Denver city officials teed up a $6 million settlement Tuesday with the buyer of Park Hill Golf Course, but the agreement doesn’t resolve questions about what might happen to the land.
For nearly three years, a community debate has pit open-space advocates against development supporters who want to see housing or other uses allowed on some of the 155 acres in northeast Denver. Now the agreement reached with Westside Investment Partners gives the developer at least three more years to plot out its plans. Westside bought the land for $24 million in July from a trust managed by Clayton Early Learning.
“We have been working hard to get to know the people, the history and the community surrounding this unique property and are looking forward to participating in a city-led, community-driven process to reimagine this land for the future,” Kenneth Ho, who leads the project for Westside, said in a news release.
Westside officials created a website for residents to get updates and find out how they can contribute at www.parkhillgolfcoursereimagined.info.
In the meantime, the settlement will leave in place a city open-space covenant that allows only golf-related uses of the property — giving the city’s elected leaders leverage to shape the conversation and require more public input, officials said.
The deal compensates Westside for the city’s use of the northeast corner of the course this year to add stormwater detention and drainage as part of the wide-scale Platte to Park Hill project, which closed down the course. The money is coming from the land-condemnation fund of that roughly $300 million project.
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The deal also ends a lawsuit against the city that was lodged by the golf course’s private operator, Arcis Golf, and taken over by Westside when it bought the property. The sum includes money for Westside to restore the golf course later, if needed. Arcis operated the course under the name Park Hill Golf Club.
“My priorities for the property and for the neighborhood have always been preserving open space and extensive community input. This agreement ensures we will have both,” Mayor Michael Hancock said Tuesday through a spokesperson. “The easement will be preserved while the neighbors who are most impacted by this property will be able to guide its future use.”
Hancock’s office announced the proposed settlement in early October but withheld many details, including the $6 million payment, until it was finalized this week. City attorneys briefed City Council members on the details Tuesday morning but said the council’s approval wasn’t needed because it previously gave the Hancock administration permission to acquire land for the stormwater project.
Expect debate to continue
The prospect of a settlement has done nothing to quell outrage among open-space advocates, including former Mayor Wellington Webb, whose administration was responsible in 1997 for the conservation easement allowing only golf-related uses.
Woody Garnsey, an organizer with Save Open Space Denver, has said his ultimate goal is for the city to buy the land and create a regional park. He views Westside’s community process as a sham to maximize the development potential.
“What they’re going to do is try to wear the public out over the next three years,” he said Tuesday, adding: “This looks like an agreement … (to figure out) a way to circumvent the perpetual open space conservation easement. The taxpayers of Denver already decided how to use this land when they spent $2 million in 1997 to preserve it in its scenic and open condition and for recreational use.”
The open-space covenant can’t be undone without council approval, but SOS Denver rallied Oct. 22 to draw attention to a new state law related to oversight of conservation easements. Its leaders say that law will make it more difficult for the city to dissolve the restriction by requiring court action.
City attorneys, however, argue the city still has a “clear legal path” under the new law to terminate the easement.
If that happens, said Ho from Westside, “We think we can do more to meet access, equity, health, open space and environmental stewardship goals for Denver than to restore this land as a golf course.”
Details of settlement
Tuesday’s settlement sets some guardrails for the next three years:
- It preserves the 22-year-old open-space easement for now, but the city can’t force Westside to operate a golf course on the land until after the three years is up. The city and Westside could agree to dissolve the easement sooner than that.
- Westside will have at least that much time to organize a community process to seek input and put together its development plans for the land. It has said it intends to retain some of the open space. Westside needs City Council approval not only to remove the easement but also to change the current open-space zoning to allow any development.
- Westside must secure and maintain the property, including removing trash, mowing grass, pruning trees and controlling weeds. The city will be responsible for maintaining the 25 acres it is using permanently for stormwater management.
The July sale to Westside ended more than a century of control over the land by the George W. Clayton Trust, which in recent decades has been managed by Clayton Early Learning, an education nonprofit. It contracted out the operation of the golf course but said that business wasn’t raising sufficient money for its educational programs.
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At one point, the city was set to purchase the course, but that deal fell through in 2017 after Arcis challenged it.
Mayoral spokesperson Theresa Marchetta said if Westside were to fail to win support for its plans, or not put any forward, the city could purchase the land more easily, given the settlement removes the legal entanglements that doomed its previous offer.
Staff writer Saja Hindi contributed to this story.
DOCUMENT: Park Hill Golf Course settlement agreement
