Late Monday night, after just under two hours of debate, Denver City Council delayed a decision about whether to provide $812 million over 35 years for a new equestrian center, hotel, housing and more at the National Western Complex.
The delay was a victory for Globeville and Elyria-Swansea neighbors who have been fighting for more investment to protect the surrounding area from gentrification related to the project.
“Denver is choosing horses and hotels over housing and human beings,” said former council member Candi CdeBaca, who opposed the funding proposal, in a public comment period.
Plans for the project include a community investment fund that could contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to other local causes. But some advocates have called for more contributions and a stronger commitment to the community fund, which is meant to combat the displacement of existing residents and bring other benefits.
“What we're after isn't charity,” said longtime community organizer Alfonso Espino. “It's a revenue-sharing model to be significant and consistent.”
Other Globeville and Elyria-Swansea residents celebrated the development at the National Western Center and many touted the project’s benefits.
The sweeping project is meant, in part, to keep the annual National Western Stock Show in Denver. It was a legacy project for former mayor Michael Hancock. The council is considering whether to give the project hundreds of millions of dollars in tourism taxes, which were approved by voters in 2015 for National Western Center purposes.
City officials have said the community investment fund will get about 1 percent of the city funding for the project.
Brad Buchanan, head of the National Western Center Authority, said the community fund would hit that goal, receiving about $9.1 million over 35 years. The money for the community fund would come from voluntary “round ups” at points of sale, a fee on rooms sold at the hotel and potentially an annual fundraising day.
That would amount to between $250,000 and $500,000 a year, Buchanan said. But advocates argued that’s far too little to do the community-based development work Globeville and Elyria-Swansea neighbors have proposed. And some have argued for a more concrete revenue source that doesn’t rely on charity.
Buchanan defended the authority’s outreach in the community and argued the plan was of mutual benefit. He said his group had been working with the community at dozens of meetings for years.
The authority did not want to commit to contributing more than it could sustain, he said.
“You run the risk of over-promising and underdelivering,” Buchanan said. “We didn’t want to do that.”
City Council President Amanda Sandoval accused Buchanan of sloppy and late negotiations and projections. She grilled him for how long it took to give the community — and the council — information about how the community fund would work.
She demanded proof that the authority had been negotiating in “good faith.”
All twelve present members of council agreed they needed more time to review the deal.
