A developer and property owners in the Athmar Park neighborhood have sued the city in an attempt to reverse a council decision last month that blocked their housing project.
The Denver City Council voted April 7 not to rezone 627 S. Lipan St. from single-use residential to mixed-use, preventing RedT Homes from building two dozen townhomes there.
“We did 20 months of work, met with every council member, did a significant amount of community engagement with the Athmar Park neighborhood. Then, when we get to city council, we are given all of three minutes to present,” said RedT CEO Nathan Adams.
“Three minutes to present was complete and total garbage, not fair in any way shape or form, and the people who really got hosed were the people who own the land, who are 30-plus-year residents of Athmar Park,” Adams told BusinessDen by phone this week.
The 28,125-square-foot lot at 627 S. Lipan St. is largely vacant and owned by a trust for Joe and Jane Madrid. That trust is a plaintiff in the May 5 lawsuit, alongside RedT.
Until April 7, the plaintiffs’ rezoning request for the property appeared headed for swift approval. City staff supported the idea and the Denver Planning Board unanimously did.
“It’s a great opportunity to add more housing options in a neighborhood that is primarily single-unit residential,” Rob Haigh, a senior city planner, testified to the council.
Testimony was brief and mixed, with a neighbor in favor and one opposed. But the council, led by Councilwoman Flor Alvidrez, was overwhelmingly against the townhome idea.
“The rezoning doesn’t seem to serve the public interest as it opens the door to a wide range of uses, without protections for the neighbors,” Alvidrez said of mixed-use zoning.
“I also have concerns about the tone of some of the support letters I received,” she explained. “A few of the neighbors suggested this rezoning could put pressure on existing residents to clean up their homes and make the neighborhood nicer. While perhaps well-intentioned, that language echoes the rhetoric often associated with gentrification.”
Much of the council’s discussion centered on a good neighbor agreement that was reached just before the hearing by RedT and the Athmar Park Neighborhood Association. Council members called it “window dressing” and speculated APNA had been “pressured” to sign.
Councilwoman Sarah Parady, the only member to support the rezone, said, “I am a yes by just about a hair,” after noting that good neighbor agreements are not required to rezone.
“I see a large lot that I would prefer not to be single-unit housing, that is right by similar properties and is right by a park,” the councilwoman said of 627 S. Lipan St.
The vote failed by a vote of 10-1, leading to this week’s lawsuit. In it, RedT and the Madrids accuse the council of “placing unfounded reliance” on their skepticisms of the good neighbor agreement. They note that Alvidrez appeared to read from prepared remarks while criticizing their request, “indicating a predetermined outcome regardless of the evidence.”
The plaintiffs are asking Denver District Court Judge Kandace Gerdes to overturn the council’s decision and allow the townhomes. They are represented by attorneys Jack Reutzel and Sylvia Osiecka at Fairfield & Woods in Denver. A hearing in the case has not been scheduled.
Adams, the RedT CEO, says the Madrids still own 627 Lipan and are the real victims here.
“I didn’t buy the land, I can move on to another project,” he says. “So, really, truly the lawsuit is on behalf of them. It’s not that we don’t want to still do the project but we feel they got absolutely hosed. They hung in there with us for 20 months, so we’re trying to make it right for them and be able to use all the hard work that we did over that time to bring housing to Denver.”
Story via BusinessDen.
Get more real estate and business news by signing up for our weekly newsletter, On the Block.
