Westside Neighborhood Plan

              La Alma/Lincoln Park
EXISTING NET LAND USE
La Alma/Lincoln Park
1980
Total Acres: 573
Source: Denver Planning Office, Neighborhood Land Use by Zoning,
1980.
The La Alma/Lincoln Park portion of the Westside has long
struggled to maintain its identity as a residential neighborhood. From west to east, the neighborhood includes several
sub-areas defined by the change in land uses and the location of major arterials. More specifically, the neighborhood
includes a wide area of industry, a sector of residential, the
Santa Fe Drive strip which includes heavy business and industrial uses, a triangle of heavy business uses which will be
removed under the UDAG Program and a residential area
which lies between several large public facilities and the
business uses extending east of Santa Fe Drive. As can be
seen from the land use chart above, only about 14% of the
neighborhood's land is used for residential purposes. Unfor-
tuantely, not all of the nonresidential^ uses are separated
from the residential portions. Many residentially zoned
blocks have nonresidential uses on them which creates
problems of traffic, noise and visual pollution.
Most of the current use conflicts are the result of businesses
and industries fronting residential properties on the edges of
both neighborhoods or located on residential blocks as
"legally nonconforming" uses, i.e., uses that do not conform
to current zoning but were there prior to the zoning and are
therefore legal. Negative effects which are the result of incompatible land uses include truck and automobile traffic
generated by the business uses, visual, noise and air pollu
tion, and litter. All of these effects threaten the desirability
and livability of the adjacent residential areas. More specific
problems will be addressed in the following section which
describes the land uses and zoning in each of the two neighborhoods.
SUB-AREA "A"
This sub-area is bounded by 6th Avenue on the south, the
South Platte River on the west, Colfax on the north, and
Osage/Navajo/8th Avenue/the alley between Kalamath and
Santa Fe on the east. It contains approximately 160 acres,
all of which are zoned either 1-1 or I-2 for industry. Uses include heavy manufacturing, warehousing and storage, and
office and commercial uses which are accessory to the industrial uses. The industrial sub-area is generally well
developed, and provides an important employment and tax
base for the City of Denver.
In the southeast quadrant of this sub-area (bounded by
Navajo, 8th Avenue, the Santa Fe/Kalamath alley and 6th
Avenue) there exist several single family and multi-family
structures. The houses range in condition from sound to
blighted and the overall character of the area is unstable. Every one of these blocks has at least one industrial or heavy
business use on it. Although this area is not suitable for continued, long-term housing, it currently provides needed
housing for many low income people.
Residential services should continue to these homes, but in
time, industry should be considered for development there,
because the existing zoning and nonresidential uses make
the area undesirable for future residential use. Nonresidential expansion here may help relieve similar pressures in
other residentially zoned portions of the neighborhood.
Development should be orderly, with minimal disruption to
remaining residential uses. Where possible, homes should
be moved to vacant infill sites in more stable residential
areas of the Westside.
Although the eastern edge of the industrial area abuts residential zoning and uses, it will be difficult to provide landscaping buffer between the two, since the industrial uses
generally have developed right to the property line, with no
setback. A change in the City's zoning ordinance to require
certain setback and buffering when industrial and residential
uses abut one another may be in order.
SUB-AREA "B"
This section of the neighborhood, (lying east of the industrial
section just described and west of Santa Fe Drive), is residential in nature. It includes the Lincoln Park Homes, a 685
unit family oriented public housing project which lies between Osage and Mariposa on both sides of Lincoln Park.
Directly east is a 2 1/2 block wide strip of R-2 zoned land
which is occupied by mostly single family homes with a few
higher density residential structures. Within this area is the
neighborhood's national historic district, a few public
facilities, and a small number of nonconforming uses. Overall, the area has a stable residential feeling. Many homes
have been renovated and the UDAG street scaping effort has
begun to unify these blocks. At the extreme north end lies
B-1 and B-4 zoning which accommodates the Denver Housing Authority, the Community Development Agency, and the
Zocalo commercial area. This residential sub-area needs to
be protected from further expansion of the business uses
which abut it on three sides.