I’ll admit it: I’m a neighborhood activist, even though I sometimes, I feel the need for a support group in order to say so.
I don’t condone the not-in-my-backyard syndrome, but I do believe we have to preserve and enhance our neighborhoods – and it’s time we place that priority higher on our list.
So I’ll add my voice to Mayor John Hickenlooper’s and columnist Joanne Ditmer’s on what makes a great neighborhood.
We can talk statistically about the number of neighbors on boards and commissions, esoterically about areas of stability or change or metaphorically about houses on steroids or McMansions. But let’s get real.
Take Cherry Creek. A 1950s-style shopping mall once sat across from locally owned shops in old houses and small buildings. The shops were unique, parking was minimal and walking was pleasant. To the north and east were small homes on relatively large lots with mature trees. As retail developed into boutiques and the mall transformed, everyone wanted to live nearby. Houses were scraped to build some of the finest residences in the city. Bromwell Elementary School is flourishing.
Take Washington Park near the Old South Gaylord shops. Here the word “pop-top” entered our vocabulary. Councilwomen Mary DeGroot and Polly Flobeck passed an ordinance restricting the pop-tops to protect sunlight to neighboring houses. Steele Elementary is flourishing.
Take Cory-Merrill, the neighborhood that gave birth to Quick Wins, a zoning package to protect trees, open space and height of construction. Detached garages and front porches were encouraged. While Quick Wins was a good step, reducing the size of what could be built on a standard Denver lot by about 1,000 square feet, it flawed because it didn’t work for all neighborhoods. Cory Elementary School is flourishing.
Take Highlands and Berkeley in northwest Denver. Near popular 32nd Avenue shopping and near Sloan’s Lake Park, the neighbors – those who like the growth and larger homes and those who want to protect neighborhood character – are beginning to weigh in. Edison Elementary School is flourishing; Centennial has a waiting list.
So what’s the problem? Too many households (duplexes and rowhouses)? The size of a structure, whether single-family or duplex? Or the style and the building materials? If neighbors demand change in zoning to protect neighborhood character, let’s talk about what we are protecting. Then let’s talk about keeping families in the city, letting them expand affordably and about our schools. Let’s talk about property rights and a market where home sizes are growing. And let’s talk about what zoning can and cannot do.
Let’s also talk about our retail corridors. One thing we heard loud and clear during our initial zoning conversations was support for mixed-use, pedestrian corridors. That’s the direction we went with the Main Street zoning along Colfax Avenue. Bordering neighborhoods are already questioning the zoning that allows high-rise apartments when most of the properties are single-family to four-unit dwellings. Expect Teller Elementary School to flourish.
Planning Director Peter Park is absolutely right in proposing to study individual neighborhoods since there’s not one easy solution. Neighborhoods are clamoring for this zoning – and now.
All of these great neighborhoods are near parks, which have suffered both natural and financial drought. So it’s not just about what zoning can do, but about increased parks maintenance and, in fact, building great streets.
In addition to the rational, if slow, approach to zoning reform, Hickenlooper has also formed an infrastructure task force to study how we pay for these amenities. But neighborhoods are losing patience. If we are really committed to the quality of life in our neighborhoods, we need to take a serious look at adding neighborhood planners in 2007 and returning to pre-recession parks maintenance levels.
In planning, parks and public works, we must always remember that Denver is a city of individual neighborhoods.
Jeanne Robb represents District 10 on the Denver City Council.
