Lafayette Marketplace new report

City Council executive session

Photo by Kristina Flour on Unsplash

The City Council has four executive sessions on their January 21st agenda.

In my January 4th update titled “January 7th, first official step for the Tebo annexation” I wrote:

“I will go out on a limb here and say I expect to see an executive session or two (where council meets in private) to discuss possible incentives for the developer. That happened the last time Kensington brought their project forward. We don’t know what was discussed. As I explained in a previous post, developers and large retail stores tend to ask for a deal of some sort to save them money. I’ll let you know if I see this on a future agenda.”

Bingo! That didn’t take long, we see one regarding the Kensington/Tebo/Lafayette Marketplace project this coming Tuesday.

WHAT ARE EXECUTIVE SESSIONS?

Governed by state law they allow the council to discuss specific topics out of the public eye. The agenda must give as much information as possible regarding what will be discussed and they are not allowed to stray from that topic during the meeting. Topics allowed for executive sessions include:

Personnel issues including hiring the city administrator, municipal judge, and city attorney and their performance reviews and raises. Most city employees work for the city administrator, not the city council.

Legal matters that require negotiations that are not prudent to discuss in public.

Real estate transactions including how much they are willing to pay to purchase a property.

Economic Development Agreements (EDA) between the city and a developer that provides incentives.

The council is not allowed to vote during executive sessions. That must occur during a public meeting.

Interestingly we see more than one of those topics in the executive sessions for council’s Tuesday meeting so I thought I’d cover them all.

KENSINGTON’S LAFAYETTE MARKETPLACE ON THE TEBO PROPERTY

This is where much of the focus of my reports has been lately. If you’re a new reader this post “The evolution of the Lafayette Marketplace plans” will give you some background.

Since this development was last on the radar in August of 2023 we have some new council members, Councilors Gallegos and Fridland were elected in November 2023. Also in November, Councilor Tapia Vega was appointed to fill Councilor Briggs's seat after she passed away on September 16th.

This executive session has two topics, some legal questions about the annexation and development review procedures is the first one. The second is determining council positions regarding “potential annexation-related agreements”. From this one could surmise that something is going on behind the scenes and the council will be informed about what it is and if they want to pursue it. If they do, they will instruct staff and the city attorney regarding negotiations. What that “something” is we don’t know.

“H. Pursuant to Colorado Revised Statutes sections 24-6-402(4)(b) and 24-6- 402(4)(e)(I) to confer with the City Attorney for the purposes of receiving legal advice on specific legal questions regarding annexation and development review procedures, and to determine positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations, developing strategy for negotiations, and instructing negotiators, regarding potential annexation-related agreements, all pertaining to real property located at the southwest corner of Hwy 287 and Arapahoe Road”

THE SUNDAR DEVELOPMENT AT 287 AND DILLON RD - 684 apartments

The executive session:

“I. Pursuant to Colorado Revised Statutes sections 24-6-402(4)(b) and 24-6- 402(4)(e)(I) to confer with the City Attorney for the purposes of receiving legal advice on specific legal questions regarding the Sundar Phase 1 Subdivision Development Agreement for a multi-family residential development located at the northwest corner of SH 287 and Dillon Road”

I began writing about this project on Nextdoor in 2018. I have various documents in my laptop. It received approval back then. I have no idea what the legal questions in the executive session would be about.

One of the staff reports from a city council meeting in 2018 described the development this way:

“Final Plan/PUD - Final Plat: The Sundar Subdivision is approximately 36.14 acres in size. The Final Plan/PUD includes 684 dwelling units to be developed in two phases. All units are proposed to be market-rate rentals. Nine apartment buildings, associated garage buildings, mailbox building, clubhouse and related amenities are proposed to be built in Phase I. Ten buildings, garages and a second clubhouse are anticipated to be proposed with the Phase II application submittal in the future for separate review and approval.”

LAFAYETTE’S PRESIDING JUDGE

The executive session:

“J. Pursuant to Colorado Revised Statutes section 24-6-402(4)(f)(I) for the purpose of discussing personnel matters regarding the appointment of a Presiding Judge for the Lafayette Municipal Court”

The city council appoints the judge. Our current judge is Amanda Bailhache, appointed in February 2021. Terms last two years. Her term would end next month. Interesting tidbit, she lives in Lafayette and is married to Graham Bailhache owner of BV Builders, the company developing the vacant property at the southeast corner of Baseline and Public Rd.

LAFAYETTE’S CITY ATTORNEY

The executive session:

“K. Pursuant to Colorado Revised Statutes section 24-6-402(e)(I) to determine positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations, developing strategy for negotiations, and instructing negotiators regarding the terms and conditions for the City Attorney”

As I reported during the 2025 budget process we will be moving from a contracted city attorney to an in-house department. The council interviewed two applicants last year, our current city attorney, Mary Lynn Macsalka and one other person who was not identified. I was there for the interviews and in my humble opinion City Attorney Macsalka was head and shoulders the better candidate.

We are now at the selection and negotiation point of the process and council will discuss that in executive session.

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