Denver Parks and Recreation is looking at adding six sites to a list of parks that can host private outdoor fee-based activities, but that idea is not sitting well with some people near Cheesman Park.
The city began issuing permits for outdoor fee-based activities in 2014 and has an extensive list of what parks are eligible for these activities. The activities include sports camps, clinics, exercise programs and guided classes run by an outside group. Parks can be added or subtracted to the list on the authority of Parks and Rec executive director Lauri Dannemiller.
Cheesman, at East Eighth Avenue and Franklin Street, is the most notable of the parks on the list of new sites.
“It’s extremely distasteful and disrespectful,” said Jay Rust, president of Friends and Neighbors of Cheesman Park, a registered neighborhood organization. “I see this as a slap in the face.”
Friends and Neighbors of Cheesman Park passed a resolution last week opposing the inclusion of its park on this list and calling for the end of permitting for outdoor fee-based activities.
The five other parks on the list for inclusion in allowing fee-based events include La Alma/Lincoln, Westwood, George Wallace, Argo and Forrest Parkway.
Already included on the list are the city’s major parks such as City, Washington, Central and Civic Center parks. Permits typically are limited for each park.
Parks and Recreation spokesman Jeff Green said the reason some of these parks — Cheesman in particular — are on the new list is that they have seen some of these fee-based activities operating without a permit.
He said the department is aware of the outcry against the policy.
“The reality is it’s happening,” Green said of the activities. “We felt that it was better to get a permit and put it in place.”
Rust said the fact that these activities are occurring shouldn’t be an excuse to charge these groups. He said they should be removed from the parks.
