big denver golf course redevelopment may have voter input

A move to redevelop some 155 acres of land comprising the Park Hill Golf Course in northeast Denver may be altered, depending upon the result of a voter referendum.

Members of Denver’s Charter Committee have given their approval to sending to the city’s Finance and Governance Committee a proposal looking at whether voters can have a say in the project.

Last year, Denver-based Westside Investment Partners purchased the 18-hole golf course located at 4141 E. 35th Avenue for $24 million.

In subsequent months, the company, launching an information campaign called “Park Hill Golf Course—Reimagined,” suggested that the site could be redeveloped as a mixed-use project, with an emphasis on affordable housing construction.

Opponents forming a group called Open Space Denver have maintained that because the site, which has more than 100 trees, comprises the last large open space property in the core of the city, any new development should move forward only with the approval of Denver voters.

At particular issue is a conservation easement enacted more than two decades ago putting development restrictions on the site.

As discussed by the city’s Charter Committee, a ballot proposal would permit voters a say in whether or not the conservation easement should be lifted.

The proposal, in the form of adding a new amendment to the Denver’s charter, will also allow for voter input on the proposed redevelopment of any other large open space in the city.
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Established in 1931, the Park Hill Golf Course was closed in late 2018 due to declining revenues and a storm water detention easement imposed by the city on a part of the site.

​By Garry Boulard

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