Colorado legislators advanced a marquee land-use reform bill Tuesday night, but not before making changes to it that carve out resort communities from some parts of the proposal, scale back zoning reforms in the state’s larger cities and enact a 10-year sunset on the entire policy as supporters sought to shepherd the bill through a contentious first hearing.
The bill — SB23-213 — advanced out of the Senate’s Local Government and Housing committee on a party-line 4-3 vote Tuesday night, after more than three hours of debate on more than a dozen amendments. The meeting came fewer than two weeks after legislators heard 12 hours of testimony for and against the proposal, which broadly seeks to encourage density, faster building and better planning by significantly reshaping the state’s single-family zoning policies.
The bill’s received the backing of Gov. Jared Polis and a coalition of housing, business and environmental groups who say the measure is vital to kickstart housing, but it’s opposed by local government officials who castigate it as an intrusion on their authority. But supporters say state intervention is needed, given the scale of the housing problem — both in terms of supply and affordability — facing Coloradans.
“We’ve trusted local governments to represent the local community,” Sen. Tony Exum, a Colorado Springs Democrat, said before casting his aye vote. He also noted that city zoning has been used to displace people in the past, a nod to the discriminatory history of urban planning. “Sometimes they do well, sometimes they don’t. I think this bill gives them the opportunity to open up their eyes, open up different ideas of how it can be done.”
Still, despite the committee’s green light Tuesday night, the bill did not come out of its first vote unscathed. Prime sponsor Sen. Dominick Moreno, a Commerce City Democrat, came into the meeting with a slew of amendments in a bid to shepherd the bill through the process. All of those changes were adopted.
The most significant of them limits the bill’s sweeping upzoning proposals. When it was introduced, the bill would’ve allowed for middle housing — up to sixplexes — to be built on any single-family zoned lot in Colorado’s cities. But Moreno moved to pair that back by roughly 70% and limit the upzoning to areas around transit corridors and other key urban areas, equivalent to at least 30% of all single-family lot space in those cities. The amendment also scaled back the size of that middle-housing development, from a maximum of six units down to four units.
Moreno told fellow lawmakers that the changes were needed and were responding to “very valid concerns” being raised.
Another amendment carved out resort communities from the bill’s requirement that cities allow owners of single-family lots to build accessory dwelling units. Instead, resort communities would have to pick five of 16 housing strategies to enact. Resorts could, then, choose to build more ADUs or middle housing — provisions that larger, urban cities would be required to do under the bill. But resort communities could also choose to forgo them in favor of other options on the list. Those options include cutting development fees; establishing a local revenue source for developing affordable housing; or reducing or eliminating parking requirements.
Local officials in resort communities have warned that allowing for more ADUs and middle housing will only increase their short-term rental and second-home stock, rather than boost housing for workers and residents. The carveout also represents a sizable change to a plan that has been billed as a way to create a uniform approach to a statewide housing crisis.
Republican Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer — a critic of the bill because of its intrusion on local control — pointed out that the bill is predicated upon the idea that housing is a statewide issue that requires a state-level intervention. Now, she said, the legislature is exempting out chunks of the state because their needs are unique.
“We regularly run legislation that applies to different regions of the state,” Moreno replied, and he pointed out that another key part of the bill — which requires regular housing studies be conducted to gauge state and local need — would still apply to resort areas.
Sen Dylan Roberts expressed his gratitude for the carveout. Roberts later advanced an amendment that would put a 10-year sunset on the entire bill — meaning it would expire in a decade, unless the legislature chooses to renew it. That change passed unanimously.
In a legislative session during which lawmakers have grappled with abortion, gun reform and drug policy, the land-use bill has become one of the most contentious of the year. A broad coalition of housing, business and environmental groups have all come out in support of the bill, arguing it’s vital to solve the state’s spiraling housing crisis while addressing pollution, urban sprawl and historic discriminatory policies.
But several local governments — including Denver, Colorado Springs, several Front Range suburbs and a number of resort communities — have joined arms in opposition. Local leaders have argued the bill steps on their authority and sets a one-size-fits-all approach to what they contend is a problem with different contours across the state.
The amendments are unlikely to fully assuage local governments’ flat opposition; Kevin Bommer, the executive director of the Colorado Municipal League, told legislators earlier this month that unless the bill is changed to remove any mandates or preemptions of local ordinances, his group would continue to oppose it.
While local governments’ opposition is unlikely to be assuaged without a near-gutting of the bill, other amendments brought some relief to other concerns. Voicing a worry shared by affordable housing advocates, Sen. Julie Gonzales wanted the measure to more adequately protect renters and community members from displacement. If the bill passes and property across Colorado’s cities becomes more valuable for development, advocates have argued, current residents may be displaced by developers looking to cash in.
To ease that concern, amendments approved by the committee Tuesday better spell out what exact strategies local governments must choose from in the bill, rather than leaving it up to state regulators to craft later. The changes would also require local governments to give specific consideration of the income, education and homeownership levels of impacted areas.
The bill now heads to the Senate’s Appropriations Committee, and, if it survives there, two full votes in the Senate and a run through the House.
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