Audio By Carbonatix
On October 11, the Denver Board of Adjustment for Zoning Appeals will hear the Humboldt Street Neighborhood Association‘s appeal of the city permit issued for a project on two combined small lots in the 1500 block of Humboldt Street. Real-estate developer Pando Holdings has partnered with Denver businessman and philanthropist Barry Hirschfeld to develop the lots into two five-story micro-apartment buildings with 108 units between them, a restaurant on the ground floor of one…and no parking anywhere. Although council passed a seven-month moratorium on the city’s small-lot parking exemption this summer, this project — as well as ten others — was grandfathered in because it was already in the works.
And neighbors are plenty worked up. Says Karolina:
Parking has always been an issue in this area. We can’t have extra cars trying to street park; it already takes a long time to find a spot. Also, I believe that the 17th Avenue bars and restaurants would suffer if customers cannot find parking.
Responds John:
This development is utterly walkable: retail, services, grocery, bike lanes and transit are all within blocks. Not to mention no one has a right to street parking; it’s for everyone. Stop complaining that something is being taken away that’s not yours to begin with.
And then there’s this from Shirley:
Besides streets crowded with cars, one of the downers of Denver’s growing pains is community members living in substandard conditions in shelters and along streets and alleyways, and the greed-factor in housing development. These community-minded developers should build their 108 apartments to be like the 100 micro-apartments at 14th/Bannock, where people who used to be homeless have lived with a modicum of dignity for 20 years. No extra parking needed there.
What do you think of the city’s small-lot parking exemption? This specific project? The hearing is Tuesday, October 11, in the Webb Municipal Building.