‘Total garbage’: Developer, landowners sue Denver over rezoning denial

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 not to rezone S Lipan St from single-use residential to mixed-use preventing RedT Homes from building two dozen townhomes there We did months of work met with every council member did a critical amount of society engagement with the Athmar Park neighborhood Then when we get to city council we are given all of three minutes to present stated 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 -plus-year residents of Athmar Park Adams described BusinessDen by phone this week The -square-foot lot at S Lipan St is largely vacant and owned by a trust for Joe and Jane Madrid That trust is a plaintiff in the May lawsuit alongside RedT Until April 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 community interest as it opens the door to a wide range of uses without protections for the neighbors Alvidrez noted of mixed-use zoning I also have concerns about the tone of selected of the promotion letters I received she explained A sparse 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 aid the rezone commented 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 reported of S Lipan St Related Articles New apartments at edge of Lakewood s Belmar Park win planning OK after long-running disagreement Denver s housing dilemma demands action the God s Backyard bill offers hope Opinion Park Hill golf module land swap plan to create new park passes through Denver council committees Suburban Denver city the latest flashpoint in Colorado s housing affordability saga feels squeezed by density pressures Housing bills up for votes an affordability hearing and final budget forecast in the Colorado legislature this week The vote failed by a vote of - 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 event has not been scheduled Adams the RedT CEO says the Madrids still own Lipan and are the real casualties 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 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