Denver City Council agrees to settle with firefighter, OKs budget plan

By Daniel J. Chacon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 11, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Rendering of future Marriott Residence Inn at 8th Ave. and Colorado Blvd.

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The Denver City Council tackled a packed agenda Monday.

Among the highlights:

* It settled an age-discrimination lawsuit filed against the Denver Fire Department.

The city will pay $850,000 to William Cadorna, a veteran firefighter who was fired after he was falsely accused of shoplifting a cookbook that a store had loaned him.

Cadorna filed the lawsuit after the city refused to give him his job back, even though he had been cleared of wrongdoing. He claimed that department officials were out to get him.

"I'm glad that it's over, not only for the department but for Mr. Cadorna and the city to move on," Fire Chief Nick Nuanes said.

* It settled for $210,000 a lawsuit stemming from an improperly issued billboard permit.

Kerry Buckey, an assistant city attorney, said the city decided to settle the case rather than fight it in court. He said the city's liability could have been about $2 million.

A city employee had erroneously issued the permit and $156,000 of work had been done before the mistake was discovered, he said.

"It was going to be a weeklong trial. And, let's face it, it's a jury trial, and you never know what a jury is going to do," Buckey said.

* It adopted Mayor John Hickenlooper's $914 million spending plan for next year.

Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz cast the lone dissenting vote, saying she considered it "unbalanced" because it calls for department heads to save $7 million during the course of the year. "This is the first time I have ever encountered an IOU for $7 million of cuts to be built into the budget prior to adoption," she said.

* It rezoned on final reading 21.5 acres in south Park Hill. The downzoning will prevent high-density projects in the mostly single-family neighborhood.

Last week, the council amended the proposal to exclude a multiunit project that was the impetus of the rezoning because it already was in the city's planning pipeline.

Another amendment offered Monday died. Councilman Charlie Brown introduced the amendment to exclude another property owner who claimed that a contract on her property fell through because of the rezoning.

* It approved a rezoning that allows a developer to build a six-story, 160-room Marriott Residence Inn on the southeast corner of Eighth Avenue and Colorado Boulevard.

Charles Biederman said he plans to start construction on the extended-stay hotel, which includes retail and a restaurant, as early as the end of this year.

"One of the things you always want for a hotel is barriers to entry. In other words, that there's not a lot of places in the market area to put a hotel," he said.

"With (one) exception . . . there's no place else for a hotel in that whole strip until you get to Cherry Creek Drive," he said. "And north, there's nothing except some (motels) on Colfax (Avenue), which would not be competitive with this."

The hotel is expected to serve the staff and visitors of Rose Medical Center and National Jewish Medical and Research Center.

City Councilwoman Marcia Johnson, whose district includes the 1.5-acre parcel, said the project is a sign of things to come.

"Some people are so very critical of the townhome condominium complex across the street, and this will be, I think, an aesthetically good project," she said. "I think it reassures the folks who are watching Colorado Boulevard that development will be quality."

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