2025 continually brought both national and local controversy to Aurora

AURORA | Even before the New Year rang in, the signs were clear it was going to be a remarkable year in Aurora.

And it was.

2024 had brought then-candidate Donald Trump to Aurora, where he promised to launch “Operation Aurora” if elected to deport immigrants en masse.

And he did. 

The notoriety of the city’s struggle with decrepit apartments and a surge in Venezuelan immigrants set the stage for a roiling controversy all across 2025, which ended with voters turning Republican control of the Aurora City Council to Democrats.

In a year where even that kind of sensational news often took a back seat to controversies surrounding Aurora police, faltering city economics and a massive new program to address the city’s persistent homelessness challenges, 2025 was a memorable year.

Here are just a few of the top headlines that marked the past 12 months.

The Venezuelan crisis and Operation Aurora begin

What began as immigrants seeking asylum from Venezuela in 2022, to a Venezuelan “gang” scare which brought President Donald Trump to Aurora because of an alleged “city takeover” by gangs, finally came to a slow in 2025.

President Trump’s “Operation Aurora,” which named Aurora as ground zero for mass deportations, was attempted in Denver and Aurora at the beginning of 2025, but with little success. During locally feared raids, ICE and other federal agencies detained approximately 50 people, with a few of them being from Venezuela.

Federal agencies and the Trump Administration accused the press of leaking information about the raids on immigrants, while many local reporters found that immigrants refused to open their doors during the raids after local activists taught immigrants about their rights.

Many of the Venezuelans in Aurora, especially the violent Venezuelans who were never fully confirmed to be part of the Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua, fled or were arrested at the end of December 2024, after an alleged torture situation at the Edge at Lowry, the Aurora Police reported on as bust. 

By the time the raids began in January 2025, only a small number were taken from Aurora, and the majority of immigrants reported to be detained or arrested in Aurora throughout the year were by local police officers making arrests.

Many non-violent and non-criminal immigrants were taken in the initial raids. There were other local reports of agencies obstructing local justice, such as ICE refusing to allow people out of Aurora’s GEO facility on judge writs so individuals could attend an upcoming court date. In one situation, the Sentinel reported on was two brothers, Nixon and Dixon Azuaje-Perez, who were handed off to ICE during a probation appointment, which is illegal under Colorado state law.

Although Trump claimed he would attempt more large-scale raids in Aurora, none happened. 

In August, Aurora Police, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Department, and federal agencies such as ICE and HSI held a press conference for a bust they made involving Venezuelan gang members in Aurora. 

Federal agents uncovered a multi-aspect crime ring involving Venezuelan nationals alleged to have brokered guns, drugs and even offers of sex trafficking and contract killings in the Denver and Aurora area.

A member of the Department of Justice and other local police officials said that the gang members in the bust referred to an apartment complex in the area as “Mini Tocorón,” referring to the jail in Venezuela where the gang Tren de Aragua originated. It’s unclear if the officials were referring to Ivy Crossing in unaffiliated Arapahoe County or the Edge at Lowry in Aurora as “Mini Tocorón.” 

There was no mention of the Edge at Lowry in any documents related to the bust, and the main apartment complex mentioned was Ivy Crossing. 

Approximately 70 guns were seized, and 30 people were arrested in the bust, with officials claiming they were all part of or affiliated with the gang TdA. 

Tit for tat among the city council and protestors

Aurora’s City Council and a group of activists pushing for police reform and other police-related changes spent the year in a power struggle over the right to be heard.

In 2024, Kilyn Lewis was killed by an Aurora SWAT team after being pursued as the prime suspect for a shooting in Denver. Lewis, who had fled to Aurora to evade police, was confronted by Aurora’s SWAT in the parking lot of an apartment complex. As officers told him to put his hands up, he reached for a cell phone and was fatally shot.

From May until the end of 2024, a group of activists and the family of Lewis spoke at city council meetings, “Public Invited to be Heard.” In January 2025, an argument broke out between Mayor Mike Coffman and Auon’tai Anderson in the chambers lobby, which then prompted the next meeting to be virtual for “security reasons.” During the virtual meeting, the city council majority approved removing “Public Invited to be Heard,” prompting the protestors to “hijack” the rest of the meeting by speaking off-topic during every public comment session. 

In April, city council attempted to make some changes to “Public Invited to be Heard,” taking it off the agenda and making city council attendance no longer required.  

The two sides spent the year playing a game of cat-and-mouse, with city lawmakers trying to prevent the group from taking over meetings, and the Lewis coalition making regular demands for attention and action.

Eventually, the majority of city council voted to go completely virtual for months and to allow only a half hour for “Public Invited to be Heard.”

This also extended to MiDian Shofner, one of the main organizers for the people demanding police reform and other city and police changes. Shofner was targeted by some city council members, along with the mayor, on social media and in statements. Shofner was also restricted from bringing people to the lectern with her. When “Public Invited to be Heard” was eliminated and then restricted, she filed a 1st Amendment lawsuit, which is still ongoing. 

Three council members, Alison Coombs, Ruben Medina, and Crystal Murillo, began protesting the restrictions on public comment and the virtual meeting by holding live watch parties at local schools and public spaces during city council meetings. 

Recently, newly elected city council members chose to bring back all public comment and the “Public Invited to be Heard,” as it was before the protests began. Coombs spearheaded the change and gained unanimous approval. 

First Ethiopian Immigrant lawmaker

This year started out with the first Ethiopian immigrant, Amsalu Kassaw, being appointed to the city council after Councilmember Dustin Zvonek resigned from office for a conservative think tank job. Kassaw served for under a year before losing his seat in the November election. 

How Aurora handled homelessness

Over the past year, Aurora has made many changes in how it handles homelessness. In 2024, the city purchased and began converting a former Crowne Plaza Hotel into a facility offering shelter, healthcare, job services and pathways toward permanent housing. 

The Aurora Regional Navigation Campus opened in the fall of 2025. The new shelter offers a three-tier system with a no-strings-attached shelter, more independent living while job hunting and working with social workers, and the final tier is private housing in hotel rooms for people who have jobs and are working with social workers and being drug tested. 

In February 2025, the Aurora City Council changed the city’s laws to allow immediate evictions of homeless encampments and to exempt the city from having to provide beds for homeless people when evicting them. This was done after the 2024 Johnson v Grants Pass  Supreme Court ruling began permitting the changes in Aurora and across the country.

In the same month, the city also implemented a homeless diversion program called Housing, Employment, Addiction, Recovery and Teamwork, or HEART Court, a pre-adjudication diversion program that offers people experiencing homelessness the chance to avoid prosecution if they agree to services, such as treatment and housing support.

In order to get into HEART Court, people experiencing homelessness must be recommended by Aurora’s Homeless Abatement Relocation Team or HART, a seven-member police unit that specializes in just homeless encampment removal. 

The end of the Edge at Lowry saga

The Edge at Lowry became ground zero for what later became Trump’s allegations of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang “taking over” the city of Aurora. Trump even held a rally in Aurora in 2024, calling for Operation Aurora, after a viral video of a group of men carrying guns into an Aurora apartment unit was released by Cindy Romero, a resident in the building. 

Now, former Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky was given the videos and released them on Fox News, causing a national stir. Although the people in the video were violent and were extorting many of the other tenants in the building, the majority of the people in the building were never fully confirmed to be members of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua. 

Jurinsky continued to go on national and local news to say that the gangs had taken over multiple buildings that all happened to be owned by the same corporation, while the city stated that the buildings were overtaken by violent immigrants after years of neglect by property owners, CBZ Management. 

To gain control of the various buildings owned by CBZ, the city was required to take various legal steps, including invoking municipal nuisance laws, while some of the other buildings were placed under a receivership due to CBZ’s failure to make loan payments. 

The final group of buildings the city worked to close was called the Edge at Lowry, which comprises five buildings on Dallas Street. The city finally gained control of the Edge in February after obtaining an emergency court order from an Aurora Municipal Court judge declaring the property an “immediate threat to public safety and welfare.” They were able to make these claims by proving deplorable building and living conditions, along with naming the building a criminal nuisance, after a torture incident was revealed by police in December 2024. 

The city has repeatedly attempted to bring the building owners into court for trial, but they have never appeared. One time, one of their lawyers appeared for an early hearing, mostly to announce his retirement. 

The trial is currently set for early 2026. 

City budget deficit, retail strategy and other solutions

In February 2025, city officials began announcing a projected $11.5 million budget deficit due to sluggish sales-tax growth, inflation, rising operating costs, and the elimination of the Occupational Privilege Tax.

The tax was an employee “head tax” that had generated around $6.1 million. 

This early shortfall was linked directly to flat retail and sales tax revenue, which had plateaued in 2023 and 2024 after years of growth, making it harder to fund services at previous levels, according to city officials. 

By April, the updated budget projections showed that the anticipated deficit could grow to about $25 million, reflecting additional revenue misses and shortfalls in capital project funds. This shift was part of a longer-range forecast used for budget planning. Once the fall hit, city officials landed on a $20 million shortfall in Aurora’s $1.3 billion budget. 

In response to the shortfall, the city decided to furlough and make extreme cuts, including attempts to consolidate and eliminate underutilized boards and commissions, as well as to borrow from the rainy-day fund. 

The city has also been working on an organized retail strategy that includes tax incentives, enhancing the image and safety around shopping centers, matchmaking the best fits for companies and shopping centers, and supporting local businesses with business counseling, technical assistance, and demographic data.

Tough on crime tactic draws state Legislature and Colorado Supreme Court interference

In recent years, up until April 2024, city council implemented multiple “tough on crime” responses to various misdemeanor offenses, including shoplifting over $100, with higher minimums for repeat offenders, as well as walking out on a dinner tab of more than $15 and misdemeanor motor vehicle theft. 

Aurora also increased the maximum jail sentences for shoplifting, trespassing, and camping to 364 days. Both the minimums and maximums are more punitive than state penalties for the same crimes. The state does not have mandatory minimums for misdemeanors, and many of the maximums are ten days. 

Because of Aurora and a few other cities, the state house proposed and passed a bill to require municipalities to align with state laws. This legislation was passed after many critics spent a day-long hearing pointing out that these local mandatory minimums create sentencing disparities. At the same time, Aurora officials argued that it would undermine the city’s “home rule.”

After the law passed the state house and senate, Governor Jared Polis vetoed it, citing concerns about public safety and the need to reduce crime rates. 

On Dec. 22, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled against Aurora in two separate cases, aligning municipal penalties with state penalties. This ruling will require the City of Aurora to reduce its harsher mandatory jail sentences, and any sentence of more than ten days will be dismissed. 

Court backs Rep. Crow, others and halts Trump administration limits on ICE jail inspections

A federal court in December temporarily blocked the Trump administration from limiting congressional access to immigration detention facilities, siding with Aurora Democratic Congressperson Jason Crow and other lawmakers who sued after being turned away from oversight visits.

The move came after months of Crow and other lawmakers working to prevent Trump administration officials from gaining access to Aurora’s ICE detention center for inspection of the facility and to check on inmates.

Crow, whose district includes the Aurora ICE detention facility, said the ruling restores Congress’ ability to conduct unannounced inspections, which lawmakers argue are guaranteed under federal law. The decision came in a lawsuit Crow filed in July after the Department of Homeland Security denied him entry to the Aurora facility.

“Today’s decision is a critical victory toward restoring our ability to conduct essential congressional oversight on behalf of the American people,” Crow and other plaintiffs said in a joint statement on Dec. 16. “It reinforces the rule of law and reminds the administration that oversight is not optional.”

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., in July by Crow and several other Democratic members of Congress who said they were similarly denied access to detention centers across the country. Those lawmakers include Reps. Joe Neguse of Colorado, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, Veronica Escobar of Texas, Dan Goldman and Adriano Espaillat of New York, Jimmy Gomez, Norma Torres, Raul Ruiz, Robert Garcia and Lou Correa of California.

The case stemmed from Crow’s attempt on July 20 to inspect the privately run GEO ICE detention center in Aurora, where officials refused entry, citing a Department of Homeland Security policy requiring seven days’ advance notice. Crow has said that policy violates federal law allowing members of Congress to conduct immediate, unannounced oversight visits of federal facilities.

ICE officials previously defended the notice requirement as necessary for coordination and security, saying it protects staff, detainees and facility operations. Crow and his colleagues argue that such requirements obstruct transparency, particularly as immigration detention centers face overcrowding and allegations of mistreatment.

Crow has made immigration detention oversight a central issue since taking office. According to his office, he has personally conducted nine oversight visits of the Aurora facility since 2019, while his staff has made more than 80 visits. Crow also publishes public reports detailing conditions at the center.

He has introduced bipartisan legislation to explicitly guarantee lawmakers the right to conduct unannounced, in-person inspections of ICE facilities, including reviews related to public health and humane treatment.

The court’s ruling temporarily blocks the administration from interfering with those oversight efforts as the lawsuit proceeds. Crow said he and his colleagues will continue pressing for access to detention facilities and accountability from the administration.

“Oversight is a core responsibility of Members of Congress — and a constitutional duty we do not take lightly,” the lawmakers said.

Vedanth Raju Day

Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman proclaimed March 25 “Vedanth Raju Day” in Aurora. During March, Vedanth won both the Denver Metro Regional Science and Engineering Fair and the Colorado State Spelling Bee. 

Vedanth won the science fair after creating a possible plant-based ointment for diabetic foot ulcers. He explained how he observed his grandfather, Chandra Shekhar Ayyar, using turmeric powder for a cut and was able to use that information, along with knowing that herbal remedies are successful and commonly used in India, to create a hypothesis for an herbal remedy that was beneficial for diabetic foot ulcers without the use of antibiotics.

His parents, Sandhya Ayyar and Srikanth, said his profound understanding and concise explanation of his experiment blew the judges away.

His love of spelling seemed to also be encouraged by family influence, after watching his older brother begin doing spelling bees when he was younger. His brother, Vikram, won second place in the National Spelling Bee in 2022.

DA Amy Padden Recall

In July 2025, Councilmember Daniell Jurinsky began a petition to recall the 18th Judicial District Attorney, Amy Padden, after waiting the six-month limit for recalling a district attorney after they win an election. 

Jurinsky began the campaign after accusing Padden of being too soft on crime and not giving victims and their families the justice Jurinsky said they deserved. The recall effort was sparked by the July 2024 death of 24-year-old Kaitlyn Weaver, who was killed when a 15-year-old non-citizen was driving more than 90 miles per hour on a residential road in Aurora. Jurinsky said she was upset that the juvenile received probation from prosecutors under Padden’s office, even though it was not a decision made by Padden. 

The juvenile and his family were also detained by ICE. 

Jurnisky tacked on a few other allegations, including a person who was ruled mentally incompetent and unable to stand trial. The charges against the person were dismissed as mandated by state law, which Padden also has little control over. 

Padden was also accused of going too light on other crimes she had little to no control over, but the recall effort eventually lost traction due to a lack of funding and public interest.

Aurora’s consent decree 

Aurora was placed under a consent decree November 2021 for a “pattern and practice of violating state and federal law through racially biased policing, using excessive force, and failing to record legally required information when interacting with the community.”

The Consent Decree, imposed by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser in 2021, was also triggered in part by the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, who died at the hands of police and rescuers after being stopped while unarmed and doing nothing wrong. The decree mandates broad reforms in training, accountability, use-of-force policies, data systems and community engagement.

Initially, the plan was for the Consent Decree to end by the end of 2026 or 2027. Critics, including local lawmakers, have continuously highlighted a lack of independence in the monitor and issues with how the police are being evaluated. Additional critics, including city council members, have stated that it is hard to understand what the goals and ratings of police progress actually mean, and to track whether there is real progress.

The decree is enforced by an independent monitor, IntegrAssure, a paid contractor that works alongside city staff and public safety leaders to monitor and ensure progress. Aurora has paid IntegrAssure more than $3.1 million as of January 2025, which also raises concerns about independence. 

Newly elected city council members say the decree is sure to take up their attention in the next year.

Officer-involved shootings

There were three officer-involved shootings involving an unarmed civilian in Aurora this year. Critics think that multiple of the shootings were preventable, which continues to be considered an ongoing problem with Aurora police. 

In May, an Aurora officer, Brandon Mills, fatally shot Rashaud Johnson, a 32-year-old unarmed man, at a parking facility near Denver International Airport, called the Parking Spot. Johnson was reported to be acting strangely, but was not considered violent by the people who reported him. 

The employees called multiple times after hours of waiting for a police response, and after a final plea to have an officer come talk to Johnson, a single officer finally showed up. Johnson was reported to have no substances in his system but was acting very strangely, as seen in body camera footage. 

He lunged at Mills several times while making giggling noises. After Mills attempted to tase him, Johnson tackled Mills briefly and took magazine ammunition from Mills’ belt and then dropped it.  When the two stood up again, Mills pointed the gun at him and threatened to shoot him as Johnson walked slowly toward him. He shot at Johnson multiple times, who was unarmed.

In August, an officer fatally shot Rajon Belt-Stubblefield following a traffic stop. Belt-Stubblefield did not slow down or stop when the officer attempted to pull him over. Although police say no pursuit was initiated, the officer followed Belt-Stubblefield for blocks before Belt-Stubblefield collided with another vehicle. 

Belt-Stubblefield rear-ended a first vehicle, then his car jumped the traffic median, causing him to collide with another oncoming vehicle. Belt-Stubblefield then got out of his vehicle and tossed a handgun into the grass next to the road. Belt-Stubblefield’s son appeared at the scene from a separate vehicle, and Belt-Stubblefield told his son to grab “it,” which the police interpreted as the gun. The officer attempted to restrain and arrest Belt-Stubblefield until he eventually shot Belt-Stubblefield multiple times, as he was unarmed. 

In September, an officer fatally shot a 17-year-old who had called 911 and threatened to open fire at a gas station and shoot at responding officers. As the police department arrived at the call, the teenager was being observed by police dispatch through a flock camera next to the gas station, from which the teenager called the police. No weapon was identified, and critics pointed out that calling the police and threatening them with violence is a common sign of suicide by cop. 

Although the officers arrived with non-lethal weapons initially, they did not follow many of the recommended tactics for calming a person in that form of a crisis. The teenager charged at the officers after they attempted the non-lethal approach, and as the teen ran toward the officers, one officer grabbed his gun and shot the teen multiple times. The teen was unarmed, which is also said to be common in suicide-by-cop situations, for people to threaten violence but have no weapon. 

Police strategy and increased surveillance

​​Aurora police entered a new phase in technology-driven policing, combining years of cameras, license-plate readers and data tools with a full real-time operations center that now includes drones deployed directly to 911 calls.

“The important thing about our real-time centers is that they’re data-driven,” Deputy Police Chief Phil Rathbun said in November when the improvements were unveiled to the public. “So everything from our deployments of the technology to our deployments of our personnel and the timeliness is about crime data and how we can reduce victimization.”

The department, which quietly piloted the system over the past year, said the integration of all its surveillance tools with human analysts working live has already transformed investigations, sped up arrests and contributed to drops in crime.

The department already had many of the tools implemented in the Real Time Center. They include nearly 100 flock cameras, a drone, and multiple license plate readers. That, combined with 911 calls, alerts, crime reports, and incident data has created a space where analysts can view and work on crime as it unfolds. 

Traditionally, Aurora Police’s camera and plate-reader network served as a retrospective investigative tool, Rathbun said. Officers pulled footage after a crime occurred. Now, real-time technicians monitor incoming 911 calls and immediately access nearby feeds, plate-reading and mapping tools, while deploying a police drone that frequently arrives before officers. The department plans to add five more drones to support future police work. 

“So that means, rather than an investigation after the fact, it means a potential, successful apprehension right then and there, gathering of critical evidence through camera feeds,” Rathbun said. 

Drone launches typically take under 90 seconds, he said, and the drone video feeds directly into patrol cars en route to the scene. The drone can also reach speeds up to 47 miles per hour. At that rate, a drone could fly from the northern border of Aurora to the southern border of the city in about 6 minutes, a fraction of what it would take in a squad car.

“It means smarter responses,” Rathbun said. “They know what resources they need, the direction they need to come from, exactly who they’re looking for, including pictures and live video.”

Over the past several weeks, Aurora police have made public some arrests they credit directly to the new technologies.

The progressive sweep after constant contention on city council

After a decisive win in the Nov. 4 election, Aurora’s newly elected “people-first” slate to city council has moved quickly into areas where they might want to make changes and how they plan to work together, as their campaigns promised. 

“We represent the whole of Aurora, not sections of Aurora,” Councilmember Ruben Medina, Ward II incumbent winner, said on Election Night. “A community is everyone. It’s not exclusive to anybody. It’s inclusive of everyone, whether it’s their beliefs, gender, sexual orientation or political opinion, whatever may be. That’s what the makeup of our community is.”

The election had voters replacing Democratic and left-leaning candidates for a conservative slate on the dais.

Five Republicans were turned back by voters, and the council shifted to Democratic control for the first time in more than four years.

“While last night’s election didn’t go the way we had hoped, I am deeply proud of the work we’ve accomplished together — the initiatives I led and the efforts I was privileged to support,” Jurinsky said in social media posts. “Four years ago, I was told I couldn’t win. But we did. And I have served my hometown and all of you with every ounce of passion, loyalty, and heart that I have.”

Elected were newcomers Rob Andrews, Ali Jackson, Gianina Horton, Amy Wiles and incumbent Medina, all Democrats.

Jurinsky, as well as Ward II incumbent Steve Sundberg, both Republicans, were not returned to office. 

What’s being considered a progressive sweep in Aurora was also seen nationwide. Whether it was Democratic liberals or progressives, many political majorities or gubernatorial and mayoral races were flipped in the 2025 elections. While many groups and individuals try to take responsibility for the flip, progressives and Democrats, being angry with President Donald Trump and his administration, are the most responsible for the change, according to Seth Masket, a political science professor at the University of Denver.

The Democrats were vastly outspent by Republicans seeking city council seats.

“It’s fairly common for the party that lost the election to do well the next year,” Masket said. “Because the losers of the presidential election tend to be angrier the following year, and anger is generally a better motivator than satisfaction.”

The fact that the Aurora City Council election is considered nonpartisan did not stop voters from being aware of the candidates’ political leanings. 

“My understanding of those particular elections in Aurora is that the candidates’ political leanings were fairly well known,” Masket said. “There were a number of fairly Trump-supportive Republicans there, and a lot of pretty progressive Democratic candidates.” 

Jurinsky and Sundberg made frequent headlines in the Sentinel and media across the region, and even the nation.

Winners said they’re ready to turn away from the campaign and focus on the business of the new city council.

The decisive victory in all the races gives the left-leaning council block a 6-4 vote advantage over conservatives and Republicans still on the dais.

Democratic winners said they were determined to create a more cohesive and diplomatic city council than has served for the past four years, but that the ruling block would focus on public access to meetings, transparency and accountability.

“This election was not about being divisive,” Andrews said. “This election was about people coming together to end demonizing our city and our community. And what we want to do is we want to make sure that everybody loves our city. They have a place where they can work, love and play all day long.”

The newly elected and progressive city council members pushed through a few immediate changes.

With a newly progressive majority after the election, incumbent Democratic Councilmember Alison Coombs proposed changes to meetings to “undo harm caused by the previous council,” a conservative council majority that reduced public speaking time at listening sessions and created rules that Coombs said were directed at her.

“The reason that I did this today and not through the Rules Committee is that this is specific damage that was done by the previous council without a procedure, and it is undoing that damage,” she said at the new council’s first meeting in December. “Damage where the rules were used to bully and attack.”

She said the same is true for what the city refers to as “Public Invited to be Heard,” a public listening opportunity for the public to speak about topics not on the agenda. Coombs said that the rule changes to the public listening session were being “used to bully and attack, and that needs to be undone immediately.”

Coombs also proposed minor changes, such as putting the land acknowledgement invocation at the beginning of the meeting, “before formal business,” and adding more time to public listening sessions.

The changes to Public Invited to be Heard include reinstating the session as part of the city council meeting. It was changed during the summer by the majority of city council members, as part of one of many attempts to control disruptions during meetings wrought by protestors. The protests have, for more than a year, been created by family, friends and activists linked to the 2024 police shooting of Kilyn Lewis during his arrest in Aurora.

Under the resolution Coombs proposed, the Public Invited to be Heard listening session was extended to an hour or more before the meeting, with an additional hour or more after the meeting. It will also allow speakers to talk for three minutes instead of two. 

The Downtown Development Authority and Aurora’s fighting arts district

Aurora lawmakers moved forward with a timeline for creating a board and plan details for the new East Colfax Downtown Development Authority, approved by voters Nov. 4.

City Council members this month outlined the next steps for appointing the inaugural board of the East Colfax Downtown Development Authority, a voter-approved special district designed to drive long-term reinvestment and revitalization along the Colfax corridor.

The focus now is on how the city will form the DDA’s first governing board, a legally required step before any redevelopment funding or projects can move forward, Laura Perry, deputy city manager, said.

The DDA is a special district created under state law and approved by Aurora voters within a defined geographic boundary, which includes a few blocks on either side of East Colfax Avenue from Yosemite to Oswego streets. 

Once formed, the DDA can use tax increment financing to reinvest future increases in property and sales tax revenue back into the district, funding projects such as infrastructure improvements, redevelopment, housing and small-business support.

Aurora voters within the district boundary approved two ballot questions, establishing the DDA itself, and allowing the district to retain tax increment revenue under Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights, known as TABOR.

“No action can occur by the DDA or on behalf of the DDA until the board is appointed and the plan of development is approved by city council,” Perry said.

The DDA is expected to work in tandem with a Community Development Corporation, or a CDC, which is a nonprofit entity that can operate more flexibly and access grants, donations and other funding sources separate from the tax increment revenue.

While the DDA’s authority is limited by statute and focused largely on infrastructure, economic development, housing, and business support within its boundaries, Perry said. A CDC can provide services such as workforce development, affordable housing initiatives and broader community programming. 

The CDC’s boundary is also much larger than the DDA, which only spans from East 14th to East 16th avenues. The CDC boundary will run from East 11th Avenue to Montview Boulevard, and from Yosemite to Peoria streets. 

Next up is appointing two boards to lead the efforts and then a plan for how best to support businesses and residents in the area.

The future DDA board will inherit a draft Colfax Vision and Action Plan developed through extensive community engagement. According to city documents, the plan incorporates more than 1,200 community inputs, over 2,400 website visits, multilingual outreach efforts and multiple public meetings.

The draft plan lays out six core goal areas for the corridor, including public space maintenance, housing stability, economic development and arts and culture. The plan is intended to guide investment and decision-making over the next 10 to 20 years and will be formally reviewed by the inaugural DDA board before being brought to city council for approval.