A project to expand Denver’s most historic veterans’ cemetery has met resistance from nearby residents who, on Tuesday, expressed distrust and a lack of community notice before construction began earlier this year.

At Fort Logan National Cemetery in southwest Denver, construction of 10,000 more columbarium compartments at the cemetery’s 46-acre south end is underway. The expansion, which also includes more underground burial options, aims to provide enough burial options for military veterans until at least 2065 and be ready within two years, according to cemetery director, Tony Thomas.

A columbarium is a structure used to store and display cremated remains. Typically, ashes are kept inside niche’s, or compartments, inside an above-ground wall or a building where loved ones can visit. Today, Fort Logan National Cemetery has 22,000 columbarium compartments. The cemetery is southeast of Hampden Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard.

But at a town hall meeting at the cemetery Tuesday, area residents urged cemetery officials and civil engineers to halt construction and consider alternative spots in the cemetery.

“There seems to be confusion over what it is, and the entire expansion project, and what it could bring to veterans in Colorado,” Thomas told The Denver Gazette prior to the meeting.

To their surprise and bewilderment, most Pinehurst Estates residents learned of the project two weeks ago when heavy equipment showed up and started removing trees and digging trenches close behind homes, according to homeowners in the area. There are about 20 homes adjacent to the proposed 40-foot long, 10-foot-high columbariums.

Residents did express support for the project itself, but some lamented the exact location of it.

Overseen by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs Office of Construction and Facilities Management, the project spans a half-mile at the south end of the property and includes a collection of 10-foot-tall walls to store cremated burials. Work began on the project in 2019, according to Thomas.

Many residents expressed concerns over the 10-foot columbarium walls blocking residents at Pinehurst Estates south of the cemetery.

Notable concerns voiced by residents included: property values decreased, potential for more crime, landscaping, tree cutting, water collection and accessibility throughout the cemetery.

Most of all, residents said they felt blindsided and blamed cemetery officials for allegedly not presenting the proposal before construction.

“Some of us are actual veterans, some of us are children of veterans, some of us are spouses of veterans — we consider ourselves absolutely part of the military family, we are proud to live here,” said Carol Andrew, a local neighbor and family of veterans, on behalf of fellow neighbors on Tuesday.

“We have a right to a notice,” she said.

The walls, Andrew said, will “feel a lot more like 15 feet than 10 feet.”

“I have done nothing but eat, sleep — though not much of that — and breathe this topic since I found out about it on Nov. 14,” she said.

In response to notice concerns, Thomas said: “To maybe ease the tension of the residents who are nearby and who are worried about this and concerned with the timing, we’ve actually been developing this project for over three years,” adding that at the time, public notices had gone out.

“They did the environmental assessment, contacted several associations in the area about the project and the expansion project,” Thomas said. “The project was awarded this year, which is when work finally started.”

Nearly all residents said they didn’t see any notice.

“This has been officially noticed, but it’s not going to be anything anyone is going to see,” Andrew said, adding the environmental study ignored the impacts of residential neighbors.

Charles Christensen, a civil engineer with Continental District tasked on the Fort Logan project, told The Denver Gazette: “I definitely heard the feedback loud and clear with the citizens.”

“What I can do,” he said, “is take that feedback to the contracting officer, we can discuss what the options are and then get that feedback back to the citizens.”

“What we are trying to accomplish is to provide enough burial space for veterans, that’s our number one mission, and this project is vital to keeping these doors open,” Christensen said.

Ruth Rowley-Manro is one of many whose spouse is buried in the cemetery. In fact, she said, her husband is buried just yards away from their home.

Due to new fencing blocking off the cemetery, she said the new construction will block her view and ability to conveniently visit her widow, Wilford, in the cemetery.

“This should’ve been discussed so we would have a voice in all this,” Rowley-Manro said. “I wish they would move it.”

Tuesday’s meeting, filled with interruptions and palpable tension, ended with an agreement between residents and cemetery officials to contact the VA to consider other alternatives.

Kevin Flynn, the Denver City Council representative who attended Tuesday’s town hall meeting, said it is possible for this type of project to reconsider locations.

“I know change orders can happen,” the councilmember said, speaking to residents at the meeting.

“45 years of experience tells me this is a very hard ship to turn around, the federal government doesn’t have to listen to us, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t,” Flynn said. “This is a beautiful facility, I love having it here in the district.”

Fort Logan National Cemetery derived from serving as a post to a permanent cemetery from the late 1880s to the 1950s. Once serving as a military base, Fort Logan was known as “the camp near the city of Denver.” 

Councilmember Flynn added: “It would be wonderful, if for once, for the federal government, which doesn’t have to follow our zoning laws or ordinances, for once it would be nice if there was some process for reconsideration.”