Denver and Adams County officials, who for several months have been at odds over proposed development plans at Denver International Airport, met Friday morning for the second time in as many months to work out their differences.
Signs that icy relations are beginning to thaw were evident as officials talked about how to get around some of their conflicts, selected a mediator, discussed a possible field trip to Dallas Fort Worth’s airport and set an April 11 meeting date.
“Back in January, I’m not sure you would have seen anyone schedule a third meeting,” said Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan, one of three elected officials at the table in a DIA conference room. Also at the meeting were Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, Commerce City Sean Ford and Adams County Commissioner Charles “Chaz” Tedesco.
Adams County officials are upset at Denver over plans to develop an “Airport City” on DIA property and a larger proposal to develop acreage outside of the airport into an “Aerotropolis.”
Adams County officials have threatened legal action if Denver puts non-aviation businesses on the airport, which they say would violate a 25-year-old intergovernmental agreement. The conflict has caused bitter communications between the counties, canceled meetings and plenty of legal posturing.
In a last-ditch effort to avoid the courtroom, the opposing sides met on Feb. 13 in closed-door meeting of the “New Airport Consultation Committee” to open up lines of communication again. Friday’s meeting was open to the press and public.
Commerce City Mayor Ford said he understood the world and its airports are much different than they were 25 years ago and the intergovernmental agreement shouldn’t become a barrier to progress. If a company only wants to locate its business on the airport and wouldn’t choose another area in the metro area, Ford said there should be a process in place to help make sure the area doesn’t lose out.
“It’s not so much what is allowable and what is not, but what is the process,” Ford said. “We should have a process to be able to show our constituents that we haven’t given up on the IGA. I want to take back to my constituents why it is allowable and show the benefit.”
Aurora Mayor Hogan later said “I’m a little more cautious.”
Denver Mayor Hancock said he was pleased with the meeting, in which Tom Clark, CEO of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp., was picked to be a future mediator. The group agreed to create a conflict resolution process and develop a mission and vision statement.
“It’s the proper thing to do to take baby steps now,” he said. “What we have to do now is build the relationships and trust.”