The Z&P 500: INC Meets Planning Manager Piro
By Bernadette Kelly
On Saturday, January 26th, Denver’s Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation Zoning and Planning Committee (INC-ZAP) met with Rocky Piro, the city’s new Manager of Community Planning and Development. Piro commenced his new role in mid-December and this was his opportunity to meet members of active Registered Neighborhood Organizations and hear their concerns, suggestions and learn what is important to them and their community. It was also INC-ZAP’s chance to learn more about him, his history and his philosophy on urban planning.
The meeting began with Piro providing a brief bio and his professional experience. Mr. Piro was born and raised in north Denver, attending Beach Court Elementary and graduating from Regis High School when it shared campus with Regis University. He has studied language, philosophy, theology and traveled overseas. While earning his Masters in Urban Planning at University of Colorado Denver, he taught German and Latin at Machebeuf High School, when Machebeuf was in its original location in Park Hill, across from Blessed Sacrament.
Mr. Piro returns to Denver after 26 years of life in the Seattle area, working for the Seattle-area’s Puget Sound Regional Council since 1992. His focus has been on collaborative planning and smart growth, working on transforming state planning and sprawl reduction. Piro feels that planning is the most democratic thing you can do in a society. Plans should develop along with the communities that will be part of them. The citizens should have the information that they need to understand the process and be involved.
As an example, when he was still living in Denver, he was working with the Sunnyside and Sloan’s Lake neighborhood groups, developing relationships and understanding common concerns. I-70 was imposed on these and other neighborhoods and traffic increased overtime. Working with CDOT, they were the first neighborhoods to have sound barriers installed.
Mayor Hancock has been quoted as stating that Denver is already recognized as a national leader in sustainability, but wants to raise it to “world-class”. Piro’s work in Seattle has been focused on sustainability, such as how to absorb population growth without expanding land area, and asking the question of: “Is what we are doing now going to protect future generations?”
Affordable housing, parking, transportation, inspection services, notification to neighborhoods and their inclusion in the decision process, and solar access were just a few of the topics covered by the INC-ZAP attendees. One hot topic, on which Piro is hitting the ground running, is the Globeville and Swansea neighborhoods and the relocation of I-70. He feels that there are opportunities to go back and look at what we can do to make these vibrant healthy neighborhoods and knit them back into the city. The city has formed the North Denver Cornerstone Collaborative as a means to mesh several projects in this area together in addition to those mentioned above: a long term master plan will be created for the National Western Stock Show complex; RTD rail station at 38th and Blake; and sustainable development in the River North neighborhood for a greenway along the river and transportation improvements.
The meeting concluded with a final comment from Piro, sharing that even though he has been away all these years, he has always loved Denver and it is the neighborhoods that make it so great. Returning here and looking for a place to call home, he could happily live in anyone of them and plans to be out and about with his wife enjoying them again.
Bernadette Kelly is a Denver native, a 12-year Park Hill resident and has served on the board of the Greater Park Hill Community for five years. Rocky Piro was her German teacher at Machebeuf High School. For more information about the Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation, visit denverinc.org.