Denver Board Hosts Zoning Code Update Meeting June 2^nd 

The City of Denver has been working for a number of years on updating its zoning code. Now, the city is rolling out the first segments of its plan for public comment before the code goes to city council in the coming months. This new zoning code will affect ALL REALTORS® who transact business in the city of Denver, and we encourage everyone to find out more information. The Denver Board of REALTORS® has been an active participant in this discussion from the very beginning and will host a session with Denver officials specifically for real estate professionals.

 

When: June 2^nd from 2 p.m. – 5 p.m.

Where: The Denver Board of REALTORS® (4300 E. Warren Ave.)

Cost: Free; refreshments provided

 

This presentation by the Community Planning and Development Department and the City and County Planning Board will help you: learn about the Zoning Code Update, better understand the Draft Code, prepare for how the new Code will impact property transactions and ask questions.  For more information on the Zoning Code Update visit www.newcodedenver.org.

 

Castle Rock Considers Relaxing Sign Code

As the area continues to struggle with a difficult real estate market, towns and cities all over the metro area are working to see what can be done to boost the economy and help support real estate. This week, the Town of Castle Rock will consider two ordinances designed to temporarily relax their sign code to support local merchants. At tonight’s meeting, the Town Council will vote on an ordnance to allow sandwich board signs on the sidewalks in front of businesses and to relax a restriction prohibiting signs within 300 horizontal feet of other signs on a commercial property. Both of these measures, if approved, are small positive steps that should allow more flexibility for real estate companies and agents to advertise their businesses.

 

Also, the city convened a sign code task force that is examining the feasibility of relaxing the code restricting open house signs. For more information on any of these proposals, visit the town’s website at http://www.townofcastlerock.org/

 

Arapahoe County Seeks Citizens for Boards/Commissions

The Arapahoe County Board of County Commissioners has openings on advisory boards and committees and is seeking applications from residents who are interested in helping their community. Qualified applicants must be residents of Arapahoe County. Applications are being accepted for the following advisory boards and committees:

 

·       Board of Adjustment - one vacancy

·       CSU Cooperative Extension Advisory Committee - three vacancies

·       Community Corrections Board - two vacancies

·       Liquor Authority - one position for Alternate No. 2

 

The application deadline is June 1, 2009. Interested residents can apply online. To fill out an online application, visit the County's web site at www.co.arapahoe.co.us and click on online tools. Applications also are available at the Commissioners’ Office in the County Administration Building, 5334 S. Prince St., Fourth Floor, Littleton. For more information on a particular board or to request an application by mail, call Carol Dosmann at the Commissioners’ Office at 303-795-4531.

 

Metro Mayors ask RTD to Delay Tax Measure Until 2010

Denver-area mayors have reversed course and now favor a year's delay and a November 2010 vote on a sales-tax increase for RTD's FasTracks transit program. On June 2, the Regional Transportation District board of directors is expected to back the mayors' recommendation and set the vote for next year. In March, the Metro Mayors Caucus, which includes about 40 area mayors, backed a proposal for a vote in November in the eight-county metro area on a proposal to double the current 0.4 percent FasTracks sales tax.

 

Delaying the vote until next year "allows us to work with RTD to ensure that what was promised to voters" in the original 2004 FasTracks tax vote "will be delivered," said Louisville Mayor Chuck Sisk.

 

In choosing 2010 for the vote on a doubling of the tax, mayors also are relying on data supplied to their group by political consultant Maria Garcia Berry, which shows far less voter participation in off-year elections. The number of "active, hard-core" metro-area voters who have submitted ballots in the past three odd-year elections - 2003, 2005 and 2007 - has been about 304,000, Berry said, compared with about 847,000 in even-year elections.

 

NAR Adopts Policy to Regulate Appraisal Management Companies at Midyear Legislative Meetings

On Saturday, May 16, 2009, the NAR Board of Directors adopted policy that supports the regulation of appraisal management companies, primarily through FIRREA and the existing appraisal regulatory infrastructure. NAR President Charles McMillan hinted at such a policy in March when he testified before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on appraiser independence.

 

NAR's Policy: That NAR supports the empowerment of federal mortgage regulators to adopt standards for real estate appraisal management companies and promulgate licensing requirements of said companies to the states through the Financial Institutions Reform and Recover Enforcement Act (FIRREA) and other similar legislation.

 

NAR's Rationale: Appraisal management companies are not currently regulated at the federal level and regulation at the state level varies. Regulation would ensure that AMCs operate within the same basic guidelines and standards as independent appraisers. Further, this allows AMCs to be regulated within the existing appraisal regulatory structure, which avoids the need to create additional layers of government bureaucracy.