180 Formerly Undesignated Acres Now Protected

DENVER, Dec. 6, 2016  – Denver Parks and Recreation recently completed its eighth round of park designations for previously undesignated park and open space. With these latest efforts, more than 4400 acres of parks, parkways, open spaces and natural areas are now designated, representing approximately 81 percent of all Denver-owned open space within the city limits.

The most recent designations are 102.9 acres of Sand Creek Open Space and 44.5 acres of Prairie Uplands Park open space located in Council District 8, 27 acres of the High Line Canal in Green Valley Ranch in Council District 11 and 4.3 acres of Hampden Heights West Park and 1.7 acres of Hutchison East in Council District 4.

“Right now, more than 81 percent of eligible parks, parkways and open spaces within our city have been designated, meaning the land is now protected for generations to come.” Mayor Hancock said. “This has been a necessary process to ensure that our parks and open spaces are preserved and safeguarded. It’s no secret that Denver’s parks provide an enhanced quality of life for our residents, and by designating this land appropriately, the city is able to continue providing that quality of life for everyone who lives here.

The department began the designation process in the spring of 2013 in an effort to ensure that the City’s parkland is protected from future development and real estate transactions.  Through this process, Denver Parks and Recreation is taking steps to officially designate all applicable park land and open space around the city through city ordinance. Once a park has been dedicated, it can only be used as a park and that cannot be changed without approval by Denver’s voters.

Throughout the designation process, Denver Parks and Recreation leaders have worked closely with parks advocates made up of representatives from Denver’s umbrella neighborhood organization, INC. The Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation group collaborated with Denver Parks and Recreation to identify all acres that are eligible for designation and will continue to work with us as new parcels of land are identified for park and open space use in the future.

To date, 223 of the 290 sites in the Denver system are now officially designated, with 6 more planned during the ninth designation round set to begin next year. The next round of park designations is planned for Spring 2017 and will include Aqua Golf, Overland Pond Park, Southwest Recreation Center Grounds, Confluence East Park, Lindsley Park, Unnamed Asbury & Tejon Park.

RELATED ARTICLE FROM THE DENVER POST BY JOE VACCARELLI

The difference between an open space and a park in Denver may not make a lot of difference to anyone who uses it, but it can have a substantial impact on the land’s future, as many learned in 2013.

When the city traded an 11.5-acre piece of land in the Hampden Heights Open Space in southeast Denver to Denver Public Schools to build a school, many thought the city was trading parkland, but later learned that the land had never been designated. Designating a park means the city can’t sell, trade or do anything to change the status of the land without a vote of the people.

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