Overview:
Residents feel "empowered" after DPR explained why the century-old elm in Montclair Park had to be removed and showed them the park's design.
Denver Parks and Recreation (DPR) confirmed this month that the century-old American elm that anchors the center of Montclair Park’s playground will be removed, ending months of confusion and heated debate in the neighborhood.
“In alignment with both assessments, DPR will proceed with the removal of the elm tree,” Associate Parks Project Manager at the City and County of Denver Kyli Feather wrote in a recent email to residents. “We do want to emphasize that this tree will need to be removed regardless of the playground’s location due to its declining health and the safety concerns it presents to the community.”
For many Montclair neighbors, the announcement hit them hard. The elm provides the primary source of shade for the playground and has long been considered a defining feature of the park.
“The neighbors wanted was shade and they’re taking out the sole source of shade,” said resident Gail Barry. “There was very little information about it, and that wasn’t what anybody was expecting.”
DPR acknowledged those concerns in its email to the community, noting that while shade is a major priority in community feedback, the elm contributes shade mainly to the seating area and not the playground itself.
“Current funding is dedicated exclusively to replacing the playground with equivalent features, which limits our ability to incorporate additional elements such as new shade structures in this project,” Feather said. “However, we will keep the examples you shared in mind for consideration in a future project request.”
How the conflict escalated
Tensions first spiked in mid-September when residents learned the elm would be removed by the end of the month. The timeline shocked neighbors, many of whom said they had participated in earlier design discussions where the tree was included as a central element of the new playground.
“We came in kind of heated as a community because we were blindsided,” said Montclair resident Joel Massey. “All we wanted initially was transparency.”
The original playground redesign process began in January, months before DPR foresters deemed the tree unsafe. When a large branch fell earlier this year, one of several failures over the last decade, Forestry determined that removal was unavoidable.
However, due to backlash from Montclair residents, the removal of the tree was delayed. DPR then met with residents at the Montclair Civic Building at the end of October to provide their reasoning that they planned to remove the tree, citing the fallen branches and future safety concerns.
Some residents accepted the city’s assessment once DPR’s forester walked them through the tree’s condition. “I believed him when he said there was no way the tree wasn’t coming down,” Massey added. “It’s been deemed unsafe and there’s nothing we can really do about it. He went out and showed us why, which is awesome.”
And, while Massey was initially concerned about the playground construction timeline, his concerns were alleviated when the playground at Montclair Park was closed due to safety concerns following the October meeting.
“Knowing that when the tree is down, the park is open until phase two with the construction starts, that was probably the thing I was most worried about,” Massey said. “Other than that, it’s [the new playground] a wonderful upgrade. It’s going to be fantastic.”
A push for transparency leads to a Dec. 9 meeting
Following the October gathering, which was described by neighbors as tense but productive, DPR agreed to take an additional, non-standard step: offering an in-person open house to present the final playground design.
“We scheduled this meeting because the conversation about the tree led to neighbors saying, ‘Hey, we haven’t actually seen the final design,’ and we were waiting to show that final design until we told people about the tree,” said DPR’s Community Relations Specialist Laura Morales. “So it was like, why don’t we just do it in a meeting if there’s an invested community that wants to see it?”
On Dec. 9, residents filled the Montclair Civic Building to view the redesigned playground, ask questions directly to DPR staff and vote on a proposed sculpture that will be carved from the tree’s remaining trunk. Colorado artist Chainsaw Mama submitted three concepts; Massey said he voted for the owl-themed option to honor the wildlife that lives in the park.
Although the redesign no longer includes the elm, some neighbors said the meeting provided a level of clarity they had been missing. “The communication between us and the parks was very important,” Barry said. “Those early drafts included the tree. Then suddenly it wasn’t there, and that caused a lot of upset.”
Historic Montclair Community Association president Judy Baxter agreed the timeline could have been handled better.
“The community could have been engaged, both around the tree removal as well as around the playground design in July,” she said. “It would have been a much more collaborative and engaged process had it happened earlier. That said, I’m really glad they had this open house. I don’t think they would have had this open house last night had we not had the October meeting.”
Looking ahead
The exact date of the elm’s removal has not been set, though Stephanie Figueroa, DPR’s Marketing and Communications Specialist, shared that the tree will be removed by the “end of the year.” Playground construction is expected to begin in spring 2026 and finish in late 2026, according to the project information sheet by DPR. Figueroa stated that the discussion about removing the tree had no bearing on the construction timeline.
For people who want to stay up to date on this project and future plans, Figueroa recommends following DPR on social media, saying, “We’re always posting any events and things that are going on there, as well as active projects.” Denverites can also sign up for the DPR newsletter to stay informed about DPR events and projects.
Despite the rocky process, several residents left the open house feeling more optimistic. “I totally get we need to expedite this process, but to keep us involved, to give us another vote on what the structure of the wood carving is going to be, I think really made people happy,” one resident said. “Again, we got a say on what the playground is going to mean.”
“I think it’s going to be great,” Massey added. “They chose some good elements as far as environmentally and safety, which I really like. If we lose a zip line, I mean, kids love zip lines, but I think what we’re gonna gain is gonna be awesome.”
Still, issues remain. Many residents reiterated that shade, which was the very topic that sparked the conflict in the first place, remains unaddressed in the redesign. As Montclair prepares to lose a beloved century-old tree, neighbors say they’re ready to move forward, but they want the city to remember the lessons learned under its branches.
“I’m hoping that Denver Park & Rec think more carefully about the specifics of community engagement, not just a kind of standard operating procedure,” Baxter said. “I hope residents feel that we had some power to ask for more answers, get more information, and because we requested it and asked for it, we got more engagement. We were empowered to do that.”