Urban Dweller

Volume 35. Issue 4

4/11/2017

Message from Our Co-Presidents

Greetings Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods Supporters and Friends,

Spring is always a delightful time in Denver. The days grow longer, flowers begin to blossom, rich greenery returns to our parks, and our neighborhoods come alive with renewed activity and excitement. In a similar fashion, Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods continued to grow and flourish in recent weeks.

A team of AmeriCorps and delegate volunteers joined us to spruce up the Tears-McFarlane House and Community Center. The financial health of the organization continues to improve, with our office spaces fully leased, more short term rentals than ever before, and additional monthly donors joining you as supporters.

All demonstrate a renewed commitment that fuels our work as both a community partner and advocate.

Our committees have been hard at work, hosting neighborhood outreach events, participating in historic preservation discussions, and actively monitoring a handful of zoning and land use issues.

Finally, we will be hosting or participating in several events including: Govn'rs Park Beer Fest, Doors Open Denver, the Annual Easter Egg Hunt, just to name a few. We hope to see you there! You can read more about these and other items in this month's Urban Dweller.

In the meantime, if you would like to connect or have something you would like to share with Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods, please feel free to email us.

We want to hear from you!

Travis Leiker & Mark Cossin
Co-Presidents, Board of Delegates

Thanks to Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods Many Community Partners

Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods has been the fortunate beneficiary of support from several community partners in the last two months.

As a nonprofit Registered Neighborhood Organization, we simply can't fulfill our mission without help and support.

Please take a moment and thank (better still, patronize) these Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods supporters:

Whole Foods-Capitol Hill - for hosting our Be Mine Benefit on February 12th and providing delicious food.
Tito's Vodka - for supplying adult beverages at the Be Mine Benefit.
The McNichols Project - The first big public event at the remodeled McNichols Building was a jazz and art-themed event (think Roaring 20s) that benefited Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods.
Americorps - for an energetic group of young people who lent their time and elbow grease to the Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods Spring Clean-up on March 11th. They washed windows, raked, cleaned and really helped us spiff up the Tears-McFarlane House and grounds.
Angelo's Taverna - for hosting a happy hour event on March 28th in conjunction with the Alamo Placita Neighborhood Association.
Govnr's Park Tavern and Premier Ventures - for donating proceeds from its annual Beer Fest on April 8th - at which a sold-out crowd enjoyed sampling more than 100+ beers - to Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods.
Enstrom's Candies, Capitol Hill King Soopers and LIKS Ice Cream for generous donations to the annual Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods Easter Egg Hunt coming up on April 15th.
Warren Village youth - for stuffing scores of plastic eggs that were hidden for the Easter Egg Hunt.

Upcoming Events & Social Gatherings

April 15
Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods 25th annual Easter Egg Hunt for neighborhood children. 1 p.m. Meet in the Tears-McFarlane House parking area, 1290 Williams St.
April 25
Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods Social Gathering for anyone wanting to get to know their neighbors in Greater Capitol Hill. 5 p.m. at Vine Street Pub & Brewery, 1700 Vine St.
April 29-30
Doors Open Denver. Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods' landmarked headquarters, the Tears-McFarlane House is on this annual tour. Come see why we're so enthusiastic about this property on the north side of Cheesman Park at 1290 Williams St..
June 6
Premier Ventures 18th Annual Charity Golf Tournament benefiting Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods. 7:45 a.m. Broken Tee Golf Course, Englewood. More information to come.

Member Call To Action!

You finally took the step to join your your local Registered Neighborhood Organization now what?

There are numerous opportunities to volunteer for events throughout the year. This week we are seeking volunteers for a few hours on Saturday April 15th to help us with the 25th annual Easter Egg Hunt serving our little neighbors with fun games, toys and of course sweet treats.

Get involved by signing up on our Volunteer Registration Page!

Zoning, Transportation, Land Use, & Licensing Committee Update

Two important developments regarding parking and traffic in Greater Capitol Hill and new of a new condominium development were on the agenda at the Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods Zoning, Transportation and Licensing Committee meeting April 5th.

Capitol Hill Parking Area Management Plan – Scott Burton from Denver Public Works – Parking Operations presented a draft of the plan that a committee has been working on for about a year. Board members Brad Cameron and Torry Van Slyke represented CHUN during the process.

According to Burton, the committee identified a handful of opportunities to make parking more flexible and more consistent in the area surveyed and located about 65 additional parking spaces as a result of their work. They area studied included 12 square blocks bounded by Lincoln and Logan between 8th and 12th Aves., 5 square blocks between Lincoln and Pearl between 7th and 8th Aves., and four additional square blocks from Sherman to Pearl between 6th and 7th Aves.

Among the opportunities identified:

Using existing loading zones more efficiently and consistently, often shortening them, making the hours of use uniform and allowing overnight parking
Modifying “No Parking” sign locations
Modifying residential parking permits so they could be used within the total area instead of just on the block where the permit holder resides
Removing one- and two-hour parking limits in several areas

Burton said a map of the proposed changes, along with an explanatory letter, will be going out later this month to residents and building managers. Citizen input will be requested for approximately three weeks after the map and letter go out and then the changes will be implemented.

Parking problems in at least two more areas of Capitol Hill will be looked at in subsequent studies, Burton promised. This is the fourth neighborhood parking plan that Public Works has undertaken, and according to Burton “It was by far the most complex we’ve dealt with.” It started out to encompass the whole area, but it was too big so the decision was made to focus on the smaller area. Click Here for more information.

19th and 20th Avenues Conversion to Two-Way Streets - Kim Blair and Brittany Price of Denver Public Works – Capital Projects Management brought along a couple of maps for meeting-goers to examine showing what the conversion in the near future of these two streets from Broadway to Park Avenue West.

Highlights include:

Adding protected bike lane on 19th from Broadway to Grant and regular bike lane from Grant to Park Ave.
Adding westbound bike lane eastbound “sharrow” on 20th and
Removing five signals and converting them to four-way stops
Modifying or adding signals at 19th and Lincoln and Broadway and on both 19th & 20th at Park Ave.

Blair mentioned that a potential conversion of Logan St. from one-way northbound to two ways between 18th and 20th is under discussion. Click Here for more information.

New Lincoln St. Condo Project
Oyster International’s Brian Higgins brought sketches and described a four-story, 24-unit condominium development that will break ground in July at 950-958 Lincoln St. The property is currently three vacant houses built on a concrete

Tentatively named “Satori Residences” (satori is Japanese for oyster), the condos will be located in two side-by-side buildings with a center courtyard. Each unit will have two bedrooms and one bathroom totaling about about 950-square feet each plus balcony. They will sell in the high $400,000 range. There will be a small ground-floor retail space and one dedicated parking space per unit accessible from the alley.

Higgins said he and his partners will be using a new construction method and materials they have developed and patented. They are also developing infill properties in RiNo and were behind the redevelopment of Capitol Hill’s Croke-Patterson Mansion into the Patterson Inn.

Wartburg West Brings Students & Activism to Capitol Hill

Wartburg West-ers in the Colorado Rockies. The one in bright orange is Josh Harms, who was a CHUN intern.

Mention “Wartburg College” to another Denverite, you could get a perplexed stare. On the other hand, you also might find someone familiar with the Iowa-based liberal arts college and its thriving, 30-year-old satellite academic program in Denver: Wartburg West.

If you spend time in Capitol Hill, you’ve likely crossed paths with a Wartburg West-er. The students live in Denver for a semester or the summer. Denver is both home and their classroom. Through a partnership with St. John’s Cathedral, Wartburg Wester-ers live in apartments on Washington Street and hold classes on the Cathedral campus. They've served as Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods interns many times.

A hallmark of the Wartburg West program is taking learning out of the classroom to analyze topics like urban sustainability, income disparity, and citizen-led change. Soon, we hope you’ll find the Wartburg students supporting the efforts of the Accelerating Neighborhood Climate Action Committee.

This summer Wartburg West will launch the High School Leadership Institute here in Denver, giving young Capitol Hill residents and other students from across the country the chance to become, for a week, Wartburg West college students. They can earn college credit, grow as a leader, and build the tools to improve their communities.

From July 31-Aug. 5, students will focus on environmental sustainability. They’ll stay in the Wartburg West apartments, learn from local movers and shakers, and work with college faculty and mentors. Once the week is done each participant will carry out a service project in their home community, bringing what they learned back to benefit their neighbors.

This would be a fantastic opportunity for Capitol Hill-based students. If you know an ambitious high school junior who’s driven to make the world a better place tell them Wartburg West would love to support that goal at the High School Leadership Institute.

Visit Wartburg.edu for more details, or contact Danielle Harms.

Green News

Accelerate Climate Action Begins Organizing Neighborhood Meetings

Plans to take climate action to the neighborhood level, including how to schedule a Climate Action Forum in your neighborhood were on the Accelerate Climate Action agenda March 21st. Over dessert and coffee at the Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods community hall, residents from six Denver neighborhoods who participated in an October Demonstration Forum got an update on the program.

Some significant steps already taken include:

Grant submitted to Environmental Affinity Group of The Denver Foundation. This is the Colorado Common Grant Application form and a good first step for funding from Colorado foundations.
Applied for CNDC (Colorado Non-Profit Development Center) status as a non-profit so donations can be received.
Welcomed Metro State University of Denver (MSUD) Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences as a partner.
Grant received for three MSUD undergraduate researchers to look “deep” into the Congress Park Neighborhood on over twenty aspects of sustainability relevance. The team of three students will share their findings at the Congress Park Forum.
Two training events planned to prepare new volunteers to help with the setup of forums in neighborhoods. fifteen students from the Auraria Campus can attend a series of five, free half days of training May 14-19 to receive Forum leadership certification. A free, one-day training for others interested will be offered by the ToP (Technology of Participation) international staff in May or June. Date TBD.
Initiating committee is prepared to sponsor four forums pro bono for the first four neighborhoods ready to launch the program between April 1st and June 30th.
New, shortened, half-day format for forums has been designed.

Four members of the group indicated interest in scheduling Climate Action Forums this spring and received information on next steps.

They were encouraged to begin organizing Forum Planning Committees including liaisons to the business, leadership and other agencies to assure comprehensive participation.

Contacts for scheduling and to arrange for a coordinator and facilitators from ACA are OliveAnn Slotta and Karmen Burchett

Watch our Accelerate Climate Action Facebook Page or Website (now being designed by a wonderful MSU intern) for specifics, as plans progress.

Dr. Richard Wagner summarized the main points of the evening’s procedures including the need to get the CHUN neighborhood forums on the calendar and the possible MSU resources available.

Mow and Fertilize at the Same Time
Why spend money on expensive fertilizers for your lawn when you can mow and fertilize at the same time?

Denver Public Works (DPW) is promoting GrassCycle, it's a catchy name for mowing your grass and leaving the clippings behind so that valuable nutrients and water can leach back into the soil. By following this technique, you will:

Reduce trash (important as our neighborhoods transition to containers instead of dumpsters).
Save money on fertilizer, water and trash bags.
Conserve water by shading your grass’s roots and returning the 80% of water in the clippings to your grass.
Reduce the work you have to do.
Reduce greenhouse gases because clippings buried in landfills deteriorate into methane gas.

To take advantage of these benefits, DPW recommends:A

Mow grass when it’s dry.
Keep your mower blades sharp.
Let your lawn grow to be 2-3” high and only cut about 1/3 of its length each time (less mowing for you!).

You do not need a special mower and GrassCycle does not cause thatch buildup.

Public Meetings

April 24 - 5:30 pm, City & County Bldg. - City Council Hearing on Text Amendment Bundle that includes the Small Lot Parking Exemption.
April 25 - 5:30-8 p.m. West Leadership Academy at Denver West HS, 951 Elati St. Blueprint Denver Workshop. Scenario planning. can join a “Blueprint growth strategy game” that plays out the implications of different patterns of growth. What are the tradeoffs for different population, employment and housing increases, and what are the tradeoffs associated with different growth strategies, including equity, affordability, mobility, access to recreation and other daily needs. Part of Denveright, a community-driven planning process that challenges you to shape how our community evolves in four key areas: land use, mobility, parks and recreational resources.
May 8 - 1:30 pm, Webb Bldg., 201 W. Colfax Ave. - Excise & License hearing on Tap 14 request for Hotel & Restaurant liquor license for premises at 400 E. 19th Ave.
May 30 - 9 a.m., Webb Bldg., 201 W. Colfax Ave. - Board of Adjustment hearing on Appeal of a Cease and Desist Order at 3840 E. 2nd Ave. for a 5' fence (4' allowed) and a air conditioning unit in the setback, both without first obtaining the proper zoning permits.

The Urban Dweller