Opinion: Call It What It Is
The City and Westside Are Trying To Hold Us Hostage Over The Park Hill Golf Course. Don’t Let Them Do It.
By Erik Stark
For the GPHN
I recently attended a City Council hearing regarding Westside and the future of the Park Hill Golf Course. I discovered most of our council members have become the embodiment of “captured government,” pushing Westside’s agenda with almost religious fervor while also receiving donations from them.
With the exception of a few stalwarts, this is the new norm. Maybe electing council members who refuse to accept money from developers should be our agenda.
To sell Westside’s plans, false choices were crafted by Denver’s department of community planning and development, and pushed to local residents via “visioning” and “outreach.” The first claimed that a “golf course or mixed-use development” were the only options. This ignored that the conservation easement protecting the land as open space/golf course could be amended to allow park use as well. But this was never presented as an option because the city and Westside wouldn’t allow it.
Shamefully, the city council is pushing this same false choice to voters on the upcoming April ballot (golf course or mixed-use development) and even implying if it isn’t developed, it must stay a defunct golf course. They’re essentially holding the land hostage if the easement isn’t lifted.
Meanwhile, Westside has let the space deteriorate, violating its responsibilities, to encourage development that will “eliminate the eyesore.”
Where have we heard this before?
Another false choice is that you must sacrifice open space to have affordable housing, or conversely, having open space means you must sacrifice affordable housing. Both narratives have been pushed relentlessly as part of Westside’s messaging. Open space has even become the impediment of affordable housing, and proponents painted as out-of-touch elitists who care more about trees than people.
The developer’s tactics have expertly pitted supporters of open space and affordable housing against each other. The distraction also diverts attention away from the fact our city council and the city’s planning department have become personal concierges for large developers, shepherding them through all the hoops, and around any community resistance.
The truth is the lack of both open space and affordable housing have similar roots. It leads back to how land is developed (to maximize profit), where it is developed (where it’s cheapest and easiest), who benefits the most (the developer), and what incentives are presented to continue this going forward. Westside is now promoted as the savior of our needs, enabled by our myopia that servicing large developers for years (like Westside) helped create the open space and affordability crisis we’re in now.
Let’s consider Westside’s ridiculous plan. Developers always promise the world. Remember the (ongoing) development at 28th and Fairfax? It wasn’t supposed to lead to gentrification, but it sure smells like that whenever I’m there. What makes you think the Park Hill Golf Course will be any different?
Affordable housing? What amount actually goes to Northeast Park Hill? All the city will be competing for these affordable units (a current claim of 25 percent — or 625-750 total units). It’s overall a small area and quantity to address the real needs of Northeast Denver. Further, the Metro Districts the city council just approved for Westside to fund the infrastructure needed to build out the golf course land will double the property taxes for the remaining 75 percent of units — likely increasing gentrification since only the more moneyed will be able to afford these.
Cheapest and easiest — for Westside
Imagine if the city had conducted outreach to the older commercial district just north of residential Park Hill. Spanning from Dahlia to Quebec streets, and 38th Avenue to I-70, this area comprises many times the size of Westside’s proposal, and consists of simple low story buildings and older warehouses. The land is relatively cheap compared to many other parts of Denver. It’s also largely uncontaminated due to the lack of current or historical heavy industry.
Developing affordable housing in those areas would not require Metro Districts and the taxes that they bring, since infrastructure already exists, and new streets, electric, gas, and sewer lines could be tied in.
With a high potential for affordable housing and community businesses, why has this area been ignored? Because Westside bought the Park Hill Golf Course in 2019 and that’s where all the focus went by the city, city council and the city’s planning department. It was sold as the only place to finally have some affordable housing and a grocery store in Northeast Park Hill. In truth, the golf course land is actually where Westside could maximize its profits since open space is always the cheapest and easiest to develop — especially when all the infrastructure costs go to the residents.
We desperately need both affordable housing and open space to have a just, healthy, and functioning city. Both are obtainable by removing sell-out politicians, corporate propaganda, and the barriers that have prevented us from coming together as residents, and neighbors.
On April 4, vote no on City Council’s deceptive ballot measure 2 O. Send a message to the City and Westside — again — that we won’t be misled by false choices, spin, and divide-and-conquer tactics concerning open space and affordable housing.
This sham must end.
Erik Stark is a Park Hill native who believes that growth and housing have for too long been primarily driven by large developer interests, and that an informed public will always make the best choices.