AURORA | The Aurora City Council meeting agenda is packed this Monday, as local lawmakers are slated to make a throng of decisions on topics that have been heavily debated by the council.
Members will take up: the city’s first oil and gas operator agreement, a gun violence awareness month resolution, the rezoning of the Denver Meadows Mobile Home Park, impact fees on homebuilders and an open records request ordinance.
The meeting could stretch on into the early hours of Tuesday. Several proponents and opponents of oil and gas development are expected to speak during public comment of the ConocoPhillips operator agreement, which got the approval of five city council members two weeks ago allowing it to be heard in a regular meeting.
ConocoPhillips is seeking approval of 45 well sites, eight of which are within a quarter-mile of a home.
Another operator agreement with Axis Exploration is in the works. It was discussed at a previous study session, but got unanimous disproval to move forward because of a clause in the current pact addressing circumstances Axis could sue the city.
Councilwoman Nicole Johnston is asking fellow members to support a resolution recognizing June 7 as National Gun Violence Awareness Day.
Mayor Bob LeGare struck down a proclamation she submitted in May on behalf of the Moms Demand Action chapter in Aurora.
A years long battle between residents and the owners of the Denver Meadows Mobile Home Park may end with an approval to rezone the property from mobile home use to a transit-oriented development. That’s what the park owners have wanted, saying they believe they can get above-market value for the 20 acres that are tucked just north of East Colfax Ave., between I-225 and the Anschutz Medical Campus.
Through an agreement with the city, the owners agreed to pay $300,000 to the final remaining residents. They had to leave the park by May 31.
“The future vision is for the redevelopment of the existing property as medium to high intensity commercial, residential, hotel, civic and entertainment uses, and office development,” according to city documents.
Council members Charlie Richardson and Angela Lawson are looking to codify certain rules pertaining to the Colorado Open Records Act, referred to as CORA, in the city code. The state law gives direction on how state and local governments should handle requests for public documents.
The duo wants certain rules, such as eliminating applicable fees for a page that is more than 50 percent redacted, collecting certain data on requests and city residents receiving additional help to refine a request.
The proposal also includes practices that are considered standard or law now: Like, citing specific exemptions authorizing specific information being kept from the public and responding to a request within three days — that’s written into the CORA law.
Finally, city council members will take action on capital impact fees, which are applied to home developers for services the city provides to residents, such as fire, police and transportation.
The measure passed on the initial vote after Françoise Bergan said some new information had surfaced on the topic. But some council members said that information was selectively dispersed and not everybody received that information. It’s still unclear what that information was.
A complete agenda for the meeting can be found here.