A K-Pop dance-off at the Far East Center’s annual Mid-Autumn Festival on Federal Boulevard. Sept. 21, 2024.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Denver launched its Neighborhood Planning Initiative in 2017, aiming to provide a cohesive vision for different parts of the city based on feedback from residents.
Since then, the city has approved six neighborhood plans, covering about a third of the city. The plans are meant to build on the city’s existing long-term growth plans — Blueprint Denver and Comprehensive Plan 2040.
Recently, the city has been working on three new neighborhood plans in southwest and central Denver.
While neighborhood plans are a blueprint for future growth, they don’t put any actions into motion. Instead, they act as guardrails for zoning decisions and construction of amenities. City planners use these new neighborhood plans to make decisions about future development proposals.
The city already has made plans for neighborhoods like Sunnyside, Sun Valley and South Park Hill.
For example, the West Area Plan, which comprises the Barnum, Barnum West, Sun Valley, Valverde, Villa Park and West Colfax neighborhoods, recommends improving pedestrian safety, supporting local businesses and expanding access to healthy food, among several other recommendations.
The plans can get rather specific.
The East Central Area Plan highlights specific developments to emulate, like affordable housing on 14th Avenue and Gilpin Street, or an example of adaptive reuse at the Illegal Pete’s on Colfax Ave.
“They address specific neighborhood issues that can’t be addressed at the citywide level, and they identify priorities,” said Scott Robinson, a Denver city planner, during a City Council committee hearing. “What does the community in this area think is most important or see happen first in their neighborhood?”
Denver City Council
The city also has finished plans for:
- Near Northwest (Chaffee Park, Highland, Jefferson Park, Sunnyside)
- Near Southeast (Goldsmith, Indian Creek, Virginia Village, Washington Virginia Vale)
- East (East Colfax, Hale, Montclair, South Park Hill)
- East Central (Capitol Hill, Cheesman Park, City Park, City Park West, Congress Park and North Capitol Hill)
- Far Northeast (Montbello, Green Valley Ranch, part of Denver International Airport)
Three more neighborhood plans are on the way
Plans for the Southwest (Westwood, Athmar Park, Mar Lee, Ruby Hill, Overland), Far Southwest (Harvey Park, Harvey Park South, College View, Bear Valley, Fort Logan, Marston) and Central (Union Station, Central Business District, Auraria, Civic Center, part of Five Points) areas are already underway.
Denver’s Community Planning and Development department has asked for community input and plans to release drafts in late February.
After that, CPD will solicit more feedback and present a second draft to the community before sending it to Denver City Council.
Robinson estimates that the three plans will be finalized by next November. After that’s finished, about half of Denver will be covered by neighborhood plans.
It will likely take five or six more years to finish plans for the 10 remaining areas, Robinson said. It takes about
The city will look at data that measures “equity, investment and plan recency” to determine which of the 10 remaining areas they will prioritize first.
