Rather than pen a column myself this month, I am running a letter from former Life on Capitol Hill and Neighborhood Life co-publisher, Hilleary Waters. As ever, we welcome reader feedback.

—Haines Eason 

The following comments were given at Denver City Council in support of the Small Lot Development Moratorium Bill (CB16-0498) which passed unanimously on Monday, Aug. 22.

Dear Council President Brooks and Denver City Council members,

My name is Hilleary Waters. As the former co-publisher of Life on Capitol Hill and Neighborhood Life newspapers for over 21 years, I observed and our papers reported on the ebb and flow of development changes that came to the neighborhoods of Central Denver.

What is currently happening is a perfect storm that most in the general public and many in government failed to see coming: the adoption of a form-based zoning code, the surge in popularity of Denver as a place to live, the trend of worshiping at the altar of density and the new trend of micro-housing. The result: neighborhoods that can instantly double in population density, neighbors that have no influence on what is constructed in their midst and a decrease in the quality of life.

Developers are smart. Some are exploiting the unintended consequence of small-lot development with the use of micro-housing and the city’s worship of density, density, density. This trend will kill the goose that laid the golden egg which is the charm and beauty of Denver’s neighborhoods. Housing that is close, but not too close. Tree lawns. Tree canopies. Variety of architectural styles. Buildings that are in proportion, with landscaping, setbacks and pleasing relationships to their neighboring buildings.

What are we getting today? Massive, high-density development in a monotonous, prison-like architectural style driven by developers exploiting every possible inch of their property. Whether rows of townhomes, full city block apartments, garden-court slot homes or micro-unit cram-and-jam projects—the designs are efficient, boring, repetitive and ugly. With these designs developers are maximizing profit, minimizing expense and stripping elegance, charm and style. I’m not anti-development, but I am anti-poor quality development, and that, I believe, will be the legacy of the current development trends.

We are a city of Fischer and Fischer, William Lang, Robert Strong and many other talented architects. They produced elegant apartment buildings, grand homes, small, charming bungalows, classic Denver Squares, the medium sized apartment buildings of the ‘20s, ‘30s and ‘40s. The city encouraged the building of something worthy, substantial, elegant and proportional. Indeed, there once was a movement called “The City Beautiful” championed by Mayor Speer at the turn of the last century. It was unapologetically noble in its aspirations and we have many fine public and private buildings because of that vision.

Now, I feel that the city just encourages development, period. Build, build, build. Get as much crammed in as possible. If it fits the form, it gets approved even if it is ugly, cheap, overwhelms its neighbors and hurts the eyes.

Where are the visionaries of today?

Thank you.

Addendum: There are visionary developers in our midst. Westword recently published an article with examples of people who give developers a good name. Visit westword.com for the story.