The Denver City Council on Monday cleared the way for Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche owner Stan Kroenke to build new skyscrapers in the parking lots surrounding Ball Arena, where those teams play.

The council also ensured that these teams would remain on Kroenke-owned land in downtown Denver for another quarter century.

The ability to build buildings up to 30 or 40 stories high around the arena is a critical part of plans to significantly expand downtown Denver. That density will accommodate up to 6,000 new apartments and condos in a city desperate for more housing, according to Matt Mahoney, senior vice president of development for Kroenke Sports and Entertainment.

“We feel committed to the city center. Our headquarters are in the city center. “Our teams win championships downtown,” Mahoney told council members Monday night. “Our plan is a pedestrian-oriented development that prioritizes open space and people, not cars.”

Protective measures for mountain views lifted

The first of six bills related to the future of the 70-acre Ball property that the council approved Monday amended city code to provide an exception for the Old City Hall viewing level.

This view plane is essentially an invisible triangle that limits the building heights of the properties within it. This is a legal mechanism to protect the westward view from a specific point at ground level at the intersection of 14th and Larimer Streets, where the city's original City Hall once stood.

City planning and legal staff informed council members that the observation plane has already largely stopped functioning. The Auraria Higher Education Center campus buildings on Speer Boulevard — built by a state agency exempt from city regulations — have already blocked it.

This gave some council members a reason to vote for the exception sought by KSE, although some members still had concerns about the widespread impact of new, tall buildings on mountain views.

“I have come to the conclusion that I will vote yes to this exemption … based on the fact that this observation aircraft no longer exists,” said Councilman Kevin Flynn. “I actually would have preferred if (community planning and development) had come to us and just said remove that view level.”

Flynn voted by a vote of 10-1 to allow properties with special zoning designated for properties along the Central Platte Valley to pass through the plane.

The council then voted to rezone the arena site to the same zoning. According to city planning staff, the site was already slated for buildings up to eight stories tall in places, but the special zoning that the City Council unanimously approved Monday allows buildings much taller in exchange for being more affordable Living space is created website.

While the observation plane vote allows Kroenke Sports and Entertainment and its eponymous billionaire to move closer to its goals, some Lower Downtown neighbors' hopes of preserving their largely unobstructed views of the Rocky Mountains have been dashed.

Casey Pitinga was among residents of the Larimer Place condo tower at 1551 Larimer St. who urged council members to vote “no” on the viewing level changes. She argued that it wasn't just her building that would be affected by the emergence of new skyscrapers southwest of downtown. Companies that tout rooftop views — including the recently expanded Colorado Convention Center, which added a terrace as part of its $233 million expansion completed last year — could also be harmed, she said.

“Most importantly, Denver’s unique beauty will forever be at risk,” Pitinga said.

Amanda Sawyer was the only council member to side with those neighbors. She noted that residents in her east Denver district benefit from a viewing plane that protects the view west from Cranmer Park.

“It’s not a precedent I want to set,” she said of changing those legal protections, even for a development she acknowledged could be something that could benefit the city.

Performance agreements signed with community group, city

An overwhelming majority of speakers who testified during a public hearing on the rezoning were in favor of allowing dense development on the property and the new housing that would come with it.

“It’s exactly the type of project we need as a city,” said Denver resident Matthew Larsen. “It’s closed. It is an infill development. We need projects like this to meet our greenhouse gas goals in the state.”

KSE signed a detailed community benefits agreement last week with a committee representing surrounding neighborhoods and community organizations. This agreement, made with the support of city leaders but independent of the city's authority, contains a number of specific obligations that KSE must fulfill.

This includes providing $3 million for programs, internships and scholarships for young people who are from surrounding neighborhoods, are indigenous or come from families displaced from the historic Auraria neighborhood, now home to the arena and the neighboring university campus is located.

The predominantly Latino neighborhood of Auraria, which suffered severe damage in the 1965 South Platte River flood, was razed in the 1970s to make way for these educational facilities.

La Alma-Lincoln Park resident Simon Tafoya co-chaired the committee that negotiated this deal with KSE. He went into some detail in his comments Monday night, highlighting, among other things, a guarantee that 50 housing units built in the future neighborhood will be reserved for people earning 30% of the area's median income. That's $27,000 per year for an individual and $39,100 for a family of four.

Councilwoman Jamie Torres is a descendant of people displaced from the Auraria neighborhood. She pointed out how important this agreement was for her voters and how satisfied she was with the support of the legislative package.

“The city didn’t evict 900 residents in the 1970s so we could build a shiny neighborhood that was inaccessible to them,” she said. “I couldn’t be a part of something like that.”

The council also approved a bill to solidify the city's own development agreement with KSE.

It sets out requirements, including a requirement that 18% of all new housing built on the Ball properties be set aside as income-restricted affordable housing. That number exceeds the city's existing affordable housing needs by at least 3% and could result in 1,080 new units of affordable housing, according to city planners and KSE officials.

The city's agreement also calls for the affordable housing units to be spread throughout the property rather than concentrated in one area, according to Senior City Planner Tony Lechuga.

Property tax plan makes some council members uncomfortable

The council agreed to three more measures related to Kroenke's ball arena plans before calling it a day on Monday.

The last of those bills amends an existing arena agreement between the city and KSE that ties the Nuggets and Avalanche to Kroenke's properties in Denver through 2050.

The hall, which was mostly filled with KSE employees when the final line-up took place after 10 p.m., erupted in applause as the vote was passed unanimously.

Another bill passed at the meeting extended the timeline for a development agreement for the neighboring River Mile property, also partially owned by Kroenke. This agreement also now runs until mid-2050 and is therefore in line with Ball Arena's schedule.

The city agreed to an agreement that provides certain development security for both properties for the next 26 years. Mahoney emphasized that KSE approaches the total 130 hectare area as one contiguous district.

He acknowledged that the Elitch Gardens theme and water park will be relocated as part of the company's long-term development plans, although a landing site for the park has not yet been determined.