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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1988-02-29 (Special) Meeting MinutesI I ENGLEWOOD C ITV COUNCIL ENGLEWOOD, ARAPAHOE COUNTY, COLORADO Special Session February 29, 1988 The special meeting of the Englewood City Council was called to order by Mayor Van Dyke at 7:30 p.m. The invocation was given by Council Mem ber Koltay . The pledge of allegiance was led by Mayor Van Dyke. Roll was ca lled : Present : Counc i 1 Members Hathaway, Ko ltay, Koi .acek, Bil o, Habenicht, Clayton, Van Dy ke Absent : Non e A quoru m was present. Also present: City Manager Mccown City Attorney DeWitt Assistant City Manager Vargas City Clerk Crow COUNCIL MEMBER KOZACEK MOVED TO BRING FORWARD AGENDA ITEM NO. 2 ·· A RESOLUTION OPPOSING A PROPOSED SALES TAX IN THE CITY Of ENGLEWOOD TO CONSTRUCT THE E-470 BELTWAY. Ayes: Nays: Abstain: Absent : Motion carried. Council Members Koltay, Hathaway , Kozac1,k, Habenicht , Bilo, Clayton, Van Dyke None Non e None City Manager HcCown presented a resolution oppo si ng a proposed :;ales tax, the purpose of whi ch is to help fund the construction of E-470 . He stated that one of the main concerns of staff and of oth ers, i .e ., Englewood Chamber of Commerce, is that the propo sal would include the City of Englewood in a taxing di strict which would establish an addit ional tax of .4%. He stressed that the concern was not with E-470 , which would be a goo d addition to the metro transportation system . It wa s felt that E-470 , being so far away from the City, would have very little d'rPct benefit to the citizens of Englewood and that it would be i nequ itable to propose that kind of tax for the Cit). He explained that the taxing district is s ubject to an election and that a hear - ing i s sc heduled for next Thursday whic~ he and Mayo r Van Dyke 11lan to attend . Member s of Council stated their positions on this matter. Coun cil Member Bilo stated he would vo t e in support of the r esoluti on , as he op po ses an increase of .4% in the taxe s; how ever, he stressed that th e project ~,as wo rthwhile . Cou ncil Member Kozacek stated he would be voting i n support of the resolution opposing the tax increase, sta t ing that he felt the co nstru ction of E-470 Englewood City Council Hinutes February 29 , 1988 -Page 2 would delay the completion of the Santa Fe corridor . Council Mem ber Hathawa y comme nted that she would vote in favor of the re so lution based on the fact that she would like more options of where to put a .4% sa les tax wh ic h would have a more direct benefit to th e City of Englewood and its residents than E- 4 70. Council Member C 1 ayton agreed that if we were to approve a tax increase the money should be spen t on the Santa Fe cor ri dor. He further stated that th i s Counci 1 should ur ge the E-470 commit tee to look for user funded sour ces instead of increa s ing our competith~ disadvantag e. RESOLUTION NO . 8 SERIES OF 1988 A RES OLUTION OPPOSING A PROPO SED SAL ES TAX IN THE CITY OF ENGLEWOOD TO CON- STRUCT THE E-470 BELTWAY. COUNCIL HEHBER KOZACE K HOVED, COUNCIL HEHBER HABENICHT SECONDED, TO APPROVE RESOLUTION NO . 8, SERIES OF 1988, IN OPPOSITION TO E-470 BELTWAY SALES TAX. Mayor Van Dyke asked if there was an yone pre sent who wi shed to address Counci 1 concer ning this matter. John Arnold, Executi ve Director of E-470 Authority, 9999 East Vale, Denver , gave a briefing about E-470 , stating that E-470 is a local government road be ing created by the counties of Arapahoe , Adams an d Douglas and the City of Aurora. He ex p 1 a i ned the corridor concept and the alternate revenue sources which were under con s ideration , stating the projected cost o' E-470 was $1 billion . He stressed that the proposed election scheduled fo~ Hay 3 would undoubted! y be postponed , and he urged Council to postpone act ion on this resolution. Mr . Arnold responded to questions and comments of Council. Mayor Van Dyke thanked Mr. Arnold for appearing before Council, stating she hoped this issue would be discussed further and that the lines of communication should be kept open . Howard McGregor , Pres i dent of the Greater Englewood Chamber of Commerce, 3925 South Kalamath, speaking on behalf of the Chamber , stated its opposition to the tax based on the premise the tax is discrimi natory as [nglcwood will receive little or no be nefits. Barry Coleman, Barry 's Paint Center, 3305 South Broadway , spoke in opposition to any increase of the sales tax, stating his doubts as to what the current tax structure will dJ to the local busin esses. He stressed that it i s very important to know whe re the taxes are to come from and what effect an increase will have . He added t hat it is diff k ·lt to know when to say "no" i n order to I keep the town healthy, the merchant s healthy, and the citizens provided with the services they ab solutely need. He urged Council to be careful in making any decisioi1 to increase tax.s. Dick Harrison, Pr esident of the Centennial Chamber of Commerce, l!Ol West Mineral , Littleton, r e iterated Hr . Arnold's comments to postpone action on the re solution, deferring a decision until after there has been an opportunity to study the matter further . He volunteered to mediat t and coordinate this is s ue . I Englewood City Council Minutes February 29, 1988 -Page 3 It was stressed by Council Member Habenicht that the resolution under consid - eration does not oppose the construction of E-470, only the inclusion of En - glewood in the taxing district . She further stated she felt that opposition needed to be made at this time. Council Membe,· Clayton also expressed his concerns about making a strong statement in oppo s ition to the propo sed increase of sa 1 es ta x. M,·. Harri son rep 1 i ed that he fe 1t a cone i se p 1 an could be put together and that the more flexibility we have in working together th e more we can acco m- plish, that we needed more communication between the par t i es. Council Member Kozacek commented that he wa s certainly in f avor of better com - munication, stating that the Council should have been asked fo r input before any action toward an e 1 ect ion was proposed . Mr . Arnold re s ponded that the E-470 committee had offered to present this in - formation earlier and that they were still will ing to do so at any time . Cou ncil Member Bilo s tated he did not feel this was an emergency action. COUNCIL MEMBER BILO MOVED TO TABLE THE MATTER TO COUNCIL'S REGULAR MEETING OF MARtH 7, 198B . COUNCIL MEMBER KOL TAY SEC ONO ED THE MOTi ON . Ayes : Council Members Koltay, Bilo, Van Dyke Nays : Counc i 1 Members Hathaway, Kozacek, Habenicht, Clayton Abstain: None Absent : None Motion to table failed and discussion continued . Greg Ha11k, Chief Engineer , E-470 Authority , brought to Council's att ention that the , meeting on March 3 is a public hearing to schedule election, there- fore, a11 election is not yet scheduled, only proposed . Also that the Authori- ty is t,usy working on a couple of ';hings relating to Englewood : I) a travel time analysis which would look at what the impacts would be for people travel- i ng to and from various destinations around the metro area, the time saved by E-470, number of facilities/r outes to be relieved by people using E-470 which would allow faster travel on those routes; another analysis is being done on eco nomic impacts of sales tax and other alternatives which would be done prior to any e 1 ect ion . He would 1 i ke to come back and ta 1 k about some of those pro - visions. He asked for the opportunity to discuss these pro visions with Coun - cil before a decision is made on the resolution . Council Member Habenicht stressed again that ·:1e resolution under consider - ation only states its opposition to the taxing provision , not the cons t ruction of E-470. S~e fe 1t that the purpo se of the schedu led pub 1 i c hearing is to address whether a sales tax bill would be c s tabl i shed . In 1 ight of that , she was of the opinion that this is the right time to have the City of Englewood exc 1 uded from a pr oposed sa 1 es tax . Mr . Arnold expressed concern that pa ssa ge of this resolution and possible press coverage of the matter might be detrimental to the mo~0 ntum of the project. Englewood City Council Hlnutes February 29, 1988 -Page 4 Counc i 1 Member Clayton wa s concerned that the momentum is for the sa 1 es tax, not necessarily the pro ject, and he wanted to be on record that Englewo od op - poses being included in the taxing di s trict . Council Member Hathaway stated that residents she has talked to about thi s matter are not oppos ed to E-470 ; however if they were informed they would have to pa y anoth er .4% sales tax toward its construction, they might feel differ ently. Coun c i 1 Member Kozacek addressed the City Manager to determine a time when Coun c i l would be available to di scus s thi s matte r further with Mr. Arnold . (-0 un c il Member Koltay called for the question. !lp pr ove Reso 1 ut ion No . 8 : Ayes : Council Members Ko ltay , Nays : Abstain : Ab se nt : Motion carried . Clayton , Van Dyke Council Member Bilo None None Vote results on the motion to Hathaway, Kozacek, Habenicht , Cou ncil Membe r Hab eni cht reiterated that she does not oppos e E-470 or any of the other 4 70 ' s, stating that the beltway is necessa r y for the whole metropolitan area . Coun cil Member Bilo commented that he felt Council had acted as if this were a crisis-issue . He further felt Council could have looked at the i ssue a littl e longer to determin e what this resolution would do . He explained that he had voted against the resolution on that basis; however , he is oppo sed to addi- tional taxation upon the City and not in opposition to E-470 . Council Member Koltay agreed that perhaps Council 's decision on this resolu- tion could have been delayed ; however, ~\ did feel that when the public hear- ing is held, Englewood's resolution in oµposition to being included in the tax dist rict should be presented to the co11'111ittee. Co uncil Membe r Kozar ,.•. wished to be on record that in his opinion it is time for gove rnmental entii ies to stand up for the bu s ine s ses and the people . Co unci l Me mbe r Clayton agreed that perhaps this matter was not an emergency , but he felt action on our part was necessary in response to the Notice of In- tent as received from the E-470 Authority. He further stated that E-470 i s needed and that he would support it as long as Englewood is not included in the taxing distri ct. * * •• * Mayor Van Dyk e announced th at Council would r ecess to be bri e fed conc~r;;l~Q Ag enda Item No . I -A b il 1 for an ordinance granting to the Englewood Urban Re newal Authority (EURA) a right to use municipal right -of -way . She asked if there was anyone in the aud i ence who would like to address City Council con - cerning this matter. Englewood City Council Minutes February <9, 1988 -Page 5 Lois Lighthall, 1540 East Girard Place, stated she wished to 5uggest a viable compromise in the Matter of permitting si gnage on Hampden and Englewood Park - way as proposed by the EURA. She felt this compromise would be in comp 1 i ance with the present sign code. She suggested that the EURA, not the developer, install a sign on Englewood city property . Under the Joint Sign Section of the Code a s ign could be in stalled which would advertise Market Place, Trolley Square, Li ncor an d the anchor stores, with the sign on private property, not State Highway right-of -way . Ms. Lighthall provided Council with the specific co de citation -Section 16 -4-Jg -ge(4) -Joint Identical Sign s. Mayor Van Dyke and Mayor Pro Tem Clayton both stated that Council was of the opinio n the Board of Adjustment and Appeal s had rul ed properly in the varianc e request and that the Board was proper in upholding the code . Ms. Lighthall al so suggested as another altern ative that the individual anchor store name s be dropped from the sig n and only have directional signs. Ms . Lighthall and ot her intere s ted parties were inv1ted to attend the briefi ng during the rece s s . MAYOR VAN D 1KE CALLED FOR A RECESS AT 8:40 P.H. The special meet ing of the Engl ewo od City Council was reconv~ned at 11 :05 p.m. Pre sent : Ab sent: A quorum was pre sent . Council M~m bers Ko ltay , Hathaway, Kozacek, Haben ic ht, Clay t on, Van Dyke Council Member Bil o A Ai 11 for an Ord i nan .:e granting to the Englewood Ur ban Renewa 1 A1 :thority a ri~ht to use municipal right-of-waJ was considered . COUNCIL BILL NO. 5, INTRODUCED BY COUNCIL MEMBER CLAYTON, WAS READ BY TITLE : A BILL FOR AN ORilINANCE GRANTING TO THE ENGLEWOOD URBAN RENEWAL AUTHORITY (EURA) A RIGHT TO USE MUNICIPAL RIGHT-OF -WAY . COUNCIL HEHBER CLAYTON MOVED, COUNCIL HEHBER HATHAWAY SECONDED, COUNCIL BILL NO . 5, SERIES OF 1988. Council flcm~e r Habenicht spok ~ ~gainst pa ssage of the Bill , s tating if the anchor names were deleted from the sign she would be more inclined to vote in favor . May or Van Dyke stated the viability of the development is virtually dependent upo n the si gn and t hat s he wa s totally in support of the sign . Council Members Clayton and Kozacek shared their concerns , but stated they ,muld be voting in favor of the Bill . Council Member Hathaway stated she Englewood City Council Hi nutes February 29, 1988 -Page 6 would vote to approve the Bill on condition that the provisions of the ~ign Code be reviewed. Council Member Koltay felt the sig n wa ~ a crucial element of the development and that he hoped it would prove ben r:f icial to both parties. Mayor Van Dyke ca lled Aye ~: Nays: Abstain : Absent: for the vote: Council Members Ko ltay, Van Dyke Council Memb er Habenicht None Council Member Bile Hathaway , Kozacek, Clayton, COUNCIL MEMBER KOLTAY MOVED TO ADJOURN . The meeting adjourned at 11 :1 7 p.m. City Clerk I