The Denver City Council grappled Monday with the hot-button issue of how development in two of the older northwest neighborhoods will look in the future.
More than 200 residents sharply divided over a plan to rezone parts of the Sloan’s Lake and West Highland neighborhoods filled every seat in the council chambers and in an overflow room set up to accommodate them.
The proposal dealt with whether development in 53 acres of Sloan’s Lake and 72 acres in West Highland should be mostly limited to single-family housing. Under existing zoning laws, single-family homes in those neighborhoods could be turned into multiplexes.
In recent years, developers have seen the neighborhoods as fertile ground and have been buying up two-bedroom single-family homes to tear them down and build upscale, owner-occupied modern duplexes and multiplexes.
More than 100 people signed up to speak during the public hearing. Many residents complained that large-scale construction has dwarfed their bungalows, leaving gardens shrouded in darkness. Others hailed the building, saying it was increasing their property values.
In questioning that ran late into the night, council member Jeanne Faatz seemed skeptical as did Councilwoman Carol Boigon, although the council was still debating at press time. Councilman Charlie Brown expressed opposition before the meeting.
Because more than 20 percent of the residents opposed to the proposal, passage required the support of at least 10 of the 13 council members.
Many supporters of the rezoning said the council vote would serve as a harbinger of how the council would treat Blueprint Denver, a new planning document that is supposed to guide growth and development throughout the city.
The proposed rezoning is keeping with Blueprint’s designation for the two neighborhoods, while other areas are seen in that document as more amenable for higher density.
Residents in other neighborhoods struggling with similar controversies were closely monitoring the outcome of the vote.
Resident Anthony Cooper said the large developments sprouting, often with stucco exteriors, clash with the historic character of the existing brick homes in the neighborhoods.
“They fit into the neighborhoods like galoshes fit on a duck,” Cooper said. “They just don’t fit.”
New sites called unsightly
Jane Hilbert, who has lived on Julian Street for 34 years, said that at first she welcomed new coffee shops in the Highland neighborhood, but in recent years, her brick Victorian has become engulfed by new residential construction she views as unsightly.
“It’s escalated to the point where our neighborhood isn’t recognizable anymore,” she said. “We’re worried about the future of our neighborhood.”
Others spoke of the opportunity the multiplexes could bring to the neighborhoods. They argued that the new construction would increase property values and attract new families to the city.
“We can’t have small 1,000-square-foot houses forever,” said architect Peter Pappas. “We need to create density. We have to create it properly.”
Some point to demand
Many argued the new development was coming because there was a public demand, and they predicted growth would stall under the rezoning.
“Lenders have indicated that if this bill passes, they will stop loaning in the neighborhood, and by that they meant all northwest Denver because of the impact it will have on property values and the ability to bring new growth into the area,” said Jeanne Callahan, a developer.
The city’s Community Planning and Development Department sided with those seeking a zoning change that would place new restrictions on the new construction.
City planners predict that without the rezoning, West Highland could transform from a neighborhood with 87 percent single-family homes to one that was 37 percent single family homes.
Sloan’s Lake could become 22 percent single-family residential, significantly down from the present 71 percent single-family residential.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
