Property rights, preservation clash in Park Hill

Neighborhood upset about 'scrape-off' of home built in 1918

John Rebchook, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 2, 2006 at midnight

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Neighbors plan a "wake" at 6 p.m. today for an 88-year-old, $1 million home in Park Hill that will be torn down to make way for two new houses, priced at more than $1 million each.

The neighbors, and at least some City Council members, are not only mourning the loss of the 5,117- square-foot house built in 1918 on an 18,700-square-foot lot at 5335 Montview Blvd. but are viewing its pending demise as a wake-up call on dealing with future "scrape-offs" in Park Hill.

The neighborhood grapevine already is rumbling about a similar scrape-off of a nearby home on a large lot.

On Sunday, a hastily called neighborhood meeting about the home at Montview and Grape Street drew about 100 people.

"There was a lot of emotion and commotion at the meeting. Some people were in tears," said Ellen Selig, who lives near the house, which will be demolished by its current owner, Steve Barrett. Barrett has built about 10 expensive homes, mostly in Park Hill.

Barrett, a former geologist and lawyer who has lived in Park Hill for the past 14 years, bought the house about a year ago from Lana and Larry Dardano for $850,000 and said he already has put about $150,000 into it.

But it would take at least another $500,000 to fully upgrade it, and he would not be able to recoup his investment, he said.

Home prices in Park Hill range from about $200,000 to $1.5 million.

Selig said that scrape-offs are "not yet an epidemic" in Park Hill, but she and others worry that it is going to accelerate, like it has in Hilltop and Washington Park.

"I'm worried if we do nothing, we're going to look back 20 years from now and wonder where our neighborhood went," Selig said. "Developers only see dollar signs" when they look at big lots such as those along Montview, she said.

Barrett said comments such as Selig's are unfair.

He said that neighbors at the Sunday meeting said they would do anything to keep the home from being demolished, "short of opening up their checkbooks."

Barrett said he can't afford to take a huge financial hit by upgrading the house, which he said is extremely drafty, cold and energy-inefficient. And he said he opposes the notion that he should take a loss on the home to appease some neighbors.

"I think the law is on the side of Mr. Barrett," said City Councilwoman Carol Boigon, who lives a couple of blocks from the Montview home.

"The house is coming down," Boigon said. "There is not much we can do about it. But I don't want to vilify Steve Barrett."

She said Barrett's other developments have been well received and noted that he "followed all of the rules" for the demolition, although she said many neighbors think he "stepped over the line this time."

Demolition likely will start next week.

Barrett plans to replace the existing home with energy-efficient houses with finished basements. One would be a 4,400-square-foot, Tudor-style house facing Montview. The other house, along Grape Street, would be a 3,700-square- foot, Colonial/Denver Square-style home. Both are being designed by Terra Verde, a Boulder architectural firm.

Boigon and Councilwomen Elbra Wedgeworth and Marcia Johnson plan to hold neighborhood meetings to come up with a long-term plan for Park Hill, which could include historic or "overlay" districts for certain blocks, which would make it more difficult to raze homes, or put restrictions on "lot splitting."

However, it's difficult to balance property rights with preservation, Wedgeworth said. Both Boigon and Wedgeworth said it could take years to draft an ordinance addressing scrape-offs in the neighborhood.

rebchookj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5207

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