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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-03-11 EURA MINUTES• • • ENGLEWOOD URBAN RENEWAL AUTHORITY Ma rch 11 , 2 00 9 I. CALL TO ORDER lfll The regular meeting of the Eng l ewood Urban Renewal Authority was called to order at 6:3 7 p.m. in the Community Deve lopment Conference Room of the Englewood Civic Center, Chair Weeks presiding. Present: Weeks, Burns, Roge rs, Buchanan, Jiron Absent: Ber t o l uzzi, Wedd le, Roth Staff: Alan Wh ite, Commun ity Development Director 11 . PUBLIC FORUM 0 There was no one present to address the Authority. 111. APPROVAL OF MINUTES • January 14, 2009 Chair Weeks stated that the poll to approve the January 14, 2009 minutes was to be considered. Motion made and seconded to approve the poll approving the January 14, 2009 minutes AYES: NAYS: ABSTAIN: ABSENT: Weeks, Burns, Rogers None Bu c h anan Ber t ol u zzi, Weddle, Ro t h The motion car r ied. IV. INTRODUCTION OF NEW MEMBERS 0 Mr. Buchanan stated he works at the University of Denver at a l ega l reform institute. He sa id he is a lawyer by trade an d has lived in En glewood for the past 3 years. Ms. Jiron is t he new alternate . She i s an attorney and engineer, but currently is a stay-at- home mom. She has a 9 month old an d a 2 1/2 year old . The other Authority members i ntroduced themselves as well as Exec u tive Direct o r White and Recording Secretary Krecklow . Everyone welco m ed Mr. Bu chanan and Ms . Jiron. .. • • • v. ~ RESOLUTIONS A. Resolution 03, Series of 2009 - A Resolution designating the location of the Authority Offices as 1000 Englewood Parkway, Englewood, CO 80110 Burns moved: Buchanan seconded: TO APPROVE RESOLUTION 03 , SERIES OF 2009 AS WR ITIE N AYES: NAYS: ABSTAIN : ABSENT: Weeks, Rogers, Burn s, Buchanan Non e None Roth , Weddle, Bertoluzzi The motion carried. l?ll B. Resolution 04, Series of 2009 - A resolution to rescind the requirement for the Secretary/Executive Director to post a bond. Burns moved: Buchanan seconded : TO APPROVE RESOLUTION 04, SERIES OF 2009 AS WR ITIE N AYES : NAYS: ABSTA IN: ABSENT : Weeks, Rogers, Burns, Buchan an None None Roth , Weddle, Bertoluzzi T he moti on carried. ~ C. Resolution 05, Series of 2009 - A Resolution designating the posting location for meeting notices be the same location as are notices for City Council meetings. Burns moved : Buchanan seconded: TO APPROVE RESOLUTION 05, SERIES OF 2009 AS WRITIEN AYES: NAYS: ABSTAIN : ABSENT: Weeks, Rogers, Burns, Buch anan None None Roth , Weddle, Bertoluzzi The motion carried. VI. REQUEST TO USE EURA PROPERTY FOR A FARMER'S MARKET ~ Mr. White indicated on a large map th e area in whic h the proposed farmer's market wo uld be held . He stated an application had been submitted to th e City by th e Engl ewood 2 • • • Chamber of Commerce to conduct a farmer 's market on City and EURA property. As one of the property owners they need permission from the EURA to use the property at the corner of Broadway and Englewood Parkway . It will require a Temporary Use Permit approved through the Community Development Department. Chair Weeks asked if they would also be using the parking area on Acoma. Mr. White said that was correct. Chair Weeks asked if any of the business owners had had any comments in that regards . Mr. White said he had not heard anything to date. He said the farmer 's market could be a benefit to the merchants . Mr. Burns asked who was going to generate the insurance policy. Mr. White said the Chamber of Commerce would be providing insurance and the EURA would be named as an additional insured on the policy. Chair Weeks asked if there was any other discussion. The members stated they had no objection to the Chamber using the property. Chair Weeks asked if Council is in support as well. Mr. White said the proposal has not yet been in front of Council to ask permission to use City property, but said he assumed they will approve. Chair Weeks asked if the EURA should postpone making a decision until Mayor Woodward can discuss the issue with Council. Mr. White said another condition could be added stating EURA's approval is contingent upon the City giving approval, since we don't know exactly when we will meet again and they want to start the market on May 2"d. Mr. White said the Mayor and Council are aware of this and Councilman Penn has talked about it at length. Rogers moved: Burns seconded: TO ALLOW THE ENGLEWOOD GREATER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE TO USE THE ENGLEWOOD URBAN RENEWAL 'S PROPERTY LOCATED AT ACOMA AND ENGLEWOOD PARKWAY FOR A FARMER'S MARKET CONTINGENT UPON THE FOLLOWING: THE EURA BE NAMED AS AN ADDITIONAL INSURED ON THE INSURANCE POLICY COVERING THE EVENT, THE PROPERTY BE CLEANED UP AFTER EACH USE AND RETURNED TO ITS ORIGINAL CONDITION UPON CONCLUSION OF THE EVENT IN OCTOBER AND UPON CITY COUNCIL'S APPROVAL OF THE USE OF THEIR LAND. AYES: NAYS : ABSTAIN: ABSENT: Weeks, Rogers, Burns, Buchanan None None Roth, Weddle, Bertoluzzi The motion carried . 3 VII. DISCUSSION OF ACOM A PROPERTY • ~ Mr. White said the Englewood Arts Redevelopment Agreement was terminated by the Authority at the beginning of the year. He and Chair Weeks met and talked about what the next step is for the property, but are not sure the EURA can do anything given the state of the economy, but wanted to have a general discussion with the other Authority members . • • Mr. Burns asked if the two new members knew the history of the property. Ms. Jiron said she had read all of the meeting minutes, but didn 't understand totally what happened . Mr. Burns said Mr. Anderson's reason given to t he Authority was not very clear . It appeared there wasn't even an attempt to do fund raising, yet the press reported it was because of the economy. Ms. Rogers said the impression she got was that Glenarm Partners felt this wasn 't the right time for the project. Mr. Burns said he thought Englewood Arts has looked into redeveloping the old Flood Middle Schoo l property and there is also another group in Arapahoe County that is interested in building a performing arts center and you don 't need two of them in the county. Englewood heavily supports and promotes the arts . Ms. Rogers provided some background on the importance of art in the City for the two new members. She noted the former Mayor, Olga Wolosyn, was an artist. Chair Weeks asked the members for their thoughts . Mr. Burns said it probably wasn 't a good atmosphere in which to try to resurrect a project at this time. Ms . Rog e rs said th e merchants appreciate the use of the parking lot. Mr. Burns said a parking stud y had been done and showed a lot of the cars parked there during the day are employees of the businesses. Ms. Rogers said she believed parking was a big problem and Engle wood Arts came to the conclusion they were going to have to have a significant amount of off-site parking because they could not afford to build on-site parking. Ms . Jiron asked if the EURA still had a copy of the parking stud y. Chair Weeks said the EURA ne ve r received a copy. Ms . Rogers said ideally in the Request for Proposal the EURA wanted a combination of commercial and residential or all commercial with a theatre . We wanted something that would generate activity in the downtown area. Chair Weeks asked the members if they thought the property should be left as is for now. Mr. Burns said he felt the Acoma property shou ld be put on hold for now, but would lik e to see something on the corner of Broadway and Englewood Parkwa y. Ways of ma rketing the property were discussed . Mr. White will speak to the EURA 's attorney regarding marketing efforts to make sure Urban Renewal Statutes are not being violated. Most members felt it could be at least a year before a developer could obtain financing . Mr. White said the 25 year time limit for tax increment financing expired i n 2007. There is a provision in the State Statutes that the sales tax i ncrement can be extended beyond that but has to be with an agreement between the urban renewal authority and the city. It could be extended in theory. The ability for the Authority to finance anything through tax increment is gone. 4 • • • The value of putting out another Request for Proposal was discussed . Most felt it was a waste of time and effort right now. Mr. White said when prospects contact the City looking for sites the EURA property is always offered up. Ms. Jiron suggested doing a Request for Proposal for creative financing for a new arts center. Ms. Rogers said she felt that might be beneficial. Mr. Burns said he felt the EURA should keep their eyes and ears open and keep an eye on the financial markets. Ms. Rogers said maybe we can concentrate on trying to find a way to partner with another company for financing . She said Denver paid for a study when they kicked off the Create Denver campaign and suggested Staff obtain a copy of that study. VIII. DISCUSSION OF ENGLEWOOD INDUSTRIAL REDEVELOPMENT AREA ~ Mr. White distributed a map of the Englewood Industrial Redevelopment Area. This area is along the Light Rail line just south of the RTD Maintenance Facility, which is mostly in Denver. It extends approximately from Dartmouth north to Yale and from the railroad tracks east to the alley between Delaware and Elati. This area was established in ear ly 2001. The creation of an urban renewal area and the use of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) are good for 25 years. We are almost 10 years into the use of the TIF on this property. Some jurisdictions, when they have had no development happen in an urban renewal area have gone back and terminated the urban renewal area, waited a certain amount of time and come back and reestablished it perhaps with new boundaries, but primarily for the purpose of starting the 25 year time period for the TIF again. The advantage is that the EURA can start the 25 year clock over again. The disadvantage is that the EURA must go through the whole process of designating blight again and the designation would be subject to all th e new laws . He asked the members what their thoughts were. Chair Weeks asked what the status of the proposed Bates light rail station would have on the property. Mr. Burns said there was supposed to be a light rail stop there, but the cost has escalated. Mr. White said the last figures received from RTD showed the cost above $11 million, 1 /3 paid by RTD . There are two owners of the property, the Winslows and the Barton brothers . The owners and the City have talked at various times over the years regarding the redevelopment of the property. Mr. Burns noted there is some minor contamination on the property that would need to be cleaned up . Chair Weeks asked for clarification on the reduction in years of the TIF. Mr. White said the buying power of the TIF in terms of buying debt diminishes over the years. For a past proposed project the projections were that the property tax and sales tax increment at build-out would be about $17 million . $17 million only gets you about $12 million in actual money to work with. The rest is for carrying costs and debt service. That would barely pay for the station. There's about $5 to $7 million in infrastructure that the owners would like to see somehow publicly financed . The City doesn't have the resources to do that. Extending the TIF another 9 years may be enough to get the dollars a developer needs depending on the project. Mr. Burns said it was a real effort to get the blight designation the last time and the laws are much more restrictive now. Chair Weeks said it would be nice to see a large industrial complex on the property as there 's great frontage, a railroad line and Santa Fe for access . 5 • • • Chair Weeks said, in his opinion, it might be good to wait a little bit since there are no development proposals for the area right now. Mr. Burns said he read an article in th e Denv er Post that stated that the commercial office buildings at the light rail stops are full and others are not, which shows the benefit of being on a transit line. Mr. Buchanan asked how long it would take to remove th e certification. Mr. White said it could be done by a vote . The EURA would make the recommendation and then it would go to City Council. Mr. Buchanan asked how long the process took in 2001. Mr. Burns said several years. The Authority decided to revisit discussing the property in one year. IX. DIRECTOR'S CHOICE ~ Mr. White stated the contractor who is working on Phase II of the paseo on the west side of the 3400 block of South Broadway needs a staging area on Acoma . The contractor would lik e to use an area the size of four or five parking spaces for equipment and storage of materials. Chair Weeks asked if the contractor would be submitting an application. Mr. White noted there was no need for a formal application; a motion would suffice. The project should be completed mid-summer. Burns moved: Buchanan seconded : TO APPROVE THE USE OF FOUR OR FIVE PARKING SPACES ON THE ACOMA PROPERTY AS A STAGING AREA FOR THE CONTRACTOR WORKING ON THE PASEO ON THE CONDITION THE CITY 'S ENGINEERS APPROVE THE USE , THE AREA BE CLEANED UP AND RETURNED TO IT'S ORIGINAL CONDITION AND THE EURA BE NAMED AS AN ADDITIONAL INSURED ON THE INSURANCE POLICY . AYES : NAYS: ABSTAIN: ABSENT : Weeks, Rogers , Burns, Buchanan None None Roth , Weddle, Bertoluzzi The motion carried . X. COMMISSIONER'S CHOICE ~ Mr. Burns welcomed the new members. Chair Weeks and the members discussed the meeting schedule for 2009. After discussion it was decided the Authority will meet in May, August and November and all Minutes will be approved through an email poll. Chair Weeks said he attended the Boards and Commission class put on by CML. He asked if the members would have more opportunities to attend other educational seminars. Staff will look into it. 6 • • • There was no further business to come before the Authority; the meeting was declared adjourned at 8:20 p .m . ~~~/£1«) Barbara Krecklow, ~ording Secretary 7 • • • The recording secretary conducted a poll of seven Englewood Urban Renewal Authority members via email to approve the Minutes of March 11 , 2009. The Minutes of March 11, 2009 were approved. AYES: NAYS: ABSENT: ABSTAIN: Rogers, Weeks, Buchanan , Burns None None Bertoluzzi, Weddle, Roth