Council Connects

ADU Workshop: I recently attended the Metro Mayors ADU workshop with a great panel of experts addressing financing, affordability, construction, policy, and regulations. Golden passed its ADU regulations in 2009, and we currently have 51 ADUs, mostly basement units, in all areas of the city. In the past 5 years, 7-14% of our housing allocations have gone to ADUs. Golden currently has some regulations in place (owner occupancy, off street parking, and size limits) that have hampered ADU adoption elsewhere. We do not have other barriers such as impact fees, additional costs, or additional land use.

The West Denver Renaissance Collaborative is doing some exciting work regarding ADUs to specifically address housing affordability. The AARP is supporting ADUs as one in the mix of options to address housing needs and flexibility for aging in place. The state demographer shared great information and challenged us to think if enough housing was created at the right levels to handle all of the state job growth considering new jobs were 36% low, 43% mid, and 21% high wage jobs. A lot of food for thought for our housing conversations this year.

MDHI(Metro Denver Homeless Initiative) Flex Fund: The Metro Mayors Caucus, along with private foundations and donors, support this fund for households who need one-time financial assistance to exit homelessness. The City of Golden has been a consistent contributor and we will contribute again for 2020. The average cost of assistance per household is $1,143, so Golden's $2,500 contribution will help more than 2 homeless households obtain permanent housing. Homelessness and housing are regional problems and Golden will continue to work with other jurisdictions, nonprofits, and private organizations for regional solutions.

I mentioned at Thursday's meeting that I'd appreciate feedback on the CML policy statement.
Here is a link to the statement: https://www.cml.org/docs/default-source/uploadedfiles/legislative/policy-development/policy-statement.pdf?sfvrsn=26e8b866_32

CML 2020 Legislative Kickoff: The CML advocacy webinar from the first day of the session is now available for elected officials and city staff. Right around 30 minutes is a slide on ways you can stay informed.
https://youtu.be/xceIEY-iIkE

CITY FACT SHEET: I asked the city to put together a one pager of some of the key data for the city. Population numbers do not tell a full picture of the complexity of our city. To really learn from and draw ideas from other cities, knowing these other metrics will be very helpful. The sheet is available under the supporting documents on this page. Thank you city staff.

From the withdrawal notice of JPPHA shortlisted bidder.
"Unfortunately, we have found through [our] additional analysis (and alongside our traffic and revenue and financial advisors) that the Project’s anticipated revenue potential does not adequately support the Project’s costs by a sizable gap. This determination, when considered alongside other significant issues including the unavailability of any public funds to help address the funding shortfall and the ongoing environmental challenges, has led us to our view that the Project is not feasible under the current procurement approach." A link to the full letter follows:
https://www.jppha.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/JEFFEX-WITHDRAWAL_NOTICE.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0R2bn2SLAlDnhooOrcDiydo2IteC2R4QtL15JjsiINHKlsIu7y5FUE7Cw

Here's the take of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids on the recent legislation increasing the legal age to purchase tobacco to 21:

Raising the Tobacco Age to 21 Won’t Stop the Youth E-Cigarette Epidemic and Is Not a Substitute for Eliminating the Flavored Products that Lure Kids
https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/press-releases/2019_12_16_tobacco21_flavor

Interesting Denverite article illustrating the important role a community land trust played in creating new affordable housing in Denver, in part, by receiving state grants.
https://denverite.com/2019/12/20/colorado-community-land-trust-gets-80k-to-build-affordable-homes-in-globeville-and-elyria-swansea/

https://ourcommunitynow.com/news-national/us-government-raises-the-legal-age-to-buy-tobacco-to-21. The provision was in the spending bill -- to take effect in around 9 months.

http://waterforcolorado.org/2019/12/webinar-history-of-the-colorado-water-plan/
Worth the listen for an orientation.

Disaster Recovery: It has been a while since CC received a briefing on the city's Disaster Recovery plan so I've asked that we schedule an update for a study session in 2020. RouteFifty has just produced an ebook with interesting examples of recovery in cities around the country. You should hopefully be able to download a copy with my link. https://www.routefifty.com/assets/disaster-recovery-and-resilience/portal/?oref=email

Thanks, Jim, for taking the time to visit the shop.

Visit to Vape Shop by Safeway: I visited this shop as I hadn't received an email from this business and wanted to ensure they were aware of the proposed Ordinance. I was told by the manger that the shop/store was part of a chain. The District manager is aware of the proposed Ordinance. The manager noted that they check the ID of anyone who looks under 40, that they have been approached by sting operations at least 3 times, and that they are dedicated to preventing underaged sales. Their vaping devices are fillable and they do not sell Juul products.

New article from the New York Times reporting latest survey from C.D.C., indicating nearly 1 in 3 kids used one or more tobacco products; rates of vaping are still rising; and kids are increasingly also turning to flavored cigarillos (now the second most popular tobacco product) and traditional cigarettes.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/health/vaping-teenagers-tobacco.html

AN IDEA ON WHICH TO REFLECT: Are Vaping Devices Addiction Devices?
How Juul Got a Generation Hooked
"Giant Sowed the Seeds of a Public Health Crisis by Targeting Young Nonsmokers"
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/23/health/juul-vaping-crisis.html

Here at the National League of Cities Cities Summit in San Antonio, Housing Affordability is a HUGE topic and will continue to be a focus in the coming year. NLC recently published a document that may be of interest titled Homeward Bound: The road to Affordable Housing. Here is a link:

https://www.nlc.org/resource/homeward-bound-the-road-to-affordable-housing

CO Water Plan 101 Webinar
FYI: I attended this. Worthwhile info update. It will be available online at: waterforcolorado.org , this coming Monday.

Rocky Flats Stewardship Council
A couple things from today’s mtg:
1. Department of Energy declined to answer a letter with questions from the Council: DOE declined to answer a letter RFSC sent last April which included a variety of questions including some on Fracking under the Flats. Apparently DOE implied that our questions included advisory type comments and that we are a Stewardship Board, not an Advisory Board????
2. CDPHE will monitor all sampling done along the Jeffco Hwy Authority ROW and perform modelling related to potential exposers of the Hwy construction workforce.

New Washington Post article: Trump pulls back from flavored vaping ban. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-pulls-back-from-flavored-vaping-ban/2019/11/17/30853ece-07ae-11ea-924a-28d87132c7ec_story.html

After I sent my previous message, I saw that the link was likely not going to work properly, so let me try this again:

From Martín:

My article on wise collaborators just came out in the National Civic Review.

https://www.nationalcivicleague.org/ncr-article/the-wise-collaborator-a-new-ideal-for-civic-decision-making/

The access code is NCL19