AURORA | After stalled negotiations with two property owners, the City of Aurora plans to exercise eminent domain powers to condemn a large section of the planned Regatta Plaza development for the Nine Mile Urban Renewal Plan.
During Monday night’s regular council meeting, city lawmakers unanimously approved an ordinance authorizing the Aurora Urban Renewal Authority to use eminent domain to condemn parcels controlled by two property owners who the city claims have walked away from negotiations for the respective properties.
“This is a landmark. It’s not something we’ve done in all of my 12 years here,” said Ward IV Councilwoman Molly Markert, whose ward includes the long-vacant plaza and said she supports the measure.
The parcels — owned by John Buckley and Romesh Sharma — constitute the vast amount of land between the King Soopers along South Parker Road and the Key Bank at East Cornell Avenue.
After staff selected Mile High Development/Koelbel as the preferred master developer team for the Regatta Plaza redevelopment, the developer began reaching out to the property owners in the designated area. While several meetings with representatives for Key Bank and King Soopers “have been productive and favorable,” according to city staff, attempts to negotiate with Buckley and Sharma for their parcels have yielded nothing.
Those hold-outs, the city says, are causing delays in finalizing deals with Key Bank and King Soopers and holding up progress on the plans for the 20-acre site across from what has been the city’s primary hub for light rail and bus service prior to the creation of the upcoming “R Line,” due to open in 2016.
No owners were present at the city council meeting. That’s despite the City of Aurora giving the owners plenty notice of tonight’s actions, said Andrea Ammonick, manager of Aurora’s Urban Renewal Authority.
“The fact owners aren’t here protesting condemnation, they want this to happen because of the advantageous tax benefits,” said Aurora Councilman Bob LeGare.
Michael Rosser, a resident of the Dam East neighborhood, which is near Regatta, also spoke in support of the project. “It clearly is a blighted area … the blight needs to be removed and replaced,” he said.
The Regatta Plaza area previously had been deemed blighted in a 2013 Nine Mile area study, which found that the Buckley and Sharma parcels had seven or more blight factors present out of 11 outlined in Colorado urban renewal statute. A minimum of four factors must be present in order for city council to form an urban renewal area such as the one around Nine Mile.
The sooner the better….. area resident for last 16 years.
At least ten years to late. Go for it, Aurora!
You don’t own your property.
You own it, unless the government deems it more important for another private entity to own it.