On my first visit to the City of Greenwood Village offices, I attended a City Council study session and observed our city government in action. Before the study session began I was given a tour around City Hall and met a few of our city government leaders. I was very impressed by how nice and professional everybody was.  This made my first visit to City Hall very welcoming. There were multiple topics covered over the three-hour session, each being presented on a screen for all attendees to easily follow along.

The first topic discussed was a proposal of reauthorization regarding the open space sales tax. In this presentation, they discussed the data around where the money for the open sales tax goes, which includes building parks, trails, and maintaining the open space. The open space sales tax in my opinion is a very important part of the Greenwood Village city budget and is what makes the town so unique. This reauthorization seemed really necessary and will hopefully be approved this coming August.

The most interesting topic for me to listen to was about ground-mounted solar energy systems and how to regulate them based on aesthetic and value. The main argument in this discussion was over which is more important, size regulating, reasonable screening, or the profits that are gained by the owner. This was a tricky discussion because solar panels are an investment and gain profit, but if homeowners aren’t allowed to put in enough because of looks then the purpose of it goes away. It was most interesting to me how the council was able to come up with exact measurements for each region of the city based on the size of land while considering how to mix all of the different opinions on how the solar panel should be regulated. Hopefully, by the next study session, the Council will be able to decide to choose either the visual option of 450 feet versus 600 feet plus a few other details.

In this study session, I learned the Council doesn’t always have to agree and make a decision on the first day a topic is presented to them and that the Council can always postpone and get more pictures or details to help them make the right decision for our city. I appreciated how much everyone contributed to the conversation and the different perspectives everyone shared.