YIMBY News for 7/19

[Eric Budd]

Downtown Denver’s massive expansion into Kroenke’s Ball Arena parking lots heads to City Council

Denverite

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KEYWORD SCORE: 40.52. affordable, affordable housing, bike lane, development, downtown, housing, income, live-work, mixed-use, parking, parking lot, project, public hearing, rent, zoning

Billionaire Stan Kroenke’s proposed expansion of downtown Denver into the Ball Arena parking lots passed a major milestone. The Community Planning Board approved the rezoning of roughly 70 acres of land and sent the project to the full City Council. What’s included in the massive development plan for the Ball Arena parking lots? That includes roughly 55 acres of parking lots that would be turned into around 6,000 units of new housing. Of those, 1,080 would be income-restricted. There would also be new hotels, office space and entertainment venues surrounding Ball Arena. The area would become a

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The Weekly Wrap: Biden Suggests 5% Rent Cap for Federally-Funded Homes but Punts to Congress

Next City

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KEYWORD SCORE: 40.38. affordable, affordable housing, apartment, development, growth, housing, hud, income, project, real estate, rent, single-family, transportation, urban

[image: The Weekly Wrap] (Photo by Jason Leung / Unsplash) Welcome back to The Weekly Wrap, our Friday roundup of stories that explain the problems oppressing people in cities and elevate the solutions that bring us closer to economic, environmental and social justice. Have news, resources or events that you think should be included in this newsletter? Let us know. We’re reachable at: wra...@nextcity.org. Biden Administration Backs 5% Rent Cap for Federally-Backed Apartments The Biden Administration has proposed restricting tax breaks for large owners of federally subsidized housing that rais

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The Outsider | Routt residents fretting proposed private resort reviving long-dormant Stagecoach ski area

Colorado Sun

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KEYWORD SCORE: 39.02. construction, development, homeowner, housing, occupancy, parking, project, real estate, rent, rent control, single-family, urban, walk, zone

[image: The Outsider logo] ------------------------------ Sneak Peek of the Week Stagecoach locals wary of plans for private ski, golf resort for uber-wealthy The Stagecoach ski area operated for a few years in the early 1970s before closing. A national resort operator is proposing a private ski and golf resort with about 700 luxury homes on the property. (Kari Dequine Harden, Special to The Colorado Sun) “They are going to change the very fabric of what Stagecoach is.” — Stagecoach resident Jennifer Fernley The Stagecoach ski area operated three lifts for three years in the early ’70s before

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Denver sees progress on residential construction permit delays, but challenges remain

Denver Post Politics

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KEYWORD SCORE: 28.03. affordable, affordable housing, apartment, construction, development, homeowner, housing, project, rent, single-family

Denver city officials this week touted progress in reducing construction permit review times, including reaching a goal on residential projects set by Mayor Mike Johnston’s administration. That success comes with some caveats, and people in the city’s Department of Community Planning and Development acknowledge plenty of room for improvement. So far this year, the planning department has cut permitting review times for residential construction projects by 33% compared to 2023, the administration announced earlier this week. That exceeds the goal of a 30% reduction that the mayor set when he an

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SLU Decision Points to Uphill Battle for Chinatown Station Advocates

The Urbanist

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KEYWORD SCORE: 26.20. affordable, construction, downtown, house, housing, project, real estate, rent, urban, walk

The Sound Transit Board of Directors is fresh off of standing up to major business interests who complained that planned light rail station locations would make South Lake Union traffic untenable during construction. Transit advocates commended the board for not overlooking project delays when considering last-minute alternatives, but their celebrations may be short lived as the next round of Sound Transit 3 decisions are finalized. In the case of Chinatown-International District (CID) and Midtown stations, the last-minute alternatives will soon have a leg up in the argument about delay costs.

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Seattle to Vote on Record $1.55 Billion Transportation Levy

Governing

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KEYWORD SCORE: 22.66. bike lane, construction, income, project, rent, transportation, vision zero, walk

In Brief: The Seattle City Council approved a $1.55 billion transportation levy to send to voters this fall, expanding on Mayor Bruce Harrell’s $1.35 billion initial proposal. Even at that cost, it is being characterized as a "back to basics" package after its predecessor did not deliver on its "transformational" promise. The levy would increase property tax bills by about $20 a month on a typical Seattle home. Expanding sidewalks to more of Seattle’s neighborhoods is a focus of the proposal, along with improvements to bridges and links to the city’s growing transit network. Residents of Seatt

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Encouraging Seniors to Use Active and Public Transportation

Streetsblog Net

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KEYWORD SCORE: 20.73. income, mobility, multimodal, rent, transportation, urban, walk

*Note: This post has been adapted from a presentation made at this year’s California Bike Summit.* Local governments and organizations have a big role to play in transportation, and there are many ways they can make it easier for people to stay active as they grow older. Below are three stories about removing obstacles for seniors so that they can utilize more active and public transportation and become more involved as both mobility and climate advocates. Bike-Share Done Right Bike-share is a great way to introduce people to biking; it is also a wonderful way to see a new city, if it’s done r

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Talking Headways Podcast: IrrePLACEable

Streetsblog Net

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KEYWORD SCORE: 19.00. density, downtown, house, housing, rent, urban

This week on the Talking Headways podcast we’re joined by Kevin Kelley, founding partner and principal at Shook Kelley. We talk about his book *Irreplaceable: How to Create Extraordinary Places that Bring People Together*. We discuss eliciting emotions, the debate between themes and authenticity, changing the meaning of cities, and embracing density. Scroll down below the audio player for an edited excerpt of our conversation, or click here for an unedited, AI-generated transcript of the entire conversation. *Jeff Wood: *How are you seeing cities at the moment? You know, the pandemic kind of s

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