Special Meeting

Tina Marquis asked if staff support keeping middle-income housing language versus the county's push to say the city should prioritize it. Staff (Sarah Horn) said staff worry that the word prioritizing could push middle-income housing ahead of the 0-50% AMI need that the DRCOG study flags as most critical.

“does that mean that middle housing and middle-income types are prioritized over affordable housing”

Matt Benjamin asked why the plan never uses the word attainable housing, since AMI-based affordability misses people who earn too much for subsidies but too little for market rate. Housing director Kurt Fernhaber said the term is hard to define and that the plan instead relies on housing type diversity to bridge that gap.

“the attainable is such a key factor”

Council straw polled three versions of policy 82 (housing diversity and supply): the original full-spectrum language, Planning Board's more-affordable version, and the county's more-affordable-plus-prioritizing version. The original language won 5 votes and was adopted; Nicole Speer said she would vote no on every late amendment tonight to protect the two-year community process.

“I can't support any of the proposed amendments by planning board or the county commission”

County commissioners asked to change every area two parcel with a neighborhood one designation to rural, mainly to satisfy Gunbarrel residents. Staff warned this would create confusion for enclaves surrounded by the city, and council instead limited the rural change to Gunbarrel only, passing 7-2.

“the scope of this change is really overly broad”

Planning Board proposed letting residential uses into the industrial land use designation, subordinate to industrial and small business uses. Tara Winer and Mark Wallach supported it as needed flexibility; Taishya Adams and Tina Marquis raised concerns about the lack of community review, but the change passed 7-1.

“housing infill should play a subordinate role and not displace established business”

Tina Marquis asked whether Planning Board's added airport language on noise, equity, and outreach would carry any binding weight. City manager staff said such lists work as non-exclusive examples, not mandates, and cannot force activities the FAA does not allow.

“language about activities that may highlight some over others”

Matt Benjamin proposed his own airport policy language as a middle ground between the original text and Planning Board's version, but said his real preference was the unchanged original. After discussion with Tara Winer and Ryan Schuchard, council straw polled and kept the original language on a 6-vote majority.

“my preference is to reject if the will of council”

Taishya Adams asked staff to confirm the legal basis for removing the term American Indian from policy 102, noting that federal law and tribal restoration documents still use that term even though tribes prefer federally recognized. City attorney staff agreed to leave the door open to revisit the wording for legal accuracy.

“it is a term that I prefer, but it's not necessarily a term that's used in some of the legal documents”

Council straw polled the county's proposed edits to policies 102 and 103 on tribal and indigenous consultation, adding the county as a partner and dropping American Indian in favor of federally recognized tribal nations. Both changes passed 8-1, with staff asked to check the legal implications of dropping the term.

Rob Kaplan proposed adding language to policy 89 requiring the city to weigh emergency management and egress capacity when approving development that adds density inside mapped wildfire ignition zones. He framed it as a life-safety and equity issue, since disaster-displaced lower-income residents are often replaced by wealthier buyers after a fire.

“it's often the residents that live there that can't afford to build again”

Council straw polled Rob Kaplan's wildfire egress amendment as a recommendation rather than a binding condition, and it passed 8-1, becoming the sole City Council-added change to the plan.

County Planning Commission proposed adding the word renewable before energy generation in policy 53. Taishya Adams argued for the specificity since all-electric does not guarantee renewable power, and the change passed 8-1.

“all electric does not mean that they're using renewables”

CFO Krista Morrison traced the city's structural budget imbalance back to the 2008 and 2010 Blue Ribbon Commission reports, citing heavy sales tax reliance, dedicated revenue that limits flexibility, and cost inflation outpacing revenue growth. She said a full long-term financial plan is due in November 2026.

“an over-reliance on sales tax, which is a very volatile revenue source”

Taishya Adams raised equity concerns about the ballot poll's demographic makeup, noting only four Black and one Indigenous respondents and heavy skew toward homeowners over renters. The pollster said the survey targeted likely voters, not the full community, which explains the narrower demographic mix.

“I have significant concerns around only four African-Americans or black-identifying residents responding”

Consultant Micah Intermill and budget analyst Stacy Polleycove reported Fund Our Future engagement results showing renters ranked affordable housing investment first while homeowners ranked it near last, a split driven by the survey sample being mostly older, higher-income homeowners. Both groups agreed on wildfire response and core maintenance as top priorities.

“renters rank affordable housing investments number one... homeowners rank it near the bottom”

Pollster Adam Probolsky presented results testing a $200 million and a $400 million facilities bond. The $400 million version, which listed specific projects like recreation centers and fire stations, drew a plurality yes while the $200 million version did not, and a second-home vacancy tax drew majority support around 55 to 70 percent depending on framing.

“you do have greater support for 400 million than 200 million”

Council took non-binding straw polls and directed staff to develop a $400 million recreation and safety facilities bond and a vacancy excise tax on second and third homes for the November ballot. Tara Winer dissented on the bond size, preferring $200 million, while others including Nicole Speer, Mark Wallach, and Matt Benjamin argued the community deserved the choice at the higher, more complete funding level.

“I think we owe it to community to prove the expense side of this before we're asking for 400 million”

Tina Marquis asked the pollster how an early childhood care tax or a graduated income tax on the same ballot might affect support for the facilities bond and vacancy tax. The pollster said other tax measures on the ballot generally reduce support for each individual measure because voters default to no on unfamiliar items.

“having other taxes on the ballot complicates some of those other opportunities”