Welcome to Colorful Colorado. People visit and move to Colorado envisioning bountiful nature and green space. Denver, the “Queen City of the Rockies,” was once considered the “city in a park” because of its tree-lined streets and its large parks. I cannot say that I recognize that Denver anymore. The concrete-covered built environment has grown exponentially, and the tree canopy and parks necessary to maintain the title of “city in a park” have not kept pace.

 

Denver has 6% designated green space. This amount of green space is behind even that of our largest cities, which have an average of 15-25%. Even dense New York City has set aside 14%.

How can this small amount of green space be considered adequate for our health and quality of life? It is critical that we preserve the little bit of unpaved green space we have left.

This includes Park Hill Golf Course, which will be voted on this April 4.

 

The conservation easement on the property prohibits development forever on the full 155 acres. Once one parcel of land protected as open space or park land is rezoned, other green spaces become fair game. So, what happens to the park down the street the next time a developer eyes it?

 

It is true that Denver needs affordable housing — just not on protected green space. If the city felt affordable housing was so important, why did it not intervene to prevent citizens from being displaced from their affordable homes? The city did not regulate and prevent large real estate companies, developers and investors from buying out citizens’ homes in order to resell them for double or triple the price.

 

Now that we have displaced many who lived in affordable homes, we are using the sympathy card to allow the taking of open space allegedly on their behalf. Sadly, that housing will be of a far lesser size and quality than the original housing from which citizens moved.

 

The new and denser housing and reduced open space will mean adding more heat and pollution to an area that suffers more than any other part of the city from these problems. Denver’s air quality was considered the worst in the world in 2021 and its ozone status is currently classified as “severe” by the Environmental Protection Agency. There are alternative locations for housing. There are few for green space.

 

Please Vote No on 2O and uphold the conservation easement on the former Park Hill Golf Course.