The Colorado Springs City Council voted Aug. 13 to take the next step toward putting a proposed ordinance to create a Downtown Development Authority for Old Colorado City on a separate ballot during the election period later this year. The second reading of the ordinance and possible ordinance adoption is scheduled for the Council’s regular meeting on Aug. 27. If the ordinance is adopted, it will go to voters in the proposed DDA boundaries to approve or reject.
The DDA boundaries extend on and around Colorado Avenue from I-25 to the border with Manitou Springs. [For more information, see COS City Council reviews OCC DDA with expanded boundaries in the June 28 issue of the Pikes Peak Bulletin.–ed.]
The DDA would be funded by Tax Increment Funding, which does not take from the current city budget, but rather uses funds from future property and sales tax growth – as well as mill levies, a form of property tax based on assessed value. One mill is equal to $1 per $1,000 of assessed value. A DDA is capped at 5 mills.
If the DDA is formed, there will be a negotiation with all the entities that receive property and sales tax: the DDA, schools, the city and the county, with separate TIF agreements made with each of them as to the percentage share that each will take over the life of the DDA.
The DDA ordinance was drafted under the guidance of Jamie Giellis with the Denver-based city planning consulting firm Centro Inc after she was hired by the Old Colorado City Partnership to look at recommendations from the 2018 Downtown Colorado Inc. assessment and provide guidance on implementing the recommendations related to OCC’s funding and organizational structure.
Giellis spoke with the Bulletin shortly after the Council meeting. She said there were “a lot of good questions” asked at the meeting, including one by council member Dave Donelson as to whether a stipulation could be attached to the ordinance requiring a certain percentage of voters to vote on the DDA before the vote would be considered valid. The city attorney weighed in against that, however.
There were several public comments on the DDA, most in support.
The DDA moved forward on an 8-1 vote, with council member Mike O’Malley voting against.