WESTMINSTER — There’s no spot in the heart of metro Denver quite like it in size and scope — a 150-acre perfect square of grass, corn and upturned soil boasting exquisite views of the mountains and the city.
A rare break in the sea of rooftops that stretches uninterrupted from Broomfield to Denver and Thornton to Arvada, the field at the northwest corner of West 84th Avenue and Federal Boulevard in Westminster stands as a vestige of a Front Range agrarian past that’s largely been subsumed by ever-expanding suburbs.
For John Palmer, who grew up and still lives at the western edge of the farm, the empty expanse he looks out on every morning from his front porch on Lowell Boulevard is the land of “million-dollar sunrises.”
“Where else can you see this in the city? A working farm,” he said, gazing on a vista that hasn’t changed in decades. “It’s very peaceful, very calming. You can hear the owls, hear the coyotes.”
But the Pillar of Fire church, which has owned the land and kept it under the plow for the past century, is ready to sell it to a developer who has plans to build 2,350 homes along with office, retail, civic and recreational areas, according to a recently launched website describing the project.
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Some of those homes and a portion of that commercial space is destined for several smaller parcels totaling 85 acres that the church owns adjacent to the farm. But the bulk of the development — dubbed Uplands — would happen on the 150-acre centerpiece plot bounded by Federal and Lowell boulevards and West 84th and 88th avenues.
The potential sale of the church-owned land was first reported by the Westminster Window. Efforts to secure an interview with Pillar of Fire officials were unsuccessful.
Ken Biles, who grew up in Westminster and used the field to shoot model rockets into the air as a seventh-grader, is part of a nascent movement by neighbors to try to preserve what they can of the farm.
But just how that might play out, Biles is not certain.
“I see it as almost inevitable that it will be developed because it’s a big parcel,” he said. “But I’d like to see it remain as open as possible. I would like to see these views maintained.”
A Denver Post analysis of city and federal data this year found that nearly half of the land in Denver’s city limits is now paved or built over, excluding the undeveloped area around the airport. That’s up from less than 20% in the mid-1970s.
In the metro area as a whole, the percentage of impervious surface — typically due to new roads, parking lots and roofs — increased 65% from 1974 to 2012.
Last month, Conservation Science Partners released a study concluding that the amount of natural land converted by human activities in Colorado increased by 676,827 acres between 2001 and 2017 — to about 10% of the state, an area larger than Rocky Mountain National Park.
It’s against this backdrop of vanishing green space and a burgeoning population — a 2020 ballot petition to limit new home construction across the metro area is slowly moving forward — that neighbors like Biles are scrambling to preserve what they grew up with.
“Why not turn this into a heritage site so people can learn about farming in their area?” he asked.
Jeff Handlin, president of Centennial-based Oread Capital & Development and a partner in the Uplands project, said he recognizes that the property is not just any chunk of shovel-ready land. Situated on high ground in the city and nestled up against the historic “Westminster Castle,” whose cornerstone was laid in 1891, Handlin said he and his partners “have an immense responsibility to honor how special this property is.”
“I empathize with the human psychology that that open space calls my soul,” he said. “We don’t take that lightly.”
Handlin, who has helped shepherd projects like Broomfield’s Anthem and Longmont’s Somerset Meadows, said it’s important to note that for the past century the farm has been “a no-trespassing zone.” His project, he said, would allow public access to the property for the first time.
“What is not there is usable public space,” he said. “Looking at open space is peaceful, but interacting with open space is something else.”
Uplands, following a new urbanist design, will feature an “immense trail system” with connections to local gathering spots like Cobblestone Park, Bishop Square Park and Camenisch Park, Handlin said. The housing portfolio, he said, will be a mix of townhomes, condos, cottages and bungalows — the “missing middle” style of residential unit that Westminster is lacking among its apartment complexes and single-family homes.
“Our role is not only to maintain parks, open space, viewscapes the public can enjoy, but it’s also connecting and being a modern community,” he said.
Uplands is still months from moving forward. The developer has submitted an application with Westminster under the moniker “Rose Hill,” but public hearings likely won’t occur on the project until late this year or early 2020, according to Westminster’s planning department. The city told The Denver Post there is still a pending annexation and rezoning request from Oread to process.
John Hall, economic development director for Westminster, said the city will make sure it has a hand in whatever ends up on the farmland, which he describes as “far and away” the area’s “largest infill site.”
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“It’s unique, it’s got historical value to it — it’s a site the community identifies with,” Hall said. “That increases the city’s determination that whatever occurs there, to get it right.”
That means requiring views be preserved and open space and parks included in the plans. Hall said Westminster residents pay an open space tax that the city uses to purchase land for preservation, but he said he’s not aware of the city acquiring a parcel as large as the farm.
Biles, who lives in the adjoining Shaw Heights neighborhood, said he’s concerned that a development the size of Uplands can’t possibly preserve the unobstructed views that are enjoyed today from Westminster’s highest point.
“This is one of the few places where you can get a view of the entire metro area without going to the mountains,” he said.
