Denver Councilman Chris Nevitt will begin a push this week to rezone much of West Washington Park to restrict new development to single family homes.
Nevitt said that on Wednesday he will distribute leaflets in the neighborhood, where he lives, that state: “The time has come to deliver on the promise of protecting West Washington Park from continued scrape-off/multi-plex development.”
He will follow up with door-to-door canvassing to explain to residents his plans.
Before the plan becomes final, he must get final approval from the 13-member Denver City Council. At least two council members, Charlie Brown and Jeanne Faatz, have opposed similar efforts in the past.
Councilwoman Carla Madison is pushing a similar plan for South Park Hill. Her plan already has received support from the Denver Planning Board but has not come before the full council.
Such rezonings have sparked controversy, but Nevitt said he hopes to avoid the turmoil that accompanied a similar rezoning for Sloan’s Lake and West Highland.
Those attempts were so bitter the council became embroiled in a lengthy, marathon public hearing that stretched for more than eight hours into the early morning hours.
Nevitt said the issues are slightly different in West Washington Park. For one, he campaigned on the issue of bringing rezoning to the area.
“From what I’ve seen people are eager for this to happen,” Nevitt said.
“I want to work with the neighborhood to make sure people are educated about this and are excited about this, and they are. Now we are pulling the trigger on it.”
He said he has briefed the Denver Board of Realtors and the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver on his plans.
“They always are in favor of greater density,” Nevitt said. “But nothing is being sneaked in anywhere. I think they will be okay. I don’t think they’ve made a decision one way or another. I’m reaching out to them early.”
Nevitt said his plans adhere closely to what’s called for in Blue Print Denver, a city planning document that advocates that some areas of the city should have less density and become primarily single-family residences while other neighborhoods near mass transit should have greater density.
Existing duplexes and multi-plexes in West Washington Park would remain untouched under Nevitt’s plan, but much of West Washington Park would become zone R-1 instead of R-2, Nevitt said. That would mean new construction would have to be single family residences.
City planners envision a portion of West Washington Park as duplex friendly, but Nevitt said current zoning laws aren’t tailored for such an outcome. He said he will ask for a moratorium multi-plex development that would last until after a comprehensive zoning overhaul is completed next year.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
