At A Standstill
SOS Denver Calls For Mayor Johnston To Take Action On The Park Hill Golf Course Land

Story and photo by Cara DeGette
GPHN Editor
It’s been more than a year since Denver voters overwhelmingly rejected a massive residential and commercial development plan for the Park Hill Golf Course.
In early April, Save Open Space Denver (SOS) marked the anniversary with a call for city leaders to act. The group asked Mayor Mike Johnston to fulfill his campaign vow last year to work toward converting the defunct golf course into a regional park.
“While we understand the city has experienced an unprecedented year with the influx of Venezuelan refugees and the challenge of trying to provide housing to the homeless, we find it somewhat vexing that no action has been taken,” said SOS Denver organizer Woody Garnsey in a press release. “Our Mayor’s campaign promise was to honor the will of the people and purchase the land back from the developer to build a regional park.”
But making that actually happen is clearly not a simple transaction. The 155-acre parcel, which encompasses the northwest corner of Park Hill, is protected by a city-owned conservation easement. But the property itself is owned by Glendale-based Westside Investment Partners, which bought the property for $24 million in 2019.
Last year the developer spent $1 million trying to convince Denver voters to approve its plan to develop the property — a gambit they lost in a blowout. They initially said they planned to revert the property back to a regulation-size golf course.
But since the election, Westside hasn’t been the friendliest neighbor. Kenneth Ho, the Westside principal in charge of the project, has not responded to media inquiries, including from this newspaper.
Nor has the company publicly announced any timeline for moving forward. The developer closed off public access to the huge property with a 6-foot chain link fence, installing “no trespassing” signs that threaten arrest.
Mike Johnston’s “8-point pledge”
Much of the property has fallen into disrepair. Formerly green areas are brown and weedy, and chunks of trash have pushed up against the fence in areas. SOS Denver and others have expressed concern about the health of the hundreds of mature trees on the former golf course, which closed in 2018.
Proponents of open space have long promoted the idea that Denver should buy the land for a regional park, using available money in the 2019 taxpayer-approved Parks Legacy Fund. Two previous citywide votes also indicated Denver residents overwhelmingly support preserving the conservation easement.
“We’re disappointed that we haven’t seen more visible signs of progress — and it’s not just SOS,” said Penfield Tate, a former state lawmaker representing Park Hill and a key spokesman for the open space group. “I know we’ve been at the forefront, but a lot of people in the community have said, ‘we’ve won the election; how does it take a year to do this? Why has nothing happened?’ ”
“I think a number of people are vexed and confused.”
Last May, in the midst of the runoff election — and after Westside’s development plan had failed by a near 2-1 margin — Johnston submitted to SOS Denver an “8-point pledge” supporting a regional park, using Parks Legacy Fund money to acquire the property. (Johnston’s complete position paper is posted on SOS Denver’s website, at SOSdenver.net.)
A regional park, the then-candidate noted, “would be a better outcome than it reverting to the land being used primarily for golf.”
“Denver voters have twice made clear that the easement represents an important commitment to open space, greenery, and recreation in a rapidly growing city where we need more of all three,” Johnston wrote. “As Mayor, I will push hard for a solution that delivers a world-class park and open space that is open to the public.”
Last month, the mayor’s spokeswoman was asked for a status update. The response was notably more vague:
“The city is evaluating appropriate next steps for the [Park Hill Golf Course], with a focus on how best to secure the most effective outcomes for Denverites. Mayor Johnston looks forward to working closely with the community to get feedback and innovative ideas for this project.”
All paths lead to the Mayor’s office
Further efforts to nail down specifics have been fruitless. In April, Jolon Clark, director of the Denver Parks and Recreation Department, was invited to speak at a meeting hosted by the group City Park Friends and Neighbors. The topic quickly turned to the Park Hill Golf Course, and Clark was peppered with questions about the status of the property.
“Listen, I’m a parks guy,” said Clark, a former city councilman who was appointed to head Parks and Rec after Johnston became mayor. “This is what I love, this is what I do. If there is an opportunity to bring on a once-in-a-lifetime regional park I would love that opportunity.”
But, he continued, “it’s complicated. In a million different ways. And those conversations are going to need to happen at the mayor’s office. I think the city is looking at all of the options of what that would look like, but [the golf course] is privately owned.”
Tate, of SOS Denver, has a different take. “We want them to stop evaluating and start acting, and the next step is to acquire the site.”