When I think of Glendale, what comes to mind isn’t intergovernmental partnerships, outstanding innovation or a new park.
Neither do monks in a monastery, for that matter.
So I was surprised to learn that little Glendale has a big vision involving all of the above.
Six years ago, Glendale’s leaders saw deteriorating apartment buildings located next to a monastery that was surrounded by unused acres, and began to ask, “What if?” What if the seminary and apartment properties could be combined as open space to become “Infinity Park”?
The possibility of establishing a park grew closer to reality in 2003, when Arapahoe County voters approved a sales and use tax of a quarter of 1 percent for open space and trails. The county shares back some of the tax to each city based on its population. The rest is disseminated through a competitive grant process.
Meanwhile, the city began the laborious process of negotiating for seminary land with the Theatine Fathers, an order of the Catholic Church. (Laborious, because the order makes decisions only once a year, on Easter — and in Rome.)
According to Glendale Mayor Larry Harte, offers were exchanged for three years before a purchase price of $4.5 million was finally accepted for 4.8 vacant acres next to the monastery. Funds to purchase the land came from the city, while $500,000 for improvements came in grants and shareback from Arapahoe County’s open space funds.
At the same time, Glendale was negotiating with owners of three 40-year-old apartment buildings and eventually purchased the 2.2-acre property for $7.7 million.
But there was a complication: The apartment property is not in Glendale, it’s in Denver. Glendale is asking Arapahoe County to provide $3.75 million in open space funds toward acquiring the property. So how, you may well ask, can Arapahoe County consider investing its residents’ tax dollars in another county?
The answer goes back to a 2003 state law allowing counties to exchange open space of under 50 acres, according to Susan Beckman, Arapahoe County commissioner. Denver is willing to sell or swap the land with the county, after which Glendale will annex it or work out an arrangement with the county to maintain it.
Glendale’s request for an open space grant has not come without controversy. Critics charge that the county is not following the strict definition of “open space” because it will plant grass and trees on the property. Deputy City Manager Chuck Line disagreed, saying, “There won’t be any playing fields on the parcel. It will just be a place where people can walk or picnic. It will definitely be open space.”
Beckman pointed out that Arapahoe County’s Open Space Advisory Committee has supported making the grant to Glendale. “The property has regional significance because of its proximity to the Cherry Creek corridor and Highline Canal,” she said. She also noted that there is an equity issue: Glendale generates high sales taxes for the countywide open space fund; its contribution to the fund is expected to reach $5.2 million by 2013. At the same time, Glendale receives an automatic shareback of only $100,000 per year due to its small population.
Glendale, with a population of just 5,000, is the most densely populated city in Arapahoe County. Arapahoe County commissioners are awaiting an appraisal on the property and expect to hold a public hearing and act on the city’s request early next year.
Including parks within the definition of “open space,” as Glendale wants to do, seems more than reasonable.
Susan Thornton (smthornton@aol.com) writes twice a month.
