Denver City Council on Monday night denied a rezoning request that would have allowed for three-story town home developments on Colorado Boulevard south of First Avenue.
Council voted unanimously against the request mainly because the developer failed to reach an agreement with the registered neighborhood organization to limit the density and because of awkward entrances and exits to the site. The development would have sat on a dangerous intersection at Colorado and East Bayaud Avenue and be built over a long vacant Universal Church at 50 S. Colorado Blvd.
“There’s no agreement and no covenant so I have to make a decision based on what could be there,” Councilwoman Mary Beth Susman said during the meeting. Susman represents the area and urged her fellow council members to vote no.
The proposed development had been controversial since the developer, McKinnon and Associates, first met with the community to discuss options. McKinnon purchased the land in late 2014.
In later community meetings, partner Doug McKinnon said he had hoped to build four buildings with 54 total garden-court units on the 1-acre site. He later went on to propose 40 units in three buildings, but the Cranmer Park-Hilltop Civic Association wanted less density and would not agree to a covenant.
Association president Jay McCormick said the neighborhood is not opposed to density, but thought a smaller number of units was desirable.
“Neighbors would like to see something replace that church, but I don’t know what it will be,” he said. “In the end, I think the process worked and the neighborhood really came together.”
Residents had pointed to a development to replace Mt. Gilead church in nearby Crestmoor Park as a good example. That plan — also controversial in that neighborhood — proposed 75 units over 2.3 acres, or about 32 units per acre.
McKinnon did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the future of the site but noted during the meeting that he was reluctant to commit to less than 40 units because of the cost of building underground parking, which was planned.
The decision marks a rare instance that City Council voted against the recommendation of the Community Planning and Development department. In January, the council denied a rezoning request that would have permitted medical offices in a parking lot of the Emmaus Lutheran Church in the West Highland neighborhood.
In that case, council voted 8-4 to approve the rezoning, but fell short of the 10 votes necessary because neighbors had filed a protest petition opposing the move.
