Denver resident wins appeal on zoning for micro-community site, but city has already reapplied
A Denver resident is fighting back against one of the city's proposed micro-community sites.
On Tuesday, the Board of Adjustments for Zoning conceded to an appeal on the city's zoning permit for 621 West Wesley Avenue, a micro-community site that broke ground last fall in the Overland Park neighborhood.
Craig Arfsten, a Platt Park neighborhood resident, issued the appeal, saying even though there were community meetings held to discuss this micro-community site, the process was rushed, and many residents' questions were not heard or answered.
"The mayor made commitments as far as what he expected from that site; those were never documented," Arfsten said. "Just putting a cyclone fence around these individuals does not change their behavior, and that's the basis for what these residents are really concerned about. What are you going to do? And today, there is nothing in place to address those concerns. "
Ultimately, the appeal was approved on a technicality in which the city failed to take the proper steps in the right order to get the permit approved.
A spokesperson for the Board of Adjustments for Zoning sent the following explanation:
"The Code gives specific steps that must be taken for a Zoning Permit for a TMC to be approved. A Pre-Application meeting is required, as is a Community Information Meeting (CIM). Although the permit applicant scheduled both the Pre-Application Meeting and the CIM, they did not schedule them as the Code requires. The Code requires that a Pre-Application meeting with CPD is scheduled first, and then a CIM meeting following. In this instance, the CIM was scheduled about a week prior to the Pre-Application meeting. Because of this error in sequencing, CPD staff should not have approved the permit for the TMC at this location. The Board thus found that the permit approval was in error and found that the Zoning Permit would need to be revoked."
Arfsten still calls the board's decision to revoke the permit a win for the Overland Park residents. For months, they have been expressing concerns about the property's proximity to a neighborhood and the mayor's plans to make the site a low barrier facility.
"If it was a sober living home, it would definitely be more welcoming for the neighborhood," Overland Park resident Estancia Montoya told us in October. "Now you're going to house like 100 people here that are not sober living. So let's say 50 people here are on drugs; their drug dealers are going to be here selling it."
"Take into consideration the concerns of the neighbors," Arfsten said.
This appeal does not stop the city from reapplying for a permit to continue development on this site, but Arfsten hopes it'll hold House 1000 leaders accountable in listening to residents, answering questions and implementing concrete safety solutions once the site it complete.
"That the city is really in a rush to get House 1000 in place. They've taken shortcuts, and those shortcuts really are focused on the community involvement. They're not really listening to the community. They're not really taking the community seriously," Arfsten said. "But the city has a choice right now. Can they do the right thing or not?"
With the city now having to reapply for this zoning permit, this could mean another community meeting and give residents a chance to be heard.
A spokesperson for the mayor's office responded to the appeal decision with a statement:
"A new application has been submitted. Once approved, we do not expect any additional delays and expect the micro-community to open in early to mid-March."
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