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View plane loophole benefits developers

Jude Aiello

Published October 20, 2007 at midnight

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As a homeowner in the Sloan's Lake view plane, Rob Reuteman's column Oct. 13, "View plane flap requires thoughtful attention," had special meaning. Those who think a view plane offers view protection are being misled, either by the way the view plane ordinance is written or because powerful city representatives can choose to ignore or override it. Mayor Speer, who championed many of these ordinances, did so with the belief that all Denver residents, regardless of economic status, had rights to some of the most spectacular views in the city. Apparently many of our current city officials believe views should be for sale to the highest bidder, or to the one willing to fund their next election campaign.

The Sloan's Lake view plane shows a pie-shaped area with precise measurements of the allowed height of buildings; the closer to the lake, the shorter the building. This allows for a view of the lake, mountains and even downtown for many of the residents and all who visit the park.

However, one sentence negates this entire ordinance. That sentence allows for any new construction to be up to 35 feet. If you consider that 90 percent of many of these blocks consist of one-story homes, this means their demolition and replacement with multiplexes (another sore point) up to three stories tall, ruins the views for blocks.

Unfortunately, in the past two years, developers have discovered this loophole. City representatives said that removing this one sentence from the ordinance would be as difficult as a rezoning application, meaning it would take years. They say it also wouldn't be fair to limit someone (i.e. a temporary landowner who wants to max out the height to maximize the price for this view-sun-privacy stealing, out-of-character building) from doing what he wanted on his property.

Why even have a view plane that doesn't give the protection it was created for?

The list of failed protections is mounting. These projects were allowed to pierce, or sometimes completely destroy, view planes: The "cash register" building, Invesco Field, Xcel's planned power lines in Ruby Hill, the future 1401 Lawrence (land that was to be forever protected, which was "swapped" for land for the new justice center), not to mention a glut of tall multiplexes near my beloved Sloan's Lake - all with the blessing of our city officials, those who were given the responsibility to uphold these ordinances so future generations would be guaranteed these historic views.

Even if the views are looked on as only our city's "marketing tool" (a quote from Mayor Hickenlooper), surely the violation of these view planes means a huge loss, both financial and in reputation, for the city.

Lastly, if a developer wants to "upzone" a property in order to add density or height (such as the example given near Coors Field), it's considered almost a God-given right. But if residents in a neighborhood want to "downzone" to protect their neighborhood from going from all single-family homes to giant multiplexes, watch the city put every obstacle in their way!

If ever we needed another Mayor Speer, it's now. When our current mayor was first elected, he announced Denver was "open for business." Little did we residents realize how closed the city would be to our concerns.

Jude Aiello is a resident of the Sloan's Lake neighborhood in Denver.