| District | Name | 8. City parks, especially large ones, have proved to be instrumental in lowering the heat island effect, especially as the climate continues to warm. According to the Trust for Public Land, Denver ranks in the 49th percentile for park acreage. What specifically would you do to increase the acquisition of large open spaces in Denver and significantly expand Denver’s parks and forested areas footprint? |
| 1 | Amanda Sandoval | Currently, in Northwest Denver, there is the Near Northwest NPI underway and there are recommendations to create more open space parks within the 4 neighborhoods. I would ask we use the “legacy fund” to help with the acquisition of said open space. |
| 1 | Sarah Truckey | I would focus more of Denver Parks and Rec efforts to the city itself. The City and County of Denver has one of the largest parks programs of any city in the country, but that spans far outside the city itself. Park entities outside of the City should be the responsibility of those localities, and/or the state, so that we can utilize local taxpayer dollars to focus on greenspaces where the taxpayers live. |
| 2 | Kevin Flynn | Work with Park Hill Golf Course owner to acquire at least the 100 acres proposed in the development agreement to become a city-owned public park; identify acquisition opportunities in under-parked areas such as southwest and west Denver, and work with those property owners when change in ownership is anticipated; use the IMP process to maximize open space in redevelopments, such as the upcoming redevelopment of the former Target Village in my district. |
| 3 | Jamie Torres | I would support the City’s efforts to buy land to expand parks and open spaces and ensure dedicated public parks are included in future large developments. |
| 4 | Tony Pigford | Simply put, I believe that Denver should use 2A funds to grow its park lands. The city has a few other tools that could be used to acquire parks, but these funds are ready-made for this purpose, and much of the voter-approved dollars are unspent. |
| 5 | Amanda Sawyer | DPR needs to acquire smaller parcels of land as they come up for sale in neighborhoods and turn them into pocket parks. It’s incredibly frustrating that we have the funding to do this but I have identified parcels and requested this twice, and both times I’ve been told that it isn’t “in the plan.” We need to stop planning when land acquisition isn’t something that can’t be planned! We have a goal of adding park acreage and we need to be able to take advantage of it when the time is right in order to achieve our goals. |
| 5 | Michael Hughes | We need to use the investment we made as voters, making wise decisions about how to build and maintain new parks with the funds voters approved – parks have many roles – community gathering places, active recreation, peace and quiet, air quality, and reducing the heat island effect of the city |
| 6 | Paul Kashmann | As mentioned above, DPR has the funding it needs. I have, from the beginning of the discussion urged the city to purchase Park Hill Golf Course and work with Denver residents to have the conservation easement removed or amended to allow conversion to a public park. I will work to improve Denver’s tree ordinance to increase our tree canopy outside of parkland. |
| 7 | Nick Campion | I would work with the city to buy back land to turn into open spaces, especially within areas where communities are disproportionately impacted by air pollution. |
| 7 | Adam Estroff | Reforming residential land use will give us an opportunity to rethink how we utilize our limited land in Denver. Moving away from suburban sprawl development will allow us to more efficiently use our land and reserve more greenspace for parks. The heat island effect is a real issue in our communities and planning needs to take that into account. I would also encourage people to deed their homes to Parks and Rec. In the Baker neighborhood, Hector Flores did so and allow his plot to be turned into a community park. |
| 7 | Guy Padgett | Denver should look to its existing trail network, existing parks, rivers and creeks, decommissioned industrial land, and canal, highway and railroad rights of way for opportunities to expand park acreage and link recreational landscapes. The recent acquisition of lands adjoining Peña Blvd. is a prime example of how this can be done. Lastly, any development over an acre should be encouraged to include open space as part of their footprint. |
| 7 | Arthur May | I would focus on not reducing the amount of acerage, not necessarily seek to increase it. If more housing is required, we should seek to innovate in the areas where now have buildings and residences. |
| 8 | Shontel Lewis | Too frequently, we measure the progress of our city in dollars when we should be prioritizing our social determinants of health — affordable housing, healthy and affordable food, quality health care, education and job training, community based resources, frequent and effective transit, and a flourishing culture. As your next City Councillor, I am committing myself towards making District 8 the healthiest District to live in in the City and County of Denver, while improving both individual and community health outcomes across the entire city. That includes clean air, access to nutrition and clean drinking water. |
| 9 | Candi CdeBaca | Firstly, I would not develop or encourage development of any green or open space (i.e. park hill golf course). Secondly, given park access associated with climate and equity goals serves a public purpose, I would utilize eminent domain to acquire abandoned/vacant land/parcels. |
| 10 | Margie Morris | In May, 2022, the Trust for Public Land actually ranked Denver 18th out of the 100 largest cities in its annual Park Score. Noteworthy, is that Denver is the 19th largest city in the US, which aligns with its park rating of 18th. Further, 89% of Denver residents live within a 10 minute walk of a park, and parks are distributed with a high degree of equity based on age, income and race/ethnicity. The one rating – out of 5– in which Denver performed lowest was the number of acres of parkland. As noted in my answer to question #5 above, we have a thoughtful and – more importantly – an annually funded Strategic Acquisition Plan to increase the amount of parkland in our city, which I fully support. As a council representative, I will be 100% focused on a holistic approach to our city’s planning and development, using data and facts to fully understand issues and potential solutions and/or remediation. I am committed to making Denver a place we are all proud to live, work, and play. Regarding issues of sustainability, I know that we must act now to stop the progression of climate change. That is why I am committed to supporting new strategies and initiatives to reduce water usage, developing a sustainable infrastructure, and promoting electric and multi-modal transportation initiatives. In addition, I will support the Office of Climate Action, Sustainability, and Resiliency (CASR), and use the zoning code to incentivize measurable action against their goals of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, supporting climate adaptation, and creating new green jobs as we transition to a sustainable future. |
| 10 | Noah Kaplan | It is essential to answer this question from a district and citywide perspective. District 10 is home to large green spaces and small activated spaces. We can do more to improve tree canopy along our neighborhood walkways and improve the sustainability of watering significant green places like Cheeseman Park. Citywide, Denver needs to look for areas of opportunity to build new housing that incorporates additional green space while providing density and accessibility to housing. Additionally, I believe Denver can expand our mountain park network and work with regional partners like Jefferson County to create dual management agreements, which will leverage our most incredible resource of mountain access within 35 minutes of the city limits and can expand opportunities for more city dwellers to experience the mountains. |
| 10 | Shannon Hoffman | First, we should use proceeds from tax referenced in question 10 to purchase PHGC and other large open spaces for public parks. We should create a comprehensive analysis of our city land, including land we own, developable land, and include parks and potential open spaces in this analysis. Finally, community input is crucial – we need to listen to where people want parks! |
| At-Large | Sarah Parady | In addition to spending the unspent 2A funds for parks, we can expand Denver’s forested areas footprints through expanding the Urban Forest Initiative to reach the entire city, beyond the urban center. I believe the city should acquire the Park Hill Golf Course and turn most or all of it into a park. |
| At-Large | Marty Zimmerman | The first step will be to look at a map of all City owned and vacant property in the county to identify potential locations for parks, affordable housing, and other uses. Then I would advocate for us to use currently undeveloped space such as acreage by the National Western Stock Show Complex and in parts of Green Valley Ranch that are not yet developed to be preserved and turned into large city parks with significant tree canopies and native grasses. Additionally, I would like to mitigate blighted land and turn these into parks as well. There is enough room to increase our acreage if we are methodical, intentional, and proactive in our planning. |
| At-Large | Penfield Tate III | As I mentioned previously, I led the fight to protect the conservation easement protecting open space at the former Park Hill Golf Course for five years with my neighbors. I will contine to champion future development in the city, infill and otherwise, that incorporate parks, open space, and forested areas as an integral part of the planning process. |
| At-Large | Jeff Walker | I would inventory vacant buildings and sites in residential and near residential areas. These could be acquired to fulfill the recommendations of Game Plan. |
