Thornton City Council Meeting - October 27, 2026

The Thornton City Council’s October 27, 2026 meeting included public hearings and action on the 2027 budget, along with annual meetings of related city authorities. Council unanimously adopted the city’s $449,837,066 balanced 2027 budget and employee pay plans. The budget includes capital work such as the South Washington corridor, Big Dry Creek Trail expansion, street rehabilitation, and water, sewer, park, and facility maintenance. A 2026 budget amendment appropriated $6,964,690 for public-safety radios, accelerating a purchase originally planned for 2027 to obtain a discount, and $2,380,984 for costs associated with water-bond issuance. Council also approved first readings of water, sewer, and stormwater rate ordinances; the water-rate ordinance passed 7–2, with one council member opposing the increases on affordability and comparative-rate grounds. Related budgets included $117,840 for the Thornton Arts, Sciences and Humanities Council and Thornton Development Authority appropriations of $385,088 for TDA South and $24,342,728 for TDA North, including debt service, incentives, and infrastructure projects. The 136th Avenue General Improvement District budget and its 15-mill levy to finance interchange construction were also considered.

On development, council approved the approximately 55-acre Welby Station zoning amendment on second reading, 7–1, with one abstention; preliminary-plan review remains underway. For the city-owned Thornton Shopping Center redevelopment, council members said three responses had been received to a request for qualifications and that no redevelopment decision had yet been made; they called for continued public engagement, and residents raised questions about housing density, amenities, infrastructure, and potential public costs. No developer or contract award was made at this meeting. Public comments also prompted a council member to report that they had asked about expanding public-comment time, but no procedural change was approved in the transcript.