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Home My WebLink AboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 03/20/2018 - RESOLUTION 2018-030 APPROVING AN INTERGOVERNMENTALAgenda Item 10 Item # 10 Page 1 AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY March 20, 2018 City Council STAFF Patrick Rowe, Redevelopment Program Coordinator John Duval, Legal SUBJECT Resolution 2018-030 Approving an Intergovernmental Agreement with the Fort Collins Urban Renewal Authority for the Authority's Contribution of Funds to the City's Whitewater Park Project for Public Improvements. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The purpose of this item is the approval of an intergovernmental agreement between the City of Fort Collins (City) and the Fort Collins Urban Renewal Authority (URA), which memorializes the terms of acceptance of $300,000 in URA support for the City’s Whitewater Park Project. The URA investment is provided in recognition of project benefits that will accrue to the North College URA plan area as a result of the project. Note: The URA Board will consider the Whitewater Park Project request the same evening this item is considered. Should the URA Board not support the Whitewater Park Project request, the intergovernmental agreement will not be entered into by the City and URA. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends adoption of the Resolution. BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION Whitewater Park Project Description The Whitewater Park is a planned 12.5-acre park that includes world class whitewater features, park gathering spaces, river overlooks, fish passage and habitat, stormwater improvements and restoration of the area. The project will include many items beyond the whitewater features, such as art in public places, road improvements, parking, pedestrian circulation, gathering spaces, wetlands and restoration, historic preservation and interpretation, removing the Coy diversion structure and south bank walls, cleaning up industrial properties, and creating a stormwater basin that returns water to the river. The project also includes a layout that supports future trails, pedestrian bridge, and an upper terrace gathering space that can be enhanced without the need for Federal Emergency Management Agency or US Corps of Engineers permitting. Project Funding The Whitewater Park project has existing funding sources of approximately $9.5M. At this funding level, a number of project components were removed to size the project to the available funds. The City is currently pursuing a strategy to increase funding to add back many of these project components, including the pedestrian bridge and other high interest elements. As outlined in the February 27 City Council Work Session, the URA remains a critical piece of this funding strategy. Agenda Item 10 Item # 10 Page 2 CITY FINANCIAL IMPACTS Should the URA Board approve the Whitewater Park Project request, the City will enter into the Intergovernmental Agreement whereby the URA will provide the City $300,000 for the Whitewater Park Project. ATTACHMENTS 1. Location Map (PDF) _ E S uniga Rd E Wil l ox Ln W Willox Ln E Vine Dr ÕZYXW ³I _ Whitewater Park Project North College Plan Area I Location Map URA - Whitewater Park Project P oudr e R i v e r ATTACHMENT 1 -1- RESOLUTION 2018-030 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS APPROVING AN INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT WITH THE FORT COLLINS URBAN RENEWAL AUTHORITY FOR THE AUTHORITY’S CONTRIBUTION OF FUNDS TO THE CITY’S WHITEWATER PARK PROJECT FOR PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS WHEREAS, the City of Fort Collins (the “City”) is planning the construction of a park in the downtown area along the Poudre River, to be known as the Whitewater Park, funding for which the City’s voters approved in 2015 as part of the City’s Community Capital Improvement Program (the “CCIP”); and WHEREAS, improvements constructed for the Whitewater Park will include world class whitewater features, park gathering places, river overlooks, fish passage and habitat improvements, stormwater improvements, street and sidewalk improvements, and various other related public improvements (the “Park Project”); and WHEREAS, in 2004, the Fort Collins City Council adopted Resolution 2004-152 approving the North College Avenue Urban Renewal Plan, which it amended in 2015 in Resolution 2015-106, (the “North College Plan”); and WHEREAS, the North College Plan was adopted to facilitate the elimination and prevention of blighted areas within the plan area identified in the Plan (the “Plan Area”) by promoting and assisting undertakings and activities within the Plan Area involving the development, redevelopment and rehabilitation of Plan Area properties as part of a single urban renewal project (the “North College Project”), which is administered by the Fort Collins Urban Renewal Authority (the “Authority”); and WHEREAS, the Authority’s Board will consider whether to contribute $300,000 to the Park Project to help fund the construction of the Vine Drive Improvements as part of the Park Project; and WHEREAS, to memorialize this contribution, City and Authority staff have presented to this Council and the Board for their consideration the Intergovernmental Agreement attached as Exhibit “A” and incorporated herein (the “Agreement”), under which the Authority agrees to pay the City $300,000 to help fund the Vine Drive Improvements, which are estimated to cost approximately $513,000; and WHEREAS, the City and the Authority are authorized to enter into the Agreement to cooperate in the funding and construction of the Park Project pursuant to C.R.S. § 29-1-203 and the Colorado Urban Renewal Law, including, without limitation, C.R.S. § 31-25-112, and the City is further authorized to do so under City Charter Article II, Section 16. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS as follows: -2- Section 1. That the City Council hereby makes and adopts the determinations and findings contained in the recitals set forth above. Section 2. That the Agreement is hereby approved and the Mayor is authorized to enter into the Agreement on the City’s behalf in substantially the form attached hereto as Exhibit “A,” subject to such minor modifications as the City Manager, in consultation with the City Attorney, may determine to be necessary and appropriate to protect the interests of the Authority or to effectuate the purposes of this Resolution. Passed and adopted at a regular meeting of the Council of the City of Fort Collins this 20th day of March, A.D. 2018. ____________________________________ Mayor Pro Tem ATTEST: _________________________________ City Clerk INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS AND THE FORT COLLINS URBAN RENEWAL AUTHORITY REGARDING THE AUTHORITY’S CONTRIBUTION OF FUNDS FOR THE WHITEWATER PARK PROJECT THIS INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT is made and entered into this _____ day of March __, 2018, (this “Agreement”) by and between the City of Fort Collins, a Colorado home rule municipality, (the “City”) and the Fort Collins Urban Renewal Authority, a corporate body and political subdivision of the state, (the “Authority”). The City and Authority shall also hereafter be jointly referred to as “Parties” or individually as “Party.” RECITALS WHEREAS, the City is planning the construction of a park in the downtown area along the Poudre River, to be known as the Whitewater Park, funding for which the voters approved in 2015 as part of the City’s Community Capital Improvement Program (the “CCIP”); and WHEREAS, improvements constructed for the Whitewater Park will include world class whitewater features, park gathering places, river overlooks, fish passage and habitat improvements, stormwater improvements, street and sidewalk improvements, and various other related public improvements (the “Park Project”); and WHEREAS, in 2004, the Fort Collins City Council adopted Resolution 2004-152 approving the North College Avenue Urban Renewal Plan, which it subsequently amended in 2015 in Resolution 2015-106, (the “North College Plan”); and WHEREAS, the North College Plan was adopted to facilitate the elimination and prevention of blighted areas within the plan area identified in the Plan (the “Plan Area”) by promoting and assisting undertakings and activities within the Plan Area involving the development, redevelopment and rehabilitation of Plan Area properties as part of a single urban renewal project (the “North College Project”); and WHEREAS, the Authority’s Board of Commissioners (the “Board”) has reviewed the Park Project and identified several benefits it will provide to the North College Project as contemplated in the North College Plan, which benefits include, without limitation: (i) improvements to portions of Vine Drive in the Plan Area (“Vine Drive Improvements”), (ii) stormwater improvements that will remove several developable properties in the Plan Area from the floodway and reduce the likelihood that College Avenue in the Plan Area will overtop during a flood, and (iii) improvements that will improve connectivity between the Plan Area and downtown Fort Collins (collectively, the “Park Project Benefits”); and WHEREAS, in consideration of the Park Project Benefits, the Board has adopted Authority Resolution No. 84 approving this Agreement and appropriating $300,000 to be paid to the City to help fund the Vine Drive Improvements, which are estimated to cost approximately $513,000; and EXHIBIT A WHEREAS, the City Council has also approved this Agreement in its Resolution 2018- 013; and WHEREAS, the City and the Authority are authorized to enter into this Agreement to cooperate in the funding and construction of the Park Project pursuant to C.R.S. § 29-1-203 and the Colorado Urban Renewal Law, including, without limitation, C.R.S. § 31-25-112, and the City is further authorized to do so under City Charter Article II, Section 16. NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the promises contained herein and other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and adequacy of which the Parties hereby acknowledge, the Parties agree as follows: 1. The Authority’s Obligation. The Authority agrees to pay the City three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) within sixty (60) days after the City enters into the construction contract with the general contractor it retains for the Park Project and provided such contract includes the construction of the Vine Drive Improvements and the other improvements that will provide the Park Project Benefits. 2. TABOR. The Parties understand and acknowledge that the Authority is not subject to the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights in Article X, Section 20 of the Colorado Constitution. The Parties therefore intend that the Authority’s debt obligation in Section 1 above is a binding obligation enforceable by the City at law and in equity as provided in Section 3 below and such enforcement is not contingent upon the future appropriation of funds by the Board. 3. Remedies Upon Default. Upon the failure of either Party to comply with any of its obligations contained herein (a “Default”), the non-defaulting Party shall provide written notice of the Default to the defaulting Party. Immediately upon receipt of such notice, the defaulting Party shall promptly cure such Default within thirty (30) days, or if not susceptible of cure within thirty (30) days, within such time as agreed upon by the non-defaulting Party for the cure of such Default. If the defaulting Party fails to cure or remedy the Default within the time period prescribed, the non-defaulting Party may protect and enforce any or all of its rights and the obligations of the defaulting Party under this Agreement by suit in equity or action at law, in Larimer County District Court, whether for the specific performance of any covenants or agreements in this Agreement or otherwise, or take any action authorized or permitted under applicable law, and may require and enforce the performance of all acts and things required to be performed hereunder by the other Party. Each and every remedy of either Party shall, to the extent permitted by law, be cumulative and shall be in addition to any other remedy given hereunder or now or hereafter existing at law or in equity. 4. Amendments. This Agreement may only be amended, changed, modified or altered in a writing signed by both Parties. 5. Implementing Agreements and Further Assurances. The Parties agree to execute such other documents, and take such other actions, as will be reasonably requested by the other Party to confirm or clarify the intent of the provisions hereof and to effectuate the agreements herein contained. 6. Term; Termination. This Agreement shall remain in full force and effect until the Authority’s debt obligation under this Agreement is paid in full to the City. However, in the event the City does not enter into a construction contract with a general contractor for the Park Project by January 1, 2019, this Agreement shall terminate and both Parties shall be released from all remaining obligations under this Agreement. 7. No Third-Party Beneficiaries. No term or provision of this Agreement is intended to be for the benefit of any person, entity, association or organization not a party to this Agreement, and no such other person, entity, association or organization shall have any right or cause of action hereunder. 8. Applicable Law and Venue. This Agreement shall be governed by and construed under the laws of the State of Colorado and the venue for any judicial proceedings related to this Agreement shall be in Larimer County District Court. 9. Section Headings. The captions or headings herein are for convenience or reference only and shall in no way define or limit the scope or intent of any provision or section of this Agreement. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Parties have executed this Agreement as the date and year first above written. THE FORT COLLINS URBAN RENEWAL AUTHORITY By: __________________________________________ Darin A. Atteberry, Executive Director ATTESTED: APPROVED AS TO FORM: By: _________________________ By:______________________________ City Clerk Authority Legal Counsel Print Name: ___________________ Print Name: _______________________ THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS, COLORADO By: __________________________________________ Wade Troxell, Mayor ATTESTED: APPROVED AS TO FORM: By: _________________________ By: ______________________________ City Clerk Deputy City Attorney Print Name: ___________________ Print Name: _______________________