Denver voters will decide whether the city can take on new debt to pay for projects like a new park at the former Park Hill Golf Course, improvements to Red Rocks Amphitheatre and various road repairs after the City Council approved the ballot questions during a meeting Monday.
The five bond questions, which will appear on the November ballot, would allow the city to take out $950 million in general obligation bonds, which officials would then pay back through property taxes. The debt would finance about 60 capital projects.
Despite weeks of negotiations and frustration among council members, they approved the package, called the “Vibrant Bond,” nearly unanimously. That comes despite complaints that Mayor Mike Johnston’s administration, which announced the bond in February, rushed the process. Johnston’s team negotiated with council members in recent weeks to secure enough votes to get the proposal to the ballot.
“This bond is as good an example of anything I’ve ever seen of not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good,” said Councilman Paul Kashmann.
The requests for debt allowance will be divided into five topics on the ballot:
- $441 million for transportation and mobility
- $244 million for city facilities
- $175 million for parks and recreation
- $59 million for housing and shelter
- $30 million for health and human services
If a single question fails, others can still pass. The projects are meant to take six years to complete.
The bond proposal wouldn’t raise taxes because it would replace existing debt that the city is paying off now. If voters rejected the proposal, however, taxes could go toward paying down prior bonds faster.
A “companion ordinance” will list projects that the council designated for the bond dollars. It includes $35 million for accessibility improvements at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, $70 million for the buildout of a park at the former Park Hill Golf Course and $29 million for improvements along Santa Fe Drive. The costliest project is $89 million for repairs and improvements on the Eighth Avenue viaduct. A full list is available online.
The council only considered one amendment Monday, which added $13 million for affordable housing efforts, pulling $5 million from transportation and mobility and $8 million from city facilities. Those changes cut projects for street paving and electrification of city facilities and reduced the budget for improvements at Red Rocks Amphitheater.
The amendment, brought by Councilwomen Shontel Lewis, Sarah Parady and Jamie Torres, also clarified that the projects funded with the money should be for both affordable housing and mitigation of residential displacement. In the first of several votes on the amendment, it was approved 12-1 with Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer casting the sole “no” vote.
A week earlier, Sawyer proposed an amendment to remove $18 million from the affordable housing allotment to pay for safety improvements on 13th and 14th avenue between Colorado Boulevard and Quebec Street. She said she thought the description of the fund was too vague.
The council members took several votes on the overall package, with a vote needed for the affordable housing amendment and for each individual topic. Each passed nearly unanimously but some council members voted no on certain questions.
Councilman Chris Hinds and Councilwoman Flor Alvidrez voted no on the transportation and mobility question. Parady and Hinds voted no on the parks and recreation question. Alvidrez also voted no on the city facilities question.
“I feel like it does short change our BIPOC community, our Elections Division, our cultural facilities,” she said about the bond package. Alvidrez, along with other council members, have also scrutinized the selection of two bridge projects near Burnham Yard for the package. The Broncos are considering that site for their next stadium.
Election day is Nov. 4.