Volume 53, Issue No. 7
A Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. Publication
July 2014
Main Street Blues Here’s Why The Greater Park Hill Community Stands In Opposition to 1520 Grape St.
From left: The Historic Landmark Smiley School will be on this year’s tour; A variety of dining options will be available at the Street Fair; One of several unique homes on the Home Tour, this uses geothermal heating and cooling. Photos by Sara Donnelly
2014 Park Hill Home Tour and Street Fair By Kate Sultan and Emily Boyle
Sunday, Sept. 28 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. will be a great day in Park Hill. It is the 36th Annual Home Tour & Street Fair, which is the single largest fundraiser for Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. (GPHC). In addition to some fabulous homes, this year’s Home Tour will feature the historic landmark and school building at 26th Avenue and Holly Street known as the Smiley Campus. Along the tour, stop by the Street Fair on Forest Parkway between Montview Boulevard and 17th Avenue for a bite to eat and a refreshing drink while visiting with some
Z&P 500
A Glimpse of What’s To Come
of your friends and neighbors. Highlights at the Street Fair will include kids activities, a wine & beer garden, a vintage car show, live music, and lots of great local businesses and artists with handcrafted items for sale. It may be helpful to know that this year’s Home Tour & Street Fair does not coincide with the Broncos game – as there is no game scheduled for Sept. 28! As of press time, 52 businesses, restaurants and vendors, and seven food trucks, have signed on to participate in the Street Fair. Booths are still available for those who’d like to participate in this celebrated event. Information about the Street Fair, including booth fees and locations can be found at
www.ParkHillStreetFair.com. We also have opportunities for another band to entertain for a two-to-three hour shift. And we are happy to welcome suggestions and ideas to continue to make the Street Fair a great community day. Please contact Kate Sultan krsultan@ comcast.net or Lynn Maedel lynnmaedel@ cacmle.org if you have questions or suggestions or if you would like to volunteer. Home Tour inquiries regarding sponsoring one of the Tour Homes should be sent to Nina Kuhl kuhlnina@yahoo.com. If you would like to advertise in the Home Tour Brochure please contact Jenn McCain jmccain@fairwaymc.com.
View From The Road Traffic, Fracking Woes Similar Across The Pond A recent 1,600-mile driving vacation in mostly rural Iceland, Scotland, and England provided a view of how residents of these areas cope with situations similar to those facing Denverites. For example, underground hydraulic fracturing of shale (fracking) to release oil and natural gas is a big issue in England, just as in Colorado. It is not unusual to see a “no fracking” banner on a fence along a highway.
City Matters
Dave Felice
In another instance, residents of many villages are concerned with large-scale commercial and residential development. While Icelandic government officials generally get high marks, people in England don’t like politicians any more than Americans do. One worker at London’s Gatwick Airport candidly, and rather bluntly, remarked of his city’s mayor, “Boris Johnson is an idiot.” Traffic and parking are a terrible problem in Scotland and England. This reflects the
continued on page 7 Confounded by composting? The Mysteries Unraveled
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Smiley Middle School’s Kylah Coleman’s Message to the Class of 2014
recent comments about Cherry Creek from Ajay Menon, Dean of CSU Business School, who says one-third of urban congestion is caused by people looking for a place to park. Iceland – an independent nation in the North Atlantic – gained independence from Denmark in 1944. Iceland has a total population of about 330,000, with about twothirds on the Reykjanes peninsula in the far southwest. Scotland and England are separate countries, joined by the Act of Union, with a shared monarch. With Wales and Northern Ireland, the four countries form “The United Kingdom,” also referred to as Great Britain. It is insulting to say the British drive on “the wrong side of the road.” Britons drive on the left, along with most Commonwealth countries, Ireland, and Japan. European truck drivers are adept at driving with an opposite side steering wheel. Just as residents in 11 northern Colorado counties recently voted on separating from Colorado, Scotland will have a referendum in September on complete independence. Actors Sean Connery and Alan Cumming support independence, while opponents
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Inside This Issue
Page 6
July 2014
U-MS-3. That’s zoning code speak for Urban-Main Street-3 Stories. It is also the zoning designation that Hartman Ely Investments is currently pursuing in a re-zoning application for 1520 Grape St. This property is Bernadette Kelly currently zoned U-TU-C, which translates to Urban-Two Unit-5,500 Square Foot Minimum Lot Size. The predominant building on this block is duplex homes and hence Community Planning and Development (CPD) designated it thus. 1520 Grape St. is an existing two-story brick apartment building built in 1946. This renders it as an existing non-conforming structure. Hartman Ely Investments is pursuing the rezoning in order to add apartment units to the building. Jim Hartman, the developer, presented his plans at the April Greater Park Hill Community (GPHC) board meeting. He explained that he would like to add 10 apartments to the building by excavating the existing basement and crawlspace. With the current zoning as U-TU-C, multi-unit dwellings are not an allowed building form, so rezoning is required in order to add units. It has been argued that the U-TU-C zoning designation for this property is a mistake and this rezoning application is merely the “White-Out” for a clerical error. To quote the departed comedian John Pinette, “I say nay, nay!” As part of the draft process for the present zoning code, board members of GPHC spent countless hours in meetings and pouring through each version of the draft text and zoning code maps, ensuring it represented what was on the ground and protected our neighborhood as an “area of stability.” The previous zoning code designated most of our neighborhood as R0, meaning single-family housing. GPHC fought for the continued on page 3
Park Hill Neighbors: Ready For Parade And Sizzlin’ Dogs Celebrate Independence Day in Park Hill at the annual 4th of July Parade. More than 40 groups have signed up to march in the parade this year. Also returning this year is Louis Plachowski’s decked out 71 VW van and his hot dog stand, stocked this year with 200 doggies to feed the hungry hordes. Proceeds benefit the GPHC Food Pantry. The parade kicks off at 1:30 p.m. and the route runs along 23rd Avenue from Dexter to Kearney Streets.
Hot Jazz in City Park & More Summer Fun
Next GPHC Meeting Thursday, August 7 at 6:30 p.m. 2823 Fairfax St., Denver
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