Plans to redevelop the shuttered Park Hill Golf Course has split the surrounding community in Denver, with one side pushing to convert 155-acre plot into open space and the other side arguing for development.

What to do with Park Hill has been a topic of conversation among area residents and city officials for years. Indeed, even before the golf course was purchased by Westside Investment Partners Inc. in 2019, the discussion about its future had been varied and passionate.

One group wants to see the golf course converted to 100% open space to become Denver’s third largest park.

Others, like Westside officials, see the potential for a large plot of centrally-located land offers. They want to bring development to an area they say has historically been underserved with affordable housing and retail amenities, notably a grocery store.

One major “want” residents communicated — both to the city through distributed surveys and to Westside — is access to a grocery store. They said the North Park Hill neighborhood is a food desert, which means low access to a supermarket within one mile of a designated grid.

“Dahlia and Holly used to be retail areas, both of which had grocery stores back in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and, at one point Dahlia had a Black owned supermarket,” Kenneth Ho, a principal at Westside, said. “Those are all gone. And that’s not coincidental, it’s the result of underinvestment and a result of redlining.”

The supermarket at Dahlia Square used to be one of the largest Black-owned supermarkets in the nation. The square was torn down as part of an effort to revitalize the area, according to reports. It is now a housing facility for seniors.

Early on in the process, the city sent out a survey to 1,300 residents who live within one mile of the property. One in five of 1,227 respondents said the site should be repurposed to better serve the needs of the community.

Westside officials said they listened to and seen what the community desires, so their plans includes adding a grocery store and other fresh food opportunities to the area.

During the spring summer and fall months, Westside hosted a food truck gathering in the parking lot of the former clubhouse. This, in combination with previous work done by the city, resulted in the current plans. Ho said Westside remained flexible throughout the process to community’s feedback.

“That two year process culminated in folks saying, ‘Hey, we want to mix uses here, and we probably want to balance, you know, 50/50, between development and open space,'” Ho said. “We were reluctant to make any commitments up front, because we wanted the planning process to play out.”

Other steps taken by the city included the use of community navigators, who held 24 community talks with 8-12 residents over the course of nine months in 2021 and 2022.

Two members of city council, however, said they didn’t feel the process involved the community enough.

Other opponents to the redevelopment call for the conversion to a large park.

An organization called “Yes for Parks and Open Space” has opposed the redevelopment largely since Day One.

Yes For Parks’ website contains several conceptual designs of what the large park may look like, including multiple athletic fields, aquatic centers and an observation hill. At 155 acres, the park would not quite be as large as City Park’s 300-plus acres. Instead, it would be roughly the same size as Washington Park near Denver South High School.

Yes for Parks and Open Space did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

On its website, the group argued that, in just the last decade, Denver dropped from 11th to 22nd in park land per capita. That has led to “overcrowded parks or non-existent recreational opportunities for families,” the group said.

“Parts of Denver are beautifully green; however, portions of the city are increasingly devoid of green space. This lack of natural landscapes, in parks and open areas, magnifies summer heat, increases air quality issues, and depresses the quality of life for residents in these areas,” the group said, adding that the Park Hill Golf Course “offers a great way to help equalize this disparity.”

Many residents in the area say they’re ready for redevelopment.

Helen Bradshaw has lived in the area since she was nine years old. Now 68, she said she appreciates the collaborative approach being taken.

“Developing collaborations, to me, is so important to make sure that people didn’t look at things like it’s all or nothing,” she said. “I don’t understand the all or nothing kind of thing.”

In her experience, the golf course is currently just a “glorified dog park.” The commitments made by Westside Investment Partners to bring affordable housing to the area has her excited, she said. Bradshaw remembers when the golf course wasn’t accessible.

“It was around the early 1970s, and we couldn’t go to the Park Hill Golf Course because it was prohibited for Blacks,” she said. “So, going to the Golf course now and seeing exactly what they have in store for us is actually exciting and quite a blessing.”

For those who those want to play golf, the City Park Golf Course is less than a mile away. That golf course was renovated over the course of 35 months and reopened in September of 2020.

The small area plan’s required public hearing is on Dec. 5 in the City and County Building located at 1437 Bannock St., room 451. Public hearings take place after city council reconvenes at 5:30.

Those interested in speaking at the hearing can sign up between 3 and 5:30 p.m. the day of the hearing. Sign up is available online. Written testimony may be given, and should be sent to [email protected] no later than 3 p.m. the day of the hearing.