The Denver City Council on Monday advanced a bill that will amend the city’s municipal code by allowing buildings zoned as “Downtown Central Platte Valley-Auraria Center” to exceed an old view plane restriction.

The “Downtown Central Platte Valley” zone code is being applied to the Kroenke Sports Entertainment-owned parking lot of Ball Arena, where KSE is planning a massive redevelopment. Among the major changes, KSE envisions several tall structures of various uses and functions, according to its website.

The Old City Hall View Plane begins at the intersection of 14th and Larimer streets and ends at Federal Boulevard and is intended to preserve the view of the Rocky Mountains to the west.

The last time an exemption to the view plane was approved came in 1999 when the new Mile High Stadium – now Empower Field at Mile High – was being built, according to the city. The view plane is blocked by the Auraria Campus, which is a state-run entity and not subject to Denver’s zoning restrictions, according to a city staff report.

But the coming changes are a complicated matter for the Denver City Council, especially Councilmember Kevin Flynn, who called the bill out for questions and comments ahead of Monday afternoon’s meeting.

“I have had a lot of heartburn over amending the view plane, given the point of the view plane is not to penetrate it and build higher than it,” he said. “I wonder if the point of the view plane is more than just to protect the view from a person standing at that particular spot, but whether there is a secondary public benefit that derives from keeping building heights lower within that wedge.”

Even though the view plane is “basically defunct,” Flynn said he still struggled with making the amendment. He did not call it out to vote the amendment down, rather he said he wanted to let residents know he’s had a “lot of engagement with it.”

Flynn remained torn and said he’d likely be torn when the bill appears on final consideration in one week. He called Denver’s view plane ordinance a “very special piece of legislation,” adding the city has many others “in place for a reason.”

He is not alone in his conflicted feelings on the view plane. Councilmember Chris Hinds will hold a community conversation on Thursday to allow the community time to make comments or ask questions of the proposed amendment. KSE will attend and Hinds said he will “consider Thursday afternoon’s conversation” ahead of the final vote next week.

Councilmember Amanda Sawyer, who represents the Cherry Creek West area which recently got a major rezoning approved, said she’s “willing to move it forward,” but was “struggling” with it.

“It is very concerning the kind of precedent that we might set in getting rid of view plane restrictions simply for a large development that we all want to happen in a place that is right now nothing but parking lots and a terrible use of land,” she said. “We will have to see what I end up doing next week, but I wanted to be very clear that just because we are voting yes tonight does not mean we are voting yes.”

As a change to the city’s revised municipal code, the amendment is appearing before the council as a bill. It will have to appear before the full council a second time before it is officially adopted.

Despite councilmembers’ struggles with the bill, CPD found the view plane restriction to be “effectively obsolete,” recommending they approve the revision and allow development to exceed it.

Further, the plan for part of the KSE redevelopment is to include housing. The idea is to “complement” rather than “compete with” the surrounding neighborhoods and add affordable housing, which its website said is a notable need for the area. This was a key point in CPD’s analysis of lifting the view plane restrictions.