| Council Passes $917,456 Subsidy for Lincoln Place - Stipulates 50 parking spaces must remain available for commercial spaces to avoid future condos consuming all the parking spaces |
In a strange City Council meeting where members of the public were frustrated by
constant interruptions of private huddles between the City Council, Lincoln Place
developer and City Attorney, resolution was reached and $933,456 (nearly $1
million) subsidy was approved for the Lincoln Place downtown “catalyst�
project but with some new stipulations.
The repeated huddles, including one that lasted approximately 1 hour, were labeled â
€œexecutive sessionsâ€� which allows the Council to meet in secret session without
violating the law that requires public officials to deliberate in public. Some members
of the public who came to speak tired of the repeated private conversations and
finally left the meeting early.
Preserving the unfulfilled promise of adding badly needed public parking to
downtown seems to no longer be the issue with the Lincoln Place development.
Now the City Council wants to ensure the residential units don’t consume all the
parking spaces available and asked the developer to agree to preserve at least 50
parking spaces for commercial tenants and their customers.
Mrs. O’Connor, head of the O’Connor Group developing Lincoln Place,
made an emotional appeal to the City Council that her husband’s passing created
problems but also assured the Loveland City Council the project is still on track and
will be a high quality development for downtown Loveland. She apparently failed to
inform the Council about the reported changes from granite counters to a fake
material in the apartment kitchens or the reported use of cheap hollow panel doors
for the interior rooms of the apartments.
Her son contradicted what he called “rumors� that they intend to turn the
project into condominiums following the City of Loveland approval of the nearly $1
million subsidy they were requesting. He also assured the Council the project would
have a positive impact on the downtown. He stopped short of promising to include
any such denials in the contract with the city thus preserving the right to divide the
project into many small condominiums with dedicated residential parking once the
newly amended agreement with the city is completed.
Councilman Klassen appeared to be taking notes as he asked specific questions
regarding the future parking needs of the Lincoln Place development. While the rest
of the Council looked on, Klassen carefully penciled numbers his colleagues
apparently failed to consider when they approved the project before he joined the
City Council.
Klassen asked the City Manager, Don Williams, how many parking spaces the city
would normally require for 22,000 square feet of commercial space (the amount
provided for at Lincoln Place). The City Manager responded that normally 73
parking spaces would be required for 22,000 square feet of commercial space in a
project.
Klassen also asked how many of the residences in the nearly completed project were
1-bedroom, 2-bedroom or 3-bedroom units. The developer responded that there are
143 1-bedroom units, 43 2-bedroom units and the remaining 14 are 3-bedroom.
Mayor Walsh questioned the figures used for arriving at the $917,456 subsidy
request. He commented that he inquired with an expert who felt the numbers were
overstated. At the end of the night he voted for the subsidy as proposed nonetheless.
Members of the public spoke to the Council regarding concerns with parking
overflow from the project flooding accesses to other businesses that are not
subsidized by the City of Loveland but still provide parking for their employees on
private property. Among the speakers were Amy White and Barry Floyd.
Amy White, a downtown business owner, commented that her employees park on a
private lot she had cleared to keep them from using the few public spaces available
for her customers during the day. She felt this effort would be for not if Lincoln
place employees are forced to take the public spaces she opened by creating private
parking for her employees.
Barry Floyd, a land owner in downtown Loveland, suggested the Council negotiate
some public parking into the MFA (Master Financing Agreement) for at least a
couple years. The idea didn’t seem to gain traction as the solution doesn’t
address the overall shortage nor provide any long-term solution to the problem.
A common concern among those in the Council Chambers were the number of
Lincoln Place residents, employees of the commercial tenants, shoppers and visitors
of the residents who will be searching the downtown area for the already limited
public parking.
Glenn Rousey, attempting some humor, asked if he had a poker party with five
buddies if he lived at Lincoln Place – where would they park. The developer
talked around the answer finally leaving the impression that Lincoln Place will be
depending on public street parking to provide the visitor parking for tenants’
visitors.
The Council finally agreed to pass the proposed MFA less certain restrictions. Click
here to see what they decided.
constant interruptions of private huddles between the City Council, Lincoln Place
developer and City Attorney, resolution was reached and $933,456 (nearly $1
million) subsidy was approved for the Lincoln Place downtown “catalyst�
project but with some new stipulations.
The repeated huddles, including one that lasted approximately 1 hour, were labeled â
€œexecutive sessionsâ€� which allows the Council to meet in secret session without
violating the law that requires public officials to deliberate in public. Some members
of the public who came to speak tired of the repeated private conversations and
finally left the meeting early.
Preserving the unfulfilled promise of adding badly needed public parking to
downtown seems to no longer be the issue with the Lincoln Place development.
Now the City Council wants to ensure the residential units don’t consume all the
parking spaces available and asked the developer to agree to preserve at least 50
parking spaces for commercial tenants and their customers.
Mrs. O’Connor, head of the O’Connor Group developing Lincoln Place,
made an emotional appeal to the City Council that her husband’s passing created
problems but also assured the Loveland City Council the project is still on track and
will be a high quality development for downtown Loveland. She apparently failed to
inform the Council about the reported changes from granite counters to a fake
material in the apartment kitchens or the reported use of cheap hollow panel doors
for the interior rooms of the apartments.
Her son contradicted what he called “rumors� that they intend to turn the
project into condominiums following the City of Loveland approval of the nearly $1
million subsidy they were requesting. He also assured the Council the project would
have a positive impact on the downtown. He stopped short of promising to include
any such denials in the contract with the city thus preserving the right to divide the
project into many small condominiums with dedicated residential parking once the
newly amended agreement with the city is completed.
Councilman Klassen appeared to be taking notes as he asked specific questions
regarding the future parking needs of the Lincoln Place development. While the rest
of the Council looked on, Klassen carefully penciled numbers his colleagues
apparently failed to consider when they approved the project before he joined the
City Council.
Klassen asked the City Manager, Don Williams, how many parking spaces the city
would normally require for 22,000 square feet of commercial space (the amount
provided for at Lincoln Place). The City Manager responded that normally 73
parking spaces would be required for 22,000 square feet of commercial space in a
project.
Klassen also asked how many of the residences in the nearly completed project were
1-bedroom, 2-bedroom or 3-bedroom units. The developer responded that there are
143 1-bedroom units, 43 2-bedroom units and the remaining 14 are 3-bedroom.
Mayor Walsh questioned the figures used for arriving at the $917,456 subsidy
request. He commented that he inquired with an expert who felt the numbers were
overstated. At the end of the night he voted for the subsidy as proposed nonetheless.
Members of the public spoke to the Council regarding concerns with parking
overflow from the project flooding accesses to other businesses that are not
subsidized by the City of Loveland but still provide parking for their employees on
private property. Among the speakers were Amy White and Barry Floyd.
Amy White, a downtown business owner, commented that her employees park on a
private lot she had cleared to keep them from using the few public spaces available
for her customers during the day. She felt this effort would be for not if Lincoln
place employees are forced to take the public spaces she opened by creating private
parking for her employees.
Barry Floyd, a land owner in downtown Loveland, suggested the Council negotiate
some public parking into the MFA (Master Financing Agreement) for at least a
couple years. The idea didn’t seem to gain traction as the solution doesn’t
address the overall shortage nor provide any long-term solution to the problem.
A common concern among those in the Council Chambers were the number of
Lincoln Place residents, employees of the commercial tenants, shoppers and visitors
of the residents who will be searching the downtown area for the already limited
public parking.
Glenn Rousey, attempting some humor, asked if he had a poker party with five
buddies if he lived at Lincoln Place – where would they park. The developer
talked around the answer finally leaving the impression that Lincoln Place will be
depending on public street parking to provide the visitor parking for tenants’
visitors.
The Council finally agreed to pass the proposed MFA less certain restrictions. Click
here to see what they decided.
LovelandPolitics.com
| Want to live in Lincoln Place? Click here to see layouts of the apartments, prices and contact information |
| Lincoln Place markets den in 1-bedroom unit as "second bedroom" in violation of Loveland Municipal Code. Click Here To Read Story |
| Related Links |
| Latest Facts: Residential Units 200 Comm. Space 22,000 sq. ft. Parking spaces 254-292? |
| What Changed During the Feb. 20, Council Meeting, 1. The City of Loveland will now stipulate that a minimum of 50 parking spaces will be reserved for commercial parking 2. Council will only grant the $16,300 dollars of the tax waiver already provided in 2005 of $82,000. New agreement says O’Connor will rebate the $66,300 balance to the city over a two-year period from money provided to O’Connor by the other subsidy. 3. One other new change was the removal of the mention of 7% interest the O’Connor’s would need to pay to the City of Loveland for money owed. 4. Where needed, the new MFA (Master Financing Agreement) stipulated that the City Attorney and City Manager are allowed to amend as needed the agreement to implement the above mentioned changes. What Part of the New Agreement Wasn’t Changed: City Council gives away $917,456 in taxes under the Redevelopment Authority from future taxes collected to assist in the project. Together with the $16,300 approved, the total subsidy is now $933,856 |
| Frustrated by constant huddles by the Council and developer when mics were turned-off, some members of the public left early out of frustration without being able to comment on the changes being made in private to the MFA (Master Financing Agreement) between the city and Lincoln Place developer |
File photo
| Click here to see parking shortfall graph 'required" parking is- 73 spaces for 22,000 sq ft. commercial, 2 for the 2 & 3 bedroom units and 2 for 50% of the 1-bedroom units (a number are really non-conforming 2 bedroom units) and 1 for the other 50% of 1-bedroom units |
