NEWS: Sidewalk Spill-Out

Neighbors Whose Landscapes May Be In The Line Of Concrete React To Uncertainties With Dismay, Disgust — And Suggestions

Story and photos by Cara DeGette | GPHN Editor

In 2022, Denver voters approved a new tax to repair crumbling sidewalks, build missing sidewalks and rebuild overly-narrow sidewalks. The city government — specifically the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) — is now supposed to come up with a specific plan for building (and rebuilding) Denver’s sidewalk network. 

Roughly two-thirds of the sidewalks in Park Hill alone are considered “deficient” — that is, too narrow for the city’s current standard of five feet wide (sometimes they say six). The city also requires a 8-foot “hell strip” buffer between the street and the sidewalk. Many other areas of the neighborhood have no sidewalks at all. 

DOTI’s mandate, whether it is building sidewalks where none currently exist, or rebuilding narrow sidewalks to city standards, will require reclaiming city-owned right of way. Much of that is land that people have built on — in some cases, for generations, as the homes date back to the 1950s and 1960s. 

Most of Park Hill’s deficient sidewalks are “Hollywood” style sidewalks. They are less than three feet wide and are attached to the street, with no hell strip buffer. Over the years, homeowners have built fences and retaining walls, planted trees and shrubs and installed elaborate landscaping out to the sidewalks — technically on city-owned right of way.

(You can review the status of your own sidewalk on the city’s online map at tinyurl.com/DenverSOTSMap.)

Rebuilding Hollywood sidewalks to city standards conflicts with homeowners’ understandable interest in preserving their landscaping and other improvements. Will DOTI insist on 5-foot wide new sidewalks with additional 8-foot buffers? Will it relax its sidewalk standards?  Last month the Greater Park Hill News raised the very real question about how the city plans to proceed. (The news story, Sidewalk Surprise, can be read at
greaterparkhill.org/sidewalk-surprise.)

DOTI officials have, so far, sidestepped the question. Many Park Hill readers, however, wasted little time in weighing in on social media to what some called the city’s “non-answers” about how they plan to navigate. 

Readers also offered suggestions for what should be done. The following is a sample, printed with permission:

Conversation Starter

Who’s excited to donate 13 feet of their front yard to the new sidewalk program? The June Greater Park Hill News article suggests the city will take up to 8 feet for a tree lawn (AKA the hell strip) and 5 feet for a sidewalk. My question is: Why not build the 5-foot sidewalks and skip the additional 8-foot hell strip? We would still improve pedestrian safety and accessibility while dramatically reducing the burden on affected homeowners. — Daniel Miguel

Narrow The Streets

Just throwing in my thoughts because I am not happy about losing up to 8 feet of my front yard (for a hell strip).

1. Some of the sidewalks they have just added here in northeast Park Hill are right up against the street!!! So there is precedent for not invading our yards in the work they are already doing. And they should put sidewalks on both sides of Monaco before they even look at my house.

2. I think it would make sense to do some sort of pedestrian study on usage before starting the work. Fewer than 10 people a day walk past my house.

3. The city owns the street. Why can’t they take that for sidewalk instead of my yard? Green space, not pavement!

— Brad Wood

Didn’t Vote For This

I think I voted for fixing broken sidewalks and indeed putting some in where they don’t exist. But certainly not for destroying the tree canopy, which seems so stupid given climate change. 26th Avenue seems to be marked as not wide enough on the map, but I walk it all the time. It’s definitely wide enough for two people to walk comfortably. I’m so confused by the lack of creativity when approaching this issue.
— Lynn Kalinauskas

Willing To Negotiate

I’m willing to give up five feet, which includes my sprinkler system and my perennials for ADA sidewalks, but the hell strip is a hard no.
— June Nery

Here’s An Idea

I’m sure the city has reasons why this doesn’t work, but why can’t we narrow (right-size, really) the very generous car-centric streets in north and northeast Park Hill to expand the sidewalks? That would slow down traffic and protect the tree canopy, which advocates have been working on improving for years. Both of those are very important factors in walkability. I’m also curious about those Verizon cell towers and how they interact with a tree lawn and wider sidewalk because on our street it seems like the tower would be right in the middle of the sidewalk.
— Tara McLain Manthey

Misplaced Priorities

I replaced my sidewalk in 2019 when the city first complained about it, with a permit from the city that they approved. And now it is deficient? The city has time and money for this but if your car gets stolen, or catalytic converter gets chopped off, or your garage gets broken into they are too busy to do anything about it? Crazy idea, how about they actually do something with the new park in the neighborhood to make it usable instead of letting it sit there?
 — Timothy Mess

Cooler On The Other Side

Hell strips/tree lawns/detached sidewalks help provide a canopy which lowers the temperature. If you walk around in north and east Park Hill, it gets incredibly hot. Move over to the older part of Park Hill, and it is cooler. It is a significantly better overall experience. If you look it up, data also shows that it naturally calms traffic. It is better for water management. It is better for the environment overall.
— Charlotte Amalia Dagg

Just Planted Trees

I definitely want walkability and access for pedestrians, especially those with strollers and wheelchairs. Our sidewalk is sooo narrow. But we have a very wide street in northeast Park Hill and taking part of my yard is frustrating. We JUST landscaped our yard and we have planted trees and created a weed-free zone. Finally got it done after my yard was destroyed due to pipe replacement. I need to do more research, but I am not happy!
 — Justine V. WentFam

I’d Be Mad Too

We now live in the portion of Park Hill that is designated as having adequate sidewalks, but once lived in a section where few blocks had sidewalks. It certainly feels safer to be a pedestrian where we are now, and the sidewalks are wide enough to walk side by side. In a perfect world, that kind of walkability should be the norm. But I have a good friend who lives on Colorado Boulevard whose home is literally about 12 feet from the curb. There’s no way to put a compliant sidewalk there. I don’t think that the burden of providing a public benefit should fall on those homeowners. I’d also be pretty angry if I’d installed an expensive sprinkler system to maintain the lawn on the city-owned tree lawn and my own lawn only to have it torn up. I would hope that the city would pay the cost of rejiggering or replacing a sprinkler system that had to be altered or removed for the public good.
— Kate Swan

Handiwork Gone To Waste

As a landscaper in this part of town, so much of my work is going to get destroyed. Crazy. 

— David Carollo

Walking Side By Side

I think the parkway (hell) strip will be way too hard and expensive to implement in Hollywood sidewalk neighborhoods, but we shall see. Honestly, something must be done though. We can’t have whole neighborhoods where you can’t walk and hold the hand of your child side by side without one of you walking in the street.
— Peter Hendricks

Will Not Sit Idly By

I was very distressed to read the article. I have a corner lot on Krameria with three trees, a fence and extensive gardens, so the thought that the city could destroy all this is extremely upsetting! (Coincidentally the photo in the article with the red roses and iris is my yard.) I’m willing to help spread the word on any opposition meetings. I don’t want to sit idly back and let the city destroy a yard I’ve worked so hard on over the years, nor see others’ yards destroyed.
— Polly Wirtz

Toddler With A Butter Knife

I love the claim the city “will work with property owners.” When they did 23rd Avenue, we were told that they would not damage our trees and if needed, they would only be trimmed as necessary. They absolutely butchered our trees. No notice, no discussion. I came home one day to what appeared to be the work of a toddler with butter knife pretending to be an arborist. I am all for the sidewalks, but the trees didn’t even extend to where the sidewalk is now. Hopeful they won’t do the same to our front yard, but as the saying goes, hope in one hand and…
 — James Totten

Do, Redo, Repeat

They should implement a property tax rebate for expenses accrued. I get we have to be compliant and ADA accessible but why the heck did they redo Kearney Street last year (to install a bike route), move some fences and redo sidewalks, just to have to do it again? Lots of people have front yard gates and fences, and surely the homeowner will be responsible to deal with the mess left behind.
— Gina Lee Feng

The City’s Money MO

They always have enough money to redo it but never enough to do it right the first time. That Kearney Street fiasco is just like Quebec, where it wasn’t planned out well and the results don’t make it any better. They’ve moved fences and changed the landscape and just left it for the homeowners to deal with it.
 — Isaac Schloss

Sidewalk Zoom Meeting Planned July 8

DOTI Also Plans To Talk About Sidewalks At Food Truck Night On July 16 

Denver’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) has planned a one-hour citywide Zoom webinar to provide updates on the city’s new Sidewalk Program.

The webinar is Wednesday, July 8, from 6 to 7 p.m. Register at tinyurl.com/DenverSidewalkZoom for the meeting link.

DOTI employees have also set up booths four times this summer at events around the city, to informally share information about the Sidewalk Program to people who happen by. One event appearance is scheduled in July. It is Thursday, July 16 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the University Park Food Truck Night, 2160 S. Cook St. 

Park Hill residents can also contact Mayor Mike Johnston, as well as their city council representatives, with feedback and concerns about the sidewalk plan. Mayor Johnston’s number is 720-685-9000.

The following council members represent different portions of Park Hill:

• Shontel Lewis: 720-337-8888, district8@denvergov.org

• Darrell Watson: 720-337-7709, district9@denvergov.org

Two at-large city council members represent all of Denver:

• Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez: 720-337-7712, G-Gutierrez.atlarge@denvergov.org

• Sarah Parady: 720-337-7713, ParadyAtLarge@denvergov.org

The city’s sidewalk report can be read at denvergov.org/SOTS.

— Cara DeGette