In a trend that alarms preservationists and some residents of mature neighborhoods, Denver homebuyers increasingly have been opting to scrape This Old House and replace it with a more modern dwelling.
Charming older neighborhoods like West Highland, Cherry Creek North, Park Hill and Hilltop appeal to homebuyers who like living in the city but not in cramped 900-square-foot Arts and Crafts-era bungalows. As property values ballooned, so too did the feasibility of replacing older dwellings with roomier homes with modern extras.
During 2005, Denver issued 352 demolition permits, up 77 percent from the previous year. From Jan. 1, 2003, until mid-May 2006, the total was 844, or roughly one a day.
The pace of demolitions spotlights the need to revise Denver’s 1950s-vintage zoning code to address issues not contemplated half a century back.
Peter Park, Denver manager of community planning and development, noted this week in a briefing on the city’s Zoning Code Task Force that not all demolitions are bad.
Denver’s original zoning code, adopted in 1923, was only 25 pages long. It was revised in 1956, and since then has grown to a complex 771 pages. The task force found that the code has a “heavy emphasis on [facility] use, with less emphasis on standards of shape and form of development,” Park said. A new code should strike a balance.
Lot-filling “McMansions” spurred the Quick Wins 1 and 2 zoning code revisions in 2001 and 2003 to limit the size of replacement houses by requiring that 62.5 percent of most lots be open space and also meet height parameters, but that didn’t entirely fix the problem.
A factor in the debate, as noted in a report issued by the task force, is that “high land values encourage a maximization of permitted development … resulting in large single-family homes, duplexes and townhouses.”
It’s unfair to disparage all new houses as a group. Many have been thoughtfully designed and add to the vitality of their neighborhoods. (Others, though, are jarringly out of place.)
All the activity has some neighborhood activists seeking historic district status to halt scrapeoffs.
“We support the true intent of historic preservation,” J.J. Martinez, vice president of the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver told The Post’s Dave Curtin recently, “but we don’t support manipulating historic preservation just to prevent change in a community.”
Neither do we – excessive restrictions would discourage reinvestment needed to sustain the lifeblood of neighborhoods.
Historic district designation “is a difficult application, and the process requires a lot of research and a lot of support,” said Kathleen Brooker, president of Historic Denver Inc. The city’s landmark commission does the initial review to determine whether a district qualifies. The application then goes to the planning board and City Council. But residents don’t have a vote.
“I think there are other tools besides landmarking to protect neighborhood character,” said Brooker, who notes that unlike other cities, Denver doesn’t have a process to review most demolition applications. “If you want a demolition permit in Denver, you apply for it and get unless it’s in a historic district – and then you apply through the landmark commission.”
Denver’s boom-and-bust history created an attractive mix of architectural styles. That very variety is a reminder that cities do change. Park hopes the task force will come up with a more simplified zoning code by next year – one that is easier to use and that has a better balance between use and the form of the dwellings.
Denver’s zoning code should be updated to reflect today’s realities, balancing the desire of residents to preserve the character of their neighborhoods but not put homeowners, builders and developers in a straitjacket that discourages improvement.
