The INC ZAP (Zoning and Planning Committee) met on September 26, 2015 from 9:30 am to 11:45 am at 1201 Williams meeting room.  Denver Councilwoman Robin Kniech and CPD representatives Barbara Stocklin-Steely and Kara Hahn attended the meeting.

The Committee discussed the following topics:  1) current work of the Denver Landmark Preservation Commission; and 2) the City’s planning to increase support of affordable housing.

Update on Landmark Preservation Commission work

CPD Planners Barbara Steely and Kara Hahn discussed the current work of the Denver Landmark Commission.  Their comments included:

• The Commission now has five full-time staff members:  Barbara Steely and Brittany Bryant, Jen Cappeto, George Gause, and Kara Hahn.
• The staff has been busy completing many design reviews because of so much construction activity in Denver.  But it is starting to do more pro-active work concerning landmarks.
• The Commission does design review for all exterior improvements on buildings in historic districts and landmark properties (about 6,000 properties in Denver).
• About 20% of these review decisions reach the Landmark Commission.  About 80% are approved by the staff members involving small changes like adding a deck on the back or actions that require a permit but do not change the character of the property.
• The Commission adopted new design guidelines for historic districts about one year ago.  These guidelines have diagrams and discussion to help property owners and builders who are planning infill projects understand the guidelines.  
• The Commission wants to ensure that the analysis called for in these guidelines is actually happening.  So it is developing a new infill customer guide with required analysis when someone requests approval, such as an explanation of how a house fits with the heights and shapes of nearby houses.  The Commission will be reviewing the infill guide soon to approve a final version.
• At its October 6, 2015 meeting the Commission will be reviewing proposed design review procedures and requirement that reflect current practice and implement planned changes.  These address requests by lawyers for some owners who believe the Commission needs rules that reflect some of its procedures including those for public hearings.  These design review improvements will cover three areas:
• First: Pre-application meetings for large-scale projects:  covering infill, accessory dwelling units, and pop-tops, as well as changing windows and other changes that affect the overall historic character and materials of buildings.  These meetings are not new, but the new procedure will confirm that the meetings are required.
• Second:  a two-step design review process for infill construction:  First the Commission examines the overall volume of a building, its placement on the lot, and the overall building envelope.  Second, the Commission will examine the building interior.
• Third:  Formalizing the RNO notification and coordination requirement for large-scale projects:  This covers big impact projects such as infill, pop-tops, and accessory dwelling units.  RNO notification already occurs for demolition, but not for all aspects of design review.  Some RNOs covering historic districts track these projects closely and meet regularly to review projects.  The RNO review must occur quickly to comply with the three-week time frame for a decision.  The Landmark staff welcomes RNO involvement because neighborhood representatives may identify important issues.  An early dialogue with neighbors often leads to productive modifications for a project.
• CPD is planning training programs for RNOs to help them develop procedures for providing productive comments on landmark review issues.
• If a neighborhood does not have a design review committee, then the Commission staff do their work anyway.
• Several committee members noted past problems with lack of timely notice of proposed infill projects.
• The landmark ordinance requires a decision within 30 days of receipt of an application, so the Commission would like to see RNO discussions with an applicant begin even before an application is submitted.

Sue Glassmacher from Curtis Park Neighbors discussed how her RNO handles landmark reviews.  They have a committee separate from the Board handle these.  It works well to have five people participate.  They meet as needed rather than every three weeks.  They can provide feedback to an owner that the Commission cannot, including specific suggestions on how to design a project.  If a property owner already has RNO support when it submits its landmark application, the approval process usually proceeds smoothly.  When several RNOs are affected, they try to arrange a joint meeting.

Committee members noted concern with the landmark ordinance’s 30-day deadline and suggested that perhaps the ordinance should be changed to allow more review time.  Several people noted concern with the review of changes for the 290 Ogden property.  CPD representatives noted that the City did not receive timely notification of that property owner’s plan.  Committee members observed that the Commission chastised that owner in a courteous, effective way for its failure to comply with landmark requirements.

The Landmark staff members keep a notification list that currently has about 50 people on it.  Anyone can ask to be included on the list.

The staff posts a meeting agenda, staff reports and drawings on-line approximately 8 days before each meeting.  At the pre-application meeting, the City encourages an owner to consult with RNO representatives.

CPD representatives noted that the Commission will review in November 2015 proposed sets of character-defining features for each historic district, which are 5-8 page summaries for each district.  Examples are posted on the website.  These are helpful to the Commission when reviewing applications.  The staff hopes to present drafts of the next set of these by late October.

The Commission staff is also proposing changes to the landmark ordinance based on the 290 Ogden problems.  These changes will empower the Commission to order changes to an owner such as shoring up the house and installing a temporary roof.

Kara Hahn noted the Commission is regularly consulting with the City’s lawyers because the landmark ordinance contains some ambiguous and conflicting requirements.  CPD is planning to propose a major clean-up of the landmark ordinance in 2016, with public comment during that process.

Kara Hahn discussed the “Discover Denver” project currently underway with Historic Denver.  This is a public-private partnership with grant funding through the state historical fund.  The goal is to survey all of Denver to identify historic structures.  The pilot project surveys covered Harvey Park, Park Hill and Globeville’s commercial area.  Those surveys will be posted on the website soon:  http://www.discoverdenver.co/   The next phase of surveys will cover Globeville, Elyria, and Swansea because those areas just received a neighborhood plan.

The Landmark staff would like to meet with neighborhoods to discuss the landmark designation process.  Interested RNOs should contact Kara Hah at:  karahahn@denvergov.org

One committee member asked about the Red Rocks Park historic area and the proposed new Colorado Music Hall of Fame.  Barbara Steely explained that part of Red Rocks Park is designated as a landmark, but not all of it.  The area near the historic trading post is within the boundaries of the historic designation.  She explained that although the director of parks and recreation can make the final decision, the Landmark Commission has been asked, as a courtesy, to comment on landmark issues within parks.  She noted Civic Center Park as an example where that has occurred based on guidelines for that park.

Councilwoman Kniech also noted that there is no plan pending at this time for the proposed Colorado Music Hall of Fame.  That group needs to raise money and its request is on hold.  Barbara Steely said the Landmark Commission had a retreat at Red Rocks this past week, and the concept of placing something next to the trading post is now off the table.

Finally, Kara Hahn noted that the City is working with the National Western on its master plan on historic preservation.  The City is preparing a comprehensive history of the center, including what buildings are there and its relationship with the neighborhood.  The City is looking at a local designation for the Arena so that it can apply for state historical fund grants.

Update on Affordable Housing initiative from Councilwoman Kniech

Denver City Councilwoman Robin Kniech presented information and a handout to the committee about the City’s Affordable Housing initiative.  She is working with the Mayor and Councilman Brooks on this project and says it has the full support of the City administration and Council.

She explained the need for an update to the existing ordinance, which just requires builders of “for sale” units to include affordable units.  The goal is to provide affordable rental units.  The City perceives strong community support even though this is controversial with developers.

The City sees two sources for funding more affordable housing:

1.  Using up to one mill (about $13 million) of the existing property tax credit, a credit voters authorized in 2012 when Denver was “de-Bruced” for purposes of the TABOR limitations.  Based on that 2012 vote, Denver has built up a credit of 6.2 mills.  This funding source could be available beginning in 2017.

2.  Charging a development impact fee on new commercial and residential construction.  Colorado law allows such fees when there is a nexus between the fee and the problems caused by development.  The City has issued an RFP seeking an economist to study what fees may be permissible.

The City’s current goal is to obtain funding for affordable housing of $15 million/year, although some people would like to obtain more.  The City estimates that 6,000 new units could be created over ten years with that level of funding.  Without additional funding beyond current federal funding, only about 1,400 new units would be built during that time.

Kniech explained the estimated impact of one mill of property tax as:  about $29/year for a median home price in Denver at $280,000, and less than $50/year for a house assessed at $500,000.  Businesses would pay more based on the Gallagher Amendment.

The City hopes to discuss a specific affordable housing proposal during the middle of 2016.  Meanwhile, the Mayor’s proposed 2016 budget includes a request for $8 million for affordable housing.

Councilwoman Kniech is organizing a stakeholder group and would like to include an INC or RNO representative on it.  That group will be meeting monthly during the day on a weekday.  

She answered some questions from Committee members about her proposal.  Her answers included the following information:

• On how many affordable units are needed:  there may be as many as 30,000 people in Denver who currently need help with affordable housing because they earned less than 50% of the median income.
• She does not believe that most units that are currently rented for short-term rentals would provide affordable housing for low income people if rented on a long-term basis.  She does support limits on short-term rentals of non owner-occupied units.
• City dollars to support affordable housing can be more flexible than federal dollars.  The City currently has a property tax rebate for seniors that is under-utilized.
• DURA has a low income home ownership repair program to assist people with windows, and roof repairs.  It covers emergencies and renovations.  When the house is sold the loan from DURA is repaid.
• The Denver’s Road Home program created about 3,342 units of transitional or affordable housing.
• The City is struggling with where to place new buildings with transitional housing for the homeless.
• She opposed Denver’s camping ban and agrees we are seeing problems resulting from that ban.  She does not believe any neighborhoods would accept a new designated camping location.
• She does not want Denver to be a city where the community has to give permission for people to live there.  She would like to see neighborhoods be more open to allowing new housing for the homeless.  She believes Denver has an obligation to house all of its people.
• She sees a need for a 24-hour resource center for the homeless that is transit convenient.
• She would like to see a funding source for affordable housing that will grow over time to cover increased costs.  Development impact fees will fluctuate as the economy goes up and down.
• She hopes people will express support for this idea directly to the Mayor because the Mayor is taking on developers with this proposal.
• She recognizes there have been problems with crime in certain areas including the Central Platte Valley, Capitol Hill, and lower downtown.  For problems with crime at certain properties such as 1550 Logan, she believes the cause may lie with bad landlords who do not screen tenants and bad management.
• Sue of Curtis Park noted that they would like to see other areas in the City assist with providing affordable housing.
• One committee member noted that a developer is opposing transitional housing at 357 Broadway, and prefers to build a new high-rise there instead.  Nearby RNOs had supported the proposal.

Vote on resolution concerning Mayor’s proposed budget and funding for small area plans.

Margie Valdez presented a resolution to the committee concerning funding for new small area plans.  Michael Henry briefly explained the resolution, which said:

Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation, a network of approximately 90 Registered Neighborhood Organizations throughout Denver, strongly urges the Mayor and City Council to amend the Mayor’s proposed 2016 budget to allocate sufficient resources for the Community Planning and Development  Planning Services Division to staff and fund the development of small area plans for the many Denver neighborhoods that have never had a small area plans, and to update neighborhood plans that are more than 15 years old.

The 2015 INC Planning and Zoning Platform provides:

4.1) City Plan Updates — Denver’s Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2000, and Blueprint Denver, adopted in 2002, should be reviewed and updated, with meaningful involvement of residential neighborhoods every 8-10 years. Neighborhood or small area plans should be created for all areas of the city and updated at least every 15 years.

In addition, we appreciate that the proposed CPD budget includes funding to begin the update of the Blueprint Denver, for which we look forward to extensive public participation

The Committee members voted unanimously in favor of this resolution with no one abstaining.

The meeting ended at 11:45 am.  The next ZAP meeting will be on Saturday, October 24, 2015 at the meeting room at 1201 Williams Street, 19th floor.