HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-09-02 (Regular) Meeting Minutes•
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1. Call to Order
ENGLEWOOD CITY COUNCIL
ENGLEWOOD, ARAPAHOE COUNTY, COLORADO
Regular Session
September 2, 2008
The regular meeting of the Englewood City Council was called to order by Mayor Woodward at 7:41 p.m .
2. Invocation
The invocation was given by Council Member Mccaslin.
3. Pledge of Allegiance
The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Council Member Mccaslin.
4. Roll Call
Presen t:
Absent:
A quorum was presen t.
Council Members Jefferson. Moore . Penn , Oakley, Mccaslin, Wilson ,
Woodward
None
Also present: City Manager Sears
Assistant City Attorney Re id
Deputy City Manager Fl aherty
City Clerk Ellis
Deputy City Clerk Bush
Operations Division Manager Tallent, WWTP
Director White , Community Development
Senior Planner Langon, Community Development
Fire Ch ief Pattarozzi
EMS/Emergency Management Coord inator Green , Fire
Deputy Chief Collins, Police
Detective Garrett, Police
Detective Leoni, Police
5. Consideration of Minutes of Prev ious Session
(a ) COUNCIL MEMBER PENN MOVED, AND COUNCIL MEMBER WILSON SECONDED, TO
APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF AUGUST 18, 2008 .
Ma yor Woodward asked if there were any corrections or mod ifications . There were none .
Vote results:
Ayes: Council Members Pen n, Mccaslin , Moore, Woodward , Jefferson,
Wilson . Oakley
Nays: None
Motion carried .
• 6 . Recognition of Scheduled Public Common!
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September 2, 2008
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(a) Colette Palmer , Freedom Serv ice Dogs D.rector of De velopme nt , said I just wanted to come by
th is evening , as we are fair ly new to Engl ewo od . I lhink we have been here once In the past just to introd •rce
ourselves as a ne w non -profit bus iness in the area and I wanted to give a formal invitation to each of you , as
we !l as anyone in the general publ ic area , for an upcoming fund raiser that we ha ve going on in the commun ity
on Scotember 13" from 10 to 4 at Centennial Park . It will be a fund ra iser for our organ ization . We rescue dog s
from area shellers and train them as service an imals for people in the area with disab ilities . We jusl wanted to
gi ve each of you an invitation to that. I will go ahead and leave some flyers and information for people on their
way out. We will we i,,ome any~ne in the general pub lic. It is free adm ission to everybody ano it is going to be a
full day of act ivities far dogs and children and adults a like . Thank you .
Mayor Woodward said thank you .
Mayor Woodward said this a greal group . Welcome to ou r com mun ity . Ms . Palmer said thank you and we are
very happy to be here .
7. Recognition of Unscheduled Pu blic Comment
(a) Frank DeHoff , an Englewood resident, said I want to tal k to you about my alley . It is the alley
between Cherokee and Delaware . To give you a little his tory , about two or three years ago , the puddle there, in
the alley when it ra ined , would be about 10 feet from my north property line . My ne ighbor complained about it
and somebody from Pub lic Works sent out the road grader and he graded it. I've talked to about everybody in
the Publ ic Works Department and th e th ing is that after the y have so lved the problem and came out and ran the
grader down the alley , the puddle is now about 8 to 10 feet south of my property line . I have made the
suggestion that instead of us ing the grader , if they would take a couple of laborers with a couple of
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wheelbarrows and shovels and come out . The grader has created about a 4 to 6 inch deep cut down where the •
alley is, and t think if they would take some of that dirt , put in a wheelbarrow and dump it where th e hole
is ... maybe , in about two hours , two guys could solve the problem completely . But , they don 't seem to want to
do that , so I would lik e it if you people would please give me the authority to get out my shovel and my
wheelbarrow , knoc k down the highest spot there that they &re mak ing and put it back in the middle of the alley .
I th ink that would completely solve the problem . I could do it by watch ing when it ra ins , see where the puddle is,
becaus e as you know , the top of water is always level , so it is an easy thing to look at. I could take a picture for
reference and a day or two later , go out and fix ii. I would like to have something done about lh is. I made the
suggestion , a couple of years ago . that maybe they ought to get Parks and Rec to put some stock in there so al
least I cou ld have some fun fishin g. There was laughter . I thank you very much for your time and I wish you
would cons ider my problem . Than k you .
Ma yo r Wood ward and Council Membe r Wilson sa id lhank you .
8. Communications , Proclamations and Appointments
(a ) A Pror amation de cl aring September as Nat ional Alcohol and Drug Add ic tion Recove ry Month
was co ns ide red
COUNCIL MEMBER McCASLIN MOVED , AND COUNCIL MEMBER PENN SECONDED , TO APPROVE A
PROCLAMATION DECLARING SEPTEMBER AS NATIONAL ALCOHOL AND DRUG ADDICTION
RECOVERY MONTH .
Mayor Woodward as ked if there was any discu ssion .
May or Woodward sa id it was inte res ting to rea d that su bstan ce us e disorders impa ct 22 .6 million peopl e, age 12
or old er, in the L ,ited Sta tes . Whic h is more than the numb er of pe ople liv ing with coro nary heart disea se , •
can cer or Alzheime r's disease co mb ined . That is qu ite a number.
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Englewood City Council
Septemb er 2, 2008
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Ma yo r Woo dward asked if th ert were any other comments . There were nor!!'.
Vote results :
Mot ion carried .
Ayes: Council Members Penn . Mccaslin, Moore , Woodward , Jefferson ,
Wilson , Oakley
Nays: None
9. Consent Age nda
(a) Approval of Ordinances on First Read ing
Ther e were no additional items subm itted fo r approval on first readi"•l (Ss-. Agenda Item 11 .)
(b) App roval of Ordinances on Second Reading
There were no items submitted for approval on second read ing .
COUNCIL MEMBER MOORE MOVED, AND COUNCIL MEMBER WILSON SECONDED, TO APPROVE
CONSENT AGENDA ITEM 9 (c) (I).
(c) Resolutions and Motions
(i) A TWO YEAR LEASE EXTENSION (TO 2011) FOR THE CURRENTLY LEASED
OVER -T HE-ROAD TRACTORS FROM AIM NATIONALEASE ; THE ESTIMATED COST IS AP PROXIMATELY
$170 ,640 .00 .
Vote results :
Motion carried .
Ayes : Council Members Penn , Mccaslin, Moore, Woodward , Jefferson ,
Wilson, Oakley
Nays : None
10 . Public Hearing lterrs
(a ) Mayor Wo::idward s id th is is a Pub lic Hearing to gather public testimony on Council Bill No . 38,
amending the Unified Development Code relating to boarding or rooming houses.
COUNCIL MEMBER WILSON MOVED, AND COUNCIL MEMBER JE FFERSON SECONDED , TO OPEN THE
PUBLIC HEAl':ING TO GATHER PUBLIC TESTIMONY ON COUNCIL BILL NO . 38, AMENDING THE
UNIFIED DEVELOPMENT CODE RELATING TO BOARDING OR ROOMING HOUSES .
Ayes : Co uncil Members Penn, Mccaslin, Moore , Woodward , Jefferson,
W ilson, Oa kley
Nays : None
• iotion carri ed and the public hearing op eneo .
All witnesses were duly sworn .
Senior Planner Langon sa id for your consideration th is evening is Council Bill No. 38 , amendments to the
Unified Developm ent Code relati ng to board ing or room ing houses. I've already subm itted for the record the
Staff Re port and Proof of Publicali~n that th is public hearing was noticed in the En gl ewood Herald on August
22 , 2008 and on the official City of Englewood website from August 20 to September 1, 2008. This even ing as I
go through this mate rial, when I say boarding house, I'm going to mean a boarding or roomi ng house as per my
own simpli city of wo rds. I'm just going to use the te rm, boarding house ... but I mean both terms . Pri or to th e
Englewood City Council
September 2, 2008
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adopt ion of the Un ified Deve lopme nt Code in 2004 , board ing houses were permitted only in the R-4
residentia Vp rofessional distr ict . That was what is today 's MU-R -3-A Zone Distr ict. .. that is a multi-un it distntt In
the UDC , in 2004 , the boa rd ing house definition was inadvertently omitted from the Code and also In th at
change , in th e re organization of the Code , boarding houses were placed in the Group Liv ing Facil itie s category .
Thos e two gaps in the Code were iden tified earlier th is year and these proposed amendments are intended an d
des igned to first re -esta bl ish the defin ition for boarding houses and then also to rev iew and provide lnform a•I,. •
on the inte nded use and purpose of the boarding house . The Plann ing and Z0n ing Comm ission condu ct£ I "·
public hearing on July 22 , 2008 . citizens spoke in favor of the amendment at that hear ing and th e Planning LJ M
Zoni ng Commission recommend ed a ma xi mum of 4 rooms per board ing house and that grano latherlng not be
permitted in the R-1 Zone Distr icts . Those changes to the staff proposal are included in the ord inanc~ that yr ·,
have before you . In cons ideration and rev iew of the l!Se , the Planning Comm ission looked at the use , the
definit io n, the zone district location, the procedure for boarding houses and use spec ific stanns rds for board ing
>1ou ses . I will go through those five area s. As for the use classification , boarding houses , , no t typicall y
vi ewe1.. dS a Group Liv ing Facil ity . A Group Living Facility is typ ically staffed and where re · ,,·.ents receive care ,
tra ining or treatment. Careg ivers generally live in a Group Living Fac ility . A boarding house Is a resident ial use
in a household geared toward the rental of rooms and may or may not include meals . Therefore , the
recommendation was to amend Table 16-5-1 .1: Table of Allowed Uses to move boarding house use from the
Group Li ving category to the Household Living category. Under definit'on , term was defined and the Planning
Commiss ion determ ined that the definition should include the number of guest rooms , the term of tenancy ,
which would be more than 30 days , that supports a longer term residential type use rathe r than short term
tenancy . That the boarding house use should be an owner occup ied use , which would prevent rental property
from being used as a boarding house , and tha t it be allowed in one-unit dwellings . Th is would prevent a multi -
unit dwelling be ing used as a boarding house . The re fore , the recommendation would be to amend 16-11 -2, the
definition of Boarding or Room ing Ho use to read : An owner occupied, one un it dwelling containing two\.!), but
not more than four (4) guest rooms where lodging is provided to boarders , with or without meal s, for
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compensation . The lodging shall be long-term lodging with stays greater than 30 days per boarde r. This use Is •
not a vis itor accommodation , nor ho me occupation as defined herein . Compensation may in clude money ,
services or other t~ings of value . The next area that was considered 'Has Zone Districts , in other words, where
the board ing house use wou ·~ be allowed . Th e boarding ~nuses were seen as potential for higher density ,
number of residents , higher tn,ffi • and greater number 'Jf vehicles , therefore , it was not compatib le with single
unit use . The board ing house, though it was a resider,tlal use, it Is not compatible with single unit , but not really
compatible with commercial use t:-ithe r. The refore , it was viewed as be ing somewhere b"tween single family
use and commercial use , therefo1 f! more readily seen to be fitting in a multi -family district. Therefore , the
recommendat io n was to amend Table 16-5-1 .1: Table of Allowed Use:; and prohibit boarding and room ing
houses in the R-1-A , R-1-B and R-1-C , single unit districts , and allow boardi ng houses in the R-2-A, whi ch is a
low density dist ri ct that allows multi-units , the R-2-8 distr ict that Is a mediu m density district , that also allows
multi-uni ts and then in the R-3 -A 2nd the R-3-8, which are a low , med ium to high dens ity multi-unit districts .
The ne xt area for consideration was the ap proval process or procedure . There are three types of allowed uses
under the Un ified Develo pment Cod e. The first being a Permitted Use , which is pretty much allowed use in any
distri ct , j ust set up and go . A Lim ited Use , wh ich re quires a Lim ited Use Permit and ORT... that is the
Development Review Te am revi ew for Code compliance and mitigation of potential impacts . And then the last
type of allowed use is Conditiona l Us e that requires the Development Review Team review , Planning and
Zoning Commission approval of a Cond itional Use Perm it, compliance with Conditional Use criteria and
compl ia nce with use-specific standards for th e type of use . The Conditional Use , as I said , requires a Public
Hearing with public notice by post ing of the property and publ ication . It allow s community input in a publ ic
rev iew sett in g and it requ ires an annua l review . Therefore , the recommendation was that all new tiriarding
houses be re viewed under the Conditional Us e Perm it proces s, which is under 16-2-12 of the Municipal Code .
Use -S pecific Standards , tho se standards are uses that are , as it sounds , specific to the boarding house use .
They are the zon ing compliance requirements that form the basis of the review criteria for a particular use .
Then there are 7 re co mmend ations from the Plann ing Commission : (1) that the cond itional use permit be
requ ired and that allows , as I said , community input at a public hear ing and it a: ;o requ ire s annual review for
compliance ; (2) that the boarding house be an owner-occ up ie d one-unit dwelling and , again , that prohibit s
rentals and mu lti-un it dwel li <gs from be ing used as a boarding hous e; (3) that a Zoning Site Plan Rev iew be •
requ ired and that would be a Site Plan Re view for parking , lot cov erage , number of rooms ... all of the various
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Englewood City Council
September 2, 2008
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things that we would be reviewing under the Conditional Use app lic at ion ; (4) that the boarding house
Cond itio nal Use be non-transferable ... that would requ ire a new Cond itio nal Use Perm it with any change in
ownersh ip of the property ; (5) that a City sales tax lic ense be required ... at th is tim s there is no City sa les tax
license required, but that standard would be in there ready if one is approved or consider~d in the future ; (6) lha r
the boarding house comply with all applicable codes and that will allow for rev ie•.v of •:,e boarding house for
compliance with various City codes , including fire and building codes ; and th e last r,,comraendation (7) is that no
signs be perm itted except those specified in 16-6-13 .E of the UDC and that includes signs that are not required
to have permits such as holiday decorat ions , election signs and si gns of that nature . Those are all the areas
with.n the UDC amendments . There Is one add itional area to be discussed and that is th e state of existing
boarding houses . That is covered in a grandfathering clause , wh ich is Section 6 of the ordinance . It is not
inc luded with in the text of the Un ifi ed Development Code , because as you will hear in just a minute , that is
lim ited to a 60 day timeframe for grandfather ing , the refore that really isn 't necessary to inc lude Iha ! wi thin Iha
te xt of the Code itself. Recommendations on the grandfathe ring : first , all ex isting board ing houses to be
grandfathered must reg ister with the City . That reg istrat ion mu st occur wi th in 60 days of the fin al passage of
these proposed amendm ents and the operator must provide proof that the boarding house existed prior to May
5, 2008 and that date was the date of the beginn ing of the morator ium that he ld the suspen sion of new board ing
ho use s coming into the City . That reg istration wou!d require compliance with the propose d Use-Specific
Standards that I just rev iewed . And if the app lication met all those conditions , no Cond ltlon al Use Perm it public
hearing would be required as part of the gran dfat hering process . The grandfathered llvardi ng house would still
be subject to the annual review requirement that is under the Cond itiona l Use Perm it and any boarding house
that was not reg istered with in that 60 day timeframe would , if they wanted to operate , would have to go through
the full Conditional Use process . That is a review of the recommenda tions of the Plan ning Comm iss ion as
pro vided in you r Staff Report or communication . She said I will be happy to address any questions that you ma y
hav e .
Mayor Woodward asked if there were any que stions at th is time for Ms . Langon .
Counc il Member Mccasli n sa id I have one ques tion . If they reg ister within 60 de ;s. th ey id,o have to be in
compliance within 60 days? Ms . Langon sa id the way I unde rstand it from Mr. Brotzma o, when I discussed the
issue with him , is that they would have to apply with in the 60 and then we could giv e them some amount of time .
Obviously , if somebody waited until the 59'" day to apply , it would be ha rd to have them be in compliance by the
ne xt day . Council Member Mccaslin said okay . So what I am hearing is ... that is negotiable? Ms . Langon sa id I
don 't know if negotiable is qu ite the word , but there would be some timef rame . Mr . Mccaslin said well lets say I
have to comply and I can't do it within the 60 day ?. Ms . Langon said then the department would have to
cons ider 'h at in li ght of the appl ication and consult, I am sure , with the City Attorney 's office . Mr . Mccaslin sa id
tha nk you .
Mayor Woodward as ked if there were any other qu estions . There were none . He said thank you Trici a.
Ms . Lango n said thank you .
Mayor Wooo ,r ·d said we have 15 people signed up to speak and I would like to hear Counc il's pleas ure on
setting a time limi t per speaker ... obv iously th is could go on . So , this is something we do ne ed to vote on , if
there is any pleasure of the Counci l to set a time limit.
Counc il Member Moore said Your Hono r, if we could , maybe follow the no rmal procedure for the unsc hedu le d
publ ic comment and ask everyone to stay wit hin th e 5 minu tes . Given the num ber of people , that would ma ke
sense to me.
COUNCIL MEMBER MOORE MOVED, AND COUNCIL MEMBER JEFFERSON SECONDED, TO LIMIT THE
TESTIMONY TO FIVE MINUTES .
Ayes : Council Membe rs Penn , Mccaslin , Moore , Woodward , Jefferson ,
Wilson , Oakley
Na ys: None
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September 2, 2008
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Mot io n carried .
Mayor Woodward said I would like to encourage people ... if somebody sa 10 something :-i r. ... , t~ •:Q i :,n: ;t"I
support that...mention that you support that...any specifi c items ... but please feel free to rrnnlic )• · sopport
and agreement for any presenters who have prese nted prior to you .
Bryan Kuhn sa id I am the attorney that represents Bill and Laura Bartnick . My office is located 91 In ,!owntown
Denv er. My bar number is 033642 . Does Council require any further information from me? I will b< very brief
for the Counci l members . Essentially I am here as an advocat e for my clients in my role as their attarney . They
have a number or th ings to say on their own and will , of course , be heard in the process , but I just iike to inform
the Council Members . Having rev iewed in some deta il the history of what has transpired with thir, issu e, I
wanted to let the Council know that depending on what happens here ton ight , there may well b< a judicial
challenge or a judicial rev iew, on the actions here tonight and any amendments or ordinances tl i~f are passed .
That is really all I have to say . He said are there any questions from the Council? There were none . He sa id
thank you .
Mayor Woodwa rd sa id thank you .
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Greg Kainer , an Englewood resident , sa id I come before you tonight addressing the is sue of how this city
government determines who is allowe d to live in Englewood and specifically the Issue before you regarding the
Bartnicks residence where all the members are not blood related or by marriage . I am no strangar to community
standards or to Englewood City Government , as some on Council know me for my previous credible Englewood
commun ity standards practices and work . Some may perceive th is Council and Mayor as being heavy handed
and selecti ve in ordinance enforcement , as there may be an appearance of discriminatory ethnic cleans ing , as
applied to the Bartn icks is sue before you . History reflected badly on the McCarthyism era or th e S0 's based on
prejudiced profiling surround ing hysteria of the time , innuendo and questionable evidence . Innocent people •
were harmed . Some may ask what is your criteria for selective ordinance enfo rcement. Is it an individuals
appearan ce, surname maybe , or 401 K plan or maybe a political party participation . Others may ask what is this
Council's underly ing agenda , by undoing grandfathering prov isi ons in selective ordinances , especially when
there are no public safety or health concerns . It's a good thing to enforce health, traffic , sound, safety , animal ,
arch itectural or predator reg istration standards within neighborhoods ... and in which the Bartnicks res idence
certainly practices . But, it is a very heavy burden and maybe outside your scope for you to define and attempt
to control the Bartnicks or any other Englewood property owners fam ily compos ition or who may reside on the ir
property or in their residence , outside of the previously mentioned neighborhood standards . I ask you to
seriously reflect and cause no harm to Engl ewood citiz ens that do not deserve discriminatory practices , but do
require fa ir government.
Several Council members said thank you .
William Bartn ick , an Englewood resident , sai d I want to thank the Council for listening to us tonight regard ing our
requests . I represent the board ing house on the 3000 bloc k of South Pearl , which yo. ve known about since
April 1 S", when the City's case against us was dismissed in our fav or. We were a boa : • -house , and it was
discussed in City Council that we were grandfathered in . On April 28", a Speci al Coum •eeting for an
Emergency Mo ratorium on boarding houses was held . We could never figure out what John Moore was trying
to accompl is h by saying that no one on Council was aware of an exi sting boarding house in Englewood . Th e
fa ct th3t he sai d it, made the term Emergency Moratorium eve n less supportable . Th is City 's Charter defin es
eme rgen cies for public property only , not private property , an d the de finition also incl udes that the fa cts of
urgency need to be clearly stated in order to uphold the City 's emergency code . Sin ce none of th is was obeyed ,
we assume the emergency was only a public scare ta cti~. I am so tired of hav ing my life for an entire year be
dictated by a handful of bias individua ls. I plead with the City Council to stop th e harassment of us contained in
the case , wh ic h Is be ing heard tonight rega rdi ng boarding houses . It forces us to jump through adm inistrative
hoops , every year , posting notices on our property , having annual hear ings and allow ing these few ne ighbors to •
decide how we should live ins ide our home . The Fair Housing Act protects the 3 people who live with us from
hav ing to live in Eng lewood 's business districts or having to do anythi ng specia l that oth er res idents do not have
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Englewood City Council
September 2, 2008
Page 7
to do . Do you or our ne ighbors pay for our home ta xe s, insurance , mortg:i~~· r .. •r airs , or util ities? No . Did you
design or pay for our house ? No . But you did give us perm its to build it , an~ ·ee n on January 3''. the City
allornev advised that there had been a mistake . lnslead of co rrecting the ~arrr !I, the City revoked it and kept
our thousa nd s or dollars . There have been so many City mis takes , in fact , lh at maybe the remedy lies with
corre cllve me as ures or those departments which keep mak in g them . It certa l~l y isn 't wise to keep protecl iny
them by mak ing the prob lem worse . If the City made mistakes to prev en t room males from buying or renting a
large house here . Is It the proper remedy to pun is h those who aren 't doing anyto ing wrong ? No . The rem edy is
lo correc l tho code and co rrect the people who ia iled the City to begin with . r o,1 ': lake away our Constitutional
right to ex ist We have many neighbors on our block and in our neighbo rhooc who do not want us to be
ungrand fath ered , who wish that we can all just liv e and let live . Some or them are afraid to be involved . But
they have not Joined In th e harassment of us . Our street is divide d not because we have a four bedroom house
with three students living in It, but because there is a viciousness about some neighbors who think they should
be able to control everyone else 's lifestyle . All of Englewood 's residential districts allows for landlords and rental
propert ies . Someone who signed my petition sa id ... your neighbors should be glad that you have ;iot only
improved the ir street . but by livi ng there, yo u also supervise the renters . Nothing can decre as e the property
values . Does Ron Noffsinger have the rig ht to tell me that I made a bad decisio n to have students liv e with us ?
In fact , Ron loved us and our house, until he saw a 19 year old South Korean walking on the street to the bus
stop . The ir first complaint was that we were unrelated . In Englewood , be ing unrelated is a crime . But , sin ce
the ir case was dismissed , they then complained we had too many cars . But , sinc e o.:·. ·.sian student doesn 't
have a car , he walks everywhere , so they then began complaining about foot traffic. How petty can they get?
mean , foot traffic? Every person who walks their dogs down our street tells us what a beautiful job we did on
our house . But our neighbors to the south state that we have somehow ruined their property values . but we
have done just noth ing but the opposite . We tock a long -bli ghted HUD house and made it into a fun ctional an d
beautiful 4 bedroom home . They argue that no one would want to live next to a board ing house , but we don 't
even have a sign out. Our house is a house . If it wasn't for them making such a big stinking noise about us , no-
one would even know . This is bias . and nothing else . We were feeling so intimidated that for several months
we actually believed that it was all the neighbors on the block who were b:ased against us , until several people
io'J us stra ight up that they liked us and had no problem with us . an d why couldn 't the others just live and let
li;e, These ne ighbors are a source of a reality check and co mfort to uc.. If we were really doing anyth ing wrong ,
you could have sent out code enforcement to cite us and bring us into court . but we are law abiding citizens ,
invested in our commun ity's safety and welfare . The stated purpose for residential districts in the Code says
that you generally want to have single family residences . And that is what we are . But , even if we aren't , your
code says generally not exclusively . There is no urgency an y way :,ou look at it. The desire to exclude us from
grandfathering in all of the R-1 Zones just doesn 't rise to the standard requ ired to take away our constitutional
rights to reside in peace . Grandfathering was invented to preserve people 's constitutional rights, anC: if you take
ours away , who is safe in Englewood? Some of the people w;,o signed our petitions you know personally . They
have supported you in the past , but they seriously disagree wi th you on this ung randfathering move . It 's the
differences in Englewood that teach us to be better people through resp l!c ting each othe r. I have some picture
of my house I would like to give to Council. Mayor Woodward sa id okay .
Jeon Bong Geon , said I am living on South Pearl Street in the Bartni ck 's house and I want to give my time to
Ms . Bartn ick .
Mayor Woodward said thank you .
Laura Bartn ick sa id when I was in fifth grad e, our history teacher showed us a film on the Ame rican Ind ians . It
started with the Ameri can government deed ing over traditional lands to the Cherokee Na tio n. But there was one
problem : East Coast goss ip of Indians who didn 't look like the Europeans an d did things according to the ir own
culture , kept drown ing out the quieter voices of reason and peace . In the end, our government took back all the
de eded land and broke their own treaty . Soldiers marched thousands of helple ss people through the winier
bl izz ards into a fore ign place called a reservation . Throughout the march , most of the Indians died of expos ure .
disease and be ing herded like callle . That movie was called the Trail of Tears . I believe this is where the term ,
Ind ian giver comes from . Tonight , I'd like to as k you why it is okay to let some of our neighbors decide how we
should live in our own home ? We are prote cte d by th e Constitut ional provision of grandfathering , so what kind
Englewood City Council
September 2, 2008
Page 8
of Inh uman e activity have we done that allows the City to deprive us of i;? And 1f us now , lhen who Is ne xt?
Pnvale property is called private be cause it implies that others do not get th e privilege of meddl ing in th e rights
of lhe one who owns it. Public property is pa id for by taxe s, and there are join t opinions and governments 10
dec ide the uses of it. Do either overt jealousies or obvio us prejudice aga inst Asian people rise to th is stand ard
of la w? Wh y would we ever willingly trade our natural rights our use by right as the Eng lewood code calls It ,
and exchange it for an annual fee and a Conditional Use Perm it, which makes us post signs on our privat e
property every yea r, forcing public hearings ar~ut what we deem to be our own private househ old , and allowing
Community Services to decide whet her or not we can res ide in a residential area , which po int should be moot ,
and if you do allow us to exist , which hoops we need to ju mp through ... what do all the ne ighbors say and how
much do we have to pay in order to obtain mere shad ows of lhe rights we enjoy presentl y? Only Ind ian givers
would vote to take away our constitutional grandfathered rights . We have neighbors directly across from us ,
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and all the way up and down the street , who are chagrined at what has happened to us and wish that the
aggressive ne ighbors could just live and let live . They know we are not doing any illegal or Immoral thing s, and
if the City checked its records , you would have to adm it tha t. Based on the precedent already set by recent
Englewood history , you don 't have to ar.cepl the recommendations of the Plann ing and Zoning Board al all
Through my first Open Records request , I learned that when Bev Bradshaw was Mayor, the City directed the P
& Z Board to fulfill the objective of devel oping a new de fi nition of household for Englewood . II was to be parallel
to the surrounding commun iti es . After much study , legal inpul deliberatio n and a public hearing, the med ian
number they recom mended to Council was 4 unrelated peopls being able to live together . Yet , this number
wasn 't anywhere near what the City had been fishing for , so Attorney Brotzman recommended to Council that
they take out the objective of averag ing the nun1t,er allowed in the surrounding communities and circumvent the
P & z Board altogether by simply proposing at hearing ... no more than 1 unrelated person under one roof. Thus .
was birthed the most narrow definition of household In Colorado . Th is Council has the power to do what's right
here ton ight if they wish and rectify several years of bad policy . Like Greg Pickett , we also looked for the most
appropriate neighborhood to build our house, and we did not select R-1-B or R-1-A , beca use we didn't presume
to be fancy or pr icey . R-1-C is meant for a variety of general resi dential options , and we picked it for that. We •
had als o le arned something from over-building in an area that backs up to an Industrial zon ing , and that Is that
we were not going to recoup our investment. On our current block on Pearl , we are not out of place , because
there are two other stucco homes al the end of the block , and Steven King has just built a much taller single
family house that is bigger than ours . He also has built a mirror of the same house on Ogden Street , and other
bu ilders have gone even crazier with beautiful modern des igns just a couple of blocks away . We specifically
kepi our more traditional des ign to fit in with R-1 -C housing . The Englewood Attorneys and Commun ity
Development staff keep asserting that our house puts too much burden on the ne ig hborhood . But , I ask you ,
how is ii possible that a family with 3 children would be any different than our three? Roadmap Englewood 2003
states under hous ing Objec tive 1.2, to encourage housing that serves singles , couple, .. r mall and large fam ilies ,
empty nesters and the elderly . Pulling Englewood's household code together with th e .,aw boarding house
code , and the complete lack of provisio ns for roommates , the City has obliterated rather than encouraged
differen t cyc le states ir Eng lewo od . Singles and students may not be a protected group according to the Fa ir
Hous ing Act , but that doesn 't give this City the right to exclude them from ou r co mm unity comple tely . And the
Fa ir Hous ing Act does protect women , minorities . foreigners an d the poor , some of which are our boarders .
Grandfathering is a constitut1onal remed y to benefit those who would otherwise face financial or personal
hardsh ip. The people in our household will fac e those kinds of hardsh ips ..
Mayor Woodward said your time Is up . Ms . Bartn ick said I have 1 O minu tes . I have onl y read a page and a hal f.
Mayor Woodward said no, you ha ve 5 minut es . Ms , Bartnick sa id Jeon gave me his time and I have my time
IG>. I'm sorry , I'm almost done .
Ms . Bart nick continued ... the people In our household will fa ce those kinds of hardsh ips by being reas signed to
Cond itiona l Use or Business Dist ricts . The inclusion of a grandfatl,er clause saves mcst ordinances from an
unconst itutiona l tak ing of property without compensation and ensures fa irne ss to those who have rel ie d on pr io r
law. If you ungrandfather our use of our property now , you will violate yo ur constitutional oaths lo Engle wood.
On July 22, Chairman Ble ile , of the Planning and Zoning Comm ission , was very outspoken about the City 's •
int ent in this law to ·step on one person 's toes · and he and Vice Chair Kno:o and Board memb er Colander
refused lo have any part of it. However ... here we are. In a se cret July 8th Study Session, twice the P & Z Board
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Englewood City Council
September 2, 2008
Page 9
was ad vise d that staff reco mm en ded the Co nd itional Us e Perm it, be ca us e it Is th e onl y kind of perm it that is
condit io nal on the neighbor's approval . My three neighbors and Bob Mccasli n ca me prepared with the ir wel l•
rehearsed speec hes. But since the Board was told not to speak to anyone about the meet ing , and since the P &
Z minutes haven 't been published on the web since May 1, I wou ld have ne ve r known about th is conspira cy if I
had not asked for an Open Records request on it. So the case that comes to you this even ing indeed ms~es us
look lik e an apartment bu ilding or a commerci al business rather than a place of res idence , despite that Couety ,
State and Federal ta xi ng authorities ru le we are st rictly residentia l and no fees are allowed . Our South Korea,,
student does not come from poverty . When he applied for his visa and passport , he went through background
checks , and we told our neighbors that. He moved out of the dorms at school be cause he wanted to live in a
real Americ an neighborhood with real Americans and get away from in trusive no ises . He is one of a protected
classes of people according to the Fai r Hou sing Act , as are the females . As soon as he was able to leam a
couple of bas ic Englis h phrases , he began begging me to introduce him to the neighbors , but that had already
become impossible as the three neighbors who initially threatened us told us that our en tire street wanted him
gone , and that they had the power to make him leave, and that they were go ing lo shut us down , They made it
clear that they had nothing aga inst us personally, but hosting an Asian student was another matter entirely .
Imag ine the shame of it. Well , Mr. Pickett, No rman Rockwell was a progressive and he pa inted As ians and
students into his pa intings . His ideal of comm unity was inclu sive and well rounded ... not exclusive . Our
boarders are not transients . They live with us for one schoo l year or more . They are intellectuals preparing to
give back to the world , and they don 't get into grad school without many references , bac~g, ,und checks and
tough tests . They are not trans ients . Wher, Bill asked for a ne ighbor to sign our petition yesterday , she like
several others , slated that should couldn 't risk gett ing Involve d, but she talked with Bill for several minutes and
sa id that she wouldn 't know who I was or who lived in our house for that matter , because she never sees us ,
and that we don 't cause he r any problems , I'm handing over our petitions with well over 100 ... 1 guess we have
132 ... Englewood resident signatures gathered th is last week , to urge you not to make this move of
ungrandfathering the R-1 Districts . Please correct this abusive track and allow us to continue on in our present
law-abid ing status . Thank you for your time. There was applause.
Mayor Woodward sa id thank you .
Council Member Oakley said Your Honor , before we go on , may I call for a point of order? Mayor Woodward
sa id you may . Mr . Oakley sa id I don 't know where we are al on th is, I don 't remember discussing time passing
, "' one perso n to another. I thought it was just a straight five minutes and if somebody didn 't use their time,
,e time is gone .
Mayor Woodward said we have done that in the pas t. We intend no! to do that. I apologize as I didn 't hear what
Je on had sa id. I thought he was just say ing that he lives at the house .
Council Member Oak ley sai d can I say that we should st ick lo the fiv e minute rule ? Mayor Woodward you could
put that into a motion . Mr Oakley said I'll put that into a motion .
COUNCIL MEMBER OAKLEY MOVED , AND COUNCIL MEMBER MOORE SECONDED , TO NOT ALLOW
PERSONS TO GIVE UP THEIR TIME TO SPEAK, TO ANOTHER.
Council Memb er Moo re sai d to clarify that th e five minutes are per ind ividual and is not accumulative .
Cou ncil Member Mccaslin said I th ink we have alread y se t a precede nt. I thin k if anybody else wants to give
the ir time up to someone else , we have already set a preced~nl he re .
Council Member Oa kle y said I unde rstand what you are saying gentle me n, but I will still 'eave my moti on
stand ing .
Cou nc il Member Moore said the second stands .
Mayor Woodward asked ii th ere was any furth er discuss ion on that.
Englewood City Council
September 2, 2008
Page 10
Coun cil Member Mccaslin said why are we changing the rules right now?
Council Member Jefferson said I agree . I feel like we should keep it...if we allow somebody to pass over their
time , I think that maybe we should have made that decision as that was going .
Counci l Member Oakley said trust me genllemen , I am not trying to take sides at all .. I am totally neutral.
Council Member Jefferson said I am just worried that that may be perce iv ed as such . That is my only concern .
Council Member Moore e•!rj in an effort not to be rude to the speaker, there was not an opportunity for us to
pause and so I'm comfort, . , that... I know the City Attorney was considering the issue and so I didn 't want to
interrupt at that ti me . But. , .11n comfortable that that should not have happened and I th ink ... again , I am
stand ing by the second of tn·' motion .
Council Member Jefferson sa id it seems to be , I don 't kno w, what was done in the past is what is appropriate . If
you would like to vote on it, all right.
Council Member Oakley said with the vote being called that would settle it.
Mayor Woodv,ard asked is there further ~iscussion on it.
Mayor WO"Jdward sa id I think as Joe has sa iu, the prer.erjent has been set and the other side of this issue ...
Council Member Wilson eai~ I don 't want to be perce ived that we are unfa ir in having everyone use their time .
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think the intent and I thin• for all purposes , was that every person gets five minutes but for some , that may not •
have been clear. So , I don't..
Council Member Jefferson said I am just saying that in prev io us situations as well, people were able to defer
the ir time . Council Member Moore said I am not aware of any time where anyone has passed time to the next.
Council Member Wil son said we were on another issue and somebody had passed the ir time on to Greg at
another meeting . Council Member Moore sa id then my memory fails n,e .
Mayor Woodward said and so I would like to offer a friendly amendment that if the opposing side does do this
that it is a one time only and that th is side doesn 't... that it is not available .
Council Memb er Moore said you can 't have people declare sides , they are here to speak what the ir opinion is.
[Clerk's note : Several Council members spoke at the same time .)
Council Member Mccaslin sa id I th ink we have already set the prec,,de nt whe n we all owed Jeon to pass his
time . I think we have to make it fair to everyone .
Se ve ral Coun ci l Members said they agreed .
Mayor Woodwa rd said okay, if there is no further disc uss ion , please vote .
Vote results:
Ayes : Council Members Moore . Oakley
Nays : Council Membe rs Penn , Mccaslin , Woodward , Jefferson , Wil son
Mot io n defeated . •
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Englewood City Council
September 2, 2008
Page 11
Aaron Reid , an Englewood res ident , sai d I find it fas cinat ing that some thing happening this yea ·, not for only me
but for our Country ... my 32 "" birt hday , of course the Country be ing the 232 "". Yep , I am a bi ce ntennial baby .
What I would Ii ~• to say here ton ig ht is that during this inclus ion of th is 232 years , we have had a few
amendments to the Constitut ion of the Un ited St ates ... all prote cting our civil lil >"1ies . Th is nurober 38 that is
urought befo re us in the City Counc il of Englewood indemnifies that nationwidu ;'.arting right here in a Home
Rule City . Not only that , it puts our Charter on ice. It also goes against our State Constitution . not to mention
the National Const itution . I, for one, do not support th is . I, fo r on e, wi ll not cont inue being a City of Eng lewood
res ident if such a th ing passes . Nol on my watch folks , not on my watch . I can 't ' , believe that I'm hear ing
th is. Like I'm sitting here today , yo u know, I've fought for other people's rights on . impletely other different
is sues ... some of it be ing tax money . Yes, we had people in th e State wanting to harm its taxpa yers . to benefit
other states . Look up wate r law , you will see my name . Another couple of th ing s, if th is passes , you have
already put two loopholes into your City Charter. You might want to look at that. That goes against some
spec ific rules and for those of you that have studied the City Charter quite well , you ~now exactly which ones I'm
talking abou t...i ts glaring . So not only have you created a loophcle , just to get your specific little
aa,endment...ordinance ... you can use those terms synonymously ... passed , you have also loopholed stuff that
was already secured , on to tally different issues for all citizens . Tha t is all t hav e to say for now . I really hope a
lot of peo ple think this over, because this is Join~ to set a 101 of precedent an d it going to come out making us
l'>Ok lik e the bad guys in the Country , much less the State . So , let's give this so me deep thought. Thank yo,,
and have a good evening . There was applause .
Mayor Woodward said thank you .
Reverend Loye Tro xler , an Englewo od res io ent , said you know I feel a little out of place in a ce rta in way
because I'm sure that I understand all the techn ical ities and I am glad that is your job . But th•• reason I am here
is really just to sp eak about t~e two people that I know ... Laura and Bill . They are not membe rs of my church ,
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they don 't worship with me , I ha •., no ·,ested interest in this ot her than the fact that I'll te ll you this ... I have
known Bill Bartn ick for about 7 years now and t find it ironic th at earlier tonight I v.as sitt ing back there and I
heard yo t: all pas s a resolution label ing September as Alcohol and Drug Add ic tion Recovery Month . Remember
th?\? Th at is how I know Bil l. He has for seven years fac ili tated a recovery group at the church where I am the
pastor and I've seen the countless folks that roll through lhere . And he Is th is grounding force that helps them
through th is process . I C:on 't know how he does it, to be honest with you . So to be honest , all I can say is tell
you about the individ ua l. His actions are pure . I will give you one la st story and I know you are short on time so
I'll hush up after that. It is ha rd to give a preacher a microphone . There was laughter. Dangerous business . I
know about three yea rs ago , I gave Bill a call one day and I sa id, Bill I am a li ttle concerned about someth ing
and he said whal's that Rev erend Troxier .. and I sa id, we had a ladder that was stored kind of by the back
dr,ors of the church , we had some workmen there , and that ladder disappeared . A nice, new fiberglass
ladder ... I don 't know ... cost 100 bucks or so , and I said Bill , that v,as there last night when I walked out and I
was j ust wo ndering , did you see it? He sa id no , I didn 't. But he sa id th e group will take care of it. Th at was on
a Saturday when I talked to him and by Monday , he had brought by a much nice r la ci Jer , by the way , than the
one we lost. That is the character of the indiv idua l. His actions are pure . He is alw ays authenti c. If ~1 tells you
someti1ing , you can set your watr.h by it when It is go ing to happen . That is all I wanted to sa y Thes e 2'"
peop le who are trying to help fo!ks in oc ; co mmuni ty . Do n , hurt th em when they are trying to do that. 7 ney are
one of the few that are trying . You sh oul d pra ise them . Th ere was applause .
Mayor Woodwa rd sa id thank you .
Deb ra Nahm , an Eaglewood res ident , said I am here to support Bill and Laura and I have some letters to read
that peopl e have wr itt en about them and the ir character . First one being from Dr. Chung , Associate Professor of
Christian Theology at the Denve r Seminary . "Greetings , City Council of Englewood , My name is Dr. Chung and
I am a professor of theology at the Denver Sem inary . I simply wish to state my support of BIi i and Lau ra
Elartn ick 's home , which houses some of our students , and which is also currently housing a young man from
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Sou lh Korea. Were it not fur th e hospitality of Americans , it would be much more difficult to learn the language
and th e cu lture , becau se the only expo sure one would get is from an inst itutional se tting and on the stree t.
Laura Bartn ick is a mentor in the Denve r Sem inary Mentor prog ram , and she has pas,ed through th e
Englewood City Council
Sept ember 2, 2008
Page 12
Sem inary's tra ining for mentor s several years ago . The students who come from the Sem inary , whom the
Bartn lcks have housed over the years , are not accepted Into the Seminary until we receive several references
from the ir home community and pass several test s. Before the students are accepted , they ha ve already
passed these exams and backgro11 cd checks . I know that the South Korean student in the ir household has also
had to pass a background check when he applied for a visa and passport to America . I support these people
who have opened their li ves and the ir home to help students learn and grow and be mentored in a mature home
selling . Sincerely , Dr . Sung Wook Chung · She said I also have one : "To whom II may concern , I lived with Bill
and Laura Bartn ick for approx imately two years and their residence served as a gre,t point of transition in my
life , as I moved from college into the ne xt phase of my life . They cared about how I v. ,s do ing and they loved
me wGII . They always showed genu ine concern towards any difficulties and trials I mi~ ~I be experiencing and
they shared in rny joys and triumphs . Their house was great and I couldn 't imagine hav ,,g lived any where else
during that period of my life . Kindly , Jeremy Smith ." Another letter : To Whom ii May Concern : I have known
Bill and Laura Bartn ick for several years . I first met Bill Bartn ick in 1984 as we worked together al Craig
Rehab;litalion Hospital. We have since attesded the same church and become good friends . The Bartnicks
have been extremely helpful to me in my profession as a chaplain to international students . Mr . and Mrs ,
Bartn ick ha·,e gone out of their way to ass ist me In welcoming international students to the Denver/Englewood
area . They helped in a major rebuilding project on my house , so we could provide better hospitality to
internationals . They have donated furniture items to help students settle here . They have also assisted us in
various outreaches to students . I know from first hand experience tha t BIii and Laur9 Bartnick hav e no ulterior
motive in renting out rooms to people . They simply desire to strengthen the commun ity by prov iding
comfortable and affordable hous ing to those who need it. Thp.y are no different than any other people I work
with who provide rooms for rent in the ir homes throughout the greater Denver metro area . Sincerely , Ric hard
Duke, Chaplain for International Students, Horizons International " I have two more . "To Whom ii May Concern :
I am writing in regards to the situation being discussed about Mr . and Mrs . Bartnick's residence . I have recently
met Laura Bartn ick and have known one of their tenants for three years . From both accounts , I find the livi ng
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situation to be both pos itive and stable . There is a genuine environment of love and global awareness . To •
dismantle such an environment would not only be detrimental to those living with Mr . and Mrs . Bartnick , but also
to the surround ing community . I simply ask that those read ing would do the right thing , Since rely , Jason C.
Helveston , Associate Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church , Englewood , co · She said this is the last one : "Dear
Mem be rs of the Englewood City Council , Tnank yJu for taking lime to read th is letter to endorse the work of the
Bann irk hous ing for college students in the Den ver Area . As most of you know , college is so very expensive
these days . To fi,1d a v,ay to help students is a plus for the students, colleges and the community at large . For
students to have afforJable housing in a safe env ironment is crit ical. We have only to pick up a newspaper and
read of so many unsafe situations, which arise in the college and university setting today , I hope you will
recons ider your recent ac tio ns . which would not allow the housing to continue as needed . Thank you again .
Respectfully , Stephen R. Lewis . President , Rocky Mountain Bible Collene . Rocky Mountain Se m:nary . • So, she
said, I hope you will consider these letters ... it's good stuff... it's real . T' ,nl< you ,
Anne Drake , an Englewood res ident. said thank you for allowing me to speak th is even ing , Th is isn 't about 1:te
style or chara cter issues , this is about having a full fledged , full time bus iness next door to my house . And I am
grateful that there are proposed am end ments that would prohib it futun, boarding houses in R-1 zones . I would
also support an amendment that would not allow boarding houses in R-1 whether the boarding house already
ex ists or not. Along those lines , I ask that you insert a clause requiring all existin g boarding houses in R-1 to
undergo a full Conditional Use hearing in order to con tinu e to operale ... 1hat includes the pub1ic hearing . I
b~li eve that a business based on a rc-1 pid turnover of trans ient clients , should be subject to publ ic rev iew ,
especially when that business is operating in a residential area . I ask tha t boarding h~uses be required to have
hard surface parking spaces , whether or not the board ing house is grandfathered . I ask that no signage be
allowed and tenancy be lim ited to a minimum of 30 days . I ask that the bo arding houses ii, Englewood not be
allowed to advert ise to the public . And lastly, I ask that taxes and licensing fees be collected and that roo mi ng
or boarding houses have a business li~ense , And I appreciate your ongoing efforts to help protect the
characteristics of my neig hborhood . There was applause .
Robin Noffsinger , an Englewood resident , said I totally agree with An ne Drake who just spoke , that lh is is not •
about character issues or people is su es ton ight. this is about some amendments . Ear li er th is year , the City
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Englewood City Council
September 2, 2008
Page 13
re cogn ize d that there wa s a Code de fici en cy pertain ing to the missing defin ition in regard s to rooming and
board ing houses . We feel R-1-C Oistricts should rema in free of rooming and boarding houses because of th e
smaller lot size s and the populalit'I density, as they were prior to lhe UDC Codes of 2004 . Room ing and
boarding houses bac k then were only allowed in R-4 Districts . With the new proposa l, they wou ld be allowed in
the R-2 and the MU -R-3 Di itricts , wh ich are much better suited than R-1 Dist ricts. We , in our ne ighborhood ,
have been following th is top ic ·ather closely , as we know of the situation that not only affects the 3000 block of
South Peart , but the City as a whole . And the only reason that I bring up this situation Is because it ultimately
lead to the City recogn izing the omiss ion of the boarding and rooming house definition and the emergency
ord inance of establish in g the moratorium . The homeowners on South Pearl took a major remodel of a HUD
home through deceptive practices . It became abundantly clear that they were cons tructing a house in an R-1-C
District , not for the use of a single family residence , but as a money making venture . Advertising rooms for
$600 .00 a month on a month to month basis . Up until it came to light that a definition did not exist for a room ing
and board ing house , they were pushing this City Counc il to allow them a variance to let them house more
people than the definition of Household would allow, since they already had three boarders . As the
neighborhood joined together to follow th is issue , it was observed that these homeowners were doing th ings
underhandedly , with no regar 1rmits or licensing . Say ing and I quote "they thought they could fly under the
radar". I" a letter sent to the n;, .• o1 borhood , by these same homeowners , they stated emphatically that I quote
aga in, "codes are not laws·. And they are not running an apartment bu ilding and they were no t a rooming and
boarding house . But then , through the loophole of the missing Code definition, they are now claiming to be a
rooming and boarding house under the rns ident ial uses of ,:·roup Living Facility , still constructing and existing
without regard to following codes anc ur,es that presently ... i~t... such as annual licensing , conditional use
permits , licenses to sell goods out~• t•,eir residence , park ing requirements under the Group Liv ing , pro per
permits for continued bu ild ing , registering with the City , even the ir mortgage on the property was set up under
the pretense of a single family residence . We applaud the work of the Planning and Zon ing Comm ittee and the
City Counci l an d their efforts to rectify the oversight of the Code deficiency , but , we are not comfo rta ble with the
idea that there could be a grandfathering clause . In our research , prior to the moratorium on roomi:i g and
boarding houses , the situation on our block is the only known one that the City knew claiming to ~e a room ing
and boarding house. To think th is deceptive practice that ex ists in an R-1-C District , is appalling to t•s. To allo w
th is grandfathering seems to be protecting people who were deceiving their neighbors and th e City in order to
protect rights they didn 't even have in the first place . What about the rights of loyal , long term residents and
young fam ilies of R-1-C Districts who face unwanted rroperty tax increases , property value decreases , even
unsafe and congested conditions that can result from a rooming and boarding house. The citizens within our
group he Ie before you tonight , have lived an this block for a combined number of 114 years . Mayor WooJward
said you have one minute . Ms . Noffsinger sa id we as a neighborhood , have now had our rights taken away of
liv ing in a single fam ily resident ial neighborhood , because of the situation that was never intended in an R-1
Dislr ict. I would also like to say that we feel the passage of these new amendments , spec ifically the no
grandfathering clause , would serve in the best interest of the majority of all the residents in R-1 Districts . Thank
you very much . The re was applause .
Sand ie Kerlagon , an Englewo od re sident, said I p:il my name down , but I really hadn 't planned on talk ing
ton ight. I had kind of wanted to com e and li sten to th is as a concerned citizen that lives in an R-1 zon ing area .
And , I don't know th e Bartni cks and I perce ive a little bit that the Bartn ic ks are taking th is whol e th ing kind of
personally and I dc .1'1 bel ieve it is anything personal , but to me it is a matter of a zoning matter. I have lived in
F.ng lewood for over 30 years ... always right around the Bates/Logan Park area ond I ~.ave alw,,ys chosen that
area because of its R-1 zon ing . And so , I am a little confused . I did print off a copy of this and I'm a little bit
confused about som e of that and my unde r ;tand ing , be cause there has been scmc discussion about
grandfathering , that acc ording to 5ection 6 it says that "no ex isting board ing or room ing house may be
grandfathered in R-1-A, 3 or C zone Districts· so if that is different, if you cou ld clarify that for me , I would
appreciate that. Because I believe that those of us that live in ,.-1 zon ing areas , there is a reason that we chose
to live in those areas . And certa inly , I don 't have any problem with boarding houses and I think there is a place
for them , just not within an R-1 zoning area . Some of the th ings that I do know about boarding houses , is tha t
often tenants can change frequently . Ms . Bartn ick talked about what is the difference between a fami lies· 3
children and their fam ily and the thing is that mc,st fam il y's ch ildren don 't change every 30 days . And I an , not
say ing that , that is how often that your children chan 3e, but a board ing hou se does allow that to happen . I do
Englewood City Council
September 2, 2008
Page 14
concur with what I heard from Ms . Ann e ... an d I'm sony that I don't k1,ow your last nam e ... and Rob in Noffsinger
as well. And aga in I really j ust want to support the R-1 zonin g, which my und ersta nd ing is single fami ly homes .
There was mention about... from a gentleman over there ... regard ing th at based on the outcome of this that there
would be and I bel ieve lhat I'm quoting , a jud ic ial challenge and/or rev iew . Well , I th ink that there are a number
of citizens wilhin the City of Englewood that live in R-1 single fam ily re sident ial areas , that live there for a certa in
reason , so I would say lhat lhere may be judicial challenges and/or re vi ews by a number of Englewood citizens
depend ing upon the outcome here . Thank you very much .
Mayor Woodward sa id thank you .
Matthew Crabtree , an Englewood resident , said good eve ning . Council, I think we all know that th is publ ic
hearing ton ight is not a matte .-of boarding houses within th is City , nor is it a matter of just correcting a mistake
with an ord inance . The proposed ord inance before us this evening is an example of how City Council has
involved itself with a ne ighborly dis pute , and in the proce ss is ut ilizing the full legal power of City Council to
intimidate a resident of this community . If you recall , concerns regarding th is matter we•e brought before
Council o)n May 5'". At that time , Co•Jncil assured 1h31 the process being followed was only to correct a loophole
going forw ard . With the current .vording of this ordinance under this public hearing , that is no longer the case .
The grandfather clause is now slated to be removed for all res idents of R-1 zoned area s. So I ask all of you
regardinJ th is ordinance , what about the other residents that currently don't know they will become illegal? Or
even lhb current board ing houses , you don 't know about , they likely don't know anything about th is situation
righl now, and won 't know until it's too lat ,. Didn 't the Planning and Zoning Commission have reservations
about removing this grandfather clause? Now , don 't get me wrong , I understand correcting mis takes in the
wording of an ordinance to protect the City from further legal action , though I do not understand the need to
remove the grandfather clause . A grandfather clause protects the people aga in st mistakes made by their
government. By removing this , you create a situation that becomes un constitutional . This Is why I am before
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you this evening . I cannot stand idle while abu se of power ex ists against the resid ents of our community . Wit h •
the recent modificat ions lo the ord inance , it is apparent that you are pass ing an ordinance to intimidate and
remove a citizen from our commun ity , and in turn further •emove property rights from other dedicated citizens of
our community , and that , in my op inion , is abuse of power. I request that Council th inks th is over and does the
right thing , and add the grandfather clause back into the wording of this ordinance . Although , I understand by
doing so , Counc ilman Mccaslin and Councilman Penn , you will have to stand up aga inst one of your old high
school buddies , sitting in the audience tonig ht. And Counc il man Penn , you will also have to stop saying
comments like "keep up the good fight" to the residents of Pearl Street. So , before you make the rash decis io n
of removing th is grandfather clause , how many res idents are you mak ing illeg al by doing so ? And for all cf the
residents of Pearl Street and those supporting the removal of this clause may I also ask yu :1. :,r1ouldn 't ii be nice
if we could pick our neighbors? Imagine what a community that would be . There is a reason why I dec ided to
live in Englewood ; we are a un ique commu1.ily with div ersity and differences . If we continue passing laws that
furthe r restrict our property rights , we will end up with an exclus ive commun 'ty lacking that freedom of divers ity .
The fact is you cannot pick your ne ignbors , and you cannot dictate to your neighbors how they decirl e 1~ live
their life . And that is exactly what you are try ing to do tonight. Than I, you .
Laurett Barrentin e, an Englewood res ident , sa id I would much rather be on this side of Counc il. I ~ave done a
great deal of research on this issue , so I stand beh ina my word and I would be more than happy tc stay and
answer anybody 's quest ions ... answer anything and ce rta inl y be accountable for anything I say . Once again , 11
see ms that there are serious probl ems wi th the Uniform Deve lopment Code , The staff stated that the sign
ord inance was vague, that resulted in national embarrassment as the ACLU filed suit ags,nst the City , and we
are still in court Then the City proce ss for deci ding frontag e issues is ruled unacceptable by our own Board of
Adjusts and Appeal. Aga in, the staff stated that the Uniform Development Code was vague and inconsistent.
The City Manager , the City Attorney and City Council decided to hide behind a municipal imr.iur.ity and hired an
attorney for $350 .00 an hour to squash a property owner instead of keeping their word . Property owner s along
the South Broadway Busine ss Corridor told you that the Uniform Development Code limited use has created a
strangle hold on the ir abil ity lo fun ctio n resulting in unleased , open and und er uti lized properties crea ting a blight •
along llroadway and stunt growth . Again , staff has stated that the Uniform Development Code limited use Is
inadequate . As Tric ia jus t gc,t done explaining earlier , we once again have a prob le m with the Un iform
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Englewood City Council
September 2, 2008
Page 15
Devel opment Code Now . yo u are att empti ng to not only cha nge the law , but to ungrandfather people , slapping
yet another band-aid on a gap ing wou nd that will only cause problems in the future and no doubt , end up in
court again ... wasting taxpayers · money aga in . Let's review the sit ua tion that brought us here loday though .
The Bartn icks have lived in Englewood for over 17 yea rs . Prev io us to moving to Pearl Street. they rem odeled
two homes in Englewood . In 2006, they purch ased a 900 square foot HUD home wo rth $179,000 .00 and turned
it into a beaut iful 2900 sq uare foot home with a gorgeous pat io , balconies. four bedrooms , four bat hroo ms and
off-street parking for five cars ... now appraised at $550 ,000 .00 . I thought , the exact people we wanted in
Englewood . During lhe year of construct ion , they got along with their ne ighbors and there were no complaints
from an yone . The construction was complete in October 2007 . The y moved in th ei r firs t roommate. a South
Korean student attend in g Loretta Heights, somebod y I ha ve met and I would be honored to live ne xt to . A we ek
later a church member , who work ed as a model ar.d a photog rapher , moved in . Then someth ing really strange
happen ed. The neighbors invited the Bartnicks over for a me eting where they told them they had the power to
shut them down , that they had got people ou t of the ir nei ghborh ood before . Wh ere did this power come from?
Well , it turns out that the head of th;s meeting, Ron Noffs inge r, Is friends with City Manager Gary Se ars . You
can see Gary's hou se from his fr ont porch . Not only th at , Mr . No ffsinger , is old chums with three Englewood
Council members . As it turns ou ~ i t·. Noffsinger had already been talking to his Council buddies and the City
Manager about how to get rid of th l•, ;ilu<1ti on , even before talk ing to the Bartnicks . Something Laura uncoverea
documentation for in an Open Rer.:.r~s request. Lets get ba ck to the situation th~y want to take care of. The
situation is Mr. Drake , Mr . Noffsv ,;J ' and Mr. Baxter expla ined during th is meeting , is that they don't feel safe
with the South Korean student livii,g in the neighborhood . After nll , it was a South Korean who shot at Virgini a
Tech ... they wanted him gone . This is what you told them durin g ,the meeting . Mr . Noffsinger ex plained that he
will allow the girl to stay , because she is ho t, but he wants background checks on all the roommates, all the list
of any visitors , to inc lude names and date s and times that they will be visit ing and if they didn 't comply , they
would turn them in . They refused to give in to these ne lghborhc Jd bulli es , so the City Mar,ager in Dec~mber
sends a memo to several Englewood City a.partments includlny the Pol ice Department wit h a mandate to find
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something on these good people and the h.:ra ssment beg ins . The Police come to their house numerous times ,
the ir building permits are pulled and they are sent ta court where JJd ge At&ncio ... Mayor Woodward said your
time is up . Ms . Barrentin e said I am almost finished ... whe re Judge Atencio rightly finds ... Mayor Woodward sa id
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your time is up . Ms . Barrent ine continued ... they have not vio la ted the law . She said you gave them time , I've
got two more sentences . Mr. Woodward said do them . Ms . Barrent ine said where Judg e Atencio rightfully finds
that they have not violated any law . So why a,c we here today? We are here to get the Bartnicks . as soon as
Ron 's friends up there . vote to change the law , then th e Bartn icks will be in violation of the law . We are here to
wit,1ess the abuse of power and misuse of government. Thank you . There was applau se .
Mayo r Woodward sa id thank ycu .
Greg Allen -Pickett , an Engl ewood resident . said I want to thank the members of Cou ,,ci l, Mr . Mayor , City
Manag er an d the Assi stant City Attorney for being here th is even ,ng to listen to us . Since January of this year . I
have had t~e privilege of getting up and addre ssi ng the Council a number of times and in addition , I had the
opportunity to spea k to the Planning and Zoning Commission and also testified at th eir Public Hearing . I wo n't
repeat all that I said th ere and I have bee n quoted a few times and so if you guys want to go back and read the
minutes of those meetings , you can get th e general jest of what I am talking ab out. But ! do want to affirm my
support for all of my neighbors who Mve spoken here this ~ve nin g. And , I wo uld also like to respond to sor.ie of
the comme ot s th at ha ve been made tonight. I will not engaJe in any perso nal attacks on any individual. The
only time I will refer to na mes is 01 referei,ce to somebody else 's comments so you guys will have some idea of
what I am talking abou t. To be !l(n with . with what Tricia Langon ,;a id to us was th at prior to the adopt ion of th e
UDC in 2004 , board ing houses 1Jere only allowed in R-4 und the.re was an oversight by the Cit when the UD C
was adopted . And , you guys are here tonight to correct that 01 erslght and I appreci ate that an o I applaud that.
And you are here ton ig ht lo protect the persona l property ri ght ,; of the 1 o people that you see sitting here . We
are sln ply try ing to find a just way to do that. Regarding the rema rks made by Attorney Bria n Kuhn, he has no
veste d interes t In th is commu nity ... he is a pa id gun , so to speak . He does not live here •nd has not been
impacted perso nall y by th is situa tion , by this Co un ci l Bill , nor is his family impacted directly or indi re ctly by th is .
as opposed to these 10 pe ople yo u see sitt ing here . who are in,pacted quite directly by th is. All thes e
neighbors . in an area zo ned R-1 , are being dire ctly im pa cted by th is. I implore the City Coun cil to not make th eir
Englewood City Council
September 2, 2008
Page 16
decis ion based upon scare tactics and his intimidation techniques . His threat of judicia l challe nge ::md judicial
revie w and the words and ta ctics of an indivi dual who has no ve sted interest in this matter . Rega,,:;lng the
rema rks of Greg Kainer , I was personally offended by a comparison to ethn ic cleansing . I think any comparison
to ethnic cleansing is both fallacious and offensive to the memory of people who have actually been impacted by
ethnic cleansing . Regarding the remarks by Mr . Bartn ic k, he has accused the neighbors of being biased and
again I do take personal offense to that , but I am not go ing to attack him . We are not a biased group of
individuals . There has been a lot of falsities and very untrue things sa id about us tonight. We are not biased ,.
We are here simply to protect the integrity of our neighborhood and protect our property val ues and our private
propert y rights to live in an area zoned single fam ily residence . Regard ing the remarks of Ms . Bartnick, she said
she is protect ed by the constitutional provision of grandfathering . There Is not a constitutional provision of
grandfathering .. I would just like to point that out. She sa id private property rights ... lhat the City would be
violati ng the private property rights but really , private property rights only extend as far as not impacting the
priv ate property ri ghts of others . And what we are learning through this zoning process is that by having a
boa rding hruse In our neighborhood in an area zoned R-1 , her private property rights are Infringing on the
private propArty rights of others and more people are be ing impacted in a negative way than a pos iti ve way by
this board ing house and our private property rig hts are being impacted . She said the neighbors on Pearl Street ,
across the street and up and down the street , are all chagrined . I would ask you tonight , where are tho se
neighbors? I can point to 1 O ne ig hbors of Pearl S,reet here , who are here on behalf of th is bill, this provision of
the Council , but none of those other neighbors are here . The only other people from Pearl Street who are here
speaking tonight, and you can check the record , all their addresses were Ms . Bartn ick 's address . They are all
Ms . Bartn ick 's res idents in her house . That is ii. All the ne ighbors of Pearl Street who are here speaking
against this , are all right here for you tonight. Regarding the comments of Aaron Re id, Mr. Reid slates that City
Council Bill 38, indemnifies the protection of civil liberties . Mayor Woodward said one minute , please . Mr.
Alle n-Picket said thank you . I would just ask you , what about the civil liberties of the 10 people wh o are sitting
here . We also have private property rights as ind ivid uals . The private property rights of living in area zoned R-1
where we don't have to live next door to a boarding house . The character references , while very sweet, are not
relevant or genmane to th is convers ation tonight. And with the comments by Matthew Crabtree , I just have one
simple question . What about the property rights of those currently living there? I understand your concern about
Ms . Ba rtnick's property rights, but what about all the people who were living there before she moved in and
before she built this house? What is this ordinance really about? It is about prol'ecting the ir property rights . I
thank you for your lime tonight. There was applause .
Mayor Woodward said thank you .
Miguel Drake , an Englewood resident , sa id I realize there has been a ,ot of work gone into th is and I really
apprec iate it. I really appre ciate your efforts to protP.ct the fundamenta l ~,ngle family nature of R-I . My bas ic
concern regards the fundamental transient nature of havi ng a boarding tio use adjacent to me ... a transi ent ,
anonymous group of people traveling through my neighborhood . I have a six year old son and I have no idea
who these peorle are . I'm really happy that Laura brought some of her boarders here , since frankly I have
never seen them except, you know , on their way in or out. We have never been invited or introduced or any
th ing of tha t matter. I really , frankly don 't care about the race of these peop le ... it doesn 't matter at all . I'm rer.!ly
a little bit more concerned about the guy who lives there and runs his Weimaraner loose in the park . Thal is a
bit of a conce rn to me . I am concerned about the traffic im pacts and I'm concerned about the alley access that
does n't meet the six foot setb ac k for pa rking . There are fundamental issues tha t impact my life within an R-1-C
within a singl e family dist rict. And you know, okay fine , I'm sure a lot of people ... the cha racter references , that
is great , but I point ou t that six months ago the ad sa id ·month to month , no lea se ·. Now , okay , they stay with
us for a year. What is the actual function of th is place ? What does it do? Is it to : studentG , is it for trans iti oning
drug add icts , No wa y le know No way to know anything about it There is a hospitality situation where you 've
got transie ni ar,, .ymou s individuals . Somebody who stays in a hotel is required to register. Thal reg istratio n is
kept on record in case there is a cr ime committed somewhere and then we know whose there . l have no idea if
anything like that has ever occurred ... ne ither does the City for that matter . These are concerns to me . And you
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know , I think I am legitimate In having th ese concerns . You know if I bought a house beh ind a hotAI that would •
be my business . I didn 't. I bought a house in a single family neighborhood . I hate to say this but I'm fran~ly
insulted by the insinuation of racism . I don 't know Ms . Barrentine . I was present at tha t meet ing and my
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Englewood City Council
September 2, 2008
Page 17
recollection is that race was not brought up by anybody ... any one of the neighbors . It was brought up orig inally
by Ms . Bartn ick and the response was a snap . But it is insulling to imply racism ... it is insulting to apply ethnic
bias . It is a bias aga inst trans ients . II is a bias against unknowns . And it is admittedly a i.:-~itimate bias , but if I
wanted to live in Capital Hill , I would live there . If I wanted to live behind a hotel , I would live !he re . If I wanled
lo live in R-4 in a four -ple x next to an apartment building , I would live there . I selected my hous 3, I selected a
house in a single family neigi1borhood and this compromises that. The concept of grandfathedng in
constitutionality ... l don 't know, I suppose there are those that may be able to interpret grandfalheri ng in lo the
constitution somehow .. , not my affair , My affair is the fa ct that I have a number of trans ie nt ind ividuals living in
my ne ighborhood . I have cars turning over I've been through ... I don 't know who lives ne xt to me and I find that
disturb ing and a litt le scary now and then . I don 't know if somebody is going to come through and hurt my family
and that scares me . Anyway , I appreciate the time and I hope this resolution succeeds and does something to
protect my family . Have a good evening .
Mayor Woodward sa id thank yo u.
Rick Gillit , an Englewood res ident , sa id I will make this as brief as possible , I want to thank the Council for
taking th is up ton ight. I don't have a dog in either fight. I mean , I don 't live in their ne ighborhood , I know Laura
but I don 't know her husband's name , I have had the priv !lege of going through hl!r house to check it out for
myself, It is a beautiful home . I would be honored to have that home next door to me and I live ov~r by
Belleview Park ... Wayne Oakley 's district. It is a great home , great inside . We are not friends , I'm not going to
their house for Thanksgiving and I'm not fr iends with these folks here either . But I'm a citizen who is concerned
about what is going to happen with our City . I recently helped my son move to Aspen ... Coach Penn 's star
football player , right coach? And in Aspen , they have a great concept there . The City allows private home
owners to rent out rooms to people who work in Aspen, because it is so expensive to live there that they would
not have good people coming In and bringing families th ere . And I was th inking , What a concept for
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Englewood . If one of the richest cities in the wo rld can say , you know what. we are going to embrace the needs
of people and look at this a little bit different instead of saying ... we have a rule . I implore you , plead to you , Mr .
Oakley , Ms . Wilson , Mr. Jeffe rso n, Mr. Woodward , Mr . Moore , Mr . Mccaslin and Coach Penn . Don 't look at
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things normally . Sometimes we have to look at wh at could the poss ibility be for our City , Wouldn 't it be nice to
know that Englewood could be the only city that helps people In transition , And as for the grandfathering , I too
have tal ked to some legal aid, just because I'm a realtor and I want to know if you can pull one grandfather
clause for one Iss ue , it opens the door for you to allow you to pull grandfathering clauses for many other issues
by precedent . I ask you to serio usly consider your grandfather cla use , because it can open some doors to some
th ings the other gentleman spoke about , especially regarding real estate . Some other issues I don 't know about
but I do know about real estate . Mayor Woodward I know you are a real estate guy and you know what that
means . You know , we ha ve an opportunity to show Englewood as a caring , passionate City and I want to be
known for someth ing else than dog poop . There was laughter . I really do . 1 ·ave checked out and done some
of my own invesligation , I have not found one offense by any boarding her. ,es . Our own Cit y newspaper says
there are almost 20 there , I don't know where those 20 are. I guess our newspaper does . But even with that , I
haven 't had one report of any negative coming out of a boarding house . We have it in our schools , We have it
in our stores . We have problems everywhere else . Let 's not make what is not a p;oblem , a problem . Let's
emb race and say how can we take this in ? If the founders of Aspen can say , you know what , we are going to
emb race transients or people in transition to help them out. Mayor Woodward sa id one minute please . Mr.
Gille tt sa id shouldn 't th is City be known as the City who can help people out in transition , especially good people
from other countries , I'd love for Englewood to be known as ... yo u know I worked in that City and I stayed in
some body 's house that treated me well , 1 want to bring my family ba ck . Instead , we are saying , shame on you ,
And I hope that all of you look at this and go , let's rethink th is . Let 's l0ok at this as an opportun ity, not as a
prol:lem and seriously consider this grandfather clause . Thank you . There was applause .
Mayer Woodward sa id thank you .
Do ug Cohn , an Englewood re si dent, sa id I want to talk about a really narrow point in the whole dis cus si on
ton ight . There are lots of emotion and lots of issue s ... private property and all those kinds of things , The last
fellow who spoke , In th e tan shirt , said the constitutional issue really is not his affair and the grandfathering is
Englewood City Council
S,,ptember 2, 2008
Pago 18
something tha t isn 't in the consti tut io n. It ca me up in the 1860s after the Civil War . The concept was there from
the very first day . And the paper that I'm ci rculat ing , I've given you cop ies of , there is a spec ial kind of a law
called a retrospective law. That is a civil ve rs ion of an ex post facto law . A retrospect ive law is one that makes
illeg al an activity that wa s legal before the law was enacted . Our const it ut io n ... the Un ited States
Constitution ... and the Colorado Constitution cites are in here . I would urge you to go check them ou t. I th ink I
put the web add ress on the bottom of the last page ... findlaw .co m .is the free vers ion of Le xi s Nexis . Investigat e
whether th is would fall under a retrospe ctive law. If you determ in e th at it doe s, you do not have any author ity to
do it Che ck out the cites . Than k you . Th ere was applause .
Ma yor Woodward sa id than k you.
Mayor Woodward asked if Council had any discus sion or ques tions . There we re none .
COUN CIL MEMBER MOORE MOVED , AND COUNCI L MEMBER McCASLIN SECONDED, TO CLOSE THE
PUBLIC HE.\RING TO CONSIDER TESTIMONY ON COUNCIL BILL NO . 38, AMENDING THE UNIFIED
DEVELOPMENT CODE RELATING TO BOARDING OR ROOMING HOUSES .
Counc il Member Wilson sa id I have a que ·;tion . And I understand that the Public Hea ri ng can be taped ... video
taped and for sound , correct ? Someone ,;aid it is a pub lic meeting . Ms . Wilson sa id okay , so does it have to be
turned off at the end or.. Council Memb er Jefferson said well at the end of this meeting , but not just the Publ ic
Hearing port ion . The who le meeting Is al l open to the publ ic .
Ass istant City Attorney Reid said you all have not voted to have . like Channel 8, if you object to hav ing someone
video tape ... it is on audio . that is how yo u make a record of it. It is up to the Board or Commission or Council to
de cide whe ther or not they want to allow video tapes in any Publ ic Hearing or any session .
Coun ci l Member Jefferson said exc use me for not speaking right. I thought they were allowed at ~ny public
meeting . Ms . Rei d said not necessarily .
Council Member Wilson sa id well I think tha t should be someth ing that Council discusses , just not something
imposed upon us . So . I don't know how other people feel about that. Assistant City Attorney Reid sa id that may
be something you want to talk about. Ms . Wil so n said okay . Is there anyone else have any other problem with
that or want to discuss it at some point? Is th at a no?
Counc il Member Mccaslin said for furthe r discuss ion . is that what you are asking for ? Ms .. Wilson sa id yes . Mr .
Mccaslin said absolutely .
Counc il Member Oakley sa id I have no problem with a discussion . Ms . Wilson sa id okay .
Mayo r Woodward sa id we are in the vote for the closing of the Heari ng righ t now . I am curio us as to how th is
rel ates .
Council Member Wil son sai d ye ah . well as I unde rstood it, you tape a Pub lic He ari ng, but I didn 't know , beca use
we ha ve not mad e a determination around the Channel 8 ... be caus e we have a tape , that every meeting will be
video tap ed . Are we sett ing a precedent since ii is being taped now?
Council Membe r Jefferson sa id we can take a vo te and talk about that some more after we close the Publ ic
Hearin g. Ms . Wilson sa id okay , I thought it was closed , so rry . Mr . Jefferson said no , it is not.
Mayor Woodward said so rig ht now we are vo ting on closing the Publ ic Hearing .
Vote results :
Ayes : Council Memb ers Pen n, Mccaslin, Moore, Woodward , Jeffersor,.
Wilso n, Oa kley
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Englewood City Council
September 2, 2008
Page 19
Na ys: None
Motion carr ied and the publ ic hear ing closed
Counc il Memb er Je ffer son sai d gen ing bac k to you r issue . I have no problem with it, if other members of
Council want to vo ice the ir op inions on it.
Ma yor Woo dward said speak ing for myself , I ha ve n~ prob le m with vi deo taping or transpare ncy in any way they
want
Coun cil Member Wilson sa id it is not so much a problem wit h it, it is just the fact that we talked about it ~-•d we
haven 't gone to Channel 8, so I guess I'm just confused .
Mayor Woodward sa id I don 't know if th is is Channel 8 or not , is th is Channel 8? There was laughter .
[Clerk 's note : Mr . Crabtree responded from th ~ aud ie nce . We were un able to pick up the entire C01TI ,'1 .. ~.~ t
Mr . Crabtree said ..... the Open Meetings law ... Stata of Colorado . It doesn 't state anywhere in here that it is
illegal to video tape or record an open mee ti ng $. If you would like to rev iew it, you can certa inly have a copy .
Mayor Woodward sa id so it isn't Channel 8. Th ere was laughter.
Ms . Wilson sa id ok .
Ma yor Wood wa rd asked if there wa s any other discuss ion. There was non e .
(b) Mayor Woodward said this is a Public Hearing to cc ns ider tes timony on Coun ci l Bill No
53 , approving housekeep ing amen dm ents to the Uni fi ed Development Code .
COUNCIL MEMBER WILSON MOVED, AND COUNCIL MEMBER MOORE SECONDED, TO OPEN THE
PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER TESTIMONY ON COUNCIL BILL NO. 53, APPROVING HOUSEKEEPING
AMENDMENTS TO THE UNIFIED DEVELOPMENT CODE.
Ayes : Counc il Members Penn , Mccaslin, Moore , Woodward , Jefferso n,
Wilson, Oakl ey
Nays : No ne
Motion carried and the pub lic hear ing opened .
Al l witnesses were du ly sworn .
Sen ior Pl anner Lan go n, Commun ity Developmen t Department , said for your cons ideration is Counc il Bil l No . 53 ,
house keeping amendments to the Unified Deve lo pment Code . I have already subm itt ed for the record the Staff
Report , Proof of Pu blicat io n that the not ice of th is hearing was publ ished in the Engl ewood Herald on
August 22 "" and in the official City web site from August 20~ to September 1 ". The UDC was adopted in 2004
and it was th e fi rst comprehens ive upda le of the zoning ord inan ce since 1985 . In that updat e, it reformatted the
Cod e and it crea ted a num be r of ne w zoning reg ulations . That document , we knew at that time, there would be
changes lhat wo uld have to be made an d in 2006 we brought fort h the first housekeeping amendments . In 2008
now , we have a second set of housekeeping amen dme nts and house kee pinA amendments you c2 n loo k at
them as part of routine ma intenance . They are the zon ing regulations that ,eed to be updated , clarified or
whatever because zoning regulations are not a st atic docum en t. Chang ts or.cur in the com mun ity and the
ord inance must re ma in current with planning needs and com mun ity need s. So, not on ly in 2006 were there
housekeeping amendments in 2008 and I am sure again in the future at s011e ti me there will be addit io nal
hou sekeeping am endments . These amendme nts , there are a total of 92 ol :·:am and they focus on relativel y
small top ic s or is sues that typ ica lly would not rise to th e leve l of ind ividu al ore' n°oce requ iremenls . The 92
amendments are grouped into five proposed categories . Th e first is ~onsisten t la n,;uage , and there are 18
amendments in that area. That is to use si milar terms or the same terms lhroughout the Code . Examples of
Englewood City Council
September 2, 2008
Page 20
lhat are : chang ing from multi-family to multi-unit and a change of term inology from lot frontage to lot wrdth .
These are just simple term and language consistency changes . The second category is clarification . There are
29 of those and they are mostly small additions of language to make the text clearer and to reduce
con fus ion ... make it easier to understand . An example is there are some new diagrams illustration sight
distance triangles . The next area is simplification . There are 34 of those ... 26 of which have to deal with the
Overall Concept Plan , the OCP, from the ordinance . It is a duplicate procedure for rezonings . Again, it occurs
26 time s throughout the Code. Also , there is an amendment to change the property posting requirement from
15 days to 10 days , whic h Is be ing done to match the publication requirements . Again , simplifying , reduce
redundancy and just to make the processes easier . We have 8 typos or corrections . Simple things like
capitalizing terms that should have been capitalized and adding omitted references in tables . And then we have
what I am calling other, as three of them sim ply didn 't fit into anything else . Two of those have to do with
Hookah Lounge . We are adding the definition to the definition section and also adding it to the table of allowed
uses in the B-1 and B-2 and in the 1-1 and 1-2 Distri cts . And we are adding in 16-10-1 -C under Enforcement...a
clause that states that zo ning violations are the same abatement procedure as nuisance ordinances . That is a
~u ick review of 92 amendments . Again , they are all small Issues , they are not major issues and I would be
happy to disc uss and of them in particular if you have any questions .
Mayor Woodward asked if there were any questions for Tricia . There were none .
Mayor Woodward asked if there was ~nyone who wanted to speak during the Pub lic Hearing . There was no
one .
COUNCIL MEMBER McCASLIN MOVED , AND COUNCIL MEMBER JEFFERSON SECONDED, TO CLOSE
THE PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER TESTIMONY ON COUNCIL BILL NO . 53 , APPROVING
HOUSEKEEPING AMENDMENTS TO THE UNIFIED DEVELOPMENT CODF..
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Ayes : Council Members Penn , McCas';n, Moore , Woodward , Jefferson , •
Wilson , Oakley
Nays : None
Motion carried and the publ ic hearing closed .
11 . Ordinances, Resolution and Motions
(a) Approval of Ord inances on First Reading
(I) Deputy Chief of Police Collins prtsented a recommendation from the Police
Department to adopt a Bill for an Ordinance authorizing and approving the acceptance of a Justice Assistance
Grant in the amount of $10 ,360 .00 from the Bureau of Justice Ass istance . He sa id the intended purpo~e of the
grant monies is to purchase two desk top computers for the patrol division , as well as three laser traffic
enforcement devices for the traffic team . Simply stated , that will make the ir job a little bit more effic ient and a
iittle bit more effective .
Mayor Woodward asked if there were any questions for John .
Cc Jncil Member Mccaslin said you said two traffic lasers ? Mr. Collins said there will be three laser device s for
the Traffic Enforcement Division . Mr. Mccaslin sa id are those radar guns? Mr. Collins said yes , it is j est a little
bit more advanced . Mr . Mccaslin sa id ok .
Mayor Woodward asked if there was any further discussion . There was none .
COUNCIL MEMBER JEFFERSON MOVED, AND COUNCIL MEMB~R WILSON SECONDED, TO APPROVE
AGENDA ITEM 11 (1) (I) -COUNCIL BILL NO . 54 .
COUNCIL BILL NO . 54 , INTRODUCED BY COUNCIL MEMBER JEFFERSON •
Englewood City Council
September 2, 2008
Pag e 21
• A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AU TH ORIZING THE ACC EPTANCE OF "THE JUSTICE ASSISTANCE GRANT"
BETWEEN THE CITY OF ENGLEWOOD At : THE JUSTICE ASS IST ANCE PROGRAM FOR THE
PURCHASE OF TECHNOLOGICAL TOOLS .
Vote results :
Motion carried .
Ayes : Council Members Penn , Mccaslin , Moore , Woodward , Jefferson ,
\Mlson , Oakley
Na,~: None
Th~ meeting recessed at 9:39 p.m.
The meet ing reconvened at 9:44 p.m. with all Council members present.
(ii) Emergency Management Coordinator Green presented a recommendation from the
Engle wood Office of Emergency Management to adopt a Bill for an Ordinan ce authorizing and approving the
acceptance of a 2008 Emergency Managem ent Performance Grant awarded by the State of Colorado in Iha
amount of $24,000 .00 . Mr. Green sa id this is lo help us develop our Office of Emergency Management and
Emergency Operations Center and to help us with disaster planning , mitigation , preparation , re sponse and
recovery . We will be using these funds for er,uipment for the Emergency Operations Center . We will use some
of the funds for personnel to help us with our plan devel op ment, our prepa ratio n and our tra ining . Also, we will
use the funds for developing and implementing exercise s of the City 's Emergen cy Operations Plan , on ce it is
fully developed . And some other minor incidentals such as office needs as we come up wi th those . I will be
• happy to answer any questions you might have regarding this bill ,
Mayor Woodward ask ed if there were any questi ons for Mr. Green .
Council Member Mccaslin said cou l . , just clarify wh•ire we received this award from . Mr . Green said the
award is coming from the State of Lok le; the funds we re originally from FEMA , at the Federal Government
leve l. The y dis pen se funds to the Stat < . ·1 d the Stale then disperses them through the appl icatio n proc<ss , lo
loca l jurisdictions . Mr. Mccaslin said I j us l wanted :o let everybody know . Thank you .
Mayor Woodward said under "EMF 6-Mc .i,sl Aid ... During fisca l yea r 2008 , we will seek lo develop an EMS
mutual aid Agreement with Den ve r Health Paramedics·. Has that been done no w? Mr . Green sa id it is in the
works . We have done everything we can lo make that happen before last week . They are really bus y
dow ntown , so we ha ve a tentative agreement that we ha ve been workir,g on . We ha ve reviewed it through the
Ci ty Attorney 's office and th ere are still corrections lo be made and final negot iations . Bui ii is certai nly in the
procrc,s ... it is an act ive discussion we are hav ing with them .
Mayor Woodward asked if there were any otner o .. eslions . There were none .
COUNCIL MEMBER PENN MOVl:D, AND COUNCIL MEMBER WILSON SECONDED , TO APPROVE
AGENDA ITEM 11 (a) (II) -COUNCIL BILL NO , 55.
COUNCIL BILL NO . 55 , INTRODU CE [) BY COUNCIL MEMBER PENN
A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZ ING THE ACCEPTANCE OF A GRANT ENTITLED "STAT f: OF
CO LORADO DEPARTMENT OF LOCAL AFFAIRS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERFORMAN CE GRANT
AN D GRANT AG REEMENT (EMPG) WITH THE CITY ')F ENG LEWOOD ".
• May or Woodward asked if there was any furth er discussion . There was none .
Englewood City Counc il
September 2, 2008
Page 22
Vote results :
Motion carried .
Ayes : Council Members Penn , Mccaslin , Moore , Woodward , Jefferson ,
Wilson , Oakley
Nays : None
(iii) Emergency Managemenl Cooro lnalor Green presenle d a recommendation from lhe
Fire Department to adopt a Bill for an Ordinance authorizing and approv ing lhe acceplance of an EMS Provider
Granl awa :ded by the Slale of Colorado . This grant is a 50% malch , not to exceed $5 ,475 .00 . M:. Green said
the purpo se of this particular funding is to purchase a powered cot for one of our medic unils , for lhe ambulance
that we use to lransport palienls lo the hospilal. We currently have ~ne, we have found it lo be quite effective
for as si sted lifting of the very heavy people . We also believe it has had a great impact on prevention of injuries
lo responders, spP.c ifically back injuries as lhey are pick ing up patienls . The cots have a capaci~· of 700 pounds
wilh the power lift. They run approximately $10,900 .00 . We applied for a Slate Granl for 50% 0 1 the funds ,
along with a number of olher ilems , which were declined lhrough lhal process , but we were approved for this
matching fund lo purchase this col. I would be happy to answer any questions you mighl have regarding this .
Mayor Woodward s~id I wanled lo mention lhat although lhis was not budgeted I was happy lo see thal
sufficient funds are ava ilable in the Fire Department equipment fund . Mr . Gret , ;aid I have been assured lhal
we do have funds availab le th ro ugh our equipment budget lo meet lhat match .
Mayor Woodward asked if there were any comments . There were none .
COUNCIL MEMBER McCASLIN MOVED, ANO COUNCIL MEMBER PENN SECONDED , TO APPROVE
AGENDA ITEM 11 (a) (Ill) • COUNCIL BILL NO . 56 ,
COUNCIL BILL NO . 56 , INTRODUCED BY COUNCIL MEMBER McCASLIN
A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE ACCEPTANCE OF AN EMS PROVIDER GRANT
AWARDED BY THE STATE OF COLO RADO TO THE CITY OF ENGLEWOOD .
Mayor Woodward asked ~ '.here was any further discussion . There was none .
Vote results :
Motion carried .
Ayes : Council Members Penn , McC:aslin , Moore , Woodward , Jefferson,
Wilson , Oakley
Nays : None
Mr. Green said thank you .
(b) Approva l of Ord inances on Seco nd Read ing
There were no llems su~mitted for approval on second reading .
(c) Resolulions and Molions
There were no ,.dditiot•al resolul io ns nr motions submitted for approval. (Se e Agenda Item 9 -Consenl
Agenda .)
12. General Discussion
(a) Mayo~s Choice
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Englewood City Co,.ncil
September 2, 2008
Page 23
(i) Mayor Woodward sa id I just want to voice my thank you to all of the citizens , both for
and against, that carne out for the public hearing on the zon ing issue tonight, with regards tr ,~e boarding
house . It is helpful to hear from the citizens on what the ir thoughts were and aga in I apprecia ti it.
(b) Council Members' Choice
(i) Council Member Penn :
1. He sa id I would like to see if we can follow up with Mr. DeHoff over there on Cherokee and Delaware
and see if we can get someone over there and help him with his problem . If not , I think we should all go over
there w ith our wheelbarrows and shovels and help him out ourselves.
2. He said to all of the citizens who came out ton ight , thank you . Thank you for be ing a part of our process
and we wm conti nue on .
(Ii) Council Member Mccaslin:
1. He said I would li~e to second the comment about Frank DeH off . I would also come over and help lf we
can 't get this rectified .
2. He said I would like to congratulate all of the citizens for showing up. Aga in, whether you are for or
aga;nst it, I think this is a process that I been looking for, for Eng lewood for a long time. Growing up here , I th ink
the input is great. It's the only way we can make decisions is by the Input from both sides and hopef•illy we do
the ri ght th ing. Thank you for showing up .
(Iii) Council Member Oakley said I'll echo the same. I thank everybody for com ing to the
meeting tonight, especially those who gave us their comments .
(Iv) Council Member W il son said I also appreciate everyone coming out and talking to
Council ton ight, so thank you . I know It ta kes time and energy .
(v\ Council Member Jefferson:
1. He sa id I also j ust wanted to make su re we get someone over to Frank's place . Randy put in a request
to get some staff over there . Council Member Penn told him to get his shovel ready .
2. He said I also wanted to thank Colette for coming down from the organization . I wanted to thank her for
their efforts in our commun ity and for letting us know about ii.
3. He sa id I also wanted to thank everybody who came down and spoke at the public hearing . I know it's a
little anticlimactic that we 're not going to be giving some sort of decision today, but this public process does
allow for a lot of information to come forward . I hope that everyone here on Council will consider what everyone
sa id, some of the information that has been provi ded to us and we can come back with a decision . Generally,
I'll sha re my thoughts , just personally, that hopefully this is sue is framed only as a pol icy Issue for the City and
not a pe ·s onalized Issue for any one ind ividual in our community. The way I see the issue Is that there Is , in my
opinion, there seems to be a general consensus that boarding homes are not the perfect fit for R-1 -C . However,
go ing forward from where we're at right now, a boarding house has been granted in R-1-C, sn in my opinion, we
need to look for a way to move fcrward from there , because we 're In this pred icament and I fee i !hat a lot oft ,e
comments were directed at should we allow, should we not allow and I just wanted to point out, tha, ·,,here we
are In the process is that we already have one there, so the only options, In my opinion , woul d be to eith sr teke
It through an eminent domain , which Is basically what this statute advocates , or basically what th e statute ~·,lls
for. Or allow It to be in R-1 -C. And so , aga in, I appreciate everyone's comments. It's a tough decisic n and I'm
• considering II now and I will hav, to chew on a lot of this Information . But If anyone did want to provide
additional information to the Council, we have kind of ccmmitted to th is public forum , and so an individual , sort
Englewood City Council
Septembe r 2, 200 8
Page 24
of private discuss io n may be sort of difficult, but if you wanted to provide informat ion on how ... I feel like I've sort
of framed the issue , I think that would be helpful for me in mak ing my decision , so if you would like to prov ide
that lo the entire Counc il, that may be helpful go ing forward .
13 . City Manager's Report
(a) City Manager S~ars said in ligh t of the hour and where we are with the two ite ms tha t we didn 't
get a chance to talk about th is even in g, I'd like to ask to postpone those until next Monday night at the Study
Sess ion . The fi nanc ial rev ie w, or the pens ion review , Frank says is fine and the DNC update can both wail un til
next Monday even ing ,
14 . City Attorney 's Report
Ass istant City Attorney Re id did not have any matters to bring before Counc il.
15, Adjournment
Th e meetin g adjourned al 9:55 p.m.
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