Committee Co-Chairs Charles Nadler and Ean Tafoya convened the meeting. The following items were discussed.

1. Michael Henry informed the committee of the progress of the City’s Group Living Advisory Committee, which has been working since March 2018 to develop recommendations to City Council updates to the Zoning Code which would address changes to living arrangements and needs for different populations. There will be a full committee meeting on November 8 to be followed by meetings of the different sub-groups for shelters, community corrections, special care homes, community living. There was also some discussion about dormitory-style housing.
2. Ean Tafoya spoke about a recent meeting of a working group to make recommendations for changing the General Development Plan GDPs are a controversial and little-understood process by which city staff work with developers in a developer-led process to prepare a framework for future land use, development and resulting infrastructure, including streets, stormwater facilities and publicly accessible parks and open space. Although GDPs are currently approved by the Denver Planning Board after notice to registered neighborhood groups, Larry Ambrose argued that GDPs should be approved by City Council instead of just city staff and the Planning Board. Joel Noble commented that GDPs are meant only to be technical plans rather than set a vision for the development.
3. Chandler Van Schaack and Sarah Showalter of the Community Planning and Development Department briefed the committee on an upcoming text amendment to the Zoning Code which would specify parking maximum requirements for the Fox Station area surrounding the light-rail G-line station at 41^st and Fox Street. The Fox Street area plan was adopted in 2009 and envisioned a vibrant high-density transit-oriented development. If enacted, shared parking, parking management, transportation demand management plans and traffic studies would be tools to determine how to balance parking needs with efficient land use and other-than-single occupancy-vehicle mobility methods. The amendment will be considered by the Planning Board in January.
4. Margie Valdez briefed the committee on the status of the implementation of Initiative 300 about marijuana social use consumption areas, which passed in November 2016 by 53.7% of Denver’s voters. To date, only two social use marijuana licenses have been approved by Excise and Licenses – one in the industrial area of Lincoln Park and one on South Broadway. The state Department of Revenue has prohibited use of marijuana at any liquor-licensed establishment and also has prohibited serving of food at such establishments. An advisory working group has developed recommendations to modify the current ordinance, which will be considered by the City Council Special Issues Committee on November 19.
5. Abe Barge of the Community Planning and Development Department updated the committee on an upcoming text amendment to the Downtown Area Plan, which would rezone and provide design standards and affordable housing requirements for the Central Platte Valley/Auraria District of downtown. This is the area bounded by Speer Blvd., Interstate 25 and Auraria Parkway. There will be a new D-CPV zone district, with incentive height limits for developers who build affordable housing. The City Council is tentatively scheduled to have its public hearing on December 17. The committee discussed whether the rezoning would require adequate parks and open space for the planned high-density new developments.
6. INC president George Mayl moved that the committee request that the Mayor give an additional extension of time (beyond October 31) to February 18, 2019 to citizens and neighborhoods to study and comment on the Denver Comprehensive Plan 2040 and Denveright draft documents. The resolution passed by a vote of 20 in favor, none opposed and 1 abstention (Joel Noble).