Denver Historians Colloquium

c/o Dr. Thomas J. Noel

3 March 2023

An Open Letter to the Voters of the City and County of Denver

Subject: Preservation of the Park Hill Conservation Easement in Northeast Denver

We represent a group of Denver-based historians from many different walks of life – authors, educators, former officials, design experts, preservation advocates, and more. Our pattern is to meet most weeks throughout the year and discuss current projects related to historic preservation, including research, writing, historic tours, restoration efforts, and design.

We are sharing comments on Ballot Measure 20 which, if approved, would remove the 155-acre conservation easement to protect this land from future development. One of the characteristics which has set Denver apart from other cities has been its iconic parks and open space network. From graceful landscaped parkways to preserved spaces of high desert ecosystems, Denver has been blessed with a long history of placing value on parklands that contribute to a sense of place and to connect the city with its landscape setting.

While we support the need to provide housing and new investment in the city, we strongly oppose sacrificing a conservation easement paid for by Denver residents to be replaced with a master plan proposal at the former Park Hill Golf Course. As members of the community with a keen awareness of Denver’s urban form and its neighborhoods, there are ample areas for infill and redevelopment throughout the city. It is a flawed process on the part of city officials to present voters with a false choice between open space or development.

Denver now has a serious deficit of parkland and open space which has significant dropped its status and ranking for parks. The city’s own analysis of its park system identifies that there is now a 1400-acre deficit in parkland citywide. Today we only have 9 acres of parkland for every 1000 people, when the national average is 13 acres per 1000 people. And many of our most park deficient neighborhoods are in lower income areas and communities of color (see Game Plan for a Healthy City, 2019 – the city’s adopted park plan – and Trust for Public Land).

We encourage a “no” vote on the ballot measure – with a message back to city officials to identify opportunities for new housing that do not surrender existing open space. To reclaim Denver’s reputation as a “city in a park,” we need decisions that close our serious parkland gap and decision that direct housing to areas that are the ripest of infill and redevelopment – that is the many acres of vacant and underutilized lands currently in the city.

Building on our past legacy of parks and vibrant neighborhoods should be at the core for creating a future that is sustainable, ecologically healthy, equitable, and resilient – especially to the challenges of a changing climate.

Respectfully submitted,

Tom Noel, Prof. Emeritus of History, CU-Denver & former State Historian

Jay Fell, Prof. Of History CU-Denver

Jim Kroll, former manager of Western History & Grealogy Dept., Denver Public Library Dept

Katy Ordway, Prof. Of History Red Rocks Community College

Amy Zimmer, Architectural Historian

Mary O’Neil, School Teacher

Sister Mary Cage, SCL, historian