AURORA | More development is officially coming to the land around Denver International Airport.
Voters in Denver and Adams County approved ballot measure 1A by a landslide Nov. 3, with more than 78 percent of the electorate favoring the measure in both counties.
The measure confirms an amended, intergovernmental agreement between Denver, Adams County and a handful of other Front Range municipalities over the proposed “aerotropolis” development near DIA. Initially approved this June, the new amendment gives Denver the right to allow commercial development as part of a pilot program on up to 1,500 acres of land around the airport. Denver will also make an up-front payment of $10 million to Adams County municipalities — of which Aurora is set to receive $2.7 million — and has to evenly split tax revenues that come from new businesses with surrounding cities.
Denver’s deputy mayor Cary Kennedy has estimated those tax revenues could total between $160 million and $270 million over three decades.
The measure furthers Denver Mayor Michael Hancock’s vision for creating an airport city along that city’s eastern peripheries, complete with a host of retail, commercial and manufacturing ventures.
“Without raising taxes, this vote means the Denver area is assured that DIA will continue to be a major economic actalyst for all of Colorado,” Hancock said in a statement. “Thanks to voters in both Denver and Adams County, we will be able to create thousands of new jobs, attract countless new businesses to the region and improve our competitive edge in today’s global marketplace.”
The agreement is expected to bring 12,000 new jobs to the region over the course of about 20 years, according to Hancock.
Under the agreement, Aurora does not have to pay for any of the possible infrastructure costs incurred by any new businesses.
“It’s exciting to know that residents approved this important issue, one that was also approved by members of both political parties and by every jurisdiction in Adams County, Denver and DIA,” Erik Hansen, an Adams County Commissioner who was heavily involved in the airport negotiations, said in a statement. “That’s not easy to do in the current political climate.”
Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan has specified that there will be no new ventures developed near the airport that would directly compete with bioscience and medical firms at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
The agreement also bars any new residential development from being constructed near the airport.
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