[an error occurred while processing this directive]

LATEST LETTERS

Parking problems & rezoning issues

Tuesday, August 14 at 9:42 AM

Tom Morris of Denver writes:

Oh, please! The mayor calls for “restoration of the local republic” and the media, without skepticism or review, passes the message along as if it meant something.
I have a grass-roots portfolio extending back over forty years and I find the mayor’s call to be yet another loss leader in the continuing flim-flam.
As a three-year participant on one of the mayor’s “restorations,” I must express my deep skepticism regarding his vision of citizen involvement. I spent three years participating in the Mayor’s Colfax Stakeholder’s committee. After two and a half years of deadlock, I offered a compromise which allowed the process to complete its mission. That compromise was aimed at protecting my neighborhood from a lack of parking by requiring new developments to cover the need for additional short term parking. The compromise was included in the planning document which marked the end of the planning phase of the Colfax process. The plan was accepted unanimously by my neighbors.
When it came time to write the regulations implementing the plan, the burden of parking for Colfax development was not only assigned to the adjacent neighbors it was vastly increased. A vote of local residents rejected the implementation language by a three to one margin. At the urging of Peter Park, the city’s then new planning director, city council rejected local concerns.
When a developer proposed a project for the corner of Colfax and Madison, The city rejected a four story project with one and a half parking spaces for every residential unit and implemented a rezoning which allowed a five story building with less than one parking space per unit in return for saving a single house. When nearby residents rejected the substitution on a two to one vote, council ignored local concerns and approved the rezoning. The unbuilt project is now known locally as “the hole” or “Robb’s Heckuva Job” in recognition of Councilwoman Jeanne Robb’s intervention in the project.
A recently passed rezoning on Buchtel Boulevard was passed by council despite universal opposition from all nearby neighborhoods, the lack of any support for the project from any neighbors and the enthusiastic support of the planning office.
Grass-roots are more than a willingness to let neighbors offer ideas.
It is also the necessity of recognizing consensus which does not agree with the insiders.

This letter has not been edited.

READER COMMENTS

Citizen involvement is only a formality. Decisions are made in advance and that's the bottom line. I've seen it again and again. What do we have to do to change this? Any ideas? Your voice is tuned to a deaf ear. You get a little satisfaction by voicing your opinion but it is always short-lived.

Posted by c on August 15, 2007 10:52 AM