Save Open Space Denver sent a letter Tuesday calling for the removal of Dr. Ryan Ross as steering committee facilitator of the Park Hill Golf Course development project, alleging conflicts of interest.

The letter, addressed to Mayor Michael Hancock and his administration, claims Ross works with the Five Points Development Corporation with Norman Harris. Harris is the co-founder and managing partner of The Holleran Group, which is part of the golf course redevelopment ownership team.

The Holleran Group was hired in October by Westside Investment Partners Inc., who purchased the golf course land in 2019, to provide community outreach and engagement.

“His appointment completely misses the mark,” said Tony Pigford with SOS Denver. “These business relationships present him with a clear conflict between the financial interests of one or more of his close business colleagues and his ability to serve as an appropriate neutral facilitator.”

Ross was announced as the steering committee facilitator of the Park Hill Golf Course development project on May 5. He was appointed by the Community Planning and Development Department to replace Dr. Nita Mosby Tyler.

Ross disputed these conflict of interest claims Thursday, saying he no longer works for FPDC and, when he did, he only served as a consultant and was “never technically a full-time staff person.”

He said he takes his role as a facilitator “very seriously” and that his job is simply to support the committee to ensure that its objectives are met effectively with communication, transparency, integrity and equity.

“I know Norman as a member of the Denver community and the organizer of the Juneteenth celebration,” Ross said. “We don’t have any business partnerships or engagements that would make me impartial on any project in any capacity.”

Ross said he hasn’t worked for FPDC since 2018; however, Ross was listed on the FPDC website as a team member last week, with the website saying he worked in business development.

As of Thursday, Ross had been removed from the website. Harris is still listed as on the team, working in community engagement.

SOS Denver said, despite Ross’s claim that he hasn’t worked for FPDC in years, they are still very concerned about neutrality because of Ross’s history with Harris and the fact that he was still listed on the website this month.

“The complexity of this project calls for a professional and a neutral facilitator,” Pigford said. “If a person has/had a personal or professional relationship with one of the parties involved they cannot be neutral. It’s just inappropriate and violates all norms of facilitation.”

The city has not yet responded to SOS Denver’s letter or request to remove Ross as a facilitator.

The redevelopment of the 155-acre Park Hill Golf Course land has been a contentious issue since the golf course closed in 2018. The community has debated on what to do with the land, including whether to restore the golf course, designate it as open space or turn it into housing and retail.

Currently, the land is still under an easement from the 1990s that limits its use to a golf course. The city and Westside Investment Partners Inc. are in the middle of a three-year public process to determine whether to lift the easement.

SOS Denver is a grassroots community organization that has advocated for the preservation and eventual acquisition of the land by the city to create a community park.