The Denver City Council took a major step Monday toward clearing the way for Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche owner Stan Kroenke to build new skyscrapers on the expanse of parking lots around Ball Arena where those teams play.
The also ensured the teams will stay on Kroenke-owned land in central Denver for another quarter century.
The ability to construct buildings as tall as 30 or 40 stories around the arena is a critical component of plans to greatly expand downtown Denver. That density will provide room for up to 6,000 new apartments and condos in a city desperate for more housing, according to Mattt Mahoney, senior vice president for development at Kroenke Sports and Entertainment.
“We are committed to downtown. Our company offices downtown. Our teams win championships downtown,” Mahoney told council members Monday night. “Our plan is a pedestrian-focused development, placing a priority on open space and people, not cars.”
View protections pierced
The first in a series of six bills related to the future of the 70-acre Ball property that the council voted on Monday amended the city code to provide an exemption to the Old City Hall view plane.
That view plane is essentially an invisible triangle the caps building heights on the properties that fall within it. It’s a legal mechanism to protect westward views from a specific point on the ground at the intersection of 14th and Larimer streets where the city’s original city hall once stood.
City planning and legal staff informed council members that the view plane is already largely defunct. The Auraria Higher Education Center campus buildings along Speer Boulevard — built by a state agency exempt from city rules — have already blocked it out.
That was reason enough for some council members to vote for the exemption Kroenke and company were seeking even if they have concerns about the broader impact on mountain views from other places that were not specifically protected by the original 1988 ordinance.
“I’ve come to the conclusion that I am going to vote yes on this exemption … because of the fact that this view plane no longer exists,” Councilman Kevin Flynn said. “I would have actually preferred the (Community Planning and Development) had come to us and just said repeal this view plane.”
Flynn voted with the majority in a 10-1 decision to allow properties with a specialized zoning to pierce the plane.
The council also approved rezoning the arena property. The land was already zoned for buildings as tall as eight stories in places, according to city planning staff, but the specialty zoning the that council unanimously signed off on Monday allows for buildings that are much taller in exchange for the inclusion of more affordable housing on site.
While the view plane vote allows Kroenke Sports and Entertainment and its namesake billionaire owner to move closer to its goals, some neighbors from the Lower Downtown neighborhood had their hopes of preserving their largely unobstructed views of the Rocky Mountains dashed.
Casey Pitinga was among the residents of the Larimer Place condo tower at 1551 Larimer St. that urged council members to vote no on the view plane changes. She argued that it was not just her building that would be impacted by the appearance of new skyscrapers west of downtown. Businesses that tout rooftop views — including the recently expanded Colorado Convention Center which added a terrace as part of its $233 million expansion completed last year — could also be hurt, she said.
“Most importantly, the unique beauty of Denver will be compromised forever,” Pitinga said.
Amanda Sawyer was the one councilmember who sided with those neighbors. She noted that residents of her eastern Denver district benefit from a view plane that protects westward views from Cranmer Park.
“It’s not a precedent I am willing to set,” she said of amending those legal protections even for a development she acknowledged may be something that could benefit the city.
Benefit agreements inked with community group and the city
An overwhelming majority of speakers who testified during a public hearing covering the rezoning spoke in favor of allowing dense development on the land and the new housing that it is expected to bring.
“Its exactly the type of project we need as a city,” Denver resident Matthew Larsen said. “It’s dense. It’s infill development. We need projects like this to meet our greenhouse gas goals in the state.”
KSE last week signed a detailed community benefits agreement with a committee representing nearby neighborhoods and community organizations. That agreement, which was created with support from city leaders but independent of the authority of the city, includes glut of specific obligations that KSE must fulfill.
Those include dedicating $3 million to programs, internships, and scholarships for young people who are from surrounding neighborhoods, are Indegenious or are from families that were displaced from the historic Auraria neighborhood that is now home to the arena and the neighboring higher education campus.
La Alma-Lincoln Park resident Simon Tafoya co-chaired the committee that brokered that deal with KSE. In comments Monday night, he delved into some of the specifics including a guranteed that 50 housing units built in the forthcoming neighborhood will be reserved for people making 30% of the area median income. That’s $27,000 per year for a single person and $39,100 for a family of four.
Councilwoman Jamie Torres is a descendant of people displaced from the Auraria neighborhood. She noted how important that agreement was to her constituents and her comfortability in supporting the package of bills.
“The city did not dipalce 900 residents in the 1970s for us to build a shiny neighborhood that was inaccessible to them,” she said. “I could not be a part of something like that.”
The council also approved a bill cementing the city’s own development agreement with KSE.
That sets requirements including mandating that 18% of all new housing built on the Ball lots been reserved as income-restricted affordable housing. That figure exceeds the city’s existing affordable housing requirements by at least 3% and could result in 1,080 new units of affordable housing, according to city planners and KSE officials.
The city ensured the agreement mandates that the affordable units be spread across the property instead of concentrated in one area, according to senior city planner Tony Lechuga.
Property tax plan leaves some council members uneasy
The council approved three other measures related to Kroenke’s ball arena plans before calling it a night on Monday.
The very last of those bills amend an existing arena agreement between the city and KSE tying the Nuggets and Avalanche to the property until 2050.
The chamber, largely filled with KSE staff members as the final was cast after 10 p.m., enrupted in applause when that passed unanimously.
Another bill approved at the meeting extended the timelines for a development agreement governing the neighboring River Mile property, also owned in part by Kroenke. That agreement also now runs until the middle of 2050, matching with the Ball Arena timeline.
The city agreed to vesting language that provides some zoning certainly for both properties for the next 26 years. Manhoney emphasized that KSE is approaching the combined 130 acres as one interconnected neighborhood.
He acknowledged that Elitch Gardens Theme and Water Park will be moved as part of the company’s long-term development plans though a landing place for the park has not yet been determined.
Only one bill drew multiple no votes. That measure established five metro districts, special property-specific taxing entities with the power to take on $1.2 billion in debt to pay for the construction and upkeep of infrastructure around the arena. That included essential items like roads, sewers, parking structures and parks.
While the residents of affordable housing on the property would be shielded from some of associated taxes needed to pay back that debt, KSE estimates that the mill levy rate associated with those cost for market-rate residential and commercial property owners could reach as high as 70 mills.
Thatt was too steep for Councilwoman Sawyer. She voted no, as did council members Sarah Parady and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez.
Council president Amanda Sandoval acknowledged those future taxes could be a burden on residents but metro districts are the mechanism the city relies on to build new infrastructure in many cases. She was the eight members who voted yes.
“We don’t have any other tools right now,” she said.
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