehensive plan 2040. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. We have seven individuals signed up to speak this evening. First up, we have Paul Bein Bendel. Paul on virtual. Next up, we have Jesse Paris.

Yes. Good evening, members of council that was watching at home, that was in the council chambers. My name is Jesse LaShawn Paris, and I'm representing for Black Star Action Movement for Self Defense, Positive Action Committee for Social Change, as well as the unity party of Colorado, the Northeast Denver Residence Council, Frontline Black News, Shabbatka's Black Experience Enhanced, the Revolutionary Agenda. And I reside at the Roach and Bedbug Infested Legacy Laws in Darryl Watson's District 9, an historically black district of Fire Points. I feel like I'm back when 2040 was passed and I was in the chambers in person, and I asked the people, I said, how many y'all actually read this?

And a lot of people's hands went up. And I was like, oh, I'll just go and rush this vote to get this through. So y'all been working on this for a long time in the Southwest Area Plan. I didn't see anything about gentrification on this plan. I didn't see nothing in here on how to reduce gentrification. I didn't hear no mission to nest. I didn't hear none of that. All I heard was, oh, we're gonna do the infrastructure. Oh, we're gonna fix the parks. Oh, we're gonna fix this.

We're gonna fix that. We're check all our boxes and dot all i's and cross all our t's. But you're addressing the rapid gentrification that's happening in the Southwest Area. Southwest area used to be affordable. It is not affordable no more, despite what y'all say. I used to live in Southwest Denver. I know exactly what it was like. And back then it was actually affordable. It's not affordable now. And we got a whole councilman that said, oh, it's affordable over there.

I'm not convinced. But everybody's affordability is not the same. I didn't see nothing about affordability in there. I didn't see nothing about preserving the cultural integrity of any of the neighborhoods that were listed in there. I didn't hear nothing about keeping the people in place. I didn't hear nothing about none of that. All I heard was this is a good thing and we need to pass it tonight. So that's what y'all gonna do. You're not gonna address the actual issues that are are harming in this area of the city just like all other areas of the city. I'm just going to pass what you've been told to pass.

So this is what you're going to do. So I ask that you do incorporate a NEST study into this plan. I ask that you actually address the gentrification that is happening in this area of the city along with all other areas of the city and any future plans on in my neighborhood, because I know my neighborhood is working on South Northeast Denver plan. I hate to see any unintended consequences come from this just like I've seen what happened with the ten forty comprehensive plan that shall pass in 2019.

Thank you. Next up, we have Esther Rivera. Esther? Next up, we have Rebecca Greek. Hi. Good evening, city council. My name

is Rebecca Greek. I'm a neighbor in Overland, just off of, Harvard in Banette. I have lived in the Southwest area for almost fourteen years now. And my family has been in this neighborhood probably a good fifteen years longer than that. But I'm here tonight to advocate for this area plan and then to give a little recognition to the group that we worked with on this.

I was one of the advisory committee members representing the Overland neighborhood, with others. And I think that Fernando and his team, really did excellent job of engaging the broader community in the Southwest. The process, I would say, I was surprised on the outreach and the resources that were put in to ensure as many voices were heard. I appreciate some of the comments that were just made. Gentrification and displacement and affordability are big concerns in the Southwest community, especially in Overland.

Overland is rapidly changing. I learned a lot about my community participating in this process, and I just want to continue to advocate that things like this plan are put into place and that attention is put to ensuring that those primary goals of the plan are met, including increasing quality of life, increasing equitability in our community, and then just strengthening our neighborhoods in general. The last thing that I just want to say is I think there are things that I've heard tonight and things that are happening in our communities currently that maybe weren't on the radar of all of our neighbors while we worked on this plan. Things like data centers were not a part of the conversation, I don't think, at the time as we worked on this plan. That was something that I think our community members thought would happen in an urban core of our city.

So I just want to advocate today, like, if there are opportunities to think about some of those elements and ensure that those don't occur in our community, that would be vital and important. To kind of add on to some of the public comment from earlier, I think our resources are tight, especially in Overland. We are the Platte River and the parks adjacent are some of our biggest resources, natural resources in our community, and they need protection. So things like a data center, I don't think are appropriate. Not that that's yet proposed here, but I just want to advocate for that and for counsel to kind of be that bridge to be the forward thinking for things that maybe this community didn't think about while they put this plan together.

So, yeah, with that, I just want to say I appreciate you guys considering this today. I appreciate everything that the city team from the planning department has done to get us to this point. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up, we have Diego Olovon.

Good evening, council. My name is Diego. I live in District 3 with Jamie. I'm here today to say that I am in favor, and I hope you guys are in favor as well to the Southwest Denver Plan. If you guys don't know, I am the youngest member in the Southwest Denver Planning Committee. I started when I was 18, and now I'm 20. So I've definitely grown with the planning process. I'm also a student at CU Boulder studying sustainable urban planning and design. So I think this is definitely a great learning opportunity that the city has given me. So I'm really, really grateful for that.

And also, I represent the Westwood neighborhood, especially the youth of Westwood. Through the community process, I have not only learned academically, but truly seen that the community and energy that South West Denver represents. I know as someone, as a youth, where voices are not usually heard in spaces like this or in documents like a plan or in a planning process. So I'm I'm really, really grateful to see that Fernando and his team put youth in mind and went into schools and did community engagement with them. So I'm truly, truly grateful, and this plan really reflects not only the Westwood and Southwest Denver voices, but also the youth input as well.

Our community has come together, and we obviously created a vision not only to represent the close community and culture that we have, but also what we're gonna celebrate in the next years to come. So it is very, very beautiful, and I'm really, really grateful to have experienced that. And I think Fernando uses and his team and the the planning the plan itself uses innovative ways so that they can Westwood and Southwest Denver can stay resilient and strong for years to come. So I think it is exciting, and it is something to look forward to, and I hope this ban passes. We worked so hard.

This whole community has come together. It is not just just one voice heard. It is countless community and culture that is in this document. So, yeah, this plan is all encompassing, and I hope that South West Denver continues to stay strong and resilient for many years to come. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Diego. Next up, we have Maya Milasco. Maya? Yes. Hello. Can you hear me? You can. Go ahead.

Yeah. I also want to thank everybody that worked on this plan. I am in District 3 in Westwood near Cuatrovientos Park, and I'm very supportive of the South Southwest area plan, especially of the Morrison Road Focus Area. Thought it was a beautiful explanation of beautiful goals of a vibrant linear market and improving the pedestrian experience and also preserving and encouraging local businesses in diverse and affordable housing. That was a yeah.

I thought it was from a neighbor perspective, I thought it was a really inspiring and beautiful plan. I also I also liked how it's stated that any development would have neighborhood serving uses. Any businesses or development would engage the street while respecting the surrounding businesses. And that the specifically that the area by Morrison and Alameda, which is a very significant intersection, would become like the gateway to Westwood. And then I recently learned of a new development of a quick trip on the corner of Alameda and Morrison.

And I think that I understand that rezoning happens after the plan is in place and that the rezoning can be done in order to implement the plan. So I understand the timing doesn't work. But I think that the construction of a QuickTrip in that area goes against all of the goals and the spirit of the plan, and they don't match. They're not consistent with each other. I think I worry about the development of a gas station and convenience store and what it will do to the local businesses and the small shops along Morrison.

So I think it would be really sad to see the plan get far behind before it even gets started with the development of a quick trip. And so I also just ask for a city council to think of anything that they're able to do to to stop this development in light of passing if you all decide to pass the Southwest Area Plan.

Thank you so much. Next up, our last speaker is Renee Martinez Stone.

Good evening, city council, staff, and community. Can can you hear me?

We can. Go ahead.

Awesome. My name is Renee Martinez Stone. I represent the Denver Housing Authority, 1035 Osage Street. I served on the CEC working with other strong leaders living in Southwest area, and I strongly support the adoption of this plan. I wanna thank Fernando, Will, Scott, and the CBD team.

There was really outstanding and inclusive engagement, diverse tools, diverse meetings, always an openness to helping residents, understand, contribute, and listening to their concerns. There was acknowledgment of diversity and history of the neighborhoods and equity conversations through focus groups. There was a lot of attention on affordable housing, specifically balancing development opportunity while guarding against speculation and involuntary displacement. Really good conversations there. And I would say it's essential that we are cautious, but so important that we don't let fear of all investment limit affordable housing, which will also limit options for residents and their extended families.

Their ability to invest in their homes through additions, building ADUs, or even rezone to TU to create tandem homes, or LA homes that create new homeownership opportunities are important. In the process, I heard support for housing solutions and requests for more tools, technical support, funding, expedited ways to help families invest in their own stability. I hope we can leverage their confidence and the the things that they've learned and the confidence they have in CBD into leadership that will bring solutions and new infill housing opportunities, housing opportunities that are density and bring new density to single family neighborhoods. We also need flexibility for housing development or redevelopment on large lots, publicly owned lots where new affordable housing can be built. I urge your support for this plan to honor the wishes of residents and leaders in Southwest Denver, and I hope you will continue to advocate around their priorities to ensure this guiding policy leads to implementation, funding, and support for initiatives that create new housing and help families to stay in place.

Thanks for your work tonight.

Thank you. That concludes our public speakers. Do we have questions from members of council on council bill zero one zero three? Councilman Abideres? Thank you.

Thank you, Fernando, for the great presentation. I wanted to ask because I know it came up in public comment about what does the plan say about technology and data centers, and how did we think about that during the plan?

Yes. Thanks for for asking. Yeah. And I think Rebecca mentioned it there. And even though I think it was towards the end of the planning process, like, we did hear some input about that and through your office as well. So it is part of the the Riverside community's focus area. We did added an outcome about a, as technology evolves, that impacts should be evaluated around these areas to the residential communities.

Great. That's all I had. Thank you so much for your work on this. Thank you, Council President. Councilman Torres?

Thank you

so much. You touched on it briefly, Fernando, but I just wanted to make sure that it was clear for the public because it was stated during one of the comments during public during the testimony, that this plan doesn't really speak to housing. And I'd like to make sure that it's clear that it does and in really significant ways. If you could just speak to a couple of the ways that we were able to make sure that was embedded in.

Definitely. Yeah, thanks for that question. Yeah, definitely it's a 200 page document, so it's hard to put it all in a quick presentation. But it does talk a lot about housing, housing stability, providing options. One of those community priorities is that housing options and stability and how that relates and cross reference other elements such as the diverse cultural hubs. A part of that is having the people that make the Southwest Area stay in place as well. So all these different community priorities kind of connect and provide different outcomes and policies for policy for affordability and help prevent displacement. Yeah. Thank

you. The public hearing is closed. Do we have comments by members of council on council bill zero one zero three? Councilman Abidres?

Thank you. I wanna start by thanking CPD team for them, the Will, Scott, for all your work on this. My staff, Victoria, really pulled it through from our side this last year. This has been a good work, and I think very thoughtful and very it's very challenging to talk to our constituents when they are working class people that are going to work that don't respond to the postcards. I know up until the very last end, there were people that never heard about.

But and we spent many hours knocking doors. I appreciate the efforts with the additional events. Particularly around the conversation around data centers, it was very concerning because we have such an industrial area all along the river and water being such a concern. And so I'm grateful that we were able to put that into the plan, and I'm grateful for councilman Cashman on your work on the moratorium as we, you know, think about what is the right process for this going forward and what the amount of water and energy that data centers take now. This area has historically had a higher amount of power outages, and it has a lot of the Excel easements.

So we get a lot of, you know, unfortunate things that get pushed into the West Side, and I think it's, you know, something that we'd speak to in this plan. So I appreciate that effort. I really appreciate the highlighting of the diversity of the people that we got to engage, which I really appreciated, especially, like, renters and young people because this is really their plan twenty years from now. And so thank you for participating. I also really appreciated the Denver Housing Authority being a part of this.

My district is along with District 3 have some of the most number of Denver Housing Authority properties in the city, and part of the legislative rezoning that we will bring is adding to that. I went to school with a lot of young people. Well, back then when I was young, they were young. And now I went to Vagverde Elementary School, which is right across from a huge DHA property. I went to West High School, lots of DHA properties.

I went to Baker Middle School. Not as much right there, but one of the things I'm excited to see is increasing the number of homes that DHA has. So we're not upzoning, like, the whole neighborhood, but we're being very intentional that that housing continues to be available for more people. Not only that, that we can bring also affordable home ownership opportunities through the partnership with the Denver Housing Authority. So it was something that I wasn't sure how the conversation was gonna go with Denver Housing Authority as we started this planning process, but I think we'll be really fruitful for the long term speaking to Jesse.

Hi, Jesse. We went to high school together. So we grew up in the same communities, and a lot of the people that we went to school with did grow up in the in Denver Housing Authority properties, and so this will have more people and more families able to access that housing. So I wanna lift up that. I also wanna lift up Jasmine Bor Bojorkas who helped us also in my office with this plan.

And another really great thing that I really enjoyed doing while we were putting this plan together was we had a book club for the color of law. So that we could really talk about how zoning and one of the things is, like, the legal description of the properties in this area plan said you couldn't live there if you were Catholic, for example. And so we got to have conversations about the discrimination that happened in Denver and in this area along with learning because the book Color of Law, if you haven't read it, it's about California. So we were able to compare and contrast, like, what has happened here, the railroads that separate low income communities from the rest of the city, the pollution that separate low income communities from the rest of the city, the high injury network that we have. We have I 25.

We have Santa Fe Highway. We have Federal Boulevard Highway. We have Alameda Highway. So these neighborhoods are surrounded by highways with higher speeds than other parts of my district, with billboards advertising alcohol and legal services and people taking advantage of my community the low income area. And those are all things that we were able to uplift.

And I think representing District 7, I get to see two different worlds almost because when you go to the East side of my district, there's not really billboards. They're changing a street from four lanes to two on Alameda where it a four to three, where in the West side of my district, it's more lanes, and it's faster, and there's no crosswalk. And a lot of the students that go to Lincoln High School and Valverde Elementary School speak up trying to advocate for a safer way to get to school. And so I think that I'm really grateful that I got to be the council member at the time this plan came through because this is the area that I grew up in. This these are the streets that I grew up walking.

And so I just I'm come to you with so much gratitude and ask my colleagues to please support this work that we really literally spent days out in the sun knocking doors and late nights trying to make sure we got it right, and I think we did really good for the amount of time we had. And I can't believe we started when you're 18, and now you're a full fledged adult.

Thank you

so much, council president. Please, I I hope my colleagues will support this plan. Thank you. Councilman Torres.

Thank you so much.

My thanks also to Fernando, you, and Will for all of your just being very present in every conversation that we were having. I think that, speaks to your approachability in a topic another topic that is really hard to grasp sometimes of what does it mean to me to think about twenty years from now in not just my neighborhood, but a collection of neighborhoods. So you made it really accessible, and I really thank you for that. The community advisory committee, Movimento Poder, played a role in our our some of our youth engagement as well. Bukoo West, every resident and business owner who weighed in.

I wanna thank Diego. Thank you for being here and speaking. And and Maya and your urban planning degree. I can't wait to see how you reflect back on this experience when you're a planner, when you're maybe a council person, because it is everything has to do with land use that affects our communities when we're dealing with things like gentrification and displacement. So I'm so glad to know that you're on that path.

I do wanna speak really quickly to the quick trip question. They don't have to come for a rezoning. They're not asking for a rezoning. They're able to build a gas station there, under their current zoning, and they got their application in two weeks before the deadline when we didn't allow a gas station to be built so close to an existing gas station. So unfortunately, this was one of the ones that snuck in the door through that deadline.

But I am really proud of the way in which this plan upholds the Westwood neighborhood plan, which was our really our newest one coming into even the West Area planning. It was the only neighborhood that had a really current plan, and this one honors what those residents built in that one and even expands upon it. So thank you so much for taking that very seriously because the Westwood neighborhood is working really hard to buck the trend of gentrification and displacement. And I wanna honor the work that they're doing there as well. One of the things that this plan speaks to as well are civility services to prevent homelessness and reduce Southwest, Denver's unhoused population.

And what I will say is we don't see it in the same way downtown or Central Denver might see an unhoused population. And Renee Martinez Stone, who spoke knows it very well. Our unhoused population has doubled up in homes or tripled up in homes. And so I wanna thank Denver Housing Authority for being a visionary force in trying to address that issue. They were visionary when they started talking about ADUs as a way to keep families in West And Southwest Denver in those neighborhoods that they wanted to stay in and Visionary Now when they aim to build tandem home tandem homes, for permanently affordable homeownership.

So, Renee, in particular, I thank you for, your vision and really being able to implement it and bring partners along who can embrace it. So thank you so much. This plan fully ensures an emphasis on culture, community, and mobility, and that the community that built this plan, it will serve them and serve them well for the next twenty years. So thank you. Thanks, madam president.

Thank you. Councilmember Flynn.

Thank you, madam president. Thank you, Fernando and the team for all the hard work on the last that you did on this for the last two years. The Southwest area plan, only 10% of the area is in my district, the south half of the Marley neighborhood. And so what I looked for, and I think what I got was, for the most part, a very intentional knitting of the Southwest area plan with the Far Southwest plan, which went through just a couple of weeks ago, actually in December. Ago. Wrote Diego, I was 71 when this started. I'm 73. Feels older.

Same perspective. 17.

But the knitting of because they're adjacent areas. And it was kinda difficult to try to work on two area two NPIs at the same time simile know, simultaneously. It was a struggle because the entire Far Southwest plan is is in my council district and no other. But I'm grateful to have shared the planning with Districts 3 and District 7 so that so we can make sure it was all coordinated. But, you know, the bottom line for me was the knitting of that Marley area, which was the transition in the South Southwest plan between the urban edge context and the suburban context, to see that that was knitted carefully into the recommendations as well for the Far Southwest plan.

Because when people, you know, people who live in Marley, they don't know they cross Florida, that makes no difference to them. When they cross Jewel, it makes no difference to them. And I think the plans achieve that, that that that it looks like one community. And so I appreciate the the effort that the planning department put into it and for my colleagues from three and seven as well and their staffs and my staff as well, Stacy, seven, who worked on this. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilmember Cashman.

Thank you, madam president, and congratulations to my my colleagues whose districts are involved in this plan and and their staff because it takes so many people to get done. Congratulations to the planning staff. Thank you so much. The these plans are are not a luxury. They they're so critically important, and I believe with this plan, the city is now about 50% with current neighborhood plans.

And so often, when we have a zoning that comes up that the neighbors come out and it's like, how in the name of god did this happen? And it's like, a guy, it's a use by right. They have the zoning to do what they wanna do. These we can't have a a bare bones planning staff. Y'all have been working so hard to get these plans done, and planning needs more bodies.

It's not a luxury. They need more bodies. We've gotta get the city, planned in full so we don't have neighbors coming to us, telling us that that this just isn't what they want. So I'll make that pitch once again. And, Diego, you you're the man.

20 years old, involved well, starting at 18, involved in city planning. It's so critical Mhmm. That we have youth voice. It is a different perspective. You have a different view of the city and what you want, for not only your generations, but the generations to come. So thank you very seriously for taking the time to do this. Thank you, madam president.

Thank you. Thank you to CPD, and thank you to the three neighborhoods, the council members council member Flynn, I had a planning initiative in the West Area plan that was a small portion, but had a lot of orthodox Jewish people living in there. And so they were very, very, very active. And then the Near Northwest plan started, and I was, like, little I felt split. And so I totally can understand that.

And, Diego, you're my dream. I applied to planning school a couple years ago, and after having been a land use commissioner, I was a little I got told I should probably go to a different program. And so I just wanna say if you ever wanna talk, I would love to talk because having these plans when I was a council aide and I was a council aide in Global Eleria and Sponsia, and we were doing the Global Eleria plan, we they couldn't understand the concept of the community plaza and how important it was for that neighborhood and what that would look like and how to develop around it. And we kept saying you could use a park and already build off of what we have. And so bringing that lived experience and marrying it with oftentimes people of color.

We don't own houses. My husband's family, no one on that side owns a home. My husband does, and so we always host everybody and be able to have that vernacular and be able to say both plain side interior setback and push back on those concepts where people we haven't always historically been at the table. We were literally redlined out of communities. Just wanna say bravo.

And oftentimes, you will be literally the only person of color in those rooms. Believe in yourself because oftentimes, I'm a female, white passing, talks with the accent, last name Sandoval, and they ask me how I know so much. And you know why? It's because we're smart. So thank you all, CPD, for lifting this up and lifting community.

This is the first time I've seen a neighborhood plan where I see I've seen more youth in the in the audience than I have anything else, and that just resonates with me because I always say we're building these plans for the next seven generations. It took seven generations for it to have six Latinas on city council, and it we're building these plans for the next seven generations. So thank you all for your work, CPD, and I will be very, very adamant on supporting this and ask that the sponsor that you all implement. It's not I mean, it's not it doesn't do any good if you don't bring the legislative rezoning. So you know I'm gonna be like, where's the legislative rezoning?

Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. So, madam secretary, we'll call on council bill zero one zero three.

Council members, Heinz? Aye.

Sawyer? Aye. Albitres? Aye. Flynn? Aye.

Gonzales Gutierrez?

Aye.

Cashion?

Aye.

Romero Campbell? Aye. Suarez? Aye. Watson? Aye. Madam president Sandoval? Aye.

Madam secretary, close the vote and announce the results.

10 ayes.

10 ayes. Council bill zero one zero three has passed. There being no further business before this body, this meeting is adjourned.