Welcome back to this weekly meeting of the Community Planning and Housing Committee with Denver City Council.

Your community planning and housing committee starts now.

On air.

You're just gonna keep on the grade.

There it is.

Alright.

Welcome to the community planning and housing committee on Cinco de Mayo, May 5th of 2026.

Um everyone is arriving right on time.

Some of you guys are supposed to be remote when you're here in the bush.

Everybody's here.

Alright.

So we'll start with introductions.

I'm Sarah Fardy, I'm the chair of this committee.

And one of your city council members at large.

And I'll start with the leaders on my left because she's one of the Nora Vidres, but Lucky District 7.

Jamie Torres, muting my computer and West Denver District 3.

Shanta Louis District.

Good afternoon, Diana Romero Campbell, Southeast Denver District 4.

Amazing.

And it looks like we don't have anyone online because everyone came into the room, which I love.

We actually have just a single action item today, which is a landmark designation.

3535 East 26th.

So while landmark is coming up to the table, we had a presentation scheduled from DHA, the Housing Authority, and we're gonna reset that for probably sometime in June.

So look for that to come back soon.

Alright.

Take all the time you need, don't feel rushed.

I was all prepared to be really short.

I thought your next item was gonna be long.

I know, thank you for taking that into account.

Yeah, so my name is Kara Hahn.

I'm the landmark planning and regulatory supervisor, and we're here for 3535 East 26th Avenue Parkway for a landmark designation application.

Uh this uh project and property is uh coming forward as an owner-supported designation.

It's been brought forward by Dr.

Renee Cousins King, and this is in the Skyland neighborhood in Council District 9.

Here is the proposed boundary of the um of the property.

It is the historic parcel, as you can see, it's much larger than the other parcels around it, and we'll talk a little bit more about that, but it's with the lots that have been historically associated with it.

Um, as you know, the process for designation is community driven, and in this case it came forward from the property owner.

In order for a designation to be eligible, it needs to meet the requirements of Chapter 30, which is the landmark ordinance.

Uh, the property needs to maintain integrity, be at least 30 years of age or older, meet at least three out of ten criteria, and the landmark preservation commission has to consider its historic context.

Um, for this particular application, the uh landmark preservation commission forwarded it with finding that it meets four out of the ten criteria, and we'll go over those four really briefly.

So, first, that it has a direct and substantial association with the recognized persons or groups of persons.

In this case, it's with two different families.

First, with Nora and Frank Harris.

They're the ones that uh built the property in 1966.

So Nora Harris worked for the American Woodman Association as a claims department manager, and so had a lot of influence on the community and society.

Um she was also um on the board of directors for the Denver chapter of the NAACP, and both Nora and Frank were part of the Cosmopolitan Club of Denver.

Uh Frank is Denver's first recognized black landscape designer.

He was self-taught.

Um wouldn't have been allowed to probably be going through land going through like a landscape architecture program.

Um he was very highly regarded.

He started out in the 1920s just being a horticulturist and um working in like grounds, and then he grew to be a really well respected business.

He did commercial institutional and large private properties of very affluent members of Denver.

And so his role as the first recognized landscape architect or landscape designer um and his work with Cosmopolitan Club makes both Nora and Frank significant members are Dorothy and Charles are cousins.

And so they are also really significant members of the community.

Uh Charles, while more visible in the business area, um Dorothy was a partner in the process.

Um, their daughter said much of the business success he attained um would not have been possible without Dorothy's conscientious assistance.

So wanting to make sure that even though her name wasn't on the businesses, that she was a strong supporter of it, and it was successful because of her.

The businesses were a lot of like real estate businesses and five points.

Here is a refurbished sign for the 715 Club that he was part of.

And so this is now in the Five Points Historic District, and the sign was just rehabbed within the last few years.