Council Connects

Hi all, I mentioned at the retreat the idea of dynamic zoning as one tool that other cities have used to help address the overall rate of change while still allowing appropriate growth. Here's a good primer: https://www.planetizen.com/node/36937

Resigning Lafayette mayor Christine Berg sued for deleting comments and blocking an individual on Facebook. http://www.dailycamera.com/lafayette-news/ci_32390880/cliff-willmeng-christine-berg-lawsuit-first-amendment-rights

From an August 2018 Citylab article:
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, [HUD Secretary Ben Carson] discussed the changes to the desegregation rule primarily in terms of housing supply and demand. Exclusive zoning for single-family homes in Los Angeles, for example, represents an obstacle to affordable housing, or so Carson’s thinking goes. “Mr. Carson said the new rule would tie HUD grants, which many communities use to build roads, sewers, bridges and other infrastructure projects, to less restrictive zoning,” according to reporter Laura Kusisto.

“I want to encourage the development of mixed-income multifamily dwellings all over the place,” Carson told the Journal, citing YIMBY scripture, chapter and verse.

An interesting read (3 part series) in the Denver Post that started yesterday, Sunday 13 Jan, The Densification of Denver.

We all know that , in December, Jim Dale made a polished and well-received presentation about Golden to the DRCOG Board of Directors. But did you know he did it while wearing a Santa hat? Here the link to the video. https://drcog.org/node/495520 And thanks, Jim, great job in representing Golden to the region.

Hi all, Michael Raber with Bike Jeffco asked me to relay in invitation to you all to attend a panel discussion on the recently enacted Colorado Safety Stop law they are hosting with Bicycle Colorado this coming Tuesday January 8 at 6:30pm at the Taj in the Lookout Room. The new state law allows municipalities to adopt an ordinance that would permit bicyclists to treat a red light as a stop sign, and a stop sign as a yield when no vehicles are present (and only if no vehicles are present). This is also commonly called an Idaho Stop, where it has been in place since the 1980's. Aspen, Summit County, Keystone, and Breckenridge (I think) have previously adopted such laws, but the new law is intended to ensure that these laws are harmonious between different jurisdictions. The panel will include Jefferson County Transportation Planner Yelena Onnen, Jeffco Sheriff Captain Jim Lucas, Senator Andy Kerr, Bicycle Colorado Denver Director Piep van Heuven, and Michael Raber of Bike Jeffco. At Bike Jeffco's request, I've also forwarded to staff to invite MTAB and the Parks, Rec, and Museums Board as appropriate.

This just in, from Rob Cohen, chair of the Olympics exploratory committee:

Greetings. Because you’ve been part of Denver and Colorado’s Winter Games exploratory process, I wanted you to hear the latest development in the process from me… We learned late this afternoon that the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has selected Salt Lake City as its partner to pursue a future Winter Games bid.
While this news is disappointing, I’m proud of the new and unique model for hosting an Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games that was developed by the Denver and Colorado Exploratory Committee and presented to the USOC. We proposed hosting the Games in a new and innovative way – the Colorado Way – with no direct funding from any public entity or the taxpayers, but we recognize that now may not be the right time for such a model.

Interesting account of proceedings on denser housing at the old Denver CDOT building. I like the heading "shun it or shape it."
https://denverite.com/2018/12/03/denver-city-council-allows-dense-retrofit-to-several-virginia-village-blocks-with-150-affordable-homes/?mc_cid=a4443038ed&mc_eid=fd63562c1e

A comprehensive recycling report from COPIRG/Ecocycle -- showing Golden's 34% residential recycling rate to be fair to middling, with no change from last year. The report includes recommendations for improvement. https://copirg.org/reports/cop/state-recycling-colorado-2018 (then download pdf).

Census 2020
At the UCC meeting at NLCLA we had an informative presentation from the Intergovernmental Affairs Liaison from the US Census Bureau. There are a number of takeaways that I want to share.
1. NLC has produced a Municipal Action Guide called "Preparing of the 2020 Census". I have a hard copy I can share and the website is nlc.org/census
2. College students on campus or off-campus will be counted at school facilities even if they visit home on breaks.
3. Different from 2010 is that students will be counted by the university if living in "group quarters". The challenge is going to be timing. Access to the online portal will be April 1st, 2020, and the follow up for those who do not respond will not be until July when students have left campus.
4. The city can make sure there are accurate address files by participating in LUCA (Local Update of Census Addresses program) in 2018 and 2019
5. The city can also participate in the New Construction Program if there are projects anticipated to be finished after the LUCA reviews but before census day
6. ADUs in the city may be a challenge if there is not a separate address for the unit. The city may need to provide clear instructions for those properties.
7. "The Citizenship Question" - NLC and NALEO have been tracking the status of the question and expressed their position to the Dept of Commerce earlier this year. They will continue to provide updates and resources as needed through the NLC/census webpage.

There is more and I think it would be worth an update to Council and discussion on what type of action would be best going forward (interdepartmental team, a Complete Count Committee (CCC), Council involvement, etc.) to make sure that every Golden resident is counted in 2020.

NLC announced a nationwide task force on affordable housing. Here's the link to read about it:

https://citiesspeak.org/2018/11/14/why-housing-is-key-to-loving-your-city/?_zs=441WW&_zl=1h1Q1

A link to a Governing Magazine article recognizing shortcomings in current public involvement
http://www.governing.com/columns/assessments/gov-citizen-engagement.html?utm_term=When%20Citizen%20Engagement%20Becomes%20Too%20Much&utm_campaign=%27The%20Single%20Biggest%20Risk%20Factor%20in%20Getting%20Expelled%20Is%20Being%20a%20Preschooler%27&utm_content=email&utm_source=Act-On+Software&utm_medium=email

Many of you enjoyed a meeting with the delegation from Oguni, Japan, and all of you were interested in this town, which like Golden is the site of a CoorsTek faciity. I have just received a nice message from Mayor Yoichi Nishina. He suggests as a "first step" in cementing a relationship between Golden and Oguni that I "pay a visit . . . next year."
Would anyone like to be the Golden representative and go to Oguni? I'm sure you would be treated like royalty. The travel seems to be fairly straight forward -- flight to Tokyo and bullet train to Oguni. I don't know about financial arrangements but it is probably safe to assume that the representative will be paying part or all of their expenses. If someone is interested, we could explore a city contribution.
Let me know if you are interested so that I can respond to Mayor Nishina. I'll put the letter, with "provisional translation" and photos, by our mailboxes in City Hall.

Housing Affordablity
In our HD Cmte meeting today I learned of a new resource from the NYU Furman Center on the topic of housing affordability. It looks like it could be very helpful for our community conversation and council work regarding housing. Website is localhousingsolutions.org

COLORADO AGE-FRIENDLY COMMUNITIES Conference
"Let's make Colorado's communities the best places to grow up - and grow old!
1 Nov, 9 - 3, DRCOG, 1001 17th St, Denver, CO 80202
Aspen/Birch conference room (first floor)

HOW ARE SENIORS DOING IN THE METRO AREA?
DRCOG serves as the AREA AGENCY ON AGING. The Agency provides many service and conducts periodic assessment.
The 2018 Community Assessment Surveys for Older Adults (CASOA) can be found by going on line to:
-DRCOG, CLICK ON PROGRAMS, CLICK on Agency on Aging, CLICK on Data , then go down the page & click on CASOA.
I know it is a lot of clicks but you'll find that Seniors, as a whole, are not faring so well. What can we do?

SENIORS AND AGING IN PLACE - A PERSPECTIVE ON SERVICES:

Home-health caregivers in greater demand as Colorado senior population grows
ED SEALOVER I Denver Business Journal
September 7
Colorado’s population of residents age 65 and above is projected to double in the next 30 years, at a time
when health-care advocates and social workers are pushing for seniors to age at home rather than in a
group facility.
But because home-care companies struggle to recruit or retain employees, the ideal of how the next
generation of seniors should age in place and the reality of what must happen soon might come into
significant conflict.
By 2026, studies show there could be one personal-care aide or home-health aide for every 19 adults
over the age of 65 in this state, many of whom need care at home — not nearly enough to give seniors
with both physical- and mental-health needs the attention they need to be able to stay in their own
domiciles when 75 percent of those in their homes need some kind of help, said Natalie Wood, a senior
policy analyst for the Bell Policy Center.
The reasons for the shortage of home-care workers are many. Colorado residents are aging at the thirdfastest
rate in the nation while the health-care workforce also is aging into retirement, noted Jayla
Sanchez-Warren, director of the Area Agency on Aging at the Denver Regional Council of Governments.
But most home-care jobs pay so poorly that they service providers a hard time attracting people at pay
levels just above minimum wage — or they have a hard time providing as many services when a greater
percentage of resources go to personnel.
Similarly, the consequences of those needing care outpacing the population of providers could be
diverse. Seniors could have to wait until they have more acute medical needs to get care. More people
could have to spend down their saving to qualify for Medicaid, which, unlike Medicare, funds in-home
care. Or, society may have to grapple with veering back toward institutional care for our elders if there is
not enough people to work with them in their homes.
“I am hearing little inklings of that — that we don’t have enough professionals, we need to put people in
one area,” Sanchez-Warren said. “It’s not being said a lot yet. But I’m hearing little indications of that out
there. It makes me nervous ... That’s not a sustainable path. And it’s not what people want.”
Today, 812,563 people aged 65 or greater live in Colorado, making up 14.2 percent of the population,
according to the state demographer’s office. But that number is expected to grow to 1.29 million by 2033
and 1.69 million — 20 percent of the population — by 2050.
Those numbers might convince entrepreneurs to offer more services to the home-living elderly, but those
that do tend to do it at a low rate. Most home-care positions barely pay above 200 percent of federal
poverty level — around $25,000 a year — and many of the people in the industry work multiple jobs to
make ends meet, Sanchez-Warren and Wood said.
“These jobs are low-paying jobs, and they don’t offer benefits,” Wood said.
Phil Bongiorno, executive director of the Home Care Association of America, pushed back against the
notion that the industry pays low-scale wages. He noted that many people work in the industry as second,
part-time jobs that bring down its overall pay average, and he said that on a per-hour basis, “we actually
are paying above minimum wage in many markets.”
Some states are raising taxes on the wealthy in order to generate funds for helping the homebound,
Wood said. Meanwhile, organizations are lobbying for higher reimbursement from government insurers
and for creation of a new focus on professional development that can make the sector one that people
can make a career in rather than staying in only until they can find a higher-paying job, she said.
Bongiorno suggested that help is needed as well from the federal government in terms of expanded the
specialized visas that can be given to legal immigrants who are wanting to work in the field.
“I think you can say we’re concerned about a very tight labor market with a lot of competition,” he said.
“Obviously, we’re looking at new ways to bring people into the industry and make it attractive.”
In addition to the host of nonprofits offering services to the homebound, more private companies are
getting into the field. Homewatch CareGivers, a national company headquartered in Greenwood Village
that offers services ranging from medication oversight to cooking to bathing, has grown to 200 U.S.
locations, offering its services as well as a portal through which children can monitor their parents’ health,
president and CEO Julie Smith said.
But Smith too finds it hard to find enough quality caregivers in the state, even as her company has raised
wages and benefits in order to be able to recruit nurses and sector veterans. Many people who apply for
jobs are newcomers who need significant training, she said.
“There are people interested in making an impact in their communities, and caregivers come by this
business because they want to help people,” she said.
Regardless of where the solution comes from, industry leaders must work with senior advocates and
government officials to find a way to bring more people into home caregiving — for the sake of seniors.
“These older adults have worked so much and contributed. And because of them, we have what we need
to have today,” Sanchez-Warren said. “And that needs to be valued.”
Work

FYI _ DRCOG Metro Vision PERFORMANCE MEASURES

An example of Organization Vision Performance Measures:

Background
The DRCOG Board of Directors unanimously adopted Metro Vision, the region’s
aspirational plan for the future, in January 2017. The plan includes 16 overall plan
performance measures. Each measure includes a baseline observation and a 2040
target. The performance measures help track the region’s progress toward the shared
outcomes identified in Metro Vision.
“Measures help to verify whether the shared actions of planning partners,
including local governments, are moving the region toward desired outcomes.
Measures are not intended to judge the performance of individual jurisdictions
or projects.” (Metro Vision, page 2)
The Board adopted amendments to the Metro Vision plan in April 2018, including
changes to a plan performance measure and target. The adopted amendment corrected a
previous error in calculating a baseline measure, which subsequently influenced Board
discussion on future targets.
Measure status
The attached staff presentation provides the most recent observations of performance
measure data. Metro Vision performance measures rely on regularly updated data from
reliable sources. Many of the plan’s performance measures rely on data sets that are
updated annually, therefore, there are limited observations included in this initial update.
The region is on track or ahead of schedule to meet nearly half of the 2040 targets; the
region is behind schedule on six seven measures. Due to improvements to base data
used to calculate observations, staff is unable to make a status determination on two
measures. These measures may require future Board action to amend the Metro Vision
plan.
Board of Directors
October 17, 2018
Page 2
Ahead of schedule
Measures ahead of pace needed to achieve 2040 target:

Urban center employment
Residents living in locations affordable to the typical
household (housing + transportation costs)
Housing near high-frequency or rapid transit
Employment near high-frequency or rapid transit
Regional employment

On track -Measures on pace needed to achieve 2040 target:

Urban center housing
Regional population-weighted density
Travel time variation (TTV)

Behind schedule - Measures behind pace needed to achieve 2040 target:

Urban center employment
Non-single-occupant vehicle (SOV) travel
Vehicle miles traveled (VMT)
Person delay
Traffic fatalities
Surface transportation greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
Employment in high-risk hazard areas
No determination
Measures with data
limitations preventing
status determination
Protected open space
Housing in high-risk hazard areas
Additional details - finding of “no determination”

• Protected open space: Recent coordination with the State Land Board to ensure that
our data accurately reflects the status of Land Board holdings resulted in changes to
our regional open space inventory. As a result, updated observations noted in the
attached presentation are all less than the performance measure baseline included in
Metro Vision.

• Housing in high-risk hazard areas: Staff continues to make improvements to
DRCOG’s Master Housing Dataset. This dataset is used to identify and locate housing
units throughout the region, including those within high-risk hazard areas. Recent data
collection efforts have captured more housing units throughout the region, not just new
units. When more recent data is used, the baseline observation (2014) is less than the
baseline observation the Board reviewed in setting the 2040 target. Additional
observations are required and may result in a future staff recommendation to amend
this performance measure.

Interesting article on advantages/disadvantages of being the home of a major research institution. http://www.governing.com/topics/education/gov-university-college-towns.html?utm_term=For%20College%20Towns%2C%20Having%20a%20World-Famous%20University%20Is%20a%20Mixed%20Blessing&utm_campaign=For%20College%20Towns%2C%20Having%20a%20World-Famous%20University%20Is%20a%20Mixed%20Blessing&utm_content=email&utm_source=Act-On+Software&utm_medium=email

THORNTON DECLARES STAGE 1 DROUGHT WATCH
The Thornton City Council accepted the recommendation of the Water Resources Division earlier this month and adopted a resolution authorizing the city manager to implement a Stage 1 Drought Watch and the associated water use rules and regulations for water conservation. The recommendation noted that Thornton’s reservoir storage is forecast to be 75% of capacity by July of next year, substantially below normal. The implementation of the drought watch will help the City to promote efficient outdoor water use and is expected to reduce water consumption by 10% until the reservoirs reach normal levels. Thornton’s actions are likely to be accompanied by similar responses from other metro area and Colorado water suppliers as the statewide drought continues.THORNTON DECLARES STAGE 1 DROUGHT WATCH
The Thornton City Council accepted the recommendation of the Water Resources Division earlier this month and adopted a resolution authorizing the city manager to implement a Stage 1 Drought Watch and the associated water use rules and regulations for water conservation. The recommendation noted that Thornton’s reservoir storage is forecast to be 75% of capacity by July of next year, substantially below normal. The implementation of the drought watch will help the City to promote efficient outdoor water use and is expected to reduce water consumption by 10% until the reservoirs reach normal levels. Thornton’s actions are likely to be accompanied by similar responses from other metro area and Colorado water suppliers as the statewide drought continues.