Main Street Blues
Here’s Why The Greater Park Hill Community Stands In Opposition to 1520 Grape St.
U-MS-3. That’s zoning code speak for Urban-Main Street-3 Stories. It is also the zoning designation that Hartman Ely Investments is currently pursuing in a re-zoning application for 1520 Grape St.
This property is currently zoned U-TU-C, which translates to Urban-Two Unit-5,500 Square Foot Minimum Lot Size. The predominant building on this block is duplex homes and hence Community Planning and Development (CPD) designated it thus. 1520 Grape St. is an existing two-story brick apartment building built in 1946. This renders it as an existing non-conforming structure.
Hartman Ely Investments is pursuing the rezoning in order to add apartment units to the building. Jim Hartman, the developer, presented his plans at the April Greater Park Hill Community (GPHC) board meeting. He explained that he would like to add 10 apartments to the building by excavating the existing basement and crawlspace. With the current zoning as U-TU-C, multi-unit dwellings are not an allowed building form, so rezoning is required in order to add units.
It has been argued that the U-TU-C zoning designation for this property is a mistake and this rezoning application is merely the “White-Out” for a clerical error. To quote the departed comedian John Pinette, “I say nay, nay!” As part of the draft process for the present zoning code, board members of GPHC spent countless hours in meetings and pouring through each version of the draft text and zoning code maps, ensuring it represented what was on the ground and protected our neighborhood as an “area of stability.”
The previous zoning code designated most of our neighborhood as R0, meaning single-family housing. GPHC fought for the equivalent of R0 in the new code for the residential areas of our neighborhood. In the new code, this is SU, for Single Unit. However, CPD said that the predominant building form in an area would dictate the zoning designation and that they would not allow “spot zoning” for zone lots where the building forms varied. In the case of Grape Street between Colfax and 16th Avenue, the lots that have single-family homes and the apartment building at 1520 Grape St. are the exception to the rule.
GPHC Board members voted on this rezoning application, whether to support or oppose it. Of the 23 Board members, 20 members voted and unanimously voted to oppose the rezoning. GPHC opposes this rezoning for the following reasons:
1. During the review process of the draft new zoning code, GPHC desired our neighborhood to be SU to protect our current R0 zoning but we were told the predominate form type would prevail, so 15-1600 Grape Street is TU based on the number of existing duplex homes.
2. GPHC does not support spot zoning because one lot rezoned opens the floodgates for more and we were told no spot zoning when trying to keep some lots/areas as SU (re: #1 above).
3. MS is for Main Street. Colfax is a main street, Grape Street is not.
4. MS allows retail and commercial uses; we need to protect our residential only areas.
5. U-MS-3 allows a three-story building. The existing apartment building is only two stories and the block is predominantly one story duplex homes.
6. U-MS-3 requires one parking space per residential unit and one bicycle parking space per four residential units. This must all be provided via off-street parking. The ROW parking on the street cannot be assigned to 1520 Grape St. On street sweeping days, the available ROW parking is reduced by one-half. There are approximately 15 existing off-street parking spaces at 1520 Grape St.
1520 Grape St. is not the only instance of an apartment building on a residential street, adjacent to Colfax. If this lot is rezoned to the Main Street designation, it sets the precedent for developers to rezone other lots adjacent to Colfax with similar situations. CPD and the developer are pushing Transit Oriented Development and density. This is appropriate for Colfax, other “Main Streets” and “areas of change.”
However, the quality of life for residents who purchased homes adjacent to Colfax is not sacrificial and the GPHC opposition to this rezoning request is intended to protect the quality of life for all of our residents.
Denver Councilman Albus Brooks has requested a mediation meeting on the rezoning between the Greater Park Hill Community, the city planning department and Hartman Ely Investments on July 2 at 4 p.m., location to be determined.
The Planning Board Hearing for the 1520 Grape St. rezoning application is scheduled for Wednesday, July 16 at 3 p.m., at the Webb Municipal Office Building, 201 W. Colfax Ave, Room 4.F.6 and 4.G.2.
These meetings are open to the public. For more information, please contact GPHC via director@greaterparkhill.org or 303-388-0918.
Bernadette Kelly is secretary of the Greater Park Hill Community, and also serves as chair of the zoning and planning committee for the organization.