Historic Uptown Updates

Board Member: Cheryl

Treasurer Update

Cheryl contacted the IRS, and they said the application is still pending review. Since it’s been over 120 days, they increased the priority.

Street Signs

Dianne will reach out to traffic engineering. We are stalled on special shaped signs and decided to move onto normal signs if there is still no progress.

Summer Party Planning

• The summer party has been rescheduled from July 20th to July 27th.
• Colorado College is interested in participating. Jordan Radke will be our Colorado College contact. We asked if we could have use of Robson Arena, but the director of Robson is too busy to talk until after their commencement on May 19th.
• We discussed including all the neighborhoods surrounding Colorado College which includes Historic Uptown, Mid Shook’s Run, and the Old North End.
• Cheryl will reach out to the McAllister House as a possible backup to the Robson Arena green space.
• Cheryl will reach out to Underline to nail specifics about sponsoring our event.
• Cheryl will investigate insurance for the event.
• Cheryl registered the party with the City 1,000 Neighborhood Gatherings.
• Dianne will reach out to surrounding neighborhoods. Old North End Neighborhood, and Mid Shooks Run Neighborhood Association.

Jazz in the Garden at Grace and St. Stephen’s Church

Event Link

We will have a table setup at this event ☺. We’ll bring cards, sign-up sheet, table sign, map of neighborhood. Any other ideas?

Parkside Historic Preservation Overlay Update

More information

• We had a pre-application meeting with City Planning. They want us to submit an HP-O rezone for individual property owners who gave their permission.
• They are going to talk to the Mayor about the City/HPB possibly initiating a District HP-O rezone since we don’t have consent from all owners.
• We are working on the HP-O application and creating justifications for a fee waiver and district since we are unable to communicate to out-of-town property owners.
• We are waiting for Peter Wysocki to schedule a meeting with City Council where we will introduce the Parkside HP-O effort. We scheduled individual meetings with Nancy Henjum, Michelle Tallarico, and Dave Donelson.

Updates from the Colorado College Meeting on April 23

Key Highlights

• The neighborhood summer party has been rescheduled from July 20th to July 27th. We discussed including all the neighborhoods surrounding CC which includes Historic Uptown, Mid Shook’s Run, and the Old North End. Jordan communicated CC would be interested in participating and she would be our contact for this event.
• Monica said there is a homeless person living in the 2-4’ space between the FAC parking lot fence and her fence. This space is owned by CC. CC security asked the person to leave but there is still trash in that area. Monica feels unsafe with this homeless person living next to her back yard and would also like the area cleaned up. A separate meeting will be scheduled to talk about longer term solutions.
• We discussed the Historic Uptown Traffic Safety study results conducted by City Traffic Engineering. Nothing will be done for Cascade, Tejon and Weber. They proposed removing parking on some street corners on Nevada for better traffic visibility to reduce accidents. Traffic engineering will contact the affected property owners which includes CC. They also proposed road dieting Wahsatch to reduce speed. Traffic Engineering is still investigating a few more things so no action will be taken yet. Historic Uptown will keep CC in the loop once we learn more.

Actions

• Neighborhood summer party on July 27th. Start the initial planning phase.
  • Jordan:
    • Contact the director of Robson to see if Robson will be available on July 27th and could offer free skating to its neighbors. The date of the party is dependent on the availability of Robson so the sooner we can nail this down, the better.
  • Historic Uptown:
    • Get the needed permits and street closure signs to close off Dale between Tejon and Nevada.
    • Homeless person living in the space between the FAC parking lot and the neighborhood.
    • Dianne will schedule a meeting with Cathy Buckley, Amber, and Monica to see if we can brainstorm some longer-term solutions to this problem.

Items for the Next Meeting

• Summer Party update.
• CC is conducting a Space Utilization Study across the CC campus. Largely they are determining which aspects of the College best fit where (which building). Uptown asked if this assessment would be part of the CC Master Plan. Uptown would like to discuss the results of this study, if possible, including the new Science building plan.

Historic Neighborhood Partnership Update

More Information

Board Member: Dianne

• Short term rentals – HNP is gathering data, defining concerns, and determining strategy. If anyone in the neighborhood has any STR concerns, please email info@historicuptown.org.
• The City Strategic Plan will be finalized, and a public input meeting is scheduled on June 11 (virtual and in-person). Mayor to adopt by the end of June.
• Building heights – The City is evaluating if our Downtown area should have building height limitations. A petition was established for citizens to say whether or not they want to have a voice on this in the November election. Petition to allow the citizens to vote for building height limitations.

Discussed Housing Bills of Interest to Our Neighborhood

HB24-1313 Housing in Transit-Oriented Communities

• Requires Front-range cities (those within an MPO) to calculate a “housing opportunity goal” calculated as: the total acres of land within one-quarter mile of any bus route having at least 15-minute service or BRT service, multiplied time an average of 40 dwelling-units/acre. The city average is 6 dwelling-units/acre. Historic Uptown is 25 dwelling-units/acre. This is a very large density increase which affects streets like Boulder and Wahsatch (bus route 5 which has 15-minute bus service). This bill will allow significantly increasing the dwelling unit density of properties one-quarter mile of Boulder and south on Wahsatch (2 blocks in either direction). This area includes roughly all properties south of Willamette and east of Nevada.
• Those cities must submit a “Transit-Oriented Community Assessment Report” to the State before 6/30/25 that includes the calculated “housing opportunity goal” compared to the total dwelling units allowed under current zoning in those areas.
• If current zoning does not meet the housing opportunity goal, a City has until December 31, 2026 to make the necessary changes in zoning to bring the density into compliance.
• Cities that do not submit an Assessment Report and/or do not take the necessary actions to bring the calculated density into compliance will have their share of State Highway Users Tax Fund (HUTF) funds withheld by the State Treasurer. In 2024, the City of Colorado Springs expects to receive $23.6 million of such regular funding.
• Provides infrastructure grants ($35 million in first year) as incentives to Cities that designate areas as either “Transit Centers” or “Neighborhood Centers”.
• If current zoning does not meet the housing opportunity goal, a City has until December 31, 2026 to make the necessary changes in zoning to bring the density into compliance. Those changes in zoning to occur with areas within ¼ mile of bus route having 15 minute or less service, BRT service or any area within 1.4 mile of an existing bus route having 30 minute or less service.
• “Transit Area” maps are to be published by 9/30/24 that show all transit areas to be used in the calculation of a municipality’s “housing opportunity goal” as well as “optional transit areas” in which zoning changes can be made by the municipality to meet that housing opportunity goal.
• Overrules any existing PUDs (planned unit development) zoned areas and HOA from restricting any of the required zoning changes to be made by the municipality to reach its housing opportunity goal along transit routes.
• Encourages and incentivizes the construction of affordable housing within the transit areas.

HB24-1152 Accessory Dwelling Units

• Requires Front-range cities (those within an MPO) to allow ADUs in all zoning districts that currently allow single family detached dwelling units.
• Prohibits local governments from enacting or enforcing laws that would restrict the construction/conversion of an accessory dwelling unit.
• In most instances, cities are prohibiting from requiring new off-street parking for an ADU. But does not prohibit requirements for up to one off-street parking space if there is current off-street parking available for designation.
• No owner occupancy requirements allowed for either the ADU or the associated single family home.
• Creates a grant program to provide state funds for ADU fee reductions/waivers, provide technical assistance to persons converting or building new ADUs, and to reduce/pay other development fees.
• Provides $8 million to CHFA to offer loans, buy down interest rates, or provide down payment assistance for qualifying ADUs.
• Prohibits PUDs (planned unit development) from restricting the construction of ADUs.
• Prohibits HOAs from enforcing existing protective covenants restricting the construction of ADUs.
• Allows design review of ADUs in Historic Preservation Overlay zones.
• Incentivizes factory-built ADUs.
• Incentivizes the separate sale of an ADU (via subdivision)
• Specifically does not prohibit:
  • Local governments from allowing multiple ADUs on a single lot
  • Enacting laws regulating STRs in ADUs
  • Applying Historic Preservation district design standards
  • Defining motor homes, camper trailers, and RVs as an ADU

Summary of Housing Bills of Interest to Our Neighborhood

Bill	Name	Status
HB24-1313	Housing in Transit-Oriented Communities	Passed on 5/7
HB24 1314	Modification of Tax Credit for Preservation of Historic Structures	Passed on 5/8
HB24-1304	Minimum Parking Requirements	Sent to Governor for signature
HB24-1152	Accessory Dwelling Units	Passed on 5/7
HB24 1007	Prohibits Residential Occupancy Limits	Passed on 4/15
HB24-1107	Judicial Review of Local Land Use Decision	Sent to Governor for signature
SB24-134	Operation of Home-Based Businesses	Passed on 4/19
HB24 1175	Local Govt Rights to Property for Affordable Housing	Passed on 5/8
HB24-1098	Cause Required for Eviction of Residential Tenant	Passed on 4/19
HB 24 1239	Single-Exit Stairway Multifamily Structure	Postponed indefinitely
SB 24 106	Right to Remedy Construction Defects	Postponed indefinitely
SB 24 112	Construction Defect Action Procedures	Postponed indefinitely
HB 24 1057	Prohibit Algorithmic Devices Used for Rent Setting	Failed due to lack of House/Senate agreement on amendments
HB 24 1299	Short-term Rental Unit Property Tax Classification	Postponed indefinitely
HB24-1078	Regulation of Community Association Managers	Stuck in House Appropriations
HB24-1125	Tax Credit Commercial Building Conversion	Stuck in House Appropriations