Tuesday, November 18, 2025, 1 p.m. (Denver time), City & County Building, Room 391
The Community Planning and Housing Committee heard a presentation on the Far Southwest Area Plan, covering its inclusive engagement process, six community priorities, and unanimous approvals by the community advisory committee and Planning Board; members praised the outreach and raised questions about zoning implementation along Federal Boulevard, South Platte River language, school closures, and displacement risk. The committee then took up 2026-2028 street outreach contracts with the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless (Denver Street Outreach Collaborative), Urban Peak, and Urban Alchemy totaling about $11.24 million over three years, with debate over the concentration of outreach resources in downtown priority zones, metrics, and the funding source for the Urban Alchemy community ambassador contract. HOST also briefed the committee on five permanent supportive housing contracts for 2026-27 serving roughly 650 households annually, with questions about the scale of need, CCH properties, staff turnover, and the forthcoming housing needs assessment. Items were moved forward toward the full council.
0:01 with Denver City Council.
0:05 If your community planning and
0:07 Housing Committee starts now.
0:21 From there. All Welcome to
0:22 community planning and
0:25 housing. It is apparently
0:26 NOVEMBER 18th 2025 really
0:26 started him today. Yeah, we
0:30 have a packed agenda so I will
0:31 start. I'm counselor, larger
0:34 start of my Pi. Good
0:34 afternoon. I always feel like
0:37 I'm so surprised start first.
0:38 Hi, Out Campbell, Southeast
0:42 Denver District Court. That be
0:43 District 7? I mean, artistic
0:47 fight. And I don't think we
0:50 have many consumers online
0:51 today Councilmember Flynn,
0:52 you're just in time resolve
0:58 itself for the people.
0:59 Southwest numbers district to
1:02 look at summit France.
1:03 All right. So since we have
1:04 so much on the agenda will
1:06 start out with a presentation
1:09 on the first Southwest area
1:10 plan from Brian in cbd. You
1:11 can introduce yourself get us
1:14 rolling. Thank you so much.
1:15 Good afternoon. Thank Brian.
1:16 But senior city planner with
1:17 Department of Community
1:19 Planning and development, the
1:23 project manager for the Far
1:24 Southwest area present this
1:25 you today for your
1:29 consideration for background,
1:30 far, Southwest Plan is the
1:32 latest plan. The neighborhood
1:33 Planning initiative. It's
1:34 comprised of the 6
1:35 neighborhood you can see on
1:36 the screen, rv park, park
1:39 South College. Marched and
1:39 we're looking essentially
1:42 everywhere in the city west of
1:43 the South Platte River and
1:47 south of Jewel Avenue. It's
1:50 entirely in council district 2
1:50 as we've been working plan
1:52 really over the course of the
1:53 past year and a half or
1:56 gathering community input.
2:00 Think it really combines the
2:05 guidance and covers planned
2:08 2040, comedian strong
2:09 community support. So let give
2:13 you outline of the agenda.
2:14 First. Want to cover that
2:14 criteria for adoption of
2:15 supplements to the
2:19 comprehensive plan. Which this
2:19 is and in order proceed in a
2:22 narrative fashion. So talk
2:25 about. But we did for first
2:25 item and how we use that to
2:27 draft our initial draft of the
2:30 plan. And I'll talk about the
2:33 plan content what we heard
2:34 from the community in response
2:35 to And then conclude with
2:36 staff recommendation open any
2:43 questions. So comprehensive
2:46 plan establishes 3 criteria
2:50 for supplements to the
2:53 Conference of So inclusive
2:53 community process has to be
2:57 followed to develop the plan.
3:00 Supplements have to be
3:02 consistent with covering plan
3:03 2040 and plans have to
3:05 demonstrate a long-term view.
3:07 So throughout my presentation,
3:08 you'll see how far Southwest
3:12 Plan meets these 3 criteria.
3:13 It's going to be at the
3:14 forefront of men actually want
3:17 to little bit about what we
3:19 did at the outset of this
3:22 plan. So to begin, we reviewed
3:25 company to plan 2040,
3:26 blueprint unidentified which
3:29 policies and strategies in
3:31 those plans really required
3:32 community input and something
3:36 of a level of neighborhood
3:37 specificity. And then we use
3:38 that analysis. We identify
3:41 those topics and then we I
3:43 went to the community
3:44 beginning summer, you know,
3:45 late summer through the fall
3:48 last year. Together to get
3:49 that level of specificity that
3:53 we needed. So I won't go into
3:54 everything that we did for
3:55 engagement will say it was
3:56 extensive but really took 3
4:03 approach to it. So we had our
4:04 traditional in-person
4:05 engagement. So get a large
4:05 kickoff meeting. 250 folks
4:08 attend. It was far more
4:09 successful that we expected it
4:15 to be. I know we met with our
4:17 our nose in the far southwest
4:20 area. We pop ups community
4:22 events and then we also had
4:24 some focused in-person
4:24 engagement. And so we
4:28 partnered with 3. Not profits.
4:32 And the far Southwest area for
4:33 community Navigator support to
4:34 help reach under represented
4:38 communities and for Southwest.
4:41 Then we also have to get with
4:42 a manufactured housing
4:43 community for Southwest area
4:44 and throughout the process. We
4:47 met high school students, jfk
4:51 and Lincoln High Schools. And
4:53 then we also had all right
4:54 opportunities for people to
4:55 refer to a person online
4:57 person. So we have surveys as
4:58 well. And, you know, this is
4:59 really specific to the first
5:00 round, but this is kind of the
5:04 approach we took from planning
5:05 process. But I'll say early
5:07 stage, our engagement with
5:11 bolstered by fact that we send
5:12 30,000 postcards, nearly 3
5:12 dozen postcards, one every
5:15 address, far southwest to make
5:16 sure that everyone the area
5:16 was aware about the plan from
5:25 the outset. And analyzing what
5:26 we heard from community
5:28 members of the round, we
5:30 identified 6 community
5:33 priorities. You can see that
5:33 here comes the torture
5:34 centers, a quiet suburban
5:37 neighborhoods, local
5:38 businesses, strict design,
5:38 transportation options and
5:42 social community spaces. As
5:44 you'll go through each one of
5:45 these, quite chilly. Some of
5:45 the associated policies and
5:48 out comes with them. But as
5:48 you'll see in these are
5:49 interconnected in many ways
5:57 and overlapping. So complete
5:59 commercial centers your first.
6:01 So what we call community
6:02 centers and corridors,
6:08 including Denver. And just to
6:09 give you some context far
6:10 Southwest, these are areas
6:12 like the one Federal Boulevard
6:15 Sharon Boulevard was worth
6:19 Evans. And today are
6:20 essentially entirely be
6:22 oriented entirely to Marshall.
6:24 A lot of community members
6:25 spoke about how they felt very
6:26 transactional, their places.
6:29 You go to you conduct whatever
6:30 business you go give their
6:34 forward and you go. And
6:35 there's a strong desire to see
6:38 really more neighborhood
6:42 centers. And so the has
6:43 guidance to balance the needs
6:44 of drivers and people who walk
6:49 into transit role in bike and
6:52 to see these whatever course
6:53 understood today evolved next
6:58 2 senators. I early privately
6:59 owned land today to include
7:08 public spaces. Just really
7:10 function as community
7:11 gathering spaces. And so this
7:12 is especially important for
7:15 Federal Boulevard where we're
7:16 that the brt line in Denver
7:20 will be along federal and so
7:21 this plan includes significant
7:23 guidance for how federal
7:25 Boulevard can evolved from a
7:26 bottle be ordered quarter
7:33 today to transit over into And
7:34 just reference, you can see
7:36 the map here. Commercial areas
7:37 are really talking about
7:38 outlined in black in color to
7:40 ruins of Federal Boulevard and
7:44 Evans, 2 shopping centers
7:44 Sheridan Boulevard and then on
7:50 once worked as well. And flip
7:53 side of that is quite suburban
7:58 neighborhoods. So commercial
7:59 areas in far Southwest
8:00 significant capacity for
8:04 growth. And so our Southwest
8:06 planned largely hears the
8:07 blueprint. Blueprint, Denver's
8:12 growth strategy. You see. Most
8:16 growth go to centers and
8:17 corridors where there's best
8:19 access to transit, better
8:24 access to jobs and amenities.
8:26 And keeps most low residential
8:29 areas, low residential. There
8:31 is some exception to mentioned
8:32 up come Federal Boulevard Bus
8:35 Rapid Transit line in
8:36 recognition improve transit,
8:41 access their this plan as of
8:45 some of the low residential on
8:48 and near federal low medium
8:50 residential. You know, we've
8:51 identified there's community
8:53 support and opportunity for
8:56 housing options like town
8:57 houses and duplexes today
8:58 where there are only seeing we
9:03 residential. Another part of
9:05 this is preserving historic
9:07 areas like those park, which
9:10 has a a collection historic
9:14 mistreatment houses and also
9:15 implementing traffic calming
9:16 on slick neighborhood streets
9:18 were folks em speeding
9:22 becoming law? And so again,
9:25 places map low residential
9:25 this is the Denver future
9:27 areas are kind of the cream
9:29 color and then you can kind of
9:32 see outlined areas near
9:33 Federal Boulevard where
9:38 proposing to. Allow duplexes
9:40 and townhomes with
9:41 considerations for design and
9:42 affordability and its
9:47 placement. We also heard
9:50 there's a strong support for
9:51 local businesses to see more
9:53 local businesses in far
9:57 southwest. So part of this is
9:59 that complete commercial
10:00 centers right? So having
10:05 housing where their businesses
10:06 and entrepreneurs in those
10:14 areas right? Also investing in
10:15 affordable housing those areas
10:16 is incredibly important with
10:17 the top priorities we heard
10:20 from business owners. Was that
10:22 touch is difficult to find
10:24 employees that can afford to
10:25 live in the area. And so
10:28 investing in affordable
10:29 housing, critical. And there's
10:31 also support for business
10:32 incubator and southwest to see
10:39 more local And safer streets.
10:42 So far, Southwest is entirely
10:43 within suburban context. It's
10:45 mostly post-World War. 2
10:47 suburban development, many of
10:49 the streets are very odd will
10:50 be oriented. We expect most
10:51 people to continue to drive,
10:55 but there's opportunities to
10:56 improve safety, especially
10:59 with traffic calming on slick
11:02 places like Lowell Boulevard,
11:04 Sheridan, you know, several
11:04 neighborhood streets. We've
11:08 identified in the plan areas
11:10 where residents have said that
11:11 traffic calming prove crosses
11:16 what not necessary. It really
11:17 transportation options. So
11:18 building out the recommended
11:21 by Queen at work, making
11:22 transit investments. You know,
11:24 you saw the map earlier where
11:27 how opportunity there is for
11:31 growth Wadsworth Boulevard was
11:31 a relatively large that is
11:35 planned for growth. It is not
11:37 a transit Priority Street
11:39 today. So if we expect that
11:42 group to go nice be
11:42 accompanied by to prove
11:45 transit access and transit
11:47 service. Similarly, many of
11:48 the neighborhoods,
11:51 neighborhood south of 2.85
11:53 their street network is not
11:53 necessarily ideal for typical
11:58 a service there. A lot loops.
11:59 You know, only a handful of
12:03 entrances subdivisions. And so
12:07 we see that as an area where
12:10 micro transit could be a
12:11 possibility, especially
12:12 partnership neighboring
12:13 jurisdictions, Area Borders, 7
12:18 other jurisdictions. So many
12:18 times people are crossing in
12:22 and our daily basis. Another
12:23 part of this is improving,
12:24 making trail desire trail
12:25 improvements, turning certain
12:30 streets in the greenways. And
12:31 then finally social community
12:35 spaces. So investing in.
12:36 Public spaces, especially in
12:37 those growth areas, right
12:39 where we expect most growth to
12:40 occur for commercial activity
12:44 will take place. Those the
12:47 areas that most black public
12:51 space and parks today. And so
12:51 that group needs to be coupled
12:52 with investment public spaces
12:56 And it's also includes making
12:58 the South Platte River more of
12:59 a community asset turning
13:00 south part of a drive quarter
13:03 green way seeing proved
13:10 landscaping and And so, you
13:12 know, that's kind of overview
13:12 of what we heard from the
13:13 community, what we
13:15 incorporated into the first
13:17 draft of the plan. We went
13:20 back to be that's the What we
13:21 heard is what we put together.
13:22 Reflect what you think you
13:25 told us. And so, you know, it
13:28 took a similar multi-pronged
13:29 approach. You navigate ERs
13:29 in-person events online
13:31 element state surveys and
13:32 review and comment on the
13:38 plan. What we what we saw was
13:40 actually some pretty
13:41 significant support. So this
13:41 you don't have to pay
13:42 attention to. That's really
13:44 all the numbers. But what I
13:45 want to call your attention to
13:48 these are all 6 of the
13:51 community priorities. We asked
13:51 folks, do you support this?
13:54 What's your level of support?
13:56 And, you know, along with the
13:57 son of associated policies and
14:00 comes right. And what we saw
14:03 for each of them was 78 to 80%
14:04 agreement with community
14:06 priorities. That's the kind
14:09 demand for its green color.
14:17 The the green colors, neutral
14:17 and the other to the end of
14:18 area yellow people who
14:19 disagree to plant. So we saw
14:20 pretty strong level of support
14:25 for the plan. Which meant that
14:27 kind both with after this
14:27 round of engagement and the
14:31 next round. We really only
14:34 made tweaks to the There was
14:35 no major redirection from that
14:39 first draft. And so our 3rd
14:43 round really focused on this
14:48 is what we most recently
14:49 SEPTEMBER OCTOBER, really
14:53 focused on review hearing from
14:54 folks that were still
14:57 underrepresented. And then
14:58 answering a few lingering
15:03 questions. And so what we
15:04 found there and I want to
15:05 share some bird community,
15:05 never give your feedback
15:08 because they were very
15:09 successful in reaching and
15:11 reaching a representation of
15:13 the community and what we
15:15 heard about key themes in
15:16 community desires really
15:16 reflect and think it was
15:19 already in the plan. And we
15:22 actually saw stronger level of
15:23 support from those surveys
15:25 that we've got 4
15:26 communicators. And to the
15:27 general population writes, the
15:28 average 80% agreement, both
15:33 for people's what the plans
15:33 people specific neighborhood,
15:37 but also the broader for
15:40 Southwest area tension because
15:42 you're two-thirds of your have
15:44 wait your excellent site of
15:46 most of them are most time,
15:48 most of the way through my
15:51 flies a lot of and it's not
15:52 And it went connection to
15:57 conclude the. Advisory. This
16:00 there was a community advisory
16:00 committee that helped craft
16:03 plan and the members that
16:07 committee voted last month
16:08 unanimously to recommend
16:10 approval the plan and planning
16:13 board just 2 weeks ago to
16:15 review and discuss the far
16:16 Southwest plant. And they also
16:19 voted unanimously to approved
16:23 the far Southwest plan. There
16:23 was some discussion and
16:24 planning board about naturally
16:26 occurring, affordable housing
16:28 say it was probably broader
16:29 than the far Southwest area
16:33 plan Whether this was we're
16:34 using the right terminology.