A preliminary development review meeting on the future of the Belcaro King Soopers Shopping Center on South Colorado Boulevard in Denver drew a crowd of 150 neighbors on Thursday night — many of them irate about prospects for what could be a highly vertical project with buildings towering to 12 stories and maybe more.

The neighbors from the low-density, single-family neighborhood to the west of the supermarket expressed worries about bringing in housing density and tall buildings to what they described as an area with a suburban — not urban — character.

Some of their points echo the congestion worries regarding the rezoning of the west side of the Cherry Creek Shopping Center for a 13-acre mixed use community known as Cherry Creek West. That project has already received the green light of the Denver City Council.

Meanwhile, the potential developer told the attendees that the site offers an “opportunity,” perhaps even a broader vision, while city representatives described that the meeting as just the first step of a long process.

“We want to have an honest conversation about what this could be,” developer Jimmy Balafas of Kentro Group told the assemblage that showed up at an empty retail space beside the supermarket off Colorado at East Exposition Ave.

Kentro, which does not yet have title to the 7-acre property, owns a 15-acre site further southeast near East Arkansas Avenue that could become a destination for a relocated supermarket, if King Soopers’ parent company Kroger sells the current site to Kentro.

Kentro principal Chris Viscardi told the crowd that the process beginning now would decide whether to keep the 64-year-old shopping center much as it is, to carry out a straight retail redevelopment of the site or look at an even broader vision.

“I think there’s an opportunity here,” Viscardi said.

The presentation to the packed room included a few visuals showing high-rise apartment-type buildings, with treelined passageways between leading into the existing neighborhood. Current zoning for the site limits building heights to three stories, but rezoning to a higher level could allow 12 stories, and possibly as many as 16 stories, according to some development scenarios.

Kentro staffers and two representatives of Denver’s Community Planning and Development Department each reiterated to the crowd that the LDR meeting is just a first step, that no application had been submitted to rezone the site for higher building heights, and that neighbors would have additional opportunities to review and respond to plans.

Neighbors from the low-density, single-family neighborhood to the west of the supermarket pushed for specifics about whether the development would mean high-rise buildings.

Belcaro Park resident Sue Clinton was among numbers of residents who told the developer that the existing Belcaro neighborhood conveys a suburban, rather than an urban feel.

Clinton questioned whether the city of Denver is pushing Kentro to consider a higher profile project that might include greater housing density.

“I get the feeling you had a vision and that the city told you, ‘Oh no, we can do something better,'” Clinton said.

“The city is driving this change and not really listening to the neighborhood,” Clinton told the developer.

Clinton later told The Denver Gazette that she considers it to be the developer’s responsibility to work with the neighbors within the neighborhood’s existing environment.

“We’re not asking for multistory buildings that show trees and pretty parks; we’re asking for retail spaces that work for the neighborhood,” she said.

Earlier last year, Kentro had offered a very preliminary development plan for the site that had shown lower-level buildings that might have added as many as 300 units, complemented by a shopping area adjacent.

Residents repeatedly questioned why a larger scale project is now on the drawing board. Many referred to traffic problems that could result from higher density, both along Colorado and along E. Exposition Avenue, which forms a northern border of the Belcaro Park neighborhood.

Several residents suggested that Exposition Avenue is already carrying much higher volumes of traffic, as drivers seek ways around the frequent tie-ups on Colorado Boulevard adjacent to the shopping center.

“It was good to get feedback,” Kentro’s Balafas told The Denver Gazette following the meeting. “It’s good to have passionate neighbors vested along with our development. I think it opened a line of communication with the neighborhood.”

Asked whether the city is pushing for a higher profile, denser project than what was originally envisioned, Balafas said that, yes, city planners under the previous administration had urged Kentro to take a bigger approach.

“We owe it to ourselves to look at that,” Balafas said. “The city is all about having access to trails and transportation. The city is about adding smart growth, but at what expense?”

In addition to traffic, residents expressed repeated concerns about the possible building heights, and urged the city representatives at the meeting to carry the message home to Community Planning and Development.

“How many of us are delighted with 12 stories?” one resident polled the crowd. “How many are delighted with eight stories?”

At several points, Kentro representatives noted that the Galleria Towers directly east across Colorado Boulevard from the supermarket already top out at 13 stories. That drew shouted responses from the crowd that the Galleria project lies in the city of Glendale, not in Denver.

“There is irony and pain here,” Belcaro Park Homeowners Association President Susan Livingston told The Denver Gazette following the gathering.

“Belcaro Park is an architectural HOA. Bad zoning over the years has encouraged great height at the expense of people,” Livingston said.

“The HOA helps to maintain lower heights and access to the sun, and now what’s being proposed is a 12-to-16-story development. It puts people immediately adjacent at a disadvantage.”

“We know the city is driving this,” Livingston added.

“I’m not sure they knew who they were adjacent to.”