Mayor Mike Johnston has said that micro-communities — arguably the most important part of his House1000 plan — are only expected to be in place for two years at different locations around Denver, with options to keep them for another year or two after the deadline if needed.

But as fencing goes up and construction gets underway, one micro-community site is already leaving lasting scars on the neighborhood that's hosting it.

In the Golden Triangle, bulldozers have come in and started tearing up the asphalt at a site planned for the city-owned parking lot at 1375 Elati Street, which serves as a popular place to park for Civic Center visitors and people going to the nearby Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse. The area has been fenced off for several weeks as the city prepares to put up the micro-community.

"The asphalt is being taken up for environmental assessments and pre-work on the site," a city spokesperson tells Westword. "That said, there will still need to be some development work on the site, even if the site will be temporary."

Billed as a place for homeless people to stay until they can get more permanent housing, micro-communities like the pallet shelters ordered by Denver City Council last Monday for $6 million often come pre-assembled and don't require digging up concrete or destroying the property where they're being put in. 

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