Let this be a lesson to the 54 percent of voters who approved the green roof ordinance — if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Even the leader of the ballot initiative that Denver can’t seem to implement now says it’s okay if bureaucrats tweak it into oblivion, it will probably work better that way.
The idea behind the gardens-on-every-roof measure was to reduce Denver’s urban “heat island” effects that is blamed on rooftops.
No gardens, no problem, because the alternatives might possibly, somehow, reduce global warming, insists the ballot pusher, Brandon Rietheimer.
For example, if you operate a non-profit, then heat doesn’t radiate from your roof so you can be exempted. That’s just one of the alternatives under discussion by the city.
If the housing is affordable, it’s not part of the problem either and could get an exemption.
Adding green space on the ground and buying new land for conservation also appears to reduce the heat island effect on rooftops.
Pretty soon, planners will have completely eliminated the green roof requirement, and that’s okay with us.
The public has until June 3 to comment on their plan to do lots of expensive and nifty stuff that costs money everywhere but on rooftops.