DENVER| A last-minute bill approved by a state Senate panel requiring cities to get voter approval to impose taxes on urban renewal projects on “blighted” agricultural land is expected to get a vote on the Senate floor Monday.
Aurora officials say the bill is aimed squarely at scuttling an embattled Gaylord Hotel project, the second attempt by some members of the legislature this session. A wide assortment of city and state officials officials waited for hours to testify Wednesday before the state Senate Judiciary committee that the measure was created only to threaten Aurora’s massive Gaylord Rockies Hotel and Conference Center, and not to address the state’s urban renewal tool.
The late-status bill was approved on a 4-1 bi-partisan vote and sent to the Senate floor. It was slated for action on a busy Friday, but laid over at the end of the day. The bill is up against a running clock, since the last day of the legislative session is May 6.
“It is anti-special district, anti-school district, anti-county, anti-city, anti-urban renewal, anti-state economic development office, anti-local control, anti-competition, anti-business,” Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan said in a statement he had prepared for the committee.
Hogan was one of 60 people who signed up to testify in opposition to the bill, many of them city and county officials as well as business leaders. Half a dozen people signed up to testify in support of the bill.
Senate Bill 284 is sponsored by state Sen. President Bill Cadman and Sen. Majority Leader Mark Scheffel, both Republicans.
Both Senators testified at the hearing that the bill’s intent is to close a loophole in the state’s urban renewal law that allows municipalities to use a tool that some believe should be used only for urban infill to fund development on agricultural land.
The bill also has bi-partisan sponsors in the state House.
Trey Rogers, a lawyer for 24 Denver hotels and lodging groups that petitioned to have state money pulled from the Gaylord hotel project in 2013, said it was unclear whether the bill could impact Gaylord if passed.
“The bill should not affect any urban renewal plan approved before the effective date of the bill. Under colorado law, the base tax must be set when urban renewal plan is approved,” he said. “The reason that it’s unclear is Aurora has cut corners pretty dramatically in violation of their own ordinances and processes for approval of development. They have rushed through approval of civil plans. Aurora has now notified the Adams County Assessor that they have broke ground. That is the trigger in the urban renewal plan. They have asked the assessor now to set the base. We think the assessor cannot set the base for this plan.”
Rogers said that Aurora stood on “shady ground” and used the urban renewal “loophole” to blight agricultural land for the hotel project, and that the city illegally broke ground on the project when it started erecting a fence and using heavy equipment to move dirt last week. He referenced an Adams County district court ruling that said the city held an invalid election to create a special tax district around the future hotel project.
Hogan countered that Aurora had won most of the lawsuits targeted against the project, including one filed by 11 mostly Denver-based hotels that was struck down by a Denver District judge.
He said one provision in the bill, which said any resident of a city could sue the city if they thought agricultural land was unfairly blighted for urban renewal, would just further delay the project with unneccessary litigation.
Hogan’s points were echoed by Adams County Commissioner Chaz Tedesco and Arapahoe County Commissioner Bill Holen, who testified against the measure.
Nick Colglazier of the Colorado Farm Burea was one of the few people who testified in support of the bill.
The bill, if passed as written, would go into effect in May 15 of this year and impact $300 million in tax incentives the city of Aurora pledged to the Gaylord project by requiring voter approval to use that money.
Gaylord Hotel builder RIDA Corp. said they broke ground April 22 after erecting a fence and using heavy equipment to move dirt. The surprise move was made to ensure state lawmakers could not hamper the project.
The total cost of the hotel and conference center is $825 million, according to Aurora Economic Development Council CEO Wendy Mitchell, with $81.4 million coming a from a Regional Tourism Act awarded to the project in 2012.
Follow SB 284:
The senate bill is aimed at blighting agricultural land for urban renewal, Gaylord is the prime example of this excess. I may be wrong but I recall reading in this paper the corporation designated a Denver resident to vote on the for the increased taxing district.
I am confused: Why should a Denver residents speak for the Citizens of Aurora? Or is that the only reliable vote the Mayor could find?