A ballot measure in Englewood’s November mail-in election will ask some voters if the Englewood Downtown Development Authority (EDDA) can raise its debt limit to fund needed improvements without raising taxes.
A vote for Ballot Issue 6D would allow the EDDA to raise its debt limit to $70 million over a 30-year period to fund projects in the downtown area such as building new pedestrian bridges, parking structures and bike lanes.
It would also allow funding for renovations and improvements to the CityCenter Piazza, Little Dry Creek Greenway and further residential and commercial development.
Only voters living within the EDDA boundary, as well as those who own property and lessees there, will vote on the measure. The boundary mostly falls in Englewood City Council District 1 and some in District 2.
If approved, debt would be repaid only by tax increments generated by downtown economic activity such as consumer spending and new development.
According to Dan Poremba, chief redevelopment officer for the city, if the debt limit is not raised the projects the city hopes to take on will have to be delayed. Some may never begin.
"Many public improvements will simply continue to wait for direct funding by the EDDA or from the city’s general fund, in which case they will occur much later in time and possibly not at all,” he said in an email to the Englewood Herald.
No arguments against the measure were submitted to Arapahoe County elections officials before publication of its voter guide to ballot proposals.
A first round of ballots was sent to eligible voters Oct. 8. Voters will have until Nov. 2, when the election ends, to return their ballot.
