Rylee Dunn
rdunn@coloradocommunitymedia.com
The Arvada City Council had a busy meeting on April 4. Council approved an ordinance amending a section of the Arvada City Code pertaining to parking enforcement, OK-ed two major modifications needed for a new car wash in Candelas, made appointments to city boards and commissions and recognized April as Child Abuse Prevention Month.
The business meeting was the first in weeks at which all seven members of council were physically present. Councilmember Lisa Smith recently returned to Arvada after spending two weeks in Poland helping with the Ukrainian refugee crisis.
Parking ordinance
Council passed an ordinance amending a section of the Arvada City Code concerning parking enforcement in an effort to centralize the city’s parking enforcement — which is primarily focused on the Olde Town area — within Mobility and Planning Innovations Division and Public Works.
Under the previous iteration of the City Code, the Parking Enforcement Team was required to have a member of the Arvada Police Department to respond to a parking violation vehicle on a public street, place a civil lien on the vehicle, and call for a tow from the City’s on call towing vendor. A report to council called the process, “resource intensive and time-consuming.”
The amendment allows the entire process to go online and be streamlined within the Public Works Department. The city has already had a private contractor in place to enforce parking; they were previously doing so in conjunction with APD.
John Firouzi, the Manager of Mobility and Planning Innovation for the city, said that appeals will be handled within Public Works as well.
“(Parking citations) are civil in nature, so they do not go through the court system. There is an online system set up where (offenders) would go online, look up the citation or their license plate and appeal virtually or electronically,” Firouzi said.
Because we know everyone’s not going to have access immediately to internet or computers, there’s also our contractors cell phone number and an email to reach out to. From there we have a form to fill out and return to the city or the Public Works Department and from there the final decision would be with the hearing officer,” Firouzi continued.
Firouzi added that the change to the ordinance wouldn’t change much on the operational side of parking enforcement.
“What it does do is it allows our contracted service to work with public works instead of working with public works and the police department to try to address egregious incidents of parking. in essence, it doesn’t change anything in terms of how we operate, it just on the back end helps us with how we respond to incidents in the field,” Firouzi said.
The ordinance passed with a 6-1 vote, with Councilmember John Marriott being the lone dissenting vote.
Whisper Village Car Wash
Two major modification requests needed for the advancement of a car wash proposal in Candelas were approved unanimously by council. The modifications provide exemptions from the Land Development Code by allowing the car wash to be built on a corner lot and for the facility’s bay doors to face the adjacent street.
Whisper Village Car Wash is slated to be built at the Southwest corner of Holman Street and West 91st Place in Candelas. The site is part of a commercial development that includes other businesses.
Rob Smentana, Arvada’s Manager of Planning and Development said that the applicant included mitigation measures in their proposal that helped secure the city team’s endorsement of the exceptions to the LDC.
“Applicant has proposed to mitigate the major modifications by orienting the bay doors to the north and therefore away from the future residential development that will take place to this site and by constructing a screen wall along the eastern side of the stacking lanes to provide buffering from the future residential. Noise generating vacuums have been eliminated from the site,” Smentana said.
He added that the intent of the LDC prohibiting car washes on corner lots was to have something ‘more energizing’ be the focal point on the corner of two public streets. The section about bay doors not facing adjacent streets was implemented to give developments more of a “pedestrian-oriented feel,” Smentana said.
Appointments to boards and commissions
Council formally approved a slew of appointments to the city’s boards and commissions. Council had previously spent months interviewing applicants for each of the positions.
Brandon Figliolino and Tom Aljinovich were appointed to the Arvada Planning Commission. Figliolino’s term ends in 2026, while Aljinovich’s will end in 2024. Andrew Gay, Michael Griffith and Steve Hannan were all reappointed to the planning commission on 4-year-terms expiring in 2026.
Four municipal court relief judges were appointed; Christopher K. Daly, Ralph C. Turano, Michael S. Matassa and Charles W. Tingle.
Peter Kazura was appointed to the Arvada Urban Renewal Authority for a 5-year term ending in 2027. Sue Dolan was reappointed to AURA for a 5-year term ending in 2027.
“The amount of time city council puts into interviewing these applicants, choosing from people who are very qualified — I know we disappoint some people because we’re not able to appoint them, and we urge those that we don’t appoint to keep applying to our boards and commissions,” Arvada Mayor Marc Williams said.
Child Abuse Prevention Month
Councilmember Lauren Simpson presented a proclamation from the city recognizing April as Child Abuse Prevention month to Abbie Foley, Development Director for Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children and Betsy Bellissimo, CASA’s Mentor Coordinator.
“Personally, I want to thank you ladies for all the important work you do. these are our most vulnerable residents because often they can’t speak up for themselves. Thank you for being their advocates, thank you for supporting them,” Simpson said.
Foley thanked council for raising awareness of child abuse in the community.
“We see first-hand how child abuse and neglect not only impacts our children and our youth but also the community as a whole. By recognizing Child Abuse Prevention Month, you’re increasing community awareness about strengthening families and supporting parents and children,” Foley said.
