Is one community voice enough in votes?

A proposed National Western Center agreement that could govern the site for the next century received a favorable reception Monday from the City Council, but some neighborhood leaders voiced concern about what they see as insufficient representation on a campus authority.

“The mayor did something bold with the NDCC,” Globeville business owner Nancy Grandys-Jones said during an evening public hearing, referring to Mayor Michael Hancock’s North Denver Cornerstone Collaborative initiative.

“I believe this follows along with the mayor’s commitment to the community, for equity — to have two voting members.”

As proposed, the “framework agreement” for the $1.1 billion project calls for a campus authority that includes one voting community representative on an 11member board of directors. The city and its partners more recently added a provision for a second member — but that seat lacks voting privileges unless the other member is absent, falling short of the advocates’ request.

Kelly Leid, the director of Hancock’s project office, said having even one voting community representative on an authority for a big public project is rare, and the proposed setup ensures the community a say in the authority’s decisions.

The council is set to take a final vote on the governance agreement Sept. 18.

The city of Denver, Colorado State University and the Western Stock Show Association — which has run the annual stock show and rodeo for 111 years — are the main equity partners in the agreement.

One component of the agreement, which was released in late August, calls for CSU and the stock show each to appoint two voting board directors and for the Denver mayor to appoint seven voting directors. One of the mayor’s appointees must live near the National Western campus. The framework agreement, which covers 50 years and includes two potential 25-year renewals, would govern the eventual 250-acre site as it’s transformed into a year-round tourism, event, education and agricultural innovation center.

But for some Elyria-Swansea and Globeville residents who are preparing for massive changes coming from that project and the state’s Interstate 70 overhaul, a single community voice on the voting board seems like a small token — especially as suspicions run high that city officials could use the campus to bid for big events, such as the Winter Olympics.