The Mayor's Mixtape
Mayor Heather Graham's weekly brief of current events related to the City of Pueblo.
The Mayor's Mixtape
The Mayor's Mixtape-Episode 40
It's episode 40 of the Mayor's Mixtape. This episode covers development on Pueblo Blvd. with a guest appearance from Director of Public Works for the City of Pueblo Andrew Hayes. What does the permitting process look like? How is Mayor Graham working to increase efficiency for developers working with the City of Pueblo? Find out more about the new businesses on Pueblo Blvd. all the way from the southside at I-25 to the Hwy 50 corridor on the north west side of Pueblo.
Don't forget to like, subscribe and share the podcast. Email us your questions or topic suggestions at mayor@pueblo.us. Thanks for listening!
Okay. Welcome to the 40th episode of the Mayor's Mixtape. I'm Haley Sue Robinson, Director of Public Affairs.
Mayor, Heather Graham:City of Pueblo, Mayor Heather Graham.
Andrew Hayes:I'm Andrew Hayes, Director of Public Works.
Haley Sue Robinson:Yeah, we have a guest on the show today. Thanks for joining us today, Andrew. Um, before we jump in, I just want to remind the listener that you can find us on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, uh, BuzzSprout, wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch this on channel 17 if you're local to Pueblo. There are lots of opportunities to find this podcast. And don't forget, if you have questions or topic suggestion, you can email us at mayor @pueblo.us. So, Andrew, we have you here on the podcast today so that we can talk a little bit about um development on Pueblo Boulevard. Um, but mayor, we'll start with you. There's been a lot of discussion this year about development on Pueblo Boulevard from the most recent discussion that we had about the dog track. Um, and we opened this year the first Whataburger are in Pueblo. And so would you say that Pueblo Boulevard is one of your priorities for development in Pueblo?
Mayor, Heather Graham:Yeah, I mean, I don't know that it's one of my priorities. I'm just I'm just lucky to be in the seat right now while the development is going on. So um you've seen a couple new businesses pop up over the last couple years, Whataburger, um, Starbucks, Quiktrips, Moving Ground, Circle K, Les Schwap Tires is coming soon. You're seeing all the groundwork over there um as well. And uh recently City Council approved uh funds to help with the demolition of the dog tracks. So there there's a quite a bit of uh development going on in that small stretch of the boulevard.
Haley Sue Robinson:So maybe it's more like striking while the iron's hot.
Andrew Hayes:No, I was gonna say that's that's just the southern end.
Haley Sue Robinson:Yeah, right.
Andrew Hayes:To be honest, it's it's the entire corridor, even up at the north end, there's uh also development uh close over to Highway 50 as well. So Dutch Bros.
Haley Sue Robinson:Oh, sure.
Andrew Hayes:So it's been a it's been a hot corridor.
Haley Sue Robinson:Well, and and then the other side of Pueblo Boulevard, Kaiser, the new Pueblo Springs apartments, we opened Fire Station 11.
Mayor, Heather Graham:Jail's gonna be opening soon.
Haley Sue Robinson:I mean, Pueblo Boulevard, to your point, Andrew, is really a really far stretch of of highway. And so there's a a lot to cover. Um, but yeah, that South End has been really popular this year, I would say. So um, Andrew, I know we've had some folks that have come before City Council um or visit us here in the mayor's office about the process for permitting along Pueblo Boulevard. So I thought maybe you could walk us through that process of what it looks like from start to finish.
Andrew Hayes:Sure. So I mean development is one of those things that's got to take into consideration all of the aspects of a specific property. So it can be complicated sometimes. Uh but let's just say it's a simple answer where there's a lot ready to build. A developer or builder will go to Pueblo Regional Building Department, soon to be Southern Colorado Building Department, uh, and uh obtain a building permit, or apply for a building permit, turn in their plans. Um they work with uh the building department for the stuff on the site, and they work with other stakeholders like the city for public improvements around uh around that site sometimes. So along Pueblo Boulevard in particular, since we're talking about that, there've been a lot of public improvement requirements there just to make sure that the roadway is able to take the extra traffic that's coming on. Um there's um obviously quite a bit of coordination that goes into that with those stakeholders. Um so developers are generally who are in the business uh understand that process a little bit. But it'll be can it can be complicated for somebody uh watching this development happen. Why doesn't it happen at fa why doesn't it happen faster? Um why is it so expensive? All those kinds of things.
Mayor, Heather Graham:Why is n't Starbucks open?
Andrew Hayes:So Starbucks Starbucks is a good one too.
Haley Sue Robinson:Asking the important questions.
Andrew Hayes:Starbucks is uh an interesting case. Um a developer there is uh owns the land and is built a building, and Starbucks is going to be leasing that building from them. Um in this case, the developer's still working on some of the public improvement requirements that are there before the building can get open.
Mayor, Heather Graham:Can you describe what a public improvement is?
Haley Sue Robinson:That's a good question.
Andrew Hayes:Sorry, that is that is a term that encompasses a lot of things. So it could be roads, it could be uh utility work, it could be
Mayor, Heather Graham:Sidewalks.
Andrew Hayes:Sidewalks, turb gutter,
Mayor, Heather Graham:streetlights.
Andrew Hayes:Streetlights, traffic signals, uh all those different kinds of things. Not everywhere needs all of those things. And so again, with a site-specific consideration along Pueblo Boulevard, particularly there uh in the vicinity of the Starbucks, a traffic signal is needed. And so that's one of the holding up points here is getting all of those public improvements installed. It takes time, it takes engineering design, uh construction contractors.
Mayor, Heather Graham:And who who who's requiring this specific public improvement that's holding up Starbucks?
Andrew Hayes:Ultimately along the state highway, CDOT controls what public improvements are required there, right? And so CDOT has um a stake in that process absolutely during subdivision, during zoning, those processes when they happen. Uh they can outline what some of those requirements are. Uh at building permit time, if there are additional requirements that are needed, those come through the city. Uh, but we do still work with CDOT, particularly along those state highway corridors, trying to get the um improvements coordinated and installed in a timely manner. In the case of Starbucks, obviously the building's up and ready to go. Starbucks is ready to open, so I know that they're itching for a uh uh what we call a certificate of occupancy. That's the end of the building permit process and allows the business to open.
Haley Sue Robinson:The CO. That's what people talk about. It's the CO.
Andrew Hayes:That's exactly it. Um in this case, Starbucks just wants their CO obviously to get open so they can start serving some uh uh eggnog lattes and coffee and all the things for all of the uh all of the uh customers that are gonna be coming there.
Haley Sue Robinson:So you mentioned a little bit about um regional building or Southern Colorado Building Department in the city. Um who all is involved in the review process um here in the city and outside organizations?
Andrew Hayes:Yeah. So I mean if you if a builder goes into Pueblo Regional Building Department or Southern Colorado Building Department soon, uh they put in a building permit application. There's a routing sheet that gets generated. And but depending on the permit type, generally speaking, city departments, so public works, um, that includes transportation, uh planning, uh wastewater, um, stormwater as well, um, as well as other external stakeholders, like sometimes the health department or um uh state agencies sometimes also have a stake. So sometimes there are a lot of different companies, organizations on the routing sheet that uh that folks have to coordinate with in order to get their developments approved. Uh again, within the city, that's usually the infrastructure and planning departments specifically.
Haley Sue Robinson:And Mayor, since you took office, that's been one of your priorities is um efficiency with the permitting process and essentially ease of do doing business with the city. So what does that look like from your perspective or or how have you tried to improve the process?
Mayor, Heather Graham:I would say one thing that we tried to improve. So I, you know, I've say that everybody saw this coming, right? So in probably May of this year, uh when these hurdles started to come up with C DOT and the public improvements that were gonna be needed on the boulevard, which we met with the developers, uh met internally and tried to figure out different ways to expedite the process. And obviously, cost um is a burden for the developers, for the businesses coming in on the boulevard. And so I took an ordinance to city council to adjust the criteria for the half-cent sales tax in order to help with public improvements to bring in development. Um, unfortunately, after several times of taking this to city council, city council would not pass this. Um if they would have passed it, we would be in a different situation um than we are today. So um unfortunately that didn't go that way. So we're gonna be taking um this ordinance back to city council when the new city council is sworn in um and kind of using this as an example um of how we could have expedited um development in this case on the boulevard with public improvements using economic development funds. Um and hopefully we'll have a different turnout coming.
Haley Sue Robinson:So with that update to the criteria ordinance, would it solely benefit Starbucks in this situation?
Mayor, Heather Graham:It would have benefited the uh the public, right? They're public improvements that need to go in on the boulevard. So signals for speed, um sidewalks, uh medians, XL, D cell, lanes. Um all of that needs to be put in um by somebody. And it wouldn't necessarily be that the city is taking the burden of all the cost, uh, but we could have used the half-cent sales tax money up front and we could have entered into development agreements with these specific developers until over you know a certain amount of time the money is is paid back, um, which is less of a burden on anybody trying to develop in our uh community.
Haley Sue Robinson:Okay, so essentially what you're looking for is um that incentive up front, but there is a potential repayment plan, so it's not like we just either lose that money or front all that money for the benefit of say one business. Um
Mayor, Heather Graham:it's about time.
Haley Sue Robinson:Yeah, it's it's efficiency.
Mayor, Heather Graham:Yeah, efficiency and effectiveness of of getting all of this done.
Haley Sue Robinson:Sure.
Mayor, Heather Graham:Um, and we could have done it all at one time. So anybody who was going to be putting businesses in on the boulevard, this could have already been taken care of.
Haley Sue Robinson:And I think that leads us to uh a couple of the the other businesses that we'll be opening. So we know there's gonna be a Les Schwab tire, um, uh potentially a McDonald's, a Quik Trip, a Chipotle, um and and and others. So can you kind of walk us through right now if if we don't have any of those um if we don't have the criteria ordinance passed and and that public improvement um economic development money available, what does the timeline look like for completion for some of those businesses to open?
Andrew Hayes:It it extends it. If we one thing that uh I think any business or developer wants to see is sites that are ready. And what that means is again, those off-site improvements, those public improvements are done. They don't, you know, an auto parts store coming in to build a site there isn't in the business of building roads. They want to build their store and get open.
Haley Sue Robinson:Sure.
Andrew Hayes:And so to the extent that the city can help facilitate getting these public improvements installed early, it's a it's a it's a boon to everybody because not only do we now have new stores to shop at, uh the city does generate additional sales tax revenue, which helps our budget situation. Um and it also puts in uh these improvements that serve multiple properties. It makes traffic uh safety uh better for everybody who uses that area.
Haley Sue Robinson:Sure.
Andrew Hayes:And you know, half of our city drives on Pueblo Boulevard every single day, probably. And so this is this are these are safety improvements that ultimately make make the quality of life better uh and safer for our citizens. So it's important having these resources available to help this process is an incredibly important tool that we have, and we're very lucky in Pueblo to have that. It just needs to be reshaped a little bit to allow for these additional types of projects.
Haley Sue Robinson:Sure.
Andrew Hayes:Um it's not a you know, I think I think citizens think about this as uh, you know, these are PEDCO dollars or something else.
Haley Sue Robinson:Sure.
Andrew Hayes:It's not. It's the it's the public's money.
Haley Sue Robinson:It's what we voted on for the the half cent sales tax.
Mayor, Heather Graham:That's for economic development.
Haley Sue Robinson:Yeah.
Andrew Hayes:And people believe that it's there for um economic development. I think everybody in general kind of thinks about economic development meaning all of this stuff, business growth.
Haley Sue Robinson:Right.
Andrew Hayes:Um we've traditionally had a very narrow look at what that means uh on creating primary jobs, and that's an important piece of any economic development strategy.
Haley Sue Robinson:Absolutely.
Andrew Hayes:But the going forward, there has to be some kind of other consideration for these other types of improvements as well.
Haley Sue Robinson:I think uh another thing that uh seems a little bit difficult or maybe frustrating for folks to understand is, you know, we hear uh this is a this is a C DOT issue, but if we really break it down, it's a safety issue. And so um these are requirements that we ultimately want. While it might be frustrating in the process, um the reason these requirements are in place is we recently had a uh safety traffic study um that we brought forward with some key intersections with um, you know, deaths or accidents, and those are things that we want to avoid in the future. And so the reason those public improvements are required is so that we can bring down the numbers and make sure everyone's safe, whether that's folks crossing a sidewalk or uh Mayor, you mentioned medians and just like slowing down traffic. Uh those things are important, and so while it's really frustrating and we say, oh man, the the these requirements are ridiculous or whatever, they're really for safety and and our security.
Mayor, Heather Graham:Yeah, when you look at the map and you see where Starbucks is located, um, you know, people getting their coffee early in the morning, the sun is crazy, yeah, you know, coming that way when when the sun is uh shining in your eyes and you're coming out of getting a coffee trying to make a left onto Puebla Boulevard. It's it's going to be very dangerous if there's no way to slow down uh traffic to get back on the interstate. Um that that's what we're talking about.
Haley Sue Robinson:Okay. So um you're planning to bring back the criteria ordinance um with new council. And then uh are there other anticipated uh business development or other plans that we'll see in this area in the near future?
Andrew Hayes:There are a couple. So I don't even know if you're aware or not, but the there's a auto parts store that has approached that's uh about double their normal size footprint. So if that comes to pass, that'd be a a new one there near uh kind of near that Les Schwab Starbucks corridor area.
Haley Sue Robinson:Okay.
Andrew Hayes:Um there's still several other pad sites that are developing there and then trying to work on infrastructure requirements to make sure that the south side of Pueblo Boulevard also sees some of that same development. Um that's a more challenging side just because of uh wastewater issues, particularly, but it's also gonna need some roadways and some other things in there. So the city's working with urban renewal to try to come with a plan to get the infrastructure in place to make that uh more viable commercial development.
Haley Sue Robinson:Okay.
Andrew Hayes:Um up on the north end, also there's um near the jail uh that was built there, there's some property on fronting Polo Boulevard that is commercial. Uh so likely that the that property owner will probably be trying to develop that as well. So you'll see across that whole area, uh all the way from I-25 on the south end all the way to Highway 50 on the north end. There's gonna be a lot of new stuff coming.
Haley Sue Robinson:And we have uh new maverick um as well up kind of by Kaiser.
Andrew Hayes:That's right, right off of Spalding.
Haley Sue Robinson:How soon will that one be open?
Andrew Hayes:I uh I don't know that they've given a date of for their opening yet, but it's it
Haley Sue Robinson:just looks like the progress is
Andrew Hayes:nearing completion.
Haley Sue Robinson:Yeah. And then um we'll see the the jail completed soon. And I know um I was talking with some firefighters um maybe two weeks ago, and and they're really anxious to have Pueblo Boulevard open for Station 11 and their access there. Um and uh Chief Huber just said, you know, talking with the sheriff's office, with Pueblo West, um it's really going to help with mutual aid and emergency response there. So those are exciting things to think about as well.
Andrew Hayes:Absolutely. That that is a corridor that is not only a thoroughfare for lots and lots of traffic, but that traffic also makes it attractive for business development as well. So having having people there, being able to hop right off the road and get easy access into a business, uh, it's important. So that's why that corridor is such a I think a hot topic right now.
Haley Sue Robinson:Great. Well, we also had a uh town hall last week with uh soon to be Southern Colorado Building Department. So um if folks missed that uh town hall, it is available on our our Facebook. We also have it on our YouTube. So for folks who are developers or just general folks in Pueblo who are maybe confused or wondering about the process and next steps, they can they can check that out as well. There were a lot of good questions answered. Um I think they had some good frequently asked questions that um they'll help folks understand as we move forward, but we're excited about that as well.
Mayor, Heather Graham:Yeah. Seamless transition.
Haley Sue Robinson:Absolutely.
Andrew Hayes:For people that don't know, right? I mean, it's it's gonna be a lot of the same kind of process that we've had.
Haley Sue Robinson:Sure.
Andrew Hayes:Um so people in the city pulling building permits head straight over to uh Southern Colorado Building Department. Uh January 1st, that'll be their new name. Uh but it'll be the same folks, uh, same processes. Uh if your licenses need to be renewed, contractors get in there and get it done. But uh that's uh uh it should feel seamless to them as they're pulling new building permits to keep development going here in the city.
Haley Sue Robinson:And they're gonna launch uh a new website as well, and that'll be easier to navigate, so I think that's exciting too. Anything else we need to know about development in the city of Pueblo and things on the horizon?
Andrew Hayes:I don't know. I mean, we're on the cusp of a lot of new things coming into town, so this is a this is a exciting moment.
Haley Sue Robinson:It really is. I I think uh for a lot of Puebloans to see this amount of growth in in truly what is a short period of time. I know we talked earlier about how it might seem slow. Uh this is you know kind of exponential growth for our community at this point, and seeing uh big businesses come in, see local businesses thrive, new housing developments, those are all really exciting things for Pueblo and for our community. I'm glad you agree. Okay. Um, well, our listener might not see this. This is for our YouTube watcher, but there are gifts uh surrounding the two of you right now. And you might be wondering, did we just stage this? Sort of. Um, but actually, this is from our angel tree with uh the gifts for La Gente, and so we just decided to lean into the holiday spirit and said, why don't we just have a little Christmas show on the podcast today? So um these will be going out to children soon, and we're excited about that. Uh a couple other upcoming things, the last council meeting of the year on Monday, December twenty second. Uh and then the city is closed on Christmas Day and the day after. Um, and then we still have lots of work to do before the end of the year. So Um, but those are some some upcoming things, and just want to make sure that folks are tuned in to what's going on in the city. Anything else you guys want to add?
Andrew Hayes:Lots going on.
Haley Sue Robinson:Yeah. Andrew, thanks for joining us on the podcast this morning.
Andrew Hayes:Thank you.
Haley Sue Robinson:Uh just want to remind our listener that you can find us on Spotify, YouTube, Apple, Buzzsprout, wherever you get your podcasts. And make sure you like, subscribe, and share with your friends. Also, thank you for 40 episodes. Um, that's very exciting. And don't forget, you can email us, mayor@pueblo.us, and we will see you soon.
Andrew Hayes:Merry Christmas.