Tuesday, September 22, 2026, 1:15 p.m. (Denver time), Parr-Widener Community Room, Room 389
0:32 A chair, the community
0:37 planning and development. And
0:38 I looked my have pay this is
0:39 my thing they the land use
0:40 Commission. Let's get started
0:40 introductions and I'll start
0:44 of justices to half and
0:48 there's Kevin Flynn, southwest
0:54 numbers district elect with
0:56 decides to preserve, protect
0:57 And Campbell said the
0:58 separatists their wants and
1:02 find district 9 contrast I can
1:12 be Kyle Dolton's. Even search
1:21 day to actually needed our
1:22 executive director Brad
1:22 Buchanan is traveling out of
1:25 the country and sad not to be
1:26 here today. So I along with
1:28 Andrea Don, again, the other
1:29 deputy executive director and
1:32 cpd will make the presentation
1:35 and we have our entire senior
1:35 leadership team here to help
1:36 answer questions. So hopefully
1:40 you'll be in good hands. So
1:41 cpd touches the lives of
1:43 Denver writes every day. This
1:43 is an overview of the
1:45 different types of work that
1:48 we do. We leave the planning
1:50 for the whole city and its
1:51 neighborhoods working together
1:53 with community develop plans
1:56 to guide future of the city.
1:58 We leave the implementation of
1:59 those plans that entails
2:01 partnering with other
2:03 departments to make sure that
2:04 they great ideas and the plans
2:06 are implemented as well as
2:08 leading things like updates to
2:10 our own codes and regulations.
2:11 So they align with our adopted
2:14 policy and plans. We also lead
2:17 the historic preservation of
2:18 Denver, preserving its unique
2:19 culture and history through
2:20 the amazing work of our
2:24 landmark team. Obviously, cpd
2:26 plays a very big role in the
2:27 multi department process of
2:29 permitting and development
2:30 review. And we have our
2:32 employees out on the street
2:33 every day inspecting
2:34 properties and doing code
2:39 enforcement. As we think about
2:41 our budget for 2027 wanted to
2:41 highlight some of our
2:42 strategic priorities for the
2:45 coming year. One that we're
2:47 really excited about and
2:48 presented to many of you about
2:49 last week in community
2:50 planning, Housing Committee.
2:53 It's called regulatory reform.
2:56 This is our effort to look
2:57 comprehensively at our zoning
2:59 code and are designed Senator
2:59 guidelines and look for
3:02 opportunity to remove red
3:04 tape, remove redundancies and
3:07 things that are confusing.
3:07 Duplicative, simplify and
3:11 streamline. The first phase of
3:14 regulatory reform is already
3:15 underway and is focused lower
3:16 hanging fruit that don't
3:17 require a lot of policy
3:17 change. Our stakeholder
3:21 engagement. And we hope that
3:22 that first phase will be in
3:23 front of city Council for your
3:26 consideration and early 2027.
3:28 And we would then continue its
3:28 future phases into 2027 as
3:32 well. Another big priority for
3:35 us. This is a neighborhood
3:37 planning initiative. We have 2
3:38 plans that started this year
3:41 and will continue into 2027.
3:42 There's the near Northeast
3:43 planning thumbs up over there
3:47 from COUNCILMAN Watson and
3:50 along with COUNCILMAN Luis,
3:51 their 2 districts are touched
3:54 by the near Northeast plan and
3:55 that plans well underway and
3:56 we hope it will be adopted by
3:59 the end of next year. We also
3:59 have the fire northwest plan
4:01 and COUNCILMAN Sandoval
4:03 district, which is just a
4:05 little bit few months stagger
4:07 behind and that we anticipate
4:09 would be done in early 2028.
4:10 So those appear to big mpi
4:13 plans for next year. Another
4:15 big priority for us is
4:17 updating the Denver Energy
4:20 Code. This has already multi
4:22 month process with lots of
4:23 great engagement that will
4:26 continue through the fall and
4:27 then we anticipate bringing
4:30 that forward for City Council
4:31 consideration and adoption and
4:33 early 2027. And of course,
4:36 another big priority. Fire
4:37 department is advancing
4:38 catalytic development. That's
4:41 going to promote so much great
4:43 new development in Denver and
4:44 doing and a thoughtful and
4:45 inclusive way. For example,
4:47 this year we are leading
4:48 planned to guide the
4:51 redevelopment of yard. We also
4:55 have it very small, but mighty
4:56 Doctor Friese team that's
4:57 doing great work to promote
5:00 office residential conversion
5:01 and promote our calls for
5:04 downtown. And Getting more
5:10 residents and units. So as we
5:12 think about big picture are
5:13 2027 budget likes most most
5:15 agencies. I think we were.
5:17 Really thinking about how to
5:21 balance. Pretty modest gross
5:23 with increased costs for
5:25 personnel. This is definitely
5:26 pronounced in the department
5:29 like cpd where almost 96% of
5:34 our budget is personnel. And
5:36 in particular, we needed to
5:38 absorb costs related to
5:39 increased health care and dirt
5:42 benefits for our employees.
5:43 And that meant that we did
5:45 have to make a small number of
5:48 proposed reductions for 2027.
5:49 Fortunately, they are much
5:50 smaller than the reductions
5:52 that we were looking at and
5:53 2026, but obviously so
5:56 difficult decisions to make.
5:58 And so important to step back
5:58 and think about how do we
6:00 prioritize our resources top
6:05 of mind for us is maintaining
6:05 the amazing progress that's
6:06 been made on on time
6:09 permitting. Andrea, we'll get
6:11 up soon and share some of our
6:12 key performance indicators
6:13 with you. And you'll see the
6:14 actual numbers of how much
6:15 we've improved in this area
6:16 and the past couple of years.
6:18 And it's really important to
6:20 emphasize that, yes, there has
6:23 been some decrease in volume
6:25 recently, but we also have had
6:26 major reductions to our
6:27 workforce, especially after
6:30 last year's budget reductions.
6:32 Yet we are still able to
6:33 achieve highest on-time
6:34 performance we've seen in
6:35 years and a lot of that's
6:37 because of the amazing work of
6:41 our team to identify. I fished
6:42 in seas and the process look
6:44 for ways to reduce submittal
6:45 requirements, cetera. And
6:48 that's really showing up. And
6:49 that's a priority for to
6:50 maintain staffing and the work
6:51 that's needed to continue to
6:56 deliver. Love those that are
6:57 actually even above often. But
6:59 our target on time
7:00 performances. So I was a key
7:03 consideration for 2027. Also
7:05 top of mind is how do we
7:07 prioritize resources to
7:08 advance priorities and
7:11 projects that will help us
7:17 achieve our citywide goals.
7:19 end of the list. Shares
7:19 Definitely not least at the
7:21 thinking about impacts to
7:22 communities and how do we
7:23 prioritize resources and
7:26 Denver residents in
7:26 projects that will best serve
7:28 particular, most vulnerable
7:31 residents, which is a good
7:33 segue to our equity
7:34 considerations. Equity is a
7:36 core value for our department
7:37 and something we try to
7:39 integrate into all of our
7:39 decision-making and all of our
7:42 projects. You can see in blue
7:45 some examples of work we've
7:46 been doing recently to advance
7:48 equity in our department.
7:51 language access. We have
7:51 We've done a lot around
7:53 specialized language access
7:55 plans for different projects.
7:57 We also have a relatively new
7:59 service that will connect our
8:00 customers. For example, they
8:01 come to the customer service
8:04 counter and the translation
8:06 services. They will be
8:08 connected on demand to a human
8:09 on the phone who can provide
8:12 that translation for them.
8:13 We're also prioritizing
8:14 resources for affordable
8:17 housing review team and the 90
8:19 day review time that came with
8:19 implementing Proposition 1, 2,
8:25 3, Which helps deliver much
8:26 needed affordable housing
8:27 units faster for our
8:29 residents. And we are thinking
8:32 about equity internally as
8:33 well. How do we better
8:34 integrate into our workplace
8:34 culture? That's been a huge
8:37 focus for us in 2026. We
8:38 partnered with the Office of
8:41 Social Equity and Innovation
8:43 to Roll out a series of
8:44 internal trainings focused
8:50 around Ddi for our staff. And
8:51 before I turn it over time,
8:52 Jared just one last slide to
8:55 highlight our organizational
8:56 structure. We are not
9:00 proposing any organizational
9:00 changes and try 27 there's not
9:01 been a lot changes since you
9:04 saw this last. But just a
9:04 quick reminder and green on
9:07 the left is our develop and
9:09 side of the house where our
9:11 permitting in plan review and
9:13 inspections lives and then
9:16 yellow. You see planning and
9:17 operations. She's our planning
9:18 and policy work. And then all
9:21 the amazing teams that support
9:24 our work from budget today to
9:24 performance and our
9:27 communications team. All
9:27 right. And I'll turn it over
9:42 to Andrea.
9:52 All Thank you, Sarah. So start
9:53 by sharing some permit
9:57 permitting data with you all.
9:58 So this line here represents
9:59 your today trends for 2
10:01 development activity
10:02 indicators. So the one on the
10:05 left is going to show locks
10:06 open or building plan
10:07 submittals and then the one on
10:08 the right is going to show
10:11 permits issued to date. So
10:12 starting with the left. So is
10:14 when somebody submits through
10:18 a plan review. So essentially
10:20 somebody wants to build or
10:21 renovate so they submit their
10:22 plans to be reviewed for code
10:24 compliance. Owning another
10:26 requirements. So at this
10:28 point, no constructions
10:29 authorized the craft on the
10:30 right or excuse me. We'll
10:31 start with the craft from the
10:32 left which shows the locks
10:33 openness down 4%. So
10:34 submittals are down slightly
10:39 by 4%. But I will say it's a
10:41 function of our team and their
10:42 process improvements and
10:45 looking for efficiencies. So,
10:46 for example, our interior
10:48 remodel quick permits has been
10:49 widely successful. It's been
10:50 huge innovation that allows
10:52 customers to get permits for
10:54 home projects that don't
10:55 involve structural changes
10:58 within hours. Instead of
11:00 weeks. So projects like this
11:02 are simple quick permit, which
11:04 is now which is not entered as
11:06 a lock anymore. So if we
11:08 adjust for our innovation were
11:10 actually slightly up. So 0.6%
11:14 rather than 4% down. Moving
11:16 over to the graph on the
11:18 right. Going for permits
11:21 issued. So obviously a permit
11:21 is issued after the plan
11:23 review is complete and the
11:24 project's approved. So
11:25 essentially this is the cream.
11:28 Might the authorizes actual
11:30 construction permits are
11:31 issued across building
11:34 construction fire in zoning.
11:37 And currently they're down by
11:39 14.3% I do want to note that
11:39 doesn't necessarily reflect
11:42 the volume of work we have in
11:45 opens. It's more accurate
11:45 progress. So again, logs
11:46 because it's indicator of all
11:47 the work coming through our
11:51 door. To give additional
11:52 contacts last year. At the
11:54 same point, we were down 14%
11:58 and we ended the year at 8%.
11:58 So that 14% isn't necessarily
11:59 reflective of where we'll end
12:04 year. So couple slides I will
12:05 review are on time
12:05 performance, but this is going
12:06 to show the efficiency as we
12:09 put in place to ensure that
12:10 we're managing the workload
12:10 effect to flee from a
12:17 day-to-day basis. So moving on
12:18 a disc wrap here is going to
12:19 represent concept plans and
12:23 foremost site development
12:24 plans year-to-date. So again,
12:27 year-to-date numbers as of
12:29 SEPTEMBER. So a concept plan
12:30 is the initial high-level
12:31 proposal at developer submits
12:33 to the city. So out outlines
12:35 the general vision of the
12:36 project which allows the city
12:37 to get feedback before
12:40 detailed design work begins On
12:41 the flip side, a formal site
12:44 development plan or stp as the
12:45 detailed follow-up. So after
12:46 incorporating feedback from
12:50 the concept phase, this is the
12:51 final approval the city must
12:55 before the project forward. So
12:57 both metrics are going reflect
12:57 the pipeline of future
13:00 development across the city.
13:01 Concept plans will signal
13:03 signal new projects entering
13:05 the system while formal stp
13:07 zircon and indicate projects
13:09 advancing toward application.
13:10 So you're just you're today.
13:14 Submittals are down by 13.7%
13:16 compared to prior year. But
13:19 similar to the previous slide.
13:20 Our hard-working team has
13:21 implemented many efficiencies.
13:22 So we did implement the one
13:25 and done concept review plan,
13:26 plan Review, which contributed
13:29 to the decrease. So overall,
13:32 well, permits are down the
13:33 volume of entitlement plan.
13:34 Review work reflects the real
13:35 work load that the teams are
13:37 managing. I move on to the
13:42 next slide. Which reviews
13:43 permitting valuation. These
13:46 are year-to-date numbers. As
13:48 of SEPTEMBER. And I will note
13:49 that these to include building
13:49 trade, construction,
13:53 demolition and fire. I so
13:54 value Ation will capture the
13:55 dollar value of construction,
13:58 prov projects being permitted,
13:58 which reflects the economic
14:00 scale of development activity.
14:02 While permit counts MAY be
14:04 down. Valuation tells a very
14:05 different story about the
14:06 scale and complexity of the
14:08 work that we're processing. So
14:10 looking at the graph we are on
14:13 pace with previous years,
14:18 neck-and-neck with last The
14:20 next slide. I will show your
14:20 only for year-over-year
14:24 permitting the valuation. So
14:25 columns for years 20 20
14:28 through 2025. Are going to
14:29 show full-year performance
14:30 wears 2026. Will show your
14:35 today as of SEPTEMBER. So with
14:37 this being we are on pace to
14:41 finish up 4 billion valuation
14:42 us So again, lower permit
14:42 counts, but valuation can
14:44 still remain strong with a
14:46 larger, more complex projects
14:47 that are coming through our
14:55 pipeline. The next represent
14:56 Cp's on-time performance. And
14:57 definitely something we're
15:00 very proud of that cpd. So on
15:00 time performance is going to
15:01 measure how cpd completes its
15:04 reviews within the established
15:05 time frames. I will note this
15:08 is a comprehensive measure
15:08 that captures our full
15:09 performance which now includes
15:10 concepts and site development
15:15 plans. So you'll see are
15:17 increasing on time performance