In an effort to reduce his city’s homelessness, the recently elected mayor of Denver has announced plans for the construction of up to 1,400 tiny homes. Former Colorado State Senator Mike Johnston, who was elected as the Mile High City’s new mayor in a runoff election on June 6 with around 55% of the vote, has said that the issue of affordable housing will be one of his administration’s top priorities when he takes office next month. Johnston has proposed building nearly two dozen micro-communities across the city that would include the tiny homes. He has additionally advocated for the conversion of older hotels into affordable housing space. During the recent campaign, Johnston remarked: “More than 50% of Denver voters can’t afford to live in Denver today. Families who have been here for generations are being pushed out, as well as the teachers, nurses, and first responders who serve our city.” In 2022, Johnston successfully sponsored and campaigned for a measure called Proposition 123. That state-wide measure is dedicating as much as $300 million a year to fund lower income housing units. The measure is also funding the purchase of land that can be used for housing construction, as well as loans for factory-built and modular housing, along with financing for low and middle-income housing. According to the Denver Post, rents in the city have more than doubled in the last decade, while the cost of a typical home has gone up by a significant 165%. Denver’s homeless population, meanwhile, has risen from around 3,700 in 2015 to nearly 6,900 as of last year. By Garry Boulard
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A move to clean up a toxic site that was once the home to the Midland Cereal Building in the northern Colorado city of Brighton is receiving funding from the Environmental Protection Agency. The Midland facility at 640 Baseline Road was built in the early 1920s and designed to manufacture the company's most popular product, Whole Wheat Nuggets, for regional and national distribution. The company’s products, however, never rivaled such industry mainstays as the Grape Nuts Cereal, manufactured by the General Foods Corporation, prompting Midland to go out of business by the end of the decade. In later years, the Midland facility was used as a warehouse and distribution center for several different companies. A $500,000 Brownfields Assessment grant has been awarded to Brighton to conduct an environmental assessment of the Midland site, while also developing a clean-up plan. The grant will also allow city officials to conduct assessment and clean-up plans for sites formerly inhabited by the Petroleum Wholesale company, the Brighton Grain Elevator, and the Wilmore Canning Factory, which was built in 1908, and was later used to house German prisoners of war during World War II. According to a press release issued by the EPA, a majority of the targeted Brighton properties are located next to the railroad that runs through the city, prompting concerns about arsenic and other potential contaminants. Those concerns additionally include the presence of “heavy metals, asbestos, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, dioxins, furans, polychlorinated biphenyls, polyfluorinated compounds, and petroleum compounds.” Brighton officials have said that once the vacant industrial properties are cleaned up, the sites could be used for everything from mixed-use developments, marketplaces, restaurants, breweries, and housing. The Brownfields grant, said Brighton Mayor Gregory Mills in a statement, “will help us attract more employment, tourism, retail options, and investment in core areas of the city.” In a press conference announcing the grant, Kelly Watkins, chief of staff for the EPA’s Region 8, remarked that the Brownfield Assessment grants entail “partnerships between governments, housing authorities, private developers and others to help revitalize the most dangerous and polluted sites into cleaner, sustainable, and more environmentally just places that benefit the surrounding communities.” By Garry Boulard A bill signed late last year by President Biden, designed to ensure workplace accommodations for pregnant employees, will officially become law next week. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which was passed in Congress by large margins as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, applies to workplaces with 15 or more employees. The bill is modeled after the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. According to the official description of the legislation, the bill’s goal is to “eliminate discrimination and promote women’s health and economic security,” via the establishment of accommodations allowing pregnant women to work. Such accommodations, according to labor analysts, include offering the ability to sit or drink water, an important requirement in factory settings, as well as providing flexible work hours, and allowing for additional break time to use the bathroom, eat, or rest. Employers must have a discussion in good faith with employees regarding any requested accommodation. But at the same time, employers may be allowed to deny an accommodation request if they can prove that that request would place an undue hardship on business operations. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act applies only to workplace accommodations. According to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, existing laws are already in place making it illegal to fire a workers based on the mere fact of a pregnancy, childbirth, or any other related medical condition. According to sources, nearly two-third of the states have to date passed laws similar to the Pregnant Workers Fairness legislation. By Garry Boulard For the first time since 2006, voters in Phoenix in November will be looking at a series of bond issues designed to fund a wide number of infrastructure and public facility projects. Altogether, the four proposals have a dollar worth of $500 million with up to $214,000 going for fire, police, roadway, and pedestrian infrastructure projects. A smaller figure, at nearly $109,000 will be allotted to historic preservation, library, and parks projects. But by far the largest bond, at a historic $63 million, will be used to pay for new affordable housing and senior center projects. The bonds have been the subject of lively discussions throughout the city in recent months, with the list compiled by a general obligation bond executive committee and submitted to the Phoenix City Council. The bond proposals have won the support of Mayor Kate Gallego as well as a number of civic and business organizations. According to the Ahwatukee Foothills News, councilmember Kesha Hodge Washington remarked that by “approving all four measures, we can enhance public safety, bring quality of life improvements, address housing affordability, and ensure that Phoenix remains a forward-thinking and future-focused city.” The last time Phoenix voters were confronted with a large bond proposal to pay for an equally large number of infrastructure projects was in March of 2006, when seven questions, equaling $878 million, were approved by margins averaging between 53% and 69%. By Garry Boulard Big New Mexico Agency Tasked with Helping Children Wants to Purchase Building for Headquarters6/20/2023 A Request for Proposals has been issued for the purchase of a structure in Santa Fe that could serve as a working office for the Children, Youth, and Family Development department. That agency is currently nearing the end of a 20-year lease for a structure it occupies at 1920 Fifth Street in Santa Fe. According to the official RFP, the CYFD and its accompanying agency, the Early Childhood Education and Care Department, have determined that the upcoming end of the Fifth Street lease "presents an opportunity to save operational lease dollars by participating in the purchase of a building." The procurement is specifically looking for one building or several buildings totaling at least 29,000 square feet. The structure is also required to have office, restroom, conference room, and breakroom space. In addition, the RFP is asking for at least 800 square feet of fenced-in outdoor space adjacent to the building. Continues the RFP: "The property must have, at minimum, the following: adequate parking, close proximity to public transportation, clear title, and be ready for occupancy by November 3, 2023." As posted by the State of New Mexico's General Services Department, submissions to the RFP must be received by July 3. Responsible for administering New Mexico's foster care system and juvenile correctional facilities across the state, the CYFD was launched in 1992 as the first cabinet level agency in the country devoted to children and family issues. CYFD has an annual operating budget of around $360 million and just over 1,500 employees. By Garry Boulard Nearly all of the states have witnessed an increase in construction employment during the last year, with those increases most uniform across the West, according to a new survey. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that 42 states registered increases of anywhere from under 1% to 10.2% between May of 2022 and May of 2023, with Arkansas leading the way. The other top five states were either in the Plains region or the West, starting with Nebraska with a 7.2% gain, and followed by Oregon at 7.0%, and Idaho and Nevada at 6.3% each. The bottom five states, or states actually seeing a loss of construction jobs, were scattered across the country, starting with Connecticut posting a 2.6% decline; and followed by South Dakota with a 1.6% decline; West Virginia, down by 1.3%; Alaska, off by 1.2%; and usually booming Colorado, uncharacteristically registering a decline of 1.0%. Employment in other Western states was generally robust, with Arizona up by 1.5%, Texas, 2.7%, and New Mexico showing a strong 3.2% gain. Overall, according to the BLS survey, the number of new jobs in the country was up by around 339,000. "Job gains occurred in professional and business services, government, healthcare, construction, transportation and warehousing, and social assistance," said a narrative accompanying the survey. In an analysis of the recent construction job numbers, Ken Simonson, chief economist with the Associated General Contractors of America, said that "contractors remain busy nationwide, with bulging orders for future work." But Simonson added a cautionary note: contractors continue to have trouble "filling job openings when the industry unemployment rate is only 3.5%." In a statement, Anirban Basu, chief economist with the Associated Builders and Contractors, remarked: "The construction industry unemployment rate is now below the economywide unemployment rate, and there are plenty of available, unfilled construction jobs." The Wall Street Journal said the new construction job gains highlighted a "persistent strength in a sector that is usually among the first to buckle under higher interest rates." By Garry Boulard A project some three years in the planning stage to build a new subdivision on the northeast side of Colorado Springs is moving ahead with the approval of the Colorado Springs Planning Commission. The Kettle Creek North project, as proposed by developer Vintage Communities, will see the construction of exactly 247 homes just to the north of the intersections of Powers Boulevard and Old Ranch Road. The project, partly bordered by the Kettle Creek on the north side of the site and spread out over around 60 acres, has been reviewed several times by both the planning commission as well as the Colorado Springs City Council. The largest point of contention to the project has centered on concerns regarding a lack of evacuation routes at the site in the event of a wildfire. The wildfire issue has prompted Vintage Communities, which is based in Colorado Springs, to agree to the building of an additional route as part of the overall plan. Concerns were additionally assuaged with the announcement that the Colorado Springs Fire Department is planning to build a new $8.5 million station near the planned subdivision. A condition of the planning commission staff report states that no certificates of occupancy will be issued for the new subdivision until the fire station is "constructed and staffed along the Highway 83 corridor." According to city documents, the project will see the construction of four dwellings units per acre, with a minimum lot size of 5,500 square feet. By Garry Boulard Two Reserve Officers' Training Corps building on the main Albuquerque campus of the University of New Mexico are expected to be demolished this summer. The Army ROTC Building, numbered 175 on campus at 1832 Lomas Boulevard, was constructed in 1931; while the Army ROTC Annex, also in the 1800 block of Lomas and numbered 175A, is around 20 years old. The fate of the two buildings was foreordained after the university earlier this year inaugurated a new nearly $11 million, 20,600-square-foot ROTC Education Complex that houses all of the services provided by the earlier structures. In addition, a building assessment report completed some six years ago determined that any move to renovate and upgrade the existing structures would not be cost-effective. A third structure, the Aerospace Studies Building, number 159, is also destined for the wrecker's ball. That building, at 1901 Las Lomas Road, was built in 1940. UNM officials say that there are no immediate plans to build anything new at the site of the three structures, with the soon-to-be vacant properties managed by the school's Real Estate Department. The long-standing ROTC program at UNM is designed to provide leadership training for students for future Army, Air Force, and Navy commissioned officers. The larger national program was launched as part of the National Defense Act of 1916. By Garry Boulard Rural and technical assistance to the tune of $10 million is being made available with the goal of helping both tribal and rural communities across the country put in place needed infrastructure programs. The funding is coming out of the Department of Transportation and is designed to be used for feasibility analysis and studies, environmental reviews, preliminary engineering and design, and revenue forecasting, among other efforts. Important, as announced in an official Notice of Funding Opportunity, the program uniquely does not require matching funds from applicants. "Three words we like to share: no local match," remarked Arlando Teller, assistant secretary for tribal affairs with the Transportation Department, in a statement. Teller added that the officially named Rural and Tribal Assistance Pilot Program will "provide tribal nations with critical technical assistance to help deliver transportation priorities for their communities." By design, the program will provide $10 million in funding over a 5-year period, with up to $3.4 million available during the first two years. Maximum awards for the first year of funding are fixed at $320,000, with top awards for the second year set at $360,000. By Garry Boulard A major supplier of meat is contemplating an expansion of its current corporate facilities in Greeley, Colorado. With annual revenue well in excess of $72 billion, JBS USA Holdings, Incorporated has beef, chicken, and pork processing facilities throughout the country, but its home office for years has been located at 1770 Promontory Circle, nearly 10 miles to the west of downtown Greeley. Reports indicate that JBS may build a three-story, 60,000-square-foot addition to its existing three-story, 134,000-square-foot headquarters. That Promontory Circle facility was originally built in 2001 and measured 102,000 square feet. A 32,000square-foot expansion was added in 2006. Documents specific to the project have already been submitted to the City of Greeley's planning department. According to reports, JBS has already participated in a pre-application meeting for the project. The headquarters construction plans for JBS comes as the company has just announced a move to expand its beef production facilities in Grand Island, Nebraska. That 107,000-square-foot project is expected to take up to two years to complete and will cost around $95 million. A JBS press release in announcing the Nebraska project said the expansion represents an "important strategic investment to secure Grand Island as an unquestioned leader in food quality, animal care, and beef innovation for years to come." The Greeley headquarters expansion would see the building of new office space, a fitness and wellness center, amphitheater, outdoor patio, and expanded loading dock. Because company officials have said there is no plan to build the Greeley expansion immediately, a date for construction has not been announced. JBS, the largest employer in metro Greeley, operates more than 60 meat, poultry, and prepared food plants, employing upwards of 62,000 people. By Garry Boulard |
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