This story was updated on Sept. 12.
A proposal to delay Denver's new voter-approved sidewalk fees until July 1, 2024, cleared a hurdle Tuesday when members of the City Council's Land Use, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (LUTI) voted to send the proposed amendment to the full City Council.
Councilmember Amanda Sandoval brought the proposed amendment before the committee on Tuesday. She said she supports the push to improve sidewalks but worries about disproportionate effects on low-income residents.
"I just want equity to be baked into this fee structure," she said, expressing concerns about older people living on fixed incomes and families charged higher fees for living on busy streets, which bring down home values.
"I think it is critically important that we move as expeditiously as possible in improving Denver's pedestrian infrastructure, but expeditiously to mean does not mean without reason, and this is an extremely complex ball of wax," said Councilmember Paul Kashmann, who serves on the task force figuring out how to implement the initiative.
When city officials and residents raised similar concerns during the 2022 campaign season, proponents of the sidewalk fees said issues could be worked out after the election. But time is running out, with fees set to start on Jan. 1.
"We are just getting started and it was the city's decision for whatever reason," said Jill Locantore, a task force member who advocated for and helped write the ballot initiative. "We've now only had two meetings, but we are meeting every other week, and this is a top priority for the committee to discuss."
Sandoval, who chairs LUTI, said she would be open to the task force bringing their own amendment that reverts the timeline back to Jan. 1 if they complete their work and bring other changes taking into account some of the equity concerns before the start of 2024.
City Council will vote on the measure for the first time on Sept. 25 and for a second and final time on Oct. 2.
The original story continues below.
A Denver City Council committee is set to vote next week on an ordinance that would delay the city's ambitious new sidewalk program -- and the property fees that come with it -- by six months to July 2024.
Voters approved the citizen-initiated program last November. It shifts responsibility for sidewalk maintenance from property owners to the city and levies a new annual fee on property owners to fund the program.
The proponents behind the program designed the fee to scale with the size of a given parcel -- the more street frontage, the more an owner would pay. Property owners in denser, central neighborhoods will see relatively low annual fees. About half of all single-family homeowners in the city will pay between $100 and $200 every year, according to city data from mid-August.
But property owners on corner lots, especially in suburban-style neighborhoods, will face higher bills. Properties on busier streets would be charged higher fees too. About 20,000 homeowners will pay between $200 and 400; nearly 8,000 will pay between $400 and $800. A few hundred would pay even more, the data show.
The sidewalk program, as voters approved it, does include a few breaks for some property owners.
It includes a 20% discount for certain lower-income neighborhoods, including East Colfax, Elyria-Swansea, Globeville, Montbello, Northeast Park Hill, Sun Valley, Valverde, Villa Park, West Colfax, and Westwood. And anyone could defer payments until they sell their property.
But several council members have said publicly they still want to make changes to the fee structure, citing affordability concerns raised by their constituents. A city-convened committee is discussing refinements, and hopes to make specific recommendations to City Council by the end of the year.
Councilwoman Amanda Sandoval is behind the proposed delay. She said it would give the committee time to do its work.
"I just feel it's unfair to start charging the residents of Denver while the task force is having those conversations," Sandoval said.
Jill Locantore, executive director of the Denver Streets Partnership, an advocacy group that wrote and campaigned for the ballot measure, said she spoke with Sandoval and is "OK" with the proposed delay. Locantore is also on the city's sidewalk committee that is drafting changes.
"We share [Sandoval's] stated intention to ... make sure that we're making the fee as fair and as reasonable as possible, and taking care of any unintended consequences in that regard," Locantore said.
Locantore hopes the coming refinement could also come with an implementation date before July 1, 2024. A delay of six months could cost the city $20 million in revenue, she estimated.
"The sooner the city can launch the program, the better," she said.
