INC Committee Rejects Montview Lot-Splitting Plan

Owners Want To Build Second Home

By Dave Felice

GPHC At-Large Board Member

Voting with a strong majority in favor, in late September the Planning and Zoning Committee of Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation approved a resolution opposing the controversial subdivision and development of the property at 5315 Montview Blvd.

According to the resolution: “[The Committee] respectfully requests the City to honor the Greater Park Hill Community and deny the application to rezone the property at 5315 Montview Boulevard.” The committee vote was 24 in favor, one opposed, and three abstaining.  The resolution goes to the full INC delegate body in October.

Approval of the resolution came after a presentation by adjacent property owner Blair Taylor and discussion of the issue. The current owners of the large property, which is on the corner of Montview and Glencoe, want to split the lot and build a second large house at south of the existing home.

Last November, the Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. Board voted 13-to-0 to oppose the lot-splitting.

The resolution approved by the INC Zoning Committee charged that, “the City appears to be navigating paths to circumvent established zoning laws which allow ‘downsizing,’ (thus) threatening to set a precedent for the reduction of open space, tree canopy, (and) active and passive solar in Park Hill.”

The resolution further noted that “preserving the character of Park Hill, City Park, and surrounding stability from incompatible infill and high density development is a value of the Park Hill Community. The 2010 Zoning Code classifications maintain the look and feel of existing housing patterns and stock in Park Hill, and explicitly disallow lot splitting for the formation of new small lots along historic Montview Boulevard.”

Park Hill Zoning Chair Bernadette Kelly said there are some highly technical considerations in the complex application to subdivide the lot. For example, there is some contention that the property in question actually faces Glencoe, not Montview, even though the front door of the existing house in on Montview.

The proposal will ultimately head to the Denver City Council. Councilman Christopher J. Herndon, MPA, who represents Park Hill, has said that he cannot take a position on the proposed zoning change prior to a public hearing as Council must act in a quasi-judicial manner in such cases.