DENVER — Construction continued at a micro-community in Denver’s Overland neighborhood Thursday despite a neighborhood group winning an appeal earlier this week.
Citizens for a Safe and Clean Denver thought the appeal would temporarily shut down the project and allow more time for community input and feedback. But the city filed an immediate secondary permit, which was granted, and work on the project was never delayed.
"There has been extensive community outreach about this effort," said Cole Chandler, senior advisor for homelessness resolution within the mayor's office. "The mayor himself hosted 60 community meetings. We had eight of those specifically for this site. So we met with that community eight times throughout the process and continue to do so through a good neighborhood agreement process.
Neighbors still have a lot of anxiety related to the upcoming opening of the micro-community, which features 60 tiny homes.
"We don't know who's going to go in there," said Glenda Edgar, who runs a small hair shop out of her home in the Overland neighborhood.
Edgar said she has clients coming and going all the time and admits she is anxious about what's to come with the micro-community around the corner.
"We never got to vote on it. I hope it works," she said.
Chandler and the city are unapologetic about the swift action Mayor Mike Johnston has taken in his first seven months in office.
"Prior to the Johnston administration, the approach to addressing people living in encampments was just moving them down the block," Chandler said. "And we actually closed the 10 largest encampments in the city and moved those folks out of public space. And in doing so, [we] actually created — for the first time in my lifetime living in Denver — a downtown that's clear of large encampments."
While the mayor's plan appears to have many success stories, it hasn't been perfect. There were two stabbings in the past week at the Embassy Suites shelter located off Hampden Avenue, according to the Denver Police Department.
"That worries me," Edgar said. "Two stabbings, that's scary. I'm hoping that it works. If it doesn't, then I'm scared for our neighborhood."
The micro-community will open with 60 tiny homes, with the potential to expand.