[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the meeting of the uh the regular meeting of the aor city council for Monday November 8 2021 is called order uh with the clerk please call the RO mayor here mayor protin Bergen here council member bersin here council member presid council member Gardner here council member guber here council member hiltz council member hiltz council member Lawson here council member Marcano present and council member Mario council member Mario there is a quorum uh announcement of the public uh call in line yes good evening thank you the city council welcomes feedback from residents at Council meetings on both matters appearing on the agenda and during public invited to be heard for those watching on Channel 8 please call 855 695 3475 and when connected press star three to get in the queue don't forget to press the star you will hear a prompt confirming you are in line to speak to an operator and then be able to continue listening to the meeting until the operator comes on to take down your name and the agenda item you wish to speak on residents who would like to speak for public invited to be heard or on a specific agenda item and have not already been screened please press star three to sign up before the item is called by the clerk if you've already spoken to the operator you do not need to press star three again callers who do not sign up for public invited to be heard prior to it being called by the clerk may still press start for you to sign up to speak on non-agenda items at the end of the meeting as a reminder we will not allow comments about any items on the agenda during public invited to be heard for uh invocation um um please take an attitude of prayer uh oh Lord Our God and our father we come to you and we ask that you would look upon this particular gathering tonight to keep us safe and guide us in our decisions bless bless our city with honorable citizens industry sound education and good government unite our community together even though we come from different backgrounds we pray that that there be Justice and peace in our city give the city council and citizens the wisdom Direction and sensitivity to the business and proceedings before us tonight hear us therefore as we commit this meeting to the help of the community amen uh please join me in the pledge of I pledge allegiance to the flag flag of the United States of America americe um during uh the executive uh uh oh one executive uh executive session update during the executive session uh we discussed we had legal advice I discussed uh two property transactions uh and did uh three um uh Council appointee evaluations approval of the from August 23rd 2021 a motion mayor uh council member B thank you move to approve the August 23rd 2021 minutes move by council member Bon second by guber council member guber to approve the uh minute meeting minutes from August 23 2021 uh discussion see no no discussion with the cler please call the RO on the adoption of the meeting minutes from August 23rd 2021 mayor Kaufman yes council member marono yes council member hiltz yes council member kums yes council member Lawson yes council member Mario yes mayor protim Bergen yes council member Gardner yes council member bersin yes council member guber yes the motion passes to approve the August 23rd 2021 minutes public invited to be heard mayor we do have one individual in the line please proceed if you're up for public and yes go ahead uh this is Susan tab I'm here with my daughter Tanya tab also because I have no confidence in the police system any longer and I do not feel safe here in Aurora uh my car was parked out in front of my house a car ram into RAM into it head on it was on the street and a guy flew up on top of the hood and then flew up on my hood and I called the police right away the neighbor called the police never showed up until 6 hours later if they would have showed up I would not be paying $500 deductible I have no confidence in I think it's chaos I see Bic some accidents happened got 10 million cops showing up and that's not all my uh the other thing is that I want to address is my uh my family's church called Living Waters that's on 6th Avenue requested the chief of police come on law day she called just the day before and said her knee hurt she didn't send anybody as a representative and as you all know that doesn't hurt if you can't make it you send somebody I have no confidence in this woman and the third thing is and this is sad I heard the street racing at my house on Kenton Street it was severe and last night I took pictures I called channel seven I called Channel N9 because there were 50 car there were 50 cars facing each other with the headlights on sitting in the Concord parking M Sunday night at 10 p.m. I had a car pull up to me and my da rolled down the window because she did and she said you're not allowed here I'm like and then and then we are sitting on Alam two cars drove up on each side of us and took off and want you know here comes a cop car going the other way get need a do anything about it I think we need to get R my personal opinion is somebody really needs to take a look at what she's doing I believe maybe somebody has stuff on her that she can't run the police department correctly um maybe this is off her bag I wanted I would like to see maybe somebody from Chicago or New York I would like to take aora back to the was I'm a Colorado Native aora has gotten to pot I'm not the only one that feels to if you go on neighbors app you will see how many we need you to wrap up your comments okay you will go neighbors watch you will see there are people that have no confidence in the police department I love the police I went to to C's Police Academy I don't know what happened she's Untouchable you can't even talk to her thank you for listening to me and you all have a great night thank you mayor I'm sorry who is this first first yes thank you I know Miss Tav and I believe she lives in Ward one could we um have someone contact her and maybe look into this um very very well and I'll I'll follow up with Katie our city clerk tomorrow adoption of the I need a motion for the adoption of the agenda mayor by council member m so I moved so I moveed by Council Maro seconded by Bergen seconded by mayor Bergen for the adoption of the agenda discussion I see no discussion with the clerk please call the role on the adoption of the agenda yes council member guber yes council member bersin yes council member Gardner yes council member Mario yes mayor Tim Bergen yes council member Lawson yes council member kums yes council member hilts yes council member Marano yes the motion passes to approve the agenda um a motion uh to approve or to adopt um the consent calar items number 10 a through 10g mayor counc excuse me move by Council second and Brian second I'm sorry council member Lawson is it yes council member Lawson to approve adopt the inent calendar I number 10 a through 10g discuss excuse me discussion mayor uh council member mayor pend Bergen uh yes I'd like to pull 10B please oh very well uh um then the um then the question before is the adoption of the consent calendar item number uh 10 a and 10 C through 10g that's 10B correct mayor yes okay uh further discussion on the um consent adoption of the consent calendar as amended uh seeing none uh then the question question re forces the adoption of the consent calendar item number 10A and then 10 C through 10g who the cler please call the RO mayor Kaufman yes council member kums yes council member Lawson yes council member marono yes council member Gardner yes council member bers yes council member hilz yes council member Mario yes council member guber yes and mayor Pon Bergen yes the motion passes to approve the consent calendar with item 10B removed now please read the title to item number 10B I'm may we remove Tim B is that correct B is no uh we did not so we it was 10 a and then 10 C through G uh the maner exam took out item number 10B so we will vote on that separately I'm sorry 10 b as a boy yes correct yes okay that's okay thank you uh 10 B is consideration to award a soul Source contract to the people's Group LLC Denver Colorado in the amount of $65,000 for events facility coordinator services for the people building through December 2022 um motion oh I'm sorry uh brief brief staff presentation then motion then discussion yes good evening um council members the um item number 10B is a contract with the just lost no it's okay I'm back the people's group L LC can you hear me okay yes council member um to for um uh to act as a facility coordinator for the People's Building through December of 2022 um we've been very very successful we've been using this business um I believe most of you know Aaron Vega who is the owner of the People's Building Group who uh established this to help us run and curate The People's Building um we are pleased to report that um we are pleased to report that uh for next year uh The People's Building is fully fully booked um and uh we are we are looking forward to expanding services in this group and we've been pretty successful and as as has been our um um our practice um we are are using um funds that have not been spent in this year to fund that contract um motion do I ask question first or just I'm sorry um no let's let's do motion and then we'll do questions mayor council May well I'll make a motion I just it seems like St I stand corrected go forward with a question of sta um thank you um just uh so so he has been under contract since um I guess for several years um my question was on the single source that so we didn't go out for bid for this right orig originally we interviewed a number of people who would um who would provide those Services um he established you can see that the contract is with the people's Group LLC and so he has over the course of that time um been really successful in Booking the facility I think during the pandemic um he was very uh good at pivoting and now doing live streaming and so forth and keeping that going and so um at this point he knows how to run the facility and there's not really another company that does specifically what he does yeah and I guess um I don't have any issue with him running it I I my question was really more about the single source and just making sure that we um were following the purchasing um protocol in terms of putting it out for bid but right and and we did that originally and over the course of the years that he's been doing it he's developed a company and an expertise that makes him a very unique Soul Source provider okay thank you so much questions further questions of staff I seeing none motion yes mayor May uh motion to approve 10 B that's removed by the mayor Tim second and by second second by council member Lawson to approve item number 10B discussion seeing no further discussion the question before since the adoption of item number 10B with the clerk please call the role mayor Kaufman uh yes council member bersin yes council member Gardner yes council member guber yes council member Mario yes council member marono yes council member Coons yes mayor potin Bergen yes council member hilts yes council member Lawson yes the motion passes to approve item 10 B now please read the ti to item number 11a item 11a is resolution 2021 125 a resolution of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado expressing the Aurora City council's support of the First Amendment to an intergovernmental agreement between the city of aora Colorado acting bu and through its utility Enterprise in the city and county of den regarding the Gateway station a brief presentation brief presentation by staff CH good evening mayor and city council Katie would you mind um turning on my ability to share so I can just bring a map up it'll help this a little great thank you okay um in and can you see the map yeah great okay so in 2017 we did a study with Metro Wastewater the City and County of Denver Adams County Commerce City and Brighton uh to identify the best way to handle future Wastewater flows in this area so from Aurora Adams County um Northeast uh Denver and and the Denver International Airport um based on that study um we were looking at the Tre the existing treatment plant um with Metro that's along 270 just south of um Commerce City as well as the northern treatment plant that's up by Brighton um it was determined that the most coste effective solution was to send all of this Wastewater up to Metro's Northern treatment facility um and that would happen via a a second Creek Interceptor that will kind of wind its way along here um at the time that that was being done was right around the time that gaylord was coming to town um and when Gaylord came online um originally the Wastewater from this area was conveyed via a lift station that actually brings it back to 56th Avenue in a Denver Interceptor but the ultimate solution was going to be or is going to be a Wastewater Interceptor that kind of goes along this alignment and then continues to head north towards Brighton with Gaylord coming in there was a chance we were going to have to upsize this High Point lift station to the tune of about $14 million so instead while we were having conversations with City and County of Denver about this study that I had mentioned they mentioned that they had a lift station just Downstream that had extra capacity so instead of doing improvements to this lift station that would eventually be thrown away instead we worked closely with Denver um and then built an Interceptor uh to their lift station um that's Again part of the ultimate solution um but the agreement was to lease capacity out of their um um out of their lift station part of that agreement included a number of capacity expansion projects to that lift station in case they were needed um all of which would be uh much less expensive than having to expand our own lift station um however in the last couple of years what they've come to realize is that the capacity of that lift station was less than they thought that it would be um and so they would like to update the agreement to reflect um the reductions in the capacity for those improvements we have been monitoring the Wastewater flow from um from the Northeast Aurora area as well as the construction of the rest of the Interceptor that's going to be heading to brighten really closely um and therefore we feel comfortable with uh not only the reductions in the existing capacity but that the Improvement projects will stay ahead of our needs up there motion mayor Dave grber counc grber move to approve 118 so move by council member gr second by second second by council member to approve it number 11a discussion by saying no of discussion uh with the CL please call the the role on the adoption of item number 11a council member kums yes council member hiltz yes council member guber yes council member Lawson yes mayor proin Bergen yes council member Gardner yes council member bersin yes council member Marano yes council member Maro yes the motion passes to approve resolution 20121 125 please the title to item number 11b item 11b is resolution 2021 1226 a resolution of the city council of the city of oror Colorado approving an intergovernmental agreement between the city of Aurora South Metro Fire Rescue Fire Protection District city of Sheridan West Douglas Fire Protection District Jackson 105 Fire Protection District and Bennett Fire Protection District number seven regarding the regional fire code board of appeals motion mayor D grber Council grber move to approve 11b it's been moved by council member grber seconded by B council member B to approve item number 11b um brief presentation I'm sorry brief presentation by staff mayor my name is Steve R I'm Commander with the war fire we uh did a more in-depth presentation a couple weeks ago to council this is basically just an agreement between other municipalities for rora citizens to be able to appeal any fire code violations I could take any questions if necessary uh questions of staff for discussion seeing none uh the question re forces the adoption of item number 11b with the cler please call the RO council member yes council member Marano yes council member bersin yes council member Gardner yes mayor potin Bergen yes council member Lawson yes council member guber yes council member hiltz yes council member kums yes the motion passes to approve resolution 20121 126 number 11 C item 11 C is resolution 2021 127 a resolution of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado authorizing a defined benefit plan option and related changes to implement such options presentation by staff good evening mayor and council members Terry Velasquez Finance director this item provides for a resolution authorizing the police Define benefit uh plan option and the related documents to implement this pension plan this process began approximately two years ago um at a city council winter Workshop where you authorized us to begin the development of this plan with your approval this evening this plan will go in place January 1st 2022 and we have team members who can answer any specific questions we did provide an in-depth overview a week ago at study session thank you uh motion May grber C grber move to approve 11 C coun member grber second second by B council member B to approve item number 11 C uh discussion sing now forther discussion with the clerk please call the role on the adoption of item number 11 C council member Lawson yes council member guber yes council member bersin yes council member hiltz yes council member marono yes council member kums yes council member Gardner yes mayor proen Bergen yes council member Mario yes the motion passes to approve resolution 202 127 657 time is on 657 uh Council will stand in recess until uh 702 uh council is now in recess uh to give uh uh staff the opportunity to do another announcement for the public call on line presidents who would like to speak on an ordinance and have not already been screened please please press star three before the item is called by the clerk for those watching on Channel 8 please call 855 695 3475 to be connected and then press star three council is taking a short five minute break to allow for any additional speakers to sign up please be patient and stay on the line until an operator can take down your information as long as you heard the prompt after pressing star three and can still hear hear either music hold or the meeting in progress you are in line to speak to an operator please note that tonight is an extremely busy meeting with many people signed up for public comment the queue is full therefore we will be unable to screen more until the callers start to speak and the positions open so just stay on the line and we will get you screened as soon as possible thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the uh regular meeting for the uh the RO city council for Monday no November 8th is called back into order um the clect please read the title item number 14a item 14a is Introduction of ordinance 22160 an ordinance of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado amending section 5037 of the city code of the city of aora Colorado relating to Municipal Court SE charges providing funding for community service agencies and prog programs and other related matters Bri presentation by staff uh thank you mayor this is Jason Bachelor about a year ago uh we came to council and Council approved major changes to the Municipal Court search charge uh allocation uh in terms of how we did that uh at the time when we presented that uh there was an incorrect ordinance that was attached as the backup uh and so the ordinance did not reflect the information that we had presented to Council on uh and that we believe Council uh approved based on the staff presentations the ordinance that's attached tonight would correct um uh the city code to reflect the information that was provided to council when Council made that decision I'm available to answer any questions you may have motion mayor counc M thank you sir move to approv 14a moov by Council M second by second second by uh council member law CER approve item number 14a discussion any questions staff mayor May Dave gber um mayor Tim thank you um yes um I had a question on I I know it was to make a correction however maybe I'm seeing this wrong in the chart that's attached in our backup but the problem solving Court had 950 and now has 15 um and then the Victim Assistance has 15 down to 23 but I thought I read it was from 25 reduced to 2350 and then the public safety agency's 1050 looks like a new ad but you guys said it was a it was approved a year ago so I it just maybe the chart that's attached with the ordinance is that the latest ordinance uh I'll see if Hans could perhaps comment on the ordinance and the chart that's in there um again I think uh you're correct that the um the intent there is to not increase the overall total of the search charge uh it was to remain at the $50 uh and then it did reallocate within that uh the correction we're looking for is to um um both the Public Safety assistance agencies which used to be known as the Nexus programs and the adjustment to the victim assistance program and so I'll ask Hans to comment on the ordinance that's attached in the backup okay and the public safety is the yeah that's the Nexus One okay yes ma'am thank you mayor this is Hans from the city attorney's office uh uh Mr bachelor is correct and the ordinance was uh exchanged with the uh budget Department several times so I have high confidence that we have the correct numbers there okay I'm just saying that in the backup I thought I thought I read that we were doing Victim Assistance was incorrectly put at $25 and we were reducing it to 2350 but the chart says 15 crossed out and then the new one 2350 maybe we just have the wrong ordinance in there the ordinance is correct maybe it's just a matter of the wording that may not capture that correctly but I'm quite sure that the ordinance is correct we exchange it like several times the budget yeah okay counc I withraw my question uh further questions or discussion see n the Cod please call the role on the adoption of item number 14a council member Maro yes council member Hils yes council member member marado yes council member guber yes council member Gardner yes council member bersin yes council member yes council member Lawson yes mayor proen Bergen yes the motion passes to approve ordinance 20216 uh with cl now please read the title to item number 14b item 14b is ordinance 2021 61 introduction of an ordinance of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado repealing the requirement for stable licenses uh Bri presentation by staff yes this is Trevor vau manager of tax and Licensing uh this ordinance is proposed to remove the requirement for an additional stable license uh we believe that it's um not necessary as far as meeting regulatory goals uh Stables will still need to have a general business license um and the Animal Care will still be able to enforce the ordinances relating to the care of the animals uh motion I'm I'm sorry we did that um further questions to staff or further discussion no I did not do a motion I'm sorry uh motion mayor mayor motion to approve 14b by man second by second second body council member kums to approve item number 14b uh discussion or questions to staff I saying n the question before is the adoption of item number 14b with cler please call the RO mayor protin Bergen yes council member Lawson yes council member kums yes council member bersin yes council member Gardner yes council member guber yes council member Maro yes council member hiltz yes council member Mario yes no motion passes to approve ordinance 2021 61 I now please read the title to item number 14 C item 14 C is Introduction of ordinance 2021 62 and ordinance of the city council of the city of aora Colorado adding a new section to the city code pertaining to alcohol beverage Festival permit uh presentation by staff yes this ordinance is a adoption of the alcohol beverage Festival permit for a local permitting process uh this is a result of a change in state law last year that allowed um festivals alcohol beverage festivals to be expanded Beyond just uh wineries or nonprofits now um many uh places that have an on- premise liquor license such as taverns or restaurants can now be part of or hold an alcohol beverage Festival in this orance puts in place a local permitting process for that as Allowed by state law motion mayor mayor to approve 14 C move by the May seconded by second second by council member Kum to approve it number 14 c um discussion see none with the cler please call the role of the adoption of item number 14 C council member grber yes yes council member hilts yes council member bersin yes council member Mario yes mayor proen Bergen yes council member Marano yes council member kums yes council member Gardner yes and council member Lawson yes the motion passes to approve ordinance 2021 62 B now please read the title to item number 14d item 14d is Introduction of ordinance 20 2163 and ordinance of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado amending chapter 26 relating to the sales of lodging and private residences motion mayor council moo thank you sir move to approv 14d been moved by Council moano seconded by second by council member guber to approve item number 14d um discussion mayor I'm sorry did we get I'm sorry for of representation by staff on 14d sure uh this ordinance is um uh further advancing the policy laid out by Council about five years ago with regards to uh regulation of short-term rentals uh mainly dealing with uh ensuring that the short-term rentals are a primary residence for somebody there and U improving enforcement and efficiency of that enforcement through some changes in regulations including requir ing booking platforms uh to only post licensed short-term rentals and then also to respond to uh situations where that is obviously not the person's primary residence um also um codifying some of the regulations that were enforced through the zoning code into business regulations to make it a little bit more efficient uh to enforce so we've already had a motion and a second uh discussions or questions of staff mayor uh mayor pretend uh yes can um Trevor could you just um I know there was a concern raised by the business Advisory Board and it seems like it was rectified could you just speak on that yeah the the question and that also came up in committee too it has to deal with uh one of the regulations we're putting in place is um 180 day limit if you're not uh present on the premises so you can only engage in the short-term rental uh for 180 days if it's the entire property and you're not um present on the on the premises so if it's a partial rental um you can still do 365 days um if you have a segregated section of the home um and you live in another section you can still do 365 days it's specifically kind of an another enforcement provision to deal with uh situations where individuals might be um kind of working with their paperwork to try to to to uh fool enforcement in regards to sh showing that they're living at the place when they're actually not um for all intents purposes you know if the majority of the year they're not there at least the majority you're not there and they're renting out the entire property this gives us kind of another tool to uh address those situations um where and and try to try to deal with those okay thanks very much further uh discussion sitting down the question before say the adoption of item number 14d with the cler please call the role council member kums yes council member Lawson yes council member Gardner yes council member marono yes mayor preton Bergen yes council member Maro yes council member bersin yes council member hiltz yes council member guber yes yes the motion passes to approve ordinance 2021 63 CL now please read the tile to item number 14e item 14e is Introduction of ordinance 2021 64 and ordinance of the city council of the city of Aurora Colorado amending Article 2 of section 130 of the city code relating to clarifications on sales and use tax uh brief presentation by staff yes this ordinance we believe is mostly technical in nature uh we don't believe we're doing anything controvers here uh this is mainly some clarifications and cleanup that we've learned through the years of administering the tax code well um this motion mayor counc move to approve 14e it's been moved by council member Kum seconded by Maro council member moano to approve item number 14e uh discussion mayor uh mayor pretend um Trevor can you this doesn't change anything on because it's telecommunications and entertainment but um is is this changing anything if you're using C you know Comcast Direct TV versus the online streaming type of things yeah it it absolutely changes nothing at all um with regards to those the the issue we had in that section was it lumped uh pay television entertainment SE services in with tele kind of as one piece of imposition um it probably wasn't structured very well when we did the standardized definitions and some people tried to merge the two definitions into one um as an argument as to why streaming um streaming media would not be taxable uh but uh that it was taxable before and taxable after that that was just one argument where we looked at it and said well this could be a little bit clearer if we broke the two apart as it is in most cities Okay so if you're if you have for example cable TV and you're taxed for your cable TV you can then also be taxed for streaming as a separate like I not double taxing no uh because um streaming would be a different service so you'd have cable television is one thing you pay a price for cable television um which may you know they may also include some streaming options with that but it' all be included within that one price but then you pay for example for Netflix is subject for tax but that's a separate service so the internet service that you use to access Netflix is not subject to tax and it that won't change okay so if I have Comcast and I also subscribe to Netflix I'm not being taxed twice correct okay thank you further questions discussion seeing none the question reces the adoption of it number 14e with the clerk please call the RO council member marono yes council member guber yes council member Mario yes council member kums yes council member hiltz yes yes council member Lawson yes mayor protin Bergen yes council member Gardner yes and council member bersin yes that motion passes to approve ordinance 2021 64 um I've have been in informed uh by the uh our city clerk that we can take uh items 15a 15i and 15K um that pass all pass unanimously procedurally as we would do uh the consent calendar um just want to confirm that with you with the city clerk yes that's correct items 15 a through 15 I and 15K passed unanimously at the first reading so they can be voted upon as a single item according to the council rules so it would be um very similar to how the consent calendar is done and then item 15 J did not pass unanimously so it be need to be voted on separately need a motion to to approve or to adopt item number 15a through 59 and 15K there are so mov okay it's move by council member Gardner seconded by council member gr to uh adopt items number 15a through through I 15 I and 15 k um discussion I see no discussion excuse me with the clce call the role in the adoption of item number 15a through 15 I and 15 kouncil member Mar yes council member Gardner yes council member bersin yes council member Lawson yes council member hilts yes mayor ptin Bergen yes council member Maro yes council member guber yes and council member yes the motion passes to approve items 15a through I and 15K PL now please read the title to item number 15 J item number 15 [Music] J is ordinance 2021 57 and ordinance amending certain sections of chapter 138 of the city code of the city of aora Colorado relating to services for the provision of water motion mayor counc thank you sir move to approve 15 J by uh council member mcconell second by second second by council member kums to approve it number 15j uh a brief presentation by staff mayor council Brown um this ordinance is to increase uh rates and fees to keep up with f of living uh or below cost of living to keep up with the increased cost of the utility um the rate increases being proposed are in the three% range across the board with the exception of uh the Water connection fee which is being proposed to increase by about 10% that's due to the increased cost of acquiring water in the market uh discussion I believe we already did the motion uh discussion I see none with C please call the role of the adoption of item number 15j council member Gardner yes council member Marano yes council member [Music] kums yes council member Maria yes council member hilts council member hilts mayor protein Bergen yes can r no Council M grber yes Council bwon yes and council member hiltz okay the motion passes with seven votes to approve ordinance 2021 57 uh with cl now please read the title to item number 16a item 16a is finalizing of ordinance 20 2159 an ordinance to amend the city of Aurora zoning map by changing 2.06 acres of land within lot four block three of havanah height subdivision situated the North West one quarter of SE 26 Township for South Range 67 west of the principal Meridian city of Aurora County of arapo state of Colorado from R1 low density single family District to R2 medium density District and mayor we do have public invited to be heard in the queue very well um lece receive with public invited to be heard all right first up is Heather laer you have three minutes go ahead good evening mayor caufman and council members my name is is Heather lacer and I am the CEO with Habitat for Humanity of metro Denver as you know aora adopted a housing plan that prioritizes home ownership that is Affordable for Aurora's essential Workforce As Leaders as you all are who recognize aora affordable housing shortage and the negative impact that that is having on the constituents that you represent we ask that you take this unique opportunity to meet this growing need in our community by approving this R2 zoning which is necessary to build 20 affordable four sale homes uh for Aurora's essential Workforce this will help the city meet its own goals a few things to be clear about habitat is about home ownership we qualify people for an affordable mortgage which is a first step in the process in addition to that rigorous mortgage prog qualification process uh homeowners must be disciplined they save money closing costs they stay on budget they must be hardworking they each contribute 200 hours of Sweat Equity to help build their homes and they must be self-reliant which means they attend home buyer education and financial counseling classes once homeowners purchase their habitat home they pay a monthly mortgage on a fixed 30-year loan now habitat homeowners are exactly the type of people who make Aurora the great City that it is healthcare workers teachers First Responders office professionals Child Care Professionals and Retail workers they range from Young professionals to older adults and families who earn up to 80% of the area median income which for a family of four is about $779,000 and the impact is significant two quick stories a young man named Dian Le he work moved eight times in his first eight years of school when he moved into his habitat home he spent High School in one place and can focused on a education he's now at an Ivy League school on a full scholarship doing so well and another Rebecca she moved from shelters to church basements with her six kids and it put her in constant survival mode when they moved into their homes their entire family's future changed and today 30 years and the three generations later her grandkids don't talk about whether they will go to college only which school they will choose and in addition to that improved educational outcomes parents report low lower cases of asthma attacks due to being in a healthy home and everyone experiences improved mental health because of having a stable affordable home it's so much more than a roof and walls it is the foundation from which they launch so council members tonight we're asking you to approve our R2 zoning requests to help us achieve transformative affordable home ownership for Aurora residents a yes vote for the R2 zoning is a yes vote for thank you heather we appreciate your time tonight thank you next we have Wendell Wendell you're up your time starts now it's honorable Council and mayor I am Wendell carahan me and my wife Betty live at 2079 South Jamaica Court directly adjacent to the Habitat for Humanity propos multif family R2 Zone request we we do not agree with allowing the Denver ministers requesting approval for zone two they have no connection or contact with havanah heids and know nothing about us I believe they've been prompted and requested by somebody Betty and I are highly opposed to the zone change please Council vote no on our two Zone request thank you thank you thank you next we have Chris Greenwald Chris you are up your time starts now uh good evening um this is Chris Greenwald I live at 260 South Joliet Street um three houses down from the project into the corner uh encouraging the entire uh Council and mayor to well Council to uh uh vote to keep R1 zoning and not allow the um higher density for an ill-conceived plan um and I'm speak for speak along with the many many many local actual residents not people around the state that are calling in that's all I have thank you next we have Rebecca Rebecca W you're next hello mayor and Council people my name is Rebecca I'm a resident of avenna heights I just live definitely I can see the church as we speak in the area you're talking about and I oppose the zone change I purchased we purchased this uh as a taxpayer we purchased this property in an R1 community and we want it to stay an R1 Community thank you very much for your time thank you Muhammad your time starts now you have three minutes Mohammad are you there hello I'm there yes yes go ahead yes thank you Mr Mayor and uh members of the Council city of Aurora may Allah bless you and protect you all and your family please listen to the people there who lives in the community I came from Africa and I lived here in Aurora since 1978 I went to school my kids was born in 2059 South jica Court cross from the land that habites wants to build a 20 high density places I I'm not opposed Hite appetite for human Humanity I think they are a good H company for the people um but I imposed very very very imposed building 20 units in a small place like that high density um please please please and I and I beg you to oppose and vote no I my kids are very worried about it and I am and we have a community that lovable Community love each other help each other in the snow in the walk around as we feel very safety and we both I work very hard to buy this house because it's an R1 I did not know this uh Church wants to move to R2 why I am willing to buy the land from them if they sell it I will have some people to buy it and build an R1 thank you for listening to me and may Allah bless you and bless everyone of you please please vote no thank you next we have Catherine Katherine P you have three minutes hi good evening I've lived in the neighborhood for 35 years and I am opposed to the rezoning for the following reasons congestion on Evans and Havana and Juliet the traffic and the crime is out of control our property values will go down our schools will be burdened and for safety are we have a small family neighborhood and feel that we should have a say in our neighborhood and that we should keep the same zoning as we've had for many many years thank you next we have Kathy Kathy grow your time starts now hi I'm Kathy Gro and I live at 2108 South Joliet court and have for 42 years I have served on more boards and associations and stuff for this city that I can begin to count in all over those years I'm a member of Mountain View Church and I do live inside panaah Heights the people who say no one supports this program that lives here are wrong and they know it I beg you to consider getting together as a group to come together to support habitat's request for R2 zoning in the Mountain View side it's the right thing to do as as I hear church members talking about how horrible it's going to be I know where most of you go to church and it's just it's be Beyond me that you can live in a city that has all these wonderful studies and plans for Equitable housing and be against everything that city council stands for I'm really hopeful that since the Planning and Zoning commission and staff have recommended approval that city council will stand up and support its own studies and plans and vote for R2 zoning the neighbors who oppose this will suffer not one thing when this is built they never intended to support even with all the changes that habitat ma made that they demanded they've also been well coach they've stopped using crime impact on schools property values in their statements I'm really glad that city council persons were not exposed to some of the nasty statements their opposition is economic bigotry plain and simple on Lancing and Kingston courts just south of Ponderosa Elementary School there are 10 houses on each culdesac the very number of buildings that seem to be too many in another part of the very neighborhood I feel that our potential new neighbors are being characterized as other I'm not sure when these homes are built the owners will not be any different from the rest of us and maybe that's frightening that people who haven't had our economic privileges could be just like us other votes and places other states and places in Colorado have similar successful inclusion of housing values and costs in existing neighborhoods it works and schools need all levels of how so that students don't have to move thank you next we have Ruth devel Ruth your three minutes start now good evening mayor and City Council Members thank you for your time my name is Ruth doelle and I'm a Colorado Native and has made my home in Aurora for the past 20 years um I'm speaking once again to Rally your support for the Habitat for Humanity R1 and R2 zoning request voting yes on this issue affirms that you as the city council are standing by and following through with your Aurora housing strategy policy recommendation and I quote Foster AB balances sustainable housing per in aora the policy also states that housing options should meet the needs of the households of diverse types sizes preferences and incomes housing choices should include both rental and for sale homes and be located in safe stable and desirable neighborhoods throughout the city and I'm going to repeat desirable and when I think of safe stable and desirable neighborhoods that were are near the neighborhoods I have are currently living I think of Havana Heights it is a place that I once thought would be a lovely place to live but I've never been able to afford to buy a home there the community view um the Mountain View Community homes would provide those strategic planned housing choices for households that would never be able to live in Havana Heights due to income restraints so I thank you in advance for your support in this resoning request and your affirmation that affordable housing is important to you and again I thank you for your time it's it's your vote is so important and I am praying that you vote yes thank you so much next we have Wendy Wendy go ahead you have three minutes good evening mayor and City Council Members tonight you're considering voting on a proposal on whether or not to allow a church with two acres of unused land to donate it to create 20 affordable homes to hardworking families many many would consider this a win-win situation people with a need and a group of people wanting to supply that need please vote Yes for resoning this piece of land in order to come to a solution I have a few questions for you to consider um and people before me have talked about who we considering this is for Working Families earning between 60 and 80% of the average median income typically are essential workers I see these homes providing a vibrant and beautiful new energy to the neighborhood I imagine children playing in the culde saac and people walking their dogs this AA this aware this vacant lot is available now it's a perfect spot for families to raise their children and if not here where people who want to stop this rezoning think that these families are going to come into the neighborhood and create problems I believe these families are looking for a place to call home to raise their children in safety and comfort when now is the time and if not now when we can do this now with your vote how the groundwork has been laid and together we the church Habitat for Humanity the members of the church the council and the mayor can make this happen beginning tonight in order for others to have the same opportunities we have been blessed with someone somewhere has to step up and say let me be the one to help let me be the one to give if not then we continue a repeating pattern of but not in my backyard and not by the work of my hands and not by my sacrifice in trusting that your vote will be yes tonight I thank you for stepping up saying today we have decided to be the ones to give others the opportunities we have been blessed with thank you so much and please consider voting yes next we have Reverend Wayne re Wayne your time starts now go ahead yes good evening I'm Reverend Wayne laws and Royal resident of the minister of social justice of Mountain View United Church at the last hearing I ended my testimony by posing the question for you just heard for this application for 20 affordable homes on vacant underutilized lot if not now when I would like to begin there tonight if not here then where if not here in a neighborhood that our opponents themselves have testified as culturally and racially diverse then where if not here in a location next to two major Urban thoroughfares with readily accessible public transportation then where if not here in this neighborhood is a mixture of zoning and much higher density within 1,000 ft than where I ask you if not here then where and if not now when our application meets and exceeds All City requirements a plan and rezoning application strongly recommended for approval by the City Planning and Zoning commission a proposal based upon an Innovative model being used around the country bringing together the faith community and nonprofits to provide much needed affordable housing to our city a proposal that makes major safety improvements to the existing neighborhood infrastructure at no cost to the city a plan that has significantly changed over the last two years based on neighborhood input a plan built out of compromise on our part a plan endorsed by the Cherry Creek School System Aurora mental health Children's Hospitals multiple Housing and Community organizations and overwhelmingly by the faith community who identified multiple areas and goals in the 2020 strategy plan a strategy plan that you approved that our proposed development aligns with and helps you satisfy I ask you again is this strategy plan just words on a piece of paper or are they values that you believe will make Aurora better place for all we've shown you the benefits this proposal brings through the entire city benefits to Education Health and Welfare local businesses and employers to the tax Bas and to the overall overall economy of the city we have answered and refuted every objection raised to this project the parking we are providing exceeds code requirements we have shown that there are no common areas of Maintenance in this development and th no need for an HOA which the opposition has consistently rejected as well as even a neighborhood association for themselves the objections being raised are those common to exclusionary zoning arguments that have been used for years to block affordable housing they are not new or unique to this project the choice before you tonight is one between tionary zoning and the values you have publicly stated I urge you tonight to put action to your values do not succumb to exclusionary zoning tactics and to vote and approve this resoning application if not here if not now then where and when thank you next we have Elroy kenberg go ahead you have three minutes Elroy you have three minutes go ahead Eloy are you there we'll move on next we have John Finley John go ahead good evening mayor Coffman and council members and thank you for allowing our voice to be heard this evening my name is John Finley and I'm the president of the board at Habitat for Humanity in metro Denver I was introduced to Habitat 8 years ago when former President Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalyn Carter brought their work project to town to build and repair Habitat homes I recall vividly watching and listening to a mother and her children emotionally explain how owning a home would transform their lives it was relatable to me as a younger parent at the time how important it was to be able to provide a home for my own family when that family received the keys to their new home I couldn't help but feel grateful and at the same time wanted this for All Families I was fortunate to be act a volunteer on the habitat board and have had many opportunities to build homes alongside future homeowners learning about their personal stories along the way over the past eight years I have absorbed a great deal and a couple of things are recurring one is that these are hardworking individuals who want the very best for their families I've met many who are teachers Frontline workers and those who courageously served our country in the military neighbors of these deserving individuals certainly benefit by being surrounded by others with such a strong work ethic and demonstrated ability to provide a safe home for their families related is another them that means a great deal to me I typically reserve my community involvement and philanthropy to organizations that build and protect the welfare of children having served on a school board for seven years and currently serving on the foundation Board of a Children's Hospital in Aurora it is not debatable that the children are our future the work we put into raising our own children and lifting others when we can Will dictate what the future has in store for us all so I want to share some of the magic that happens within the walls of the Habitat homes we build because of the stability the home provides habitat children don't have to constantly change schools they also have a safe and comfortable place to study the results go beyond the heartwarming stories and there are many of those for those of you who rely more on the statistics I want to underscore what you have already heard that 98% of children who grow up in a habitat Denver home graduate from high school a rate considerably higher than both state and Rural Public School System averages which are closer to 80% these habitat children are also articulating at colleges and universities throughout Colorado and National universities including Stanford and as you heard earlier one who recently received a full ride scholarship to Yale these are the kind of children that make communities proud to call their neighbors they go on to inspire their siblings extended family and schoolmates to to achieve great accomplishment this is how habitat home ownership becomes an important building block for all of our futures by voting in the affirmative tonight you will play a meaningful role in continuing the success of habitat families and their neighborhoods something I'm sure you'll be proud of for years to come thank you again for allowing me to share why I feel strongly about supporting this project next we have Roberta Roberta you're up hi go ahead good evening mayor Kaufman and Aurora city council my name is Roberta C thank you for the opportunity to speak to the need for affordable housing for Working Families I have lived in Aurora for six years in a 600 square foot one-bedroom apartment I paid my rent on time and tried to be a good tenant even with all that my rent has increased $110 per month the apartment manager told me that I was lucky that my rent wasn't raised more than that uh in one month but over a six-year period I work for Aurora Public Schools for two years I was a parent on a Special Needs Bus on which we transported children with physical emotional and or mental health issues for the last year and a half I have worked in the division of equity and learning as a receptionist for Aurora before I started working for the do I had to dip into my savings monthly just to afford my rent and other expenses I am fortunate that I had that to fall back on most of the parents and Guardians that I've met over the last three and a half years most likely don't have that cushion and so end up working multiple jobs which is excuse me which can mean that a social needs child might be cared for by an older sibling it is challenging enough to raise a family and to find time to enjoy their family and life they shouldn't have to work multiple jobs to afford ajent home in a safe neighborhood some families whose children ATT 10 APS are unhoused the pandemic was hard on everyone and children are now trying to cope with this new normal and if they don't have a stable environment it's very hard for them to even just attend school let alone concentrate and learn we need more affordable housing in aora I just bought a 750 square foot one-bedroom condo and it was about $100,000 over what it would have cost a few years ago I'm thankful that my family is helping me with this purchase Working Families in Aurora need our help their children need our help when you vote please consider the value you place on families Desiring to provide a stable home for their children remember children are our future what are we offering them in the present thank you for your yes vote next we have Robin Robin your time starts now Robin May thank you you thank you I have been a resident of uh the vanites neighborhood for 30 years now I'm opposed to the change in the uh zoning that's here unfortunately I don't have a nice pre-recorded message to give to you but we are opposed to the change in the zoning of this area one thing I would like to point out is although we've heard some very nice and lovely uh accolades for the Habitat for Humanity and all the wonderful things that can happen by making affordable homes there's also the very simple fact that Habitat for Humanity and the groups can continue to make uh affordable housing by maintaining them their building within the zoning regulations that already exist there is no reason to change the zoning at this time most of us who live here bought our homes based upon the zoning that was in place and I would encourage this group to vote no uh not to uh so the zoning regulations will not be changed Thank you Lisa Farley your time starts now uh greetings mayor Pro and council members my name is Lisa Farley and I live at 2007 South Kingston Court I've lived in hanana Heights for over 20 years and I've been a supporter of Habitat for Humanity starting 35 years ago that said I'm opposed to the resoning with the spot resoning within our neighborhood Ood I'd like to provide a couple of clarifications of things that I heard this evening um one was that the churches donating the land they are actually leasing the land which kind of leads to some questions that I have um does the council truly understand the nature of the lease and how the new homeowners will be able to build equity thus allowing them to move to other homes if they work or family needs dictate that um that is something that I haven't been able to get as a solid answer on the F questions at meetings how does that lease work how does the equity in the improved property work um is this a well thought out plan that will truly help families move forward uh other questions I have is if it's habitat's mission to build homes that are livable affordable and fit the neighborhood context why are they trying to change the context of the neighborhood that we purchased into because it was our one zoning by rezoning it that doesn't sound like they're building houses to match the neighborhood sounds like they're trying to change the neighborhoods to match their designs how will the citizens of Aurora trust that Den Zone decisions will be respected over time if we create a precedent with this plan to spot reson within an existing residential Community it's a little bit different with resoning going from an agricultural to a residential area but spot resoning within an existing Community very much changes that nature of that Community uh with the spot resoning to this development forc the city council to allow for more spot resoning and other neighborhoods because of the precedent that is being set is the development that is being designed is it designed in such a way that new residents will have adequate parking within sight of their homes we all know in aora if your car is parked on side streets or away from your home incidents of vandalism or theft is greater um we were told that there's off street parking but it's tandem parking many families won't want to park in tandem I inquire at habitat Representatives at a meeting if parking is used in tandem as designed if there's any followup to see if it is used as it's designed and they said no there is no followup to see if it's used in that design will these houses have storage see Ingress and egress into the culdesac the street uh analysis the traffic study was done leaving the neighborhood not in and out of the culdesac yes there will be 10 buildings on the culdesac but there will be 20 families with families cars um two of them will be facing onto a side street but the other 18 your time is up will be facing into the cold effect my apologies thank you and once again I would request that you oppose the zoning change thank you next we have Valerie Marshall Valerie your time starts now thank you good evening mayor and council members I'm Valerie Marshall and a budding neighbor and this has been a very emotional charged topic I want to thank all of you very much for your consideration on what is a very important issue to our little havanah Heights neighborhood to me one of the major tenants this comes down to is honoring promises in today's day and age I hope and pray that a promise still carries great weight the many of the other residents here that includes the promise of R1 zoning which was provided to us when we made the huge decision to purchase and maintain a home in Havana Heights our neighborhood is one of the few gems in the city of Aurora that has a real rural Feld to it even though there's been slow well thought out development over the years our neighborhood is varied we are an independent group made of immigrants small business owners teachers Law Enforcement Officers First Responders and a lot of retirees who live on fixed incomes and have saved their money to live here the city of Aurora has made all this possible through its R1 zoning and the assumed promise that this is the way our neighborhood would remain the church and its former ministers specifically promised us this would lot would never be developed and the bargain and sale deed recorded in Arapaho appeared to convey that same Promise by saying quote in trust the premises herein conveyed shall be used kept and maintained by the grantee for worship and other purposes of its Ministry the church in habitat constantly say they've done nothing but compromise with our neighborhood the church made plans for nearly a year while never contacting the neighborhood and then habitat bid and one an RFP for much higher density development they may have revamped their initial plans in fact they did for crowding even more housing on this small lot down to 20 homes but the only thing the neighborhood has ever asked from the very first meeting is that the zoning remained the promised R1 to fit in with the neighborhood's current character if habitat was truly thinking of the community and their known reputation for providing a true home ownership and help not only in obtaining homes but maintaining them with the same amenities shared by The Neighborhood these homes would not be Unleashed land and they would be assisted with upkeep if they were at least built with lower density while the homes themselves may have smaller Footprints than several of their neighbors they could have garages with plenty of storage for vehicles car maintenance equipment lawn maintenance toys for their children they could have nicely sized fence yards they could have plenty of off street parking to make sure that their cars are kept safe and their family can walk the streets and enter and exit the neighborhood safely think about your own home and how you feel after spending your life savings based on promises made by a community and City you trust please vote no on the proposed zoning change and allow our zoning from our neighborhood and future residents even with affordable we're totally for bringing affordable housing let it our thank you very much thank you Maria Maria you are up your time starts now good evening council members my name is Maria Sova with Habitat for Humanity metro Denver it's important for us to understand the strong connection between health and housing housing impacts Health there's no question about that habitat's CEO serves on health ones Community Advisory Board and they often discuss how people who have unstable housing are more likely to experience mental and physical health issues because of the stress resulting from instability toxic environments and lack of access to resources like grocery stores and outdoor spaces for example it's estimated that 40% of asthma cases can be attributed to factors such as mold and tests like mice cockroaches or exposure to chemicals Dr Megan sandal is a pediatric doctor who runs an emergency room and she often talks about housing as a vaccine she shares the story of a young girl coming into the emergency room when her asthma was acting up she thought it was strange because the family had previously gotten her asthma under control so would it changed well the family had gotten a cat even though their child was allergic to cats why a cat because of mice as infestation in their apartment had gotten so bad they found a mouth in the child's bed the family was facing a tough choice the mice they reasoned were certainly a greater threat than some cat hair at least until their little girl ended up in the ICU this was not a problem a doctor could easily solve no amount of medication would make it safe to send the child back to her unhealthy living conditions the prescription this child needed was decent was a decent Healthy Home and while asthma is a physical condition it's a condition that impacts the mental health the children and the whole families think about the stress of knowing your child is strugg struggling to breathe because of the home you live in people's mental health is affected um by H negative conditions in their housing um for a variety of reasons and we can all understand that without safe stable housing People's Health both physical and mental health is in Jeopardy on a positive note in a recent survey half of habitat homeowners share their less stress and they believe their family's overall health has improved since moving into their homes so that's why we're asking for you to vote Yes on our R2 zoning request which meets the rezoning Criterion Aurora's Udo and help more Aurora families have that opportunity have access to housing that will help them have healthier uh families thank you hedad your time starts now Hamid H yes uh good evening mayor ccil members my name is Hamed and I live at 2000 sou Jamaica about a block away from the development I know very well uh there's a severe shortage in affordable housing um but I also know want you to know that this project is not good for the Neighbors not good for the residents who going to occupy those property because they want to cramp 20 homes in a CUO s that's only fit for eight units is the current zoning so um there will be no basements no backyard no garages no playground for the kids and um from out of 20 uh 20 homes if we expect every home to have at least two cars only six will be parked in garages say6 cars would be parked along Evans in the neighboring stre and that's for the next 99 years so um but to be realistic I know there is a huge pleasure huge campaign by Habitat to get this imp passed so if you would really uh if you want to consider um be fair to all of us we need to startop this project on both no but if you have to so please uh consider this point the church owns 52 uh parking lots in in their parking they should allow full access to the residents to those 52 uh paring spot all those resident and their guest they should be have they should have full access to the church's parking lots and it should be part of the 99 years Le uh number two number two is um the church U and habitat must draft must draft BW on Covenant to allow the exterior maintenance of the property and livees on violators and to be able to lean the poty if someone is deserving the peace and not maintaining their property for those 99 years to come also as the church should provide playground for all the children in the development on the church side of the land your time is up maintain it for the years thank you very much and please both know in this and U make it peaceful for the resident and for the current resident thank you next we have Meredith Meredith Ryan you have three minutes thank you good evening mayor Kaufman and city council members on October 25th the council voted affirmatively on the site plan for Mountain View Community home as well as on the R2 zoning 5 to4 I implore that you vote in the affirmative for R2 zoning with the required six votes I believe that both Habitat for Humanity and Mountain View United Church have acted deligently and in good faith these past nearly four years to bring this affordable housing plan to fruition indeed if the site plan has been accepted it can only be because of their dedication in working together with the city and neighborhood to best use our land resource and develop it in confidence with its particular geography and location this humble develop will add another cldis act to the neighborhood and will be an asset to the local and The Wider Community my three points first this project aligns with the stated goals of this city 20 families will be provided with affordable owner occupied homes Aurora can continue to Foster residential equity on behalf of younger generations of workers in our community second this project is for a 99-year land lease imagine the future generations of folks who can be launched more firmly into the middle class by building generational economic stability they will be able to raise their children to be happy healthy and well functioning members of our city I think this site plan is optimal for this goal and I think it will Foster peace and Tranquility as well as provide healthy change within a larger context of long-term stability because of its layout organically integrating itself into the surrounding church and garden property third I am a person of faith I have observed in life that people are as are as estimable in our own eyes as they are being esteemed within a community as well they should be as fellow children children of God I look forward to honoring and sharing together our diversity in culture and ethnicity so finally the folks who will populate this humble development will work hard to construct their homes and to maintain them please Mr Mayor and City Council Members affirm the R2 zoning so that these new homes can be established thank you next we have Bob Anderson Bob Anderson your time starts now hi thank you uh hello again mayor Kaufman and uh city council members uh my name is Bob Anderson and requesting your support of habitat for humanities request for this R2 zoning request uh as part of the affordable housing development and the project plan for the Mountain View United Church site I've been an aurora resident since 1979 and a member of Mountain View United Church for over 16 years I support this resoning request as it's been reported uh a few times now one in three Aurora families struggle to find affordable quality housing this specifically includes essential Frontline workers their families and and the children in a recent letter to the Sentinel Colorado editor from pediatrician Margaret Tashan she notes a specific value a need and a responsibility to our community to provide safe housing and to protect our children I agree with this assessment the values noted in my past testimonies this resoning request in proposed project also aligns with city of Aurora and Community goals these goals are to meet critical critical affordable housing needs to create additional home ownership opportunities to Foster relationships with the public private and non-private sector partners and to provide potential Economic Development to this area and the city of Aurora and as men mentioned before they also align with Aurora's unified development code and our 2020 Aurora housing strategies I respectfully request and urge approval of this resoning request this is the right project the right place and the right time uh thanks again for your time and this opportunity to speak on behalf of the project next we have Annette Masten Anette your time starts now yes my name is Annette naston thank you mayor cochan and council members for taking the time to listen to The Community of havanah heights um I am a 10year resident of Havana height and I am opposed to the rezoning and development of the land as proposed in changing the resoning to R2 we do support affordable housing I'm a senior loaner officer with a major uh mortgage Corporation that's in that's National I have done several loans that involve affordable housing and I am very much for it how however I think the face value of the way this plan is developed for the site it is too high density um for the community to absorb it the 20 homes we had 10 you know five duplexes it might go might be able to be absorbed in the neighborhood and again as some of my other Counterpoint have said there would be storage and garages so that it would be an actual home that they could thrive in you know some of the things that your CEO and several other of the components uh or the people have said that they're for this project have me have mentioned two things that I think is really important mental health and physical health well I will start with physical health as a personal thing to me I live in a home the budding to the project it's just right across the street from the church just a little bit further down and I have very very severe asthma I asked to Habit that for Humanity how long the project was going to last and they said that the construction is going to go on for at least 3 years so we're going to have dirt and development and infrastructure happen on the land and then trucks in and out and you know that kind of thing going on and I am very concerned for myself and other people that might be in the neighborhood that might have asthma and might occur that the other part is the mental health issue my mother is 76 years old uh her going through not having the the we have a very very quiet neighborhood and as habitat said for 3 years we're going to have a construction site in the dead center of our neighborhood that will be seven days a week um probably eight months out of the year I I think that's going to take a mental health PLL on the 150 residents in the neighborhood the safety of the big construction trucks going in and out of our neighborhood thank you next we have Ralph Garnet Ralph go ahead hello uh city council um my name is Ralph granth I was the pastor up at First Presbyterian Church in Aurora for uh many years so I know um Aurora from um from that part of town uh I retired and I moved back to aora and I want to congratulate the Council on the marvelous job uh you been doing in the city um I'm in the southeast part of the town now and I'm so impressed with what you've been able to accomplished with the development of um Aurora Colorado I I'm speaking in favor of this motion I was driving by the plot the other day and I was so impressed with uh just that setting and how ideal it was for this kind of project um I'm impressed with uh the church's desire to donate this land or have it used for the housing and I think it's just a great opportunity for you all as council members to um step forward and uh provide this zoning change I appreciate uh your public service and know it's uh it's a um it's a sacrifice for you all as council members to be making these decisions and I was uh listening to the opposition and and the commiserating with you all in terms of of uh this decision I think it's just a a real opportunity though the upshot is that it's a real opportunity for you to um to provide this housing for uh 20 families and it's just an outstanding uh opportunity to um to provide this housing so I thank you again for your service as council members and for a positive vote on this U on this motion thanks again next we have Byron Largent Byron go go ahead yes thank you council members and mayor Kaufman for your time here tonight my name is Byron Largent and I have been a homeowner and resident of Aurora for the past six years and three days I want to tell you what those six years have meant to me and understand that I have to tell you about the years prior to that for close to a decade my family and I moved every year either due to landlord selling the property we were living in or raising rent above our budget that took a toll on my family stability and and my own mental health not knowing which school district our daughter might end up in what the cost of gas and commuting might do to our family budget and work life balance not to mention the stress of packing and moving every 365 days when we were presented with the opportunity to buy our first home with some assistance here in Aurora we jumped on it living in the same house we own for the past six years means a lot to me I wish I had more time to describe everything but here are the most important stability the stability that was so important during our daughter's formative years she developed relationships with neighborhood kids went to the same school year after year and she even memorized our address the stability for myself not having to worry about finding a new place to live every year knowing this is our home not just the house that we live in I've been able to focus on the thing that matters most in life my family confidence I had no idea that the confidence of owning my own home home would help to reverse years of self-esteem and self-doubt issues it made me feel proud proud to be able to say I own my house in Aurora and it put into perspective the underlying issues that the housing crisis Across the Nation can cause transformation when I was a renter I hated mowing the lawn and doing home repair but now I feel accomplished looking at my freshly mowed lawn and I even repaired a waterpipe leak in the crawl space under our house just last week these were skills that I was able to developed as a direct result of owning my own home but really it led to transformation Within Myself when the state shut down for the covid-19 pandemic our home became a school room an office a playground a restaurant and even sometimes a prison cell too many families didn't have that luxury and struggled in one or more of those areas remote schooling was such an important part during this pandemic and with only one child who has their own room it was still difficult I can't even imagine the difficulties that families with multiple children sharing a room or sharing space or living in unsafe conditions had to deal with this R2 zoning is what will enable this carefully planned 20 Home Development to be affordable and compatible with the neighborhood But ultimately what your affirmative vote will bring is the transformation of the lives of 20 families and their children's families by giving them the stability and confidence to be proud citizens of Aurora thank you for your affirmative vote next we have Corey Whitaker Corey go ahead yes go ahead good evening my name is Corey Whitaker can you hear me yes can you hear me yes we can hear you good evening my name is Corey Whitaker with Habitat for Humanity and I presented this plan to you all a couple of weeks ago uh thank you for your time and commitment change is difficult but our communities have been changing drastically over the last 20 years years in the last 20 years household incomes in Aurora have increased 41% whereas home prices have increased 2% so the reason that we are requesting this resoning is because conditions have changed there is an immediate need for affordable housing and we are not able to provide that housing within the R1 zoning the plan that we have put before you meets all aspects of the resoning criteria it is consistent with the Aurora place's comprehensive plan it is consistent with the Aurora housing strategy and with the purpose statement of the R2 Zone District it is compatible with the size scale height density and multimodal impacts to the surrounding development and it does not dislocate any tents of the property City staff has recommended approval of this resoning Planning Commission recommended approval of this resoning six to1 and we ask you city council members to invest in the essential members of your community providing them the opportunity to achieve housing stability and a solid foundation in which Generations can prosper and Thrive we ask you to do this by supporting this fre zoning thank you next we have Tina Alonso Tina go ahead yes hi my name is um Tino Alonso good evening mayor Kaufman and city council I am a teacher of many years um um near the church um I'm a longtime resident in Havana Heights I lived here for over 22 years uh my family and I have been blessed living in a community that is comprised of just lovely people people that are ready to lend a hand in a variety of ways and who care about each other's wellbeing tonight I would like to voice my concern with a proposed Habitat for Humanity R2 development please note that this concern is on behalf of my future neighbors that I don't even know yet who may be living in the Mountain View Community homes with urgency and to advocate for our future neighbors the questions that must be asked are as follow am I entering into a contract that limits my future Financial gains will the land fee that I owe continually go up what are the financial downfalls of me selling my home in the near future if I'm not able to list my home on the open market if I am paying the land leas or a tiing to the church on a monthly or yearly basis how much is it and what are these fees applied to to me without full disclosure of the land fees or the land lease or whatever they want to call it and these fees that the residents will incur it's uncertain to know how safe these contract Agreements are it's like being enticed by a 0% interest card where initially you can afford the low payments however in time you will see that the 0% fee soon goes away and you are now responsible to pay higher fees with an increasing balance acre I hope I fervently hope that these land payments or fees that we're going to give through Habitat to the church do not put our future neighbors into to a dire straight situation I do not feel at all comfortable providing homes for the residents who are trying to get a fresh start without making sure they are fully protected from future unseen escalated cost it would be a great risk um to put them in this position I would like the Planning Commission or wh M who ever is drafting the contracts to show us a projected Equity um contract that is going to be um earned by the purchasers and to find out what's disclosed in this contract um as I understand it the people who purchase the homes are going to be responsible for all their grounds and maintenance work and um anything else that happens on their anyway um on behalf of the new neighbors I um I'm asking the mayor and the council to please please halt the decision of this development until we can ask those questions and protect our future neighbors thank you next we have Paige Anthony Paige you have three minute hi good evening mayor Kaufman and council members my name is Paige Anthony I have lived in Havana Heights for 26 years I live in the culde that AB bets the Mountain View Church proposed site um again Habitat for Humanity is an excellent organization they have wonderful goals they provide a wonderful service um the same for affordable housing of course we need affordable housing but this is not the proper site to move to R2 we want it to remain R1 for a number of reasons this is an established neighborhood the change in zoning will create many problems um at safety for parking um there's just not enough not enough uh parking and there will be no garages no basements in these homes and that won't work well for the our new residents we certainly welcome new residents and we welcome affordable housing and we welcome Habitat for Humanity they keep just saying no you can't we can't fit it into R1 zoning well let's see you try why don't you try I I just I don't understand how we have affordable housing in Lowry single family detached homes with double car garages and they've been able to do it there why not in Havana Heights um we have sent a petition to the city council and the mayor um that was orchestrated at the beginning of this with 170 neighbor signatures that live in havanah Heights that oppos the zoning change that's our big issue we oppose the zoning change just recently we had almost 80 neighbors sign letters that live here in Havana Heights opposing the change from R1 to R2 zoning um fit it into the R1 zoning and you'll have a neighborhood in a community that will come out and help build these homes and work with the people uh the new homeowners there's still many questions about the land lease about the tithe about uh how the upkeep of the property will will happen it's a it's a big concern and a lot of members of this havanah Heights Community have lived in this neighborhood for over 20 years um so of course we're concerned so I know mayor and council members you represent all the people I would hope that includes the Havana Heights Neighbors um and we're hoping that you got all our emails and got our our letters uh your all these reasons we urge you to vote no no on the zoning change thank you next we have Tracy Hughes Tracy go ahead hello I am um hello um good evening mayor and um City Council Members I am Reverend Dr Trace Hughes the lead minister of Mountain View United Church um I come to you this evening asking for your full support of the rezoning for the habitat build on the two acres of land that the church is leasing for the purpose of affordable housing as we know you all were very bold in you creating the 2020 housing strategy for the city of aora which was to which is addressing affordable housing and as you know from presentations tonight and many last week or the last meeting our build fits and checks off many of your housing strategy desires and also what I'm interested in is supporting 20 families to live in The Havana Heights neighborhood these people that will be buying these homes are going to be proud homeowners they're going to be taxpayers increasing tax income for the city they'll be paying taxes on the house and they'll be paying taxes on the land I see this as a plus plus for the city and I also agree with what Wendy promoted earlier I see these 20 families as adding adding a vibrancy to the neighborhood bringing in joy and energy with young children right across the street from the development from the 20 houses is a park a beautiful little park for families to walk to they don't even have to cross a major Street and even though this is a R1 Zone in Havana Heights and we're asking it to be moved to an R2 medium density there are within a th000 ft of the of the land other medium density build and I just see this as a very positive way for all of us to come together to support your decision for the 2020 Hing strategy so this evening I ask you to reach into your hearts and remember the first time you bought your home and what Pride you had when you were able to move your families into your first home and how much you cared for the land and trimmed your bushes and took care of your property I imagine this is exactly the way the new neighbors will take care of their property they will be just like the neighbors that already lived there proud of their land proud of their homes and loving their neighbors so this evening I ask you to vote positive for this build not only naming and supporting the values of the 2020 housing strategy your time is up taking courageous we ask to be courageous thank you next we have Katie Edwards Katie go ahead good evening mayor Kaufman and council members my name is Katie Edwards proud of our citizen I have a 21-year career in financial health education I can tell you for certain that financially healthy individuals beget financially Healthy Families to get financially Healthy Communities home ownership is foundational to the stability and the generational health of individuals families and communities I could go on and on because it's my profession and passion but I recognize that you already know this as a homeowner yourself I recently asked the Aurora homeowner if affordable housing was an important issue for City leadership he responded Yes but not in my neighborhood I worked hard for what I have this caused me to wonder what does hard work mean did he work more hours than a person who can't afford the current housing market Market was the work he did more physical causing sweat and body aches how was his work hard and theirs not hard enough well the records show that he was able to purchase his home for $187,000 which is $250,000 less than the current average home price in Aurora he was in the right place at the right time and likely his hard work is better described as steady work currently in Aurora there are no right places and right times for too many of our steadily working citizens I ask you to think back to the moment you concluded that you would be the next city council member of Aurora Colorado I have to believe that all of you had a solid intention to lead Aurora with purpose leading for safe neighborhoods where kids could play grow and become successful adults where small businesses can Thrive and serve the community you would support the growth of Aurora and you knew you would face opposition but likely had a plan to lead our city toward greatness anyway so here we are considering rezoning my 90-year-old neighbors are the original homeowners they bought their home just 50 years ago the road behind them was dirt now known as Buckley and behind and Beyond it heading east Fields a country living environment since then Aurora leaders like you have rezoned and rezoned again there is a two acre blank piece of land that currently provides havanah Heights neighbors the country living experience no sidewalks or structures but reason says that just walked off of Havana and blocked up of I eyi is not the country anymore it is a b busy part of our city that offers great schools and access to Transportation which is critical to families and individuals living with disabilities like the lady on my block who walks past every day with a Bronco coat and a backpack on her way to the bus stop and off to her job at king supers where she has been a cart collector for nine years and my favorite cart collector at that there are citizens who oppose medium density Zoning for this aort affordable housing projects not because they're bad people because they're just at a different point in getting excited about this important and well planned change in our city please don't let the universal certainties of Reason be repaced by individual emotional reaction thank you for your affirmative vote next we have Don black Don go ahead yes my name is Don black U my property a buts Mountain View Church property I bought my property and built my house based upon the R1 zoning I've been to a number of meetings in the neighborhood so I'm well aware that the neighborhood is adequately opposed as as a whole against this project U there are other housing areas near us that are multif family they're delineated and separate from our neighborhood this project would be right in the middle of our neighborhood uh which would change the character of the neighborhood I noted too that only one of the people voicing their support for this live in the neighborhood I I know that person and she's pretty much alone in her opinion like to say to it it's easy to be Noble with other people's lives and property so I would ask you to uh oppose and vote no on this resoning thank you next next we have Jerry LaVine Jerry go ahead yes I'm here are you there yes go ahead I just want to start by saying that um I am at 1081 East waren AV I own a little less than an acre that directly above the South perimeter of the church so I about half the property of what you're talking about of resoning um I just don't quite understand things I think that this has become a referendum on the quality of Habitat for Humanity uh the last one of these meetings we had on the phone was a couple weeks ago and and almost everybody that was in the neighborhood that spoke about it as well as myself have done work with Habitat for Humanity it is nothing against habitat I don't want to sit there and go okay because we directly abought these property that we against habitat I am not against habitat I'm just against the fact that they're saying okay we've got this so we have to make this work we have to make this square peg fit in the round hole if I want to own a Ferrari I don't go into a dealership and go well I can't afford it so you must make this affordable for me um I have no problem with them taking that property and habitat building 10 units or so that fit within the R1 zoning without having to change it why do you have to change rules to suit your needs is it any more less charitable to provide housing for that many people rather than twice as many um I don't have a problem with habitat I just have a problem with the rezoning I don't think it's fair I think it's kind of a bait and switch even though I've owned my property for 45 years I think it's kind of a bait and switch to people that have bought into this area that are going that had the Assumption it was going to be R1 zoning so once again I adamant oppose the uh zoning change and I hope that you retain it at R1 thank you next we have Annie Rim Annie go ahead hi my name is Annie rim and I live in Havana Heights with my husband and my two young daughters we have lived here for almost seven years and one of the reasons we moved to this neighborhood was um our desire to live in an area that was was diverse and what we found here was not only a racially diverse neighborhood but a generationally diverse neighborhood and a slightly economically diverse neighborhood um one of the things I love about raising my daughters here we go to Ponderosa Elementary and love the community there we walk to school every day we walk to Havana Heights Park often um and I I love that we meet people from all walks of life when we are walking around our neighborhood um one of the things I don't love about walking to Havana Heights Park is the lack of sidewalks and what feels like a lack of safety that um that not having access to um to a safe route to the park offers and I know that building houses with more children with more eyes on children would make me feel more comfortable letting my children go to the park as they grow older and are old enough to go on their own um so we are as a family are very much in support of the rezoning um because we want to raise our children in a place that truly loves their neighbors and gives people opportunities um from all different walks of life from all different economic backgrounds from from all different needs so thank you for your support and we look forward to welcoming many new neighbors into this community next we have Shelley Marquez Shelley go ahead good evening mayor cman and City Council Members my name is Shelley Marquez and I'm a fourth generation Colorado Native I've worked in volunteered in Aurora for over three decades I'm a former board member for habitat and through my employer we have provided support to Habitat to expand and build homes across the city of Aurora requesting your support to vote Yes for R2 zoning aligns with Aurora housing strategy and addresses a critical need for quality affordable housing I have seen firsthand the impact a habitat home has on a family and it is transformational to families families have stability they go on to graduate high school and then go on to college one of the social determinants of health is housing your vote um your yes vote today supports Equitable housing and the need need for affordable housing in Aurora we know that businesses cannot succeed financially if their customers and employees cannot find affordable housing we also know that affordable housing attracts business and Workforce and increases the tax Bas um affordable housing frees up Financial Resources for homeowners when a family is housing cost burn burden paying more than 30% of their income on housing costs they often can't afford basic Essentials such as Transportation costs um Food and Health Care spend expenses home ownership can reduce Workforce absentee by improving employees health the Studies have shown that homeowners achieve better physical and mental health outcomes than reg I just request today that you vote um yes to support our2 zoning and your support for affordable housing habitat has built strong vibrant communities for many years and the Mountain View development will be another great example of the city's committee commitment to affordable housing you know in addition to that this is a great example of collaborative efforts withad and Mountain View United Church to address affordable housing we know that we need to be Innovative as we're thinking about affordable housing so I hope that you consider and vote Yes to support R2 zoning today thank you next we have farana Morales farana go ahead thank you good evening mayor Kaufman and council members I ask you to vote Yes on reu zoning as members voted in you can help negate the fears of those who are opposed as you know better you know that Habitat Humanity is an organization that was based on doing Christ's work while I am not a Christian and Habitat for Humanity took me under their loving Embrace and provided me a means to purchase a home in togate Crossing Aurora I lived in uh the first Habitat for Humanity mixed community at togate Crossing had all these same fears I have so many mixed emotions right now listening to the people that don't want to welcome families like mine into their neighborhood I got my I purchased my home in 2006 and now in 20 21 all those fears were clearly unfounded if you asked the non-habitat homeowners I have been I was on the HOA board in that mixed Community for several years and I also participated in the Metro district meetings this home has changed my life in so many ways my children are thriving one just DED at CU Dena in the bioengineering program and one is in Cherokee Trail almost about to graduate my children would have not had the opportunity to attend First Rate schooling if Habitat Humanity had not allowed me to purchase that home and I had not worked very hard to receive that home I pay I pay a mortgage I pay HOA fee I maintain my yard I have I do upkeep on the house I'm like any other house house owner home owner this house also has my husband who is now honorably discharged who was part of the Colorado National Guard it allowed me to pursue a life and career I never thought I would I attended the University of Denver's women's college and graduated Magna Lai and also from CSU with a MERS in finance as a distinguished Coler I worked in the Ireland gas industry for the last 14 years and I know I was able to pursue a career and improve salaries because I had a stable place to call home I currently work as a ESG adviser that's the environmental social and government cant and I am a big performant of diverse communities by allowing this rezoning will'll allow diverse families like mine to grow and flourish with others we have 30 plus Habitat homes in toate Crossings full of families are thriving the children now grow up attend now growing up are attending amazing colleges and mothers like me are proud to own my home because it allowed our children to drive I end this by saying please vote Yes on r resoning because you are helping mothers families and children like mine flourish and become amazing Aurora residents your time is up thank you next we have Brenda rard Brenda go ahead yes good evening mayor cman and city council my name is Brenda Rivard and I live at 28 East South Jamaica court and I'm one of the J neighbors to the property being discussed for resoning I've lived in Aurora for over 50 years and a anah Heights for 27 our community doesn't oppose Habitat for Humanity all we want is a place to be proud to live in Aurora don't we all want that this R2 duplex housing will not provide the stable long-term homeownership that everyone wants for Aurora residents this will be no more than apartment living with homeowner respons responsibilities no one will want to stay here any longer than they have to the recipients are expected to pay property taxes on the land despite land ownership staying with the church people who take care and improve their property do so when it adds to their value these homeowners will forfeit the incentives since their Equity growth is restricted we still believe that some sort of HOA is necessary when you share walls and share driveways neither have Habitat for Humanity nor the church will commit to any long-term accountability adjacent neighbors to this property don't all live in mansions as had been portrayed before in previous discussions Habitat for Humanity says they only build modest homes of 1200 to 1500 square fet 10 affordable modest single family houses would certainly fit our community better than 20 attached homes crammed into a c sa with no place to store all their vehicles and outside stuff we know you've heard the same argument for and against this resoning over and over but we just want to remind you that the very middle income blue collar workers you say you want to help are the very same middle income Blue Collar current and future residents this project will hurt the type of housing is the problem not the people please do not wild this property to be resed I appreciate your time and thoughtful support thank you next we have Mark Allen Mark go ahead good evening my name is Mark Allen I have lived in Aurora for over 40 years I have lived in Havana HIDs for well over 30 years and I am strongly opposed to this resoning request I believe this Pro proposal will negatively alter the peace safety s security and Tranquility that all of us have worked so long for and yes in my case over 30 years habitat has reached out to their minions in order to stack the deck with grandiose colins supporting the proposal many people that do not actually live here and have absolutely no stake in the matter this neighborhood has provided written confirmation that there are well over 150 existing households who actually do live here and are vehemently opposed to this request personally I am only aware of a couple of neighbors that actually supports it and now we're about to enter snow season as others have mentioned there'll be a total of coverage something that many probably many of these same people who now rent probably do enjoy if you figure a couple of cars each that's over 30 cars how is that helping another me neighborhood uh neighbor mentioned 10 houses in a nearby culdesac if I'm not mistaken I believe that is with 10 residences with 10 garages no one disputes that everyone needs a a safe place to raise their family we are not against affordable housing as we have been so wrongly accused of we have provided numerous letters in opposition we have provided evidence of other habitat developments that came in with same reassurances of greatness but now are simple isource they aren't even proposing an HOA we've asked habitat how this would be addressed and they just dodged the question laws rules restrictions are made with and for the general benefit of the people that abide by them occasionally those rules are altered when there is significant reason to do so this is not one of those times we feel the applicant has not provided adequate reason for this change um I do believe that this is not mainly about providing affordable housing but as in so many other situations about the money that the main proponents will prosper from sadly these new residents will never totally own their property and I ask how is that helping I strongly ask that you do not approve the resoning request thank you next we have Charles Thomas Charles go ahead hello uh this is Charles Thomas and thank you for putting up with me again I appreciate the opportunity at your last meeting of being able to make a presentation on behalf of my fellow of our Heights residents uh one of the most positive things come out of this for us has been that we now know more of our neighbors we know how they feel I can say in talking to them and working to put together the presentation I made and the letters that we have written that I haven't run across anyone who is opposed to the housing need or in fact ad of are the church develop ing this we are opposed to the change in zoning there's been absolutely nothing that proves that this could not be an R1 Zone affordable housing development except that the drive by habitat in the church is to maximize quantity over long-term stability sustainability and a neighborhood that fits within our neighborhood that we can welcome and we would look forward to assisting our new neighbors and with that you have heard every argument it is very personal to all of us obviously it's personal to the people who are calling in who do not live here but for different reasons we live here we would like to see it stay our one and we will look forward to a future development that fits that criteria where we can welcome our neighbors assist them help them build their houses if that is possible with that I thank you and I wish you a good night and thank you for your stamina bye next we have Randy Wampler Randy you have three minutes yes good evening mayor cner and the council members um I live just north of this Mountain View church and and proposed development and I'm adamantly against uh the rezoning to R2 uh this is a very wellestablished neighborhood we I've my family has lived here for almost 20 years and we've got neighbors that have lived here 40 years plus and um a lot of senior citizens that walk along Evans and Juliet and um we just feel that this high higher density development would not be an addition but a detraction from the neighborhood and it would not solve um the school issues or You' have very minimal impact um to the issues that um the church and habitat are bringing up we do understand that those are very important issues but we feel that this could be done in an R1 setting that would be consistent with our neighborhood that we come to love and so as many others have said we would welcome lowincome housing in an R1 setting that is sustainable and a much better situation for the future owners as well as the existing residents in this neighborhood and I'm one of I believe over 170 families that have signed a petition to uh reject this rezoning and so I would like to ask uh mayor and council members to reject this rezoning thank you next is for Barbara Boyce Barbara go ahead you have three minutes thank you very much I just wanted to say and support the fact uh that we are requesting no change in the R1 Zone restrictions or zoning laws uh many many reasons and they've been touched on a lot tonight here in the last session we had as well but I think that I'd like to comment that a lot of the people that are calling in in favor of the zoning change are telling these stories that pull at your heartstrings and they're scripted as we all know we've heard it before the reading from from scripts and we're talking from our hearts this is something that is very near and dear to us that live here in Havana HIDs and we have see so many problems and some of them have been addressed you know we know that there's going to be parking issues we absolutely know that people will not Park tandem when the person in front is going to have to get out and get to work the first person so if there's going to be jocking all the time people will just park in the street it'll overflow to Joliet and Evans and yes when the snow comes and trucks are coming down the street what can happen to those cars they're going to be snowed in it's just that problem but plus with as I mentioned two weeks ago trash trucks are going to have a difficult time getting in and out and getting their trash if they can't what's going to happen to the trash we are going to be um in favor very much in favor of welcoming new neighbors that are ethnic diverse and lower income that's fine we don't have any objection to that at all as everybody has said and the 170 plus that have signed the petition against re the The Zone um requirements we just want it to be right and there's just too many problems there's when people are parking on the streets there's congestion there's safety issues there's traffic flow problems and all of these have to be addressed before we can feel good about welcoming new neighbors and I don't see how R2 is going to accommodate the need for low-income housing in this neighborhood we would like to keep it at half that number so 10 homes Five duplexes something like that it would much be much better use of the land and accommodate things there's also water runoff issues and drainage and flooding of the houses south of the property and it's just so many problems um you know there's a lot of people that walk dogs and walk in the neighborhood and your time is up children thank you very much I appreciate a no vote next we have David moramoto David you have three minutes good evening mayor and council members I sure hope that I am one of the last callers in uh you've heard from everybody else um I live at 2060 South Jamaica court with my wife Kathy we've been residents here for over 20 years and we oppose the rezoning from R1 to R2 as well I I want to say that the one thing that we don't get a chance to do as a neighborhood is be able to come in to meet with you personally in city council chambers but we did do that at one point when both the church and habitat had uh asked for Community input into this and this was two years ago but I have to say the numbers of people are now documented by the by the petitions by the letters by the emails that we have all sent in this has really United the majority of residents here in Havana Heights and we urge you to listen to our voices please do not approve R1 for uh R sorry an R2 Redevelopment for our R1 neighborhood the safety welfare and health of not only the current residents but the next uh residents in that development when you stuff two and a half to three times the number of people into an area that that should be R1 zoned is not good for anybody the traffic we've talked about traffic we've talked about parking we've talked about lots of things but the quality of life will drop and I'm concerned about that for both the future neighbors as well as the neighbors who are in the existing area thank you for the courage to vote no on this issue good night next Father Michael Father Michael your time starts now thank you uh good evening mayor Kaufman and esteemed council members my name is Father Michael nicasia a member of the board of directors of the Colorado Council of churches as we going our organization's public policy statement on affordable housing and housing Justice supported by our 12 denominations and over 800 churches across Colorado States in a just world all people would have decent affordable and safe housing the members of the church Council recognize the serious shortage of affordable housing throughout the state not only for very lowi income and homeless people but for the people people who work in the public and private service sectors I testified at your first Hearing in support of the Mountain View United Church housing project tonight I wish to address the need for the R2 zoning which will move this project forward and provide affordable housing to more of Aurora citizens as a homeowner near the intersection of e and Buckley I know full well the burdens created by population growth and increased Housing Development surrounded by fening our modest Suburban lot has a sense of country living complete with garden and a few backyard chickens we are truly fortunate but for the sounds of traffic that invade our peace over the years our neighborhood has become increasingly congested with commuters from new developments to the east and south our frustrations are compounded by an increase in noisy mufflers and nightly drag racing that another citizen commented on tonight we love our home but the thought of getting away from it all comes up from time to time so I really can resonate with other homeowners who may insist not in my neighborhood I repeat others if not here where if we're really going to live up to our commitments to affordable housing many more neighborhoods should be rezoned I still hold on to the hope that we can Embrace sacrifices made for the common good it is not however a burden these neighbors should bear without your assistance so I call your attention to the need for city regulations that can mitigate the impact of higher density populations like reduced speed limits enforcement of State statutes and city ordinances regulating unnecessary noise the expansion of public transportation accessibility the preservation of parks and open spaces and other measures that can make Aurora more livable I and my colleagues of the Colorado Council of churches respectfully request your affirmative vote on the resoning application of the Mountain View Ned Church while challenging you to ensure the welfare of all of our citizens thank you next we have Katherine good L Catherine go ahead uh hello my name um good evening uh councilman and mayor my name is Katherine good my husband and I live at 2055 South Iowa court I'm calling in because I I oppose um changing the zoning from zoning one to zoning two I have lived in this area for 47 years when we first moved in my husband and I Evans was a dirt road we have worked and supported the school systems and supported different things we have seen changes within this community we've had liquor stores to come in and go we've had different placements we take this seriously my husband a disabled V worked hard to get our house and to live in this house now that we are in our age of retirement I don't think that we should have to be uprooted I think that and I really firmly believe that this should continue to be a Zone in one and the zoning zoning two should be able to fit their project within zoning one and I'm going to I'm going to go with my clothes and saying well I've always been taught everything Glitters Is Not Gold thank you have a pleasant evening Carol Ram Carol goad ahead good evening mayor Kaufman and council members my name is Carol Bram and a resident for 24 years the need for affordable housing is a significant reason to vote Yes on R2 I want the council to be aware that negative precedent setting for future affordable homes will happen by not passing R2 I challenge the council to be courageous and to act to implement the Aurora City plan to have 15 to 20% of new home constructions be affordable and pass the R2 proposal thank you all for your time and effort and considering this proposal please vote Yes next we have Marsha Marsha Hall go ahead hi my good evening to Mayor Coffman and the city council members my name is Maria Hall yes I'm reading from the script that I wrote okay I'm a retired World public school teacher I'm asking that the council members support the mountain viw Unity home zoning map amendment in my 30 plus years of teaching it was easy to see the effect stable housing has on children and their education students are able to stay in the same home have a much easier time focusing on school better not have to worry about when the family might need to move because of an increase in the rent price moving can cause gaps in learning because of different curriculum in school districts and a different pace of learning if a student happens to have a learning disability it's hard to get an individual learning plan when the student moves before A needs assessment can be completed moving often can also disrupt Social Development each move requires a new group of friends and that can be hard to do if a St a child moves often enough they may decide it's just not worth the time to make a new group of friends and they may not be there very long that can lead to social isolation and depression not a good thing for anyone especially children several people have already mentioned how this project will help the city achieve its 2020 housing strategy plan it's been noted that stable housing affects Health both mental and physical health it has been mentioned that um this this location is close to two major arteries and so public transportation will be available and not everyone will need to drive their car all the time so please vote in favor of the change in R2 the R2 zoning thank you for your time next we have Arie Schultz Arie go ahead mayor Kaufman and members of the city council my name is Anie Schultz and I live in the village East neighborhood which is only a block away from The Havana Heights neighborhood to our South and I'm asking you to approve this reone at the first reading of this agenda item the mayor recused himself from this item based on his comments he had made in his f Facebook post regarding this resume I assume since he did this at the first hearing on this item he will recuse himself again this evening not to do so would constitute a breach of Ethics I will remind the council that staff is recommending approval of the reson based on code and the Planning and Zoning commission voted 6 to one to approve this rezone because the proposal complies with the criteria of section 1465 4.1 C3 not in my backyard is not one of the criteria and I haven't heard any of those opposed refer to the criteria there's been a lot of talk by City Council Members advocates for the unhoused in affordable housing and in the media about the desperate need for affordable housing in Aurora about a third of Aurora households are housing cost burdened meaning they are One Financial emergency away from housing instability according to recent census data Aurora is the 12th most housing cost burdened city in the country with 40% of all households in aora being housing cost burdened the city has recognized this home ownership Gap in their PL housing plans the city's comprehensive plan and housing plans specifically call out the need to create more for sale housing affordable to our City's Workforce earning under $80,000 a year the city of Aurora's 2020 housing plan prioritizes home ownership as a solution setting a goal of 15 to 20% of all new ownership units to be affordable to families making less than 80% of medium income the city is of Aurora's comprehensive plan and housing strategy sets forth goals to provide housing units that are created to have two or more bedrooms child-friendly amenities to provide opportunities for families with children this plan meets the housing goals identified by the city the project aligns with Aurora Udo calling for more diversity of housing types and layouts and residential and mixed use districts is for these reasons and more that I ask you to vote in favor of the in favor the this development application to build R1 housing is more expensive than these people could afford thank you next we have Mia wheeler Mia go ahead good evening Council and mayor Coffman my name is Maya wheeler I am the executive director of the African Chamber of Commerce Colorado and a 28-year resident of Aurora the mission of the chamber is to encourage economic growth C collaboration and investment in African immigrant communities of Colorado I am here tonight to ask the council to support our2 Zoning for Mountain View Community homes in the city of Aurora immigrant integration plan for the time period 2020 to 2030 the Strategic plan sets the groundwork for how the city of Aurora will be an international business and cultural destination a welcoming Melting Pot of people and experiences and a city of opportunity for residents of all backgrounds if these statements are true and the vision of the city of Aurora I ask that you give an affirmative vote for R2 Zoning for Mountain View Community homes in the 10year Immigrant integration plan the office of international immigrant Affairs conducted focus groups to get community feedback the city heard repeatedly from Aurora community members and stakeholders that affordable housing was an issue of concern based on this feedback the office of international and immigrant Affairs committed to support government and private sector programs and policies to construct and preserve affordable housing to prevent displacement with a focus on immigrant neighborhoods the goal in the integration plan for housing and Home Ownership was to make sure the needs of immigrants and refugees were included in policies and initiatives concerning housing affordability in Aurora the median sale price of a home in Aurora has increased more than 140% in the last 10 years overall monthly housing costs however have risen more steeply for renters compared to the owners there is a large disparity in home ownership between Aurora native born households 6 52.2% of which are owner occupied versus foreign born households 47.5% owner occupied more than half 52.5% of foreign board households are renting and nearly 61% of those household are cost bur meaning they are than 30% of their household income on housing costs as noted in Aurora places moving more residents into Home Ownership can play a key role in stabilizing the community while mortgages remain relatively stable over time rents can be increased year after year with the result being that families move more frequently to find more affordable rents in the rora housing strategic plan the city commits to supporting new and Innovative Innovative approaches to planning financing and building houses that meets the needs of the community also the plan identifies potential amendments to the United development ordinance to encourage the production of afford able housing therefore I conclude with asking city council for an affirmative vote for R2 Zoning for Mountain View Community homes in support of the United development ordinance which ensures that all development in the city is consistent with the spirit and intent of any other plans and policies adopted by city council which would include the Immigrant integration plan and the City of Aurora's strategic plan thank you the city of Aurora's housing strategic plan thank you please vote next we have Cara Martinez Cara go ahead C me mayor Pro and City Council Members I'd like to express my support for Mountain View Community home I consider myself an informed citizen who believes in the transform transformative possibilities of affordable housing my husband and I have been homeowners in Ward 4 for more than a decade we to live in the village East neighborhood to the east of Havana Heights on the same side of juel in a rare opportunity that affordable housing gets built too often is relegated to low-income neighborhoods where the intended benefits of stability safety and upward Mobil Mobility remain elusive or unattainable for the residents the residents of affordable housing are projected to thrive in neighborhoods like Havana Heights where Working Families will have access to award-winning Cherry Creek Schools an Economic Opportunity along the buckling Havana Corridor if they are teachers city workers or First Responders the new homeowners will experience the benefits of living in the neighborhood where they serve the due the 20120 Aurora housing strategy that the city council approved just over a year ago demonstrates that Aurora City Council Members support affordable housing in theory and I'd like to reiterate several points here they've already been touched on but I'll ask you to consider them in the context of this specific project the policy recommendations you adopted included fostering a balanced and sustainable housing portfolio in Aurora to meet different preferences and incomes expanding mixed income housing projects and neighborhoods offering a diversity of housing types and prices and strengthening the city's capacity to address housing issues two of your stated major strategy recommendations were to Pilot Innovative Innovative housing projects for homeowners and address the unified development ordinance to encourage a greater flexibility in affordable housing development these are worthy goals align with the vision of this wonderfully diversity that so many of us believe in but they are just words until they are realized through action Mountain View Community homes is a carefully designed and Innovative opportunity for Aurora City Council Members to prove that you support affordable housing in reality I'd like to thank you for your time and I'd ask for you to vote to approve the R2 zoning which will pave the way for the realization of this project thank you and good night next we have Ron Hol Ron go ahead yes mayor uh mayor Kaufman and and city council I'd like to thank you for your time and I can't believe that you are still uh staying alert and be able to listen to all that stuff I just have a few comments to make and I would like to uh hope you would consider some of them first for all these people have talked I would like to say if you really wanted to get a feel for the neighborhood then all these responses should have been limited to people who live in the havanah Heights neighborhood I want to say right now we live here we're within a block of this new development proposed development we've been here 27 years I'm a veteran and we are opposed to going R2 if you wanted to get a f for the neighborhood only people that live in Havana Heights should been able to call in right now you and I'm not giving you a scripted response which I know many many of the other ones have whether they did it them themselves or were given the scripted reponse response I do not know and then one lady just called in not too long ago lives in togate which is obviously not even close to us and she lives in a habitat humidity Community but they have an HOA and the biggest issue I have with ours is there's no HOA what's going to restrict these people from just letting their property go you know having trash everywhere uh it just I'm just beside the point because they there's no restrictions to put them in a spot where they have to maintain it if you had an HOA at least you'd have been trying to take care of the community and I I have one request Charles Thomas talked earlier but he sent you a letter and I would request before you vote on this project resoning please read his letter he brings up some very very valid and important points and also uh gives you an example of a current one-year-old duplex habitat development on East 47th in Coline Street and shows you pictures of it and how this development could end up it's not not really a pretty sight so if you could just read that letter that Mr Thomas sent before you vote I would appreciate it I won't take any more more of your time thank you and I hope you can get through the rest of the evening next is Donna Palmer Donna you have three minutes yes uh good evening all I live next to hav Heights Park I've been here since 1994 and I support wholeheartedly approval of R2 zoning from out viw Community homes development having a stable home and a good environment such as Savannah Heights goes a long way to Foster the mental health and well-being of children children who can stay in the same home in a good neighborhood throughout their school year just do better and that's best brought about by Home Ownership we should not allow exclusionary zoning to keep young families away from all that this area offers there's safe parks for kids good schools already established and importantly proximity to good jobs a place where families can grow for generations to come neighborhoods canot be sustained if there are not young children moving into them that's a fact of life uh these homes will address Aurora's affordable housing shortfall in a meaningful way adhering to the values that Council has already addressed in the housing strategy report and there's no cost to the city or taxpayers to reap these benefits council members I urge you to show that you still uphold the values addressed in the housing study of last year and V to approve our two zoning let's get this 2020 housing strategy in motion thank you next is Melanie Kenner melan you have three minutes yes can you hear me yes go ahead thank you uh good evening council members uh my name is Melanie Kesner I'm the public policy director at the interface Alliance of Colorado um I work on a lot of affordable housing policies for uh the state of Colorado um and I'm calling tonight in support of this housing uh in this in support of the request for R2 zoning um and approval of the proposed site at the Mountain View United Church um The interf Alliance of Colorado serves over 400 partnering Faith communities across the state and we've been continually inspired by the ways that Faith communities are creatively using their open land and space um to create affordable housing developments um and this is one of the projects that we were really proud to take part in and participate in um bner Faith Alliance of Colorado is an organization that's deeply committed to E economic Justice and we're deeply involved in helping communities of Faith all over Colorado um and um we have worked with Mountain View United Church over three years ago um we were um honored to witness a community centered thoughtfully engaged grounded um project that was centered around process and feedback and vision um and we know that because we were there from the beginning from the stages of brainstorming on how to effectively use this land to address the growing housing crisis in Aurora um in the recently published 2020 housing strategy report Aurora identifies affordable housing for Working Families as a priority and the second Focus that's prioritized includes the benefits prioritizing the benefits of affordable housing to the neighborhood the city and future homeowners so the need for affordable housing has existed long before the pandemic but we know that the pandemic has really highlighted um the immense needs for safe and affordable housing if we don't take action now the problem will only worsen forward-thinking communities like Aurora that address this concern on the front end with Creative Solutions will save money and lives in the future increasing housing for community members in need will increase Public Safety and Community well-being to each of you on the Aurora city council the Interfaith Alliance of Colorado is grateful to you for your service to the Aurora Community and we urge you to vote Yes in support of this resoning request so many of the people on this call stated that they understand the importance of increasing affordable housing but just not on this project so I ask if not now when and if not this neighborhood then where um I also do want to mention that I am a homeowner um my home is currently not in a homeowners association um and I'm still able to take care of my house and make it look presentable so a homeowners association is not really a needed mechanism um for that degree um so please please please um vote Yes on this and let's put our neighbors and our communities first and thank you all for your time this evening next we have Jesse Frank Jesse you have three minutes go ahead good evening hello thank you uh mayor Kaufman and City members I appreciate you're taking the time tonight for letting us to speak my name is Jesse Frank I live at 10811 eastborn Avenue my property buts the the church property I'm moved here 10 years ago I have two young daughters and like everyone on this call I support affordable housing but I think what I'm hearing and what other callers are calling in saying that if we can't have Z R2 zoning you can't have affordable housing and I don't believe that to be true one bit keep it R1 zoning and you'll see that Habitat Humanity will be able to provide a blueprint and engineer homes they will fit 10 beautiful homes on a culta saac will fit in with the R1 zoning that's already here you'll be able to fulfill your mission of giving affordable housing to Aurora be able to keep your promise of our one zoning to our community and it's a win-win for everyone but don't be fooled when they say they can't do it they can do it it's what they do and that's a great thing that they're able to do it but they can put affordable housing on that property and keep it R1 zoning thank you that's all that I have and that concludes this evening's public comment for agenda item 16a the um the time is now 9:27 uh i' like the the council will stand in recess until 937 council is now in recess [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] now the regular meeting of the award city council was now back in session um I need a motion on 16a mayor council member mcconell thank you sir move to approve 16a move by council member mcconell second by second second I council member C to approve item number 16a discussion mayor council member Mell thank you sir um so I'm going to do my best to stay within the guidelines that City attorney money um laid out here so I'm just going to reference the things that we talked about at our previous meeting um which I think some of the things kind of came up in some of the public comment that we heard tonight uh so I do just want to stress again uh that crime is not associated with affordable housing um crime is common in areas of destitution and what this kind of approach to affordable housing does is it's a mixed income area uh this will actually help stabilize and improve the lives of the residents who will be moving in to this kind of development uh and also enrich the community around it um having this kind of housing uh in Ward 4 I feel is um lifechanging for uh the folks who would be uh neighbors and new residents here um and if we had this kind of housing available um when I was growing up if my family had this kind of stability early uh earlier than they did um I think that it would have been um well let's just say uh things would have been different in a much more positive fashion um and I did want to talk about the land lease again um since this has come up now in both uh meetings um a 99e land lease is not going to charge the future residents it's basically the church saying hey habitat you can use this land for 99 years or whatever cost uh they can you know legally get away with I guess it's probably going to be exceptionally low um and the folks who purchase the homes are still going to build equity in the actual Sticks and Bricks um so it is a limited Equity Arrangement as some folks pointed out um but they do still will earn Equity off of their investment it does set them up with a nest that they can you know either reinvest into their home or they can actually use that as a down payment in a future home uh if they choose to move on this is actually a pretty typical um model for Habitat if I'm not mistaken so I just wanted to throw that out there um yeah and I also look forward to everyone's uh yes votes on this and I also look forward to us getting together to actually help build these houses after we approve this thank you further discussion mayor I have a question uh council member gter um and I guess it would be for staff um so at the the public hearing um I guess it would have been last week or two weeks ago they talked about there was six criteria for approving a zoning change that's in the code can can you kind of talk about that again yes sir Dan you're gonna get that um I can um council member Gardner would you like me to discuss that or staff to discuss that it doesn't matter whoever wants to answer it okay so I'm gonna share a screen and if you wanna if you want staff to go back over what they laid out in their presentation as far as um as a reminder um you can do that they can tell you why they think it does or does not meet the criteria but the criteria um I'm going to share my screen and I don't know if you're able to see this screen are you able to see a a Word document no talks about zoning change not yet we have it now okay so as you can see and if if this is still I'm going to make it bigger but the zoning map is required because a change condition or circumstance to the property the surrounding areas so that would mean you know you would have to determine that there was a change in the city of Aurora this area um would accommodate that change um the the applicant has demonstrated the proposed initial zoning or rezones consistent with The Spar and intent of the comprehensive plan and with other policies and plans adopted by city council with the purpose statement of the the new the proposed statement of the uh new zoning districts the applicant has demonstrated the size scale height density multi modal traffic impacts of the proposed initial zoning or rezoning are compatible with the surrounding development can be made can be made compatible with the surrounding development through approval conditions and the application uh demonstrates the zoning change of zoning will not create significant dislocation of tenants or occupants of the property now those are the the criteria you're looking at and that you're using if you're um if your purpose was to ask staff um as a refresher reminder of what was stated in that public hearing um of why they either thought it didn't meet the criteria did not meet the criteria then you can go ahead and uh ask Mr SOA that question all right thank you I appreciate that mayor Dave grber if I could ask ack question so just to verify that Dan you took it down but it has to meet all three that's an and statement so it has to meet you know the initial uh and then and all three of those correct correct th those are all three and basically it does it uh is it consistent with Spar intent in the comprensive plan the other policies um doesn't meet the uh ability to go in that area and then when it says that with infrastructure it means is it going to create some sort of difference in roads infrastructure water sewer all that that would not be compatible with the surrounding area and then that last part of course is that dislocation right now it's a vacant lot so um that may be an easy one for you as far as the dislocation one but the A and B are the ones that you have to find further discussion bin I have a question uh C BS thank you uh in one of them I I think it was C you said it said tenants or occupants so the person that buys this does not have to live there can rent it out right now that is uh that's not something here for the rezone that is I guess would be a question to the applicant on the the site plan and I guess that question um if I understand it correctly is if someone who buys the Habitat Humanity house um can end up being a landlord or tenant that I do not know um the model of the uh Habitat Humanity um but that would not be in the purview of the rezone criteria it just that's that's why I was thinking because it said that this has been to if you remember the fits on 14th uh project years ago in where a Condo building was going to uh be taken down and and made into a luxury apartments or luxury condos and there would have been displacement for that this came after um that project okay thank you brother discussion mayor mayor just a question on the um criteria on compatible with the surrounding area isn't that pretty subjective well there's there's two ways to look at compatibility um compatibility obviously is is somewhat subjective because you're the FactFinder and you're you're deciding that uh compatibility in front of a If This Were to be taken to a court how a judge normally looks compatibility in the case law is whether or not the product or the rezone is compatible with the neighborhood uh meaning is it a gas station in the middle of residential and they have found that a gas station is not compatible with uh with residential however they have found pretty consistently that um if you choose it to be compatible that the R1 and R2 are compatible enough so but we're still changing the density so I mean that could could be argued that that isn't compatible with the surrounding neighborhood and that's for for you to decide and so that's as a council um when I say that case law is decided is compatible the cases that are out there and they call it spot zoning somebody states that um after Council has approved higher density um in an R1 then uh it is challenged by The Neighborhood the neighborhood says it's not or the neighborhood says it's not compatible the court backs the council um saying it it can be compatible now it doesn't mean that if you found it not to be compatible that the court would come back and and find that the Council made a wrong decision the council's going to look to see if the or the court is going to look to see if the council use the criteria based on their codes and the public hearing criteria uh testimony to decide their their final outcome right but so in I mean again it's subjective we're looking at the comp compatibility of the surrounding area and then considering obviously these neighbors comments that are you know that bought within an R1 zoning with that expectation correct and and you're right it is uh it is in a sense subjective in the sense that different fact finders can find different you know different outcomes as far as compatibility in this sense thank you further discussion mayor uh counes um yeah can we get a little bit of clarification on that from the planning staff so from Mr Ooba on what from the perspective of staff and the Planning and Zoning commission were the reasons for determining that there was compatibility um between the current zoning and the proposed zoning and read from that the staff report um about that specific criteria so uh staff report indicated that the applicant has demonstrated that the proposed size scale height density and multimodal traffic impacts of this proposal are compatible with the surrounding development by providing a site plan was approved previously uh and traffic analysis illustrating duplex dwelling units in the same size scale height and multimodal traffic impacts of the surrounding development the proposed uh density is greater than the surrounding development but the application is compatible with the surrounding development because it provides similar building setbacks scale height massing and building design mayor um and then with respect to the traffic impacts that folks had expressed concern about um can you just address um how staff determine that those are compatible as well y so I'm not a traffic engineer but Traffic Engineers from the city uh reviewed the traffic impact study that was submitted by the applicant and deemed that it met all of City standards for um a traffic impact study and approved that traffic impact study prior to the Planning and Zoning commission uh public hearing further discussion mayor d grber c gr so I've heard that but I've also heard that we have what about 170 well I know we have um a number of letters all of us received a major a large packet in manila envelope of letters from the residents disagreeing with the with the staff view of that so I think we're we're back in the opinion you know where where the staff might say one thing but the the people on the ground the people that are looking at it every day are coming up with a with a different opinion and that's where the subjective part comes in because we own Council now have to make a decision based on both what the staff has said what our legal adviser have said but I think most importantly what the What the residents say what the people the constituents in that in that neighborhood are saying so I think that we need to keep all of that in mind mayor CS um yeah so I think you know I would like to respect expertise coming from folks that are Traffic Engineers and reviewing traffic patterns um especially when the potential impacts are speculative um and so of course the neighborhood people in the neighborhood have concerns um they have opinions and we appreciate them taking the time to share with us but I don't think we should simply dismiss expertise based on preferences um especially knowing that change occurs change has occurred in that neighborhood much of the testimony last week we um attested to change that has already occurred in that neighborhood and I think we've all experienced change um in our own neighborhoods and in other parts of the city and we've approved rezones in other parts of the city in acknowledgement of change that does occur further discussion um mayor yeah I have to comment on that yes absolutely abolutely change occurs but we have people in Aurora that have lived here for 40 50 60 years and I think we need to respect them and what they've done for the city they've worked for the city they've paid their taxes they raised their family they've gone to church and to just say well change occurs so screw them you know we're just going to change no you can't do that you have to respect the people that have been here here um that's one comment but but I want to move off that um one lady said that the the uh traffic study did not study cars going in and out of the culdesac and the trash truck going in and out and I I do have some places in w three that that's a problem and it can really lead to major problems in and bad weather and snow and um and I don't want to dispute with the lady said um but is that does anyone know is that in the traffic study is she correct when she said that or she did say that the traffic study was just going in and out of the neighborhood not actually in and out of the cesac does anybody from staff know that or have you read the traffic study from my perspective I do not know that um I don't know the finer details of the traffic study or the scope that was necessarily involved as it's not something that I is not a plan or a traffic engineer review and I don't think we have any Traffic Engineers on on the call tonight okay because I know I've been in those neighborhoods and I've walked it I've stood next to the trash cans and trucks can't get down there and trash builds up and it is a it is a disaster so that's not something that's really on the top of our minds but if somebody points it out how would you like it if your trash couldn't be picked up for two or three four weeks not a good thing further discussion mayor CS I just want to be very clear that I did not say scw anybody and I would not say that and that's not what I'm saying what I am saying is that the purpose of rezoning is acknowledging change that has happened and that can continue to happen and trying trying to make sure we do that in a thoughtful way um and that's why we have all of the analysis that we have going into these types of projects is that we are looking at how can change happen that's consistent with the goals of the city and the well-being of everyone further discussion um based on the advice of uh the city attorney's office I I will recuse myself from this vote um uh with no further discussion with the please call the role mayor mayor vote down yeah I'm sorry um you know this is a really tough one because of course we heard all the wonderful things that Habitat for Humanity does um and and although we are talking about this rezoning I had problems with the site plan and obviously you know this is going if if we approve the the zoning to more density we're approving the site plan that I think is a problem um that I think could be solved um but right now it's we're not even having the opportunity to look at what could be done within the R1 so it's it's just um for me it's it's incompatible with the site plan further discussions uh see none the question before us is the adoption of item number 16a with a thir please call the role council member bersin no council member Gardner yes council member kums yes council member Maro yes coun mayor proin Bergen no council member Mario yes council member HZ yes council member guber no and council member Lawson yes the motion passes with six votes for ordinance 2021 59 mayor can I say something uh council member thank you I'm just I'm just want to say I'm sorry we didn't hear anything new tonight you know we went through the same thing we went through last Monday night and didn't didn't hear anything new and I won't be here much longer but I would like this Council to think about um when this happens again um to to try to get the people that live in that area to speak um and hopefully bring in new information because this was a total threeh hour repeat of last Monday night with no new information I loveed hearing everybody but you know for for them it was tough and for us it was tough so I just I just think some changes need to happen when we have public invited to be heard on two consecutive evenings and the same people call in with the same thing I I think we can spend our time much better than that thank you okay um uh item number uh 19a determination of final mayor Dave gr council member grber I'd like to address item 18 oh okay very well uh council member grber okay we sit in violation of the city Charter uh few weeks ago we debated many hours and had many votes trying to determine the will of the people in ward two uh during the course of that uh there were many speeches on both sides saying why why the uh the area was going one side as opposed to another as we stand now um we have one candidate well first off going back to council member Johnston when she was elected she won with 3200 votes uh currently the person that that's trying to get her seat uh from her party is at 3,700 votes but uh Steve sunberg is at 4,900 votes almost 5,000 votes that's a 30% uh over what we have now now even though these are the votes that are going to be certified on Wednesday what we needed at that time many weeks ago was some sense of the community in determining whether the community was turning left or right we conclusively have that information now we conclusively know that that um Steve Johnson um Steve sunberg uh is over 1100 votes Beyond his closest competitor so given the fact that we know where the W two stands where W two is going we are in violation of the charter and the only way that we can remove that violation is to fill that seat and now we have definitive information on how that seat should be filled so I move to appoint Steve sunberg as the W two council member move by council member grber second by B second by council member bins uh to appoint uh Steve sunberg uh to fill the the balance of the what vacancy uh left by um former council member Nicole Johnson uh discussion mayor uh M I have a question uh so this appointment is basically to put us in compliance with the charter is that what I mean is that what we're doing here yes uh council member grber um when can uh swearing into if if in fact the council votes in the affirmative when can a swearing in take place let me ask the the City attorney uh I believe that the the oath can be taken in front of the city clerk so it could happen as early as tomorrow and then that se would be filled um as as of tomorrow and then sorry can I have the uh City attorney plan on that and that's there is there isn't no requirement that for a formal vote before Council that's ceremonial in nature so all that's required is an oath uh get and the city clerk can do that as soon as soon as as possible but City attorney takes an affirmative vote tonight correct abely on the group on the group of motion and that that would be six votes and I would assume I would have a vote on that this is a motion so you may vote on motions very well further discussion may this is Council council member lawon okay so I I mean my question is to Katie we we haven't really gotten all of the votes I understand Mr sunberg is ahead but all of these votes are still to be counted I guess I'm just you know the military and the overseas voters and some ballots that have to be cured if I was one of these voters and we did something like this because I associate a v a vote with a voice a person um I this doesn't seem right to me it doesn't feel right to do this and I'm struggling with this period that we're not even here to Wednesday we don't know I mean I understand he's a head but it just doesn't seem right and I I I just have trouble with the legality of this because he's ahead we can we would do something like this um so I for the City attorney you're saying that to do this we could do this even with the with the election not being certified with not even making sure that we have all the votes counted I I want to be clear this is filling the vacancy so this is only until December 6 there is one council meeting in between this is you're not selecting this person to be the council member for the next four years you are only doing it to fill the vacancy oh so mayor mayor okay so we're only doing this to fill the vacancy which then will put us back in compliance with the charter because we were out of compliance um I do want to add that I did check with um the uh on with the city clerk or Clerk and Recorder um prior the prior City Clerk and Recorder absentee ballots are counted actually first before any other ballots come in so those would be counted council member Pro B there are UCA voters and overseas voters and sometimes their voters I mean there's a culation with that as well no I understand um I just I checked with um the former Clerk and Recorder Matt Crane and he said that absentee votes are counted first before even any of our for example if you voted by mail ahead of time those are counted even before is what that what I was told mayor can I clarify that there is still the acceptance of theava votes this is what council member Lawson was trying to point out up until midnight on Wednesday like that's how many how much more time those votes have to come in and then be counted and that's also the amount of time that there is for folks to cure ballots that may have had a signature discrepancy or other issues so even though the ones that have already arrived and been accepted or counted there's more that may be counted I think is the point and the election is not certified um what I would also add is just there was no sense of urgency for five months to fill this vac cancy so doing it for one meeting is very performative um and if folks feel they need to do what they can but it does not solve the fact that we have violated the law every day um since we became in violation so it it's okay but it's uh it's very performative and ignores everything that's come before F counc so to respond to that the what we needed when we had our debates was some sort of facts on the ground we needed some information from the people who lived in the W as to which direction they were going so what I'm asking for is not the the official vote because the official vote is going to determine who's going to be in that seat on December 6 beyond that what I'm asking for right now is for us to use the data that we have have obtain in the same way that we would use a survey to determine what the people in that in the the citizens in that Ward actually wanted we now know definitively who they wanted and if we had had this m this information back when we had the debate we would have made the decision back when we had the debate because now we do have the information and we are in violation of the charter I believe it's our duty to put somebody in that seat because we have the definitive information further discussion mayor uh Council Maria yeah council member when you say we let me just be clear that you don't speak on my behalf so I just want to be clear that um my decision making is not dependent on whatever statement you say was the the matter of fact at the time unfortunately so I just need to be clear um there um I I I agree it's incredibly performative we had no sense of urgency until now just to you know pretend like we're this is in good faith to bring this up at this time it's not clearly it's clear that you want to show and share kind of the results of War II just like you were campaigning on behalf of this person when we were trying to fill this appointment earlier um I don't want to get too in the details to me that's not the the outcome isn't necessarily the the end all Beall um in terms of this appointment we know that there was over a million dollars spent in these elections that influenced the outcome so if we wanted to go there about what the will and what influenced an election or an outcome um we could go there but I don't agree with with the premise of bringing this up and I don't think it is um in good faith either further discussion mayor D again counc okay if we're going to Let's I'll modify my my motion to say that once these um once the ballots are verified on the 10th if Steve sunberg is still on top certainly by a thousand votes that Steve sunberg becomes the ward two council member and the next day Steve would be sworn in and could become a council member at that time that way we know definitively that he has in fact won and then with that information even even though this again we're talking about the last term uh council member Johnson's term and not the current or the next term but then we would definitively know that Steve sunberg Won um won the next election which entitles him to take that seat immediately so the modification that we modify um will the motion is is that following the um submission of the ballots on uh November 10th um you know if Steve sunberg is still the winner then Steve sunberg completes council member Johnson's term starting the next day when he gets sworn in is who seconded the grber motion person uh counc council member BOS you second the the revised motion sure yeah I actually I think that's the right thing to do because we will definitely know mayor please proceed oh I'm sorry um so counc member gber you had a conversation with Steve sunberg about this I told him today that I was going to try to bring this up okay I just he won the election and I I think back to when I ran and I just it was really important to me to come into my as myself um and not as someone who maybe was not able to make those decisions for myself and I just question what kind of an impact this political Ploy is going to have on his credibility coming in as an elected council member because he was because you said that you told him you were going to do this so I'm just not sure um how I guess that's a lot different than than having a conversation and and him coming to you and asking for this and I think that he deserves to come into this Council um with his credibility intact for running a campaign that led to him winning and I think this undermines that appointing someone after months of not having anyone um before the votes are even certified it just it I I don't know I think it undermines a lot of the work that he put into his race and it's going to tarnish his ability to come in and have his own credibility as as running for himself and so I think that's unfortunate for him that that's going to be um potentially how he comes into this Council which I think he deserves better forther discussion uh Council so I strongly disagree with that with that um portrayal of Steve sunberg the reason I told him that I was going to do this was because I am in violation of the charter I took an oath to the Charter I need a way to get to fix that this has been something that we talked about as Council repeatedly that we will not violate the charter and we are in fact violating the charter and this is a solution to move us out of that and move us into a position where we are going to fix the charter because we were going to replace uh council member Johnson was someone we know that her Ward wants to have replac her with further discussion mayor uh Council Hills I'm not sure what characterization you disagree with because I said that he he ran his race and he got his votes and he won the election um I didn't disparage anything about him I think that this move is a political Ploy that will undermine the work that he did during his race by setting himself up as an individual who ran to represent word to and I think that this move by you could tarnish and undermine him um without doing his own and I think that's unfortunate for him because I think he did run his race and he did win um with those votes and it's just unfortunate that he won't be able to um come in with with that you know solid reputation that had coming in um because it's going to be the result of a political sentence instead and I just think that's not fair for him for the work that he's put in but that's just a personal difference of opinions um but I'm not trying to disparage him I I think he he put in a lot of work and he won um so further discussion I see none uh the question before is the adoption of the grber motion uh to appoint uh Steve sunberg to fill the vacancy um left by former um council member Nicole Johnson and if that on the 10th of November am I correct in that uh Council grber I think I um didn't restate didn't State once the ballots are certified on the 10th of December I think that might be midnight but once they are certified on the 10th of November once they are certified is that really date certain on the 10th of December or did you just say once they're certified law I believe that's law they have to be certified on the 10th very well this is the city clerk I'm sorry if I can sign for some dat midnight is the deadline for the the you uh the militarian overseas ballots to be received by the county so they need to be received by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday November 10th and then Thursday they're going to be processing those ballots and then I did get an update from Moro County that they should have um final uncertified results Friday and then November 19th is whenever they do the canvas canvasing and certification of the results so um does that alter Council grber does that alter your your schedule okay as far as the certification on the 19th next meeting is 22nd okay yeah that would work let's go on November 19th then November 19th very well uh so it's it's pending uh favorable certification of Steve sunberg on November 19th very well um with Is there further discussion on that I see none with the CL please call the rooll on the gr motion mayor Kaufman mayor cman yes mayor Pon Bergen uh yes just to be in compliance with the charter council member bins yes council member kums no council member Gardner yes council member guber yes council member hilts no council member Lawson no council member Marcano nope council member Maro no the motion does not pass with a TI vote um very well um uh reports uh no report by the mayor uh reports by Council mayor General we're missing an item 19 day oh I'm sorry ouch um determination of final candidates to be interviewed for the Civil Service Commission uh Katie uh is it is it um what we're trying to do is get a sense of the council as to how many candidates we're going to be interviewing that's correct very well um I'm sorry who's that you c m Mario yeah so just looking at the most updated rankings it looks like there's a clear break between the top four candidates um like a a 10-point difference between the fourth and the fifth candidates so my recommendation is to interview the the top four very well um Council gner um thank you Katie can you remind us of the um what the schedule's going to be for interviews and and voting and all that please that we agreed upon yes so the interviews will be done November 15th prior to the regular study session and then the um appointments will be November 22nd during the regular council meeting thank you is there a second to uh the Mario motion to interview the town four mayor council member C second okay is remov by council member Mar second by council member KS to interview the top four candidates um discussion I saying no further discussion uh with the clerk please um well let me I don't think this requires a formal vote am I correct U I think you're just trying to get a sense of the the council so is there any objection to the Mario motion of interviewing the top four I have a cc okay so right now we have we're we're interviewing for two vacancies is that correct d is it two or one right now we do have one vacancy um the chair the chairman said that if when you're interviewing you um would like to appoint two of them then he would resign in December instead of what January February 2022 okay now do we have any idea is is it this going to be the only two I'm just thinking with all the scrutiny they're under you know could we lose some more I'm just thinking interview four for two positions um that's that's not a lot of people to interview but I do agree that there is a gap between the fourth and fifth uh well I think that I thought we were just doing one this time around but you're saying we we have an option Katie of doing one or two yes there's only one vacancy I think the chairman was offering if there are two strong candidates that Council would like to appoint he would be willing to resign in December to allow that to happen if not he can um I believe he's willing to remain until the end of his term in February is there any objection just to filling one vacancy at this time yes I object it's too complicated mayor mayor I I think we should be interviewing more than four people if we're GNA be filling two vacancies um yes council member Hills you I think we should go with whatever we've been advertising to the public is KD is that that's just one vacancy is what we've been promoting correct yes we have one VY that we're promoting okay very well I think for the sake of transparency I would agree with council member Hils that we should just be doing one uh because that's what we stated to the public that we're doing and so is there any objection to just doing one uh mayor uh mayor PR no objection to to the one but if we're going to do one vacancy I I prefer just to interview four is there is there any objection to is there any objection to uh just doing one vacancy at this time may I mean I think at that point we should just look at three that's what we've done in the past is about three people per vacancy that we intend to fill um for civil service and for Planning and Zoning so I think if we go on to four and we're only filling one then um I wouldn't support that the first question done and we'll go we'll go to that question the first question is is there objection to U just filling one vacancy at this time I seeing none we'll do that now to the Mario motion of interviewing the the top four um is there objection to the Mario motion of interviewing the top four seeing none then that's the direction that we'll go anything else Katie on that um no I can just announce that Desmond McNeil Thomas Mae Matthew Snider and Barbara Cleland are the top four that will be interviewed correct okay uh no report by the mayor a report by by U councel uh council member Lawson thank you mayor um so NLC the virtual Summit is from the 15th to the 19th so I'll give my Transportation committee um meeting um update at the next council meeting um we have CML policy meeting on December 3 3rd I'll have an update for there CML the board committee then I'm executive board December 10th I'll have a update for that the reimagine um we're meeting on the 17th I have a long report that I need to send to councel I'm not going to go through it I'm just going to forward it to everybody and you can read at your leisure and ask questions if you have any questions um as far as fiser is concerned the house passed the bipartisan infrastructure Bill Friday night staff sent a summary of the bill to council prepared by our federal lobbyist and staff will begin working with departments on the specific projects that will be eligible for funding and bring those back to the policy committee and to the full Council for discussion both the house and the Senate are recess this week um speaker Pelosi has indicated the house will act on the reconciliation measure when it Returns the week of November 15th after which it will be heard to the Senate heard in the Senate where it but all but certain will change meaning the house would need to vote again at the state legislature the affordable housing transformational task force will be meeting likely for the final time on November 10th representative Jackson from Aurora chairs that task force the task force will hear the governor's office a for aordable housing priorities along with an update from the behavior health task force the task force is responsible for making recommendations on how to use approximately 500 million in arpa funds to be directed toward affordable housing so mayor that's all I have to report and I'll have more reports as my committee meetings come up in the next month or two thank council member Lawson uh council member grber no report council member Hils thank you um um several of us were able to attend the fire promotion ceremony which was very large because they haven't had one because of covid and so um that was really great to see everybody together and and celebrating all of those achievements and just a really great great event always one of my favorite ones um and so a little a little nostalgic that it's my last one as a as a council member but I will probably still show up um anyway I'll just have to sit in a different a different row moving forward so really great so congrats to everyone who was part of that ceremony uh thank you councilor Garder yeah a couple things uh first just Echo what council member Hilt said um congratulations I believe there were 40 um aora fire rescue uh members that were promoted last Friday so congratulations to all them for their um promotion next just want to um point out that this Thursday is Veterans Day um so just thanks to all the the veterans um next uh coming up on November 17th uh the Thanksgiving dinner at the Aurora day Resource Center I'm hope to see some of my colleagues there serving dinner um and then uh that is it for me thank you did I reach out did I get you I'm sorry oh okay um uh council member Mario thank you mayor um I just wanted to um share uh that uh me and to or council member kums was able to attend um the world premiere of the E of the film called a decent home uh at the Denver film festival and that was the documentary um that was made um based on the Denver Meadow Denver Meadows mobile home park um that and and a documentary of other um mobile homes on throughout the the country and kind of the the role that they play and the um similar circumstance that communities find themselves mobile home communities find themselves being displaced all around the the country so it was a really um uh emotional experience you know kind of just reliving you know years the earlier years of my ter Council and um just glad that I had the opportunity to be there it was really great to connect with some of the former residents um they were there to speak about their experiences um we had the organizers um that from 9 to5 that were there um obviously the the filmmaker um we had a community dinner after it all and um it was just really good to reconnect and um you know don't know how or where all the residents are and not even all the residents know where their neighbors and friends and families ended up but um we're all still very hopeful that um you know people will still keep pushing forward for affordable housing and different options and um it was just a you know an emotional experience but we're uh featured in a documentary and not for the most positive um of reasons so just shout out to a decent home film from you thank you uh council member B thank you I want to say um thank you to all of our veterans and all of our current military um I can't imagine what this country would be like without you um my father fought in World War II and uh he left a lasting impression on me and 19 years old taken out of high school and almost died on the beaches of Normandy um I appreciate you all and um I want to wish you a happy Veterans Day and the city is having some celebration at the Paul Beck Center but I'm not I'm not sure exactly where when it is and exactly the time so if you're interested in going I would um check the city website and see what um the veteran of um events are in the city of Aurora and while I'm at at it are we not having h a tree lighting ceremony the Christmas lighting ceremony this year outside who knows I was looking at my calendar and I couldn't find anything on there I think we are this is I think I think there is one okay St send that out because it's probably coming up in just a few weeks so thank you uh Council M mono uh thank you mayor um so I want to give a shout out to officer SII and all the other officers who showed up at Mountain View a couple of weekends ago to help uh collect and deliver clothing for uh to help Afghan refugees uh who are fleeing Afghanistan and being resettled uh here in um the United States uh it was a great event and I know that they were honored um this P this Sunday at the church unfortunately uh representative Judah and I both got the dates uh mixed up so we intended to be there but we were not able to but I'm still I just want to give officer s and all the others who showed up that day uh kudos for helping out um it was very successful tons of clothing um and I'm excited that we're welcoming um our new neighbors here um and I also want to just remind everybody that we are not having Ward meetings until January but we will be back at the Stampede at 6:30 on the 2 Thursday of January um and I also just want to thank my colleagu sincerely um for supporting the rezone um for the habitat project I think it's going to change lives um for our residents and I'm very very excited to see us actually supporting affordable housing so thank you have a good night uh council member kums right thank you mayor um so for Ward meetings we are not having a December Ward meeting um but starting in January we will shift back to the third Tuesday as the day that we hold our meetings um that seems to work better than our attempt at going with the first Wednesdays this year for most folks so we'll be doing the third Tuesday at 6 PM alternating between central Rec Center starting in January and then Heather Gardens um will be February and we'll just go back and forth throughout the year um and then I am in the process of trying to figure out some Saturday meetings as well which I will keep folks posted on when I have better information about locations and dates of those um as far as boards and committees um visit Aurora is having their annual meeting on the 18th at the Hyatt um and everyone all Council uh hopefully you will be able to attend um in addition uh the Colorado Freedom Memorial will be holding their luminaria event the 11th through the 13th in the evening um during so for Veterans Day and we'll be also having um a light projection um Art Exhibit along with the luminaria event this year um for Mile High Behavioral Health Care um the organization did undergo some restructuring of the senior staff which seems to be really effective and working well for the organization so far and as council member Gardner mentioned on the 17th there is actually both a lunch and a dinner um at for Thanksgiving um at kidas so during the day it'll be lunch for adults and then in the evening dinner for families um so we hope that and actually sorry at the Aurora day Resource Center um so hopefully folks can indeed attend and support that event um also on the 17th at 5:15 to 6:00 pm is the light of dawn statue Community celebration so that'll be um unveiling and demonstrating the changes that were made to the dawn statue that was The Dawn Fountain um and has been revamped to be more waterwise and have a light show within the fountain um that is programed um and then finally Dr Cog has an upcoming meeting and I believe we'll be continuing to discuss the greenhouse gas W making and that is it for my report thank you mayor Tim thank you mayor um report from E470 we um approved a toll rate policy which uh was basically we had a reduction in rates um and if you remember we did we froze the rates during the pandemic but we were able to do a reduction um slightly and we'll be looking at further reductions as we um uh look down the road based on traffic um analysis and then we also approved purchase of solar panels and the 48th um Avenue interchange was approved as well um for Mal High flood District basically went over the budget uh for the year and our Capital um Improvement plan and Adoption of some flood uh flood plane maps for different areas um just want to mention that on Friday I was able to attend the Aurora uh mental health tour um with the um of the proposed campus for for or mental health um with Governor polus so some of my colleagues were there as well um and and that was a very interesting um presentation um and then also Friday the same day we had the um Southeast Rec Center topping out ceremony so that was of course I was very excited about that and I got a tour of what they've accomplished so far um it's coming along very nicely and it's just when you see it in person it's way different than on paper it's just incredible it's a it's going to be a beautiful facility with wonderful views so that was great and then uh today uh some of us were able to um go to the ridge uh have a tour of the Ridge View facility that is being considered for homeless um um housing and governor paus was there as well so I actually saw him twice in in several days um uh my next town hall is November 17th which is on Wednesday from 6:00 to 8 at the police training center on Quincy and uh topics will be conservation and just overall water policy and then updates from me and uh I'll also be uh serving food at the Thanksgiving um lunch at the day Resource Center on that same day that's it thank you oh just very quickly uh there will be no May Mike live uh this Thursday that I normally do it because it's Veterans Day and so staff is off uh I did uh talked about um domestic violence uh in Spanish language talk radio this morning at 11:50 a.mo and uh next week uh on my Monday segment uh I'll be talking about challenges in our uh emergency dispatch Center uh with that uh public invited to be heard we do not have anybody in the line oh very well uh meeting a j thanks [Music] [Music] everybody [Music]