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1290 Williams Street
Suite 102
Denver, Colorado
80218-2657
(303) 830-1651
(303) 830-1782 Fax
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New Denver Zoning Code
Please click HERE for New Zoning Code events/meetings schedule.
DENVER’S NEW ZONING
By Michael Henry
Co-chair, CHUN Land Use and Zoning Committee and Member of Denver Zoning Code Task Force
Ever since the United States Supreme Court approved the constitutionality of zoning in 1926, most American municipalities, including Denver, have developed zoning codes to regulate the placement, shape and separation of buildings and uses. In early 2005, a 15-member Denver Zoning Code Task Force was appointed by the Mayor and the President of City Council to recommend a new Denver zoning code. The Task Force has almost completed its work and the Denver Planning Board and City Council will be reviewing a new Denver zoning code and a new Denver zoning map in the next few months.
There has been extensive public outreach during the last 4 years and many ideas and suggestions from the public have been incorporated into the draft code and draft map, which are available at www.newcodedenver.org. More comments from the public are still welcome. The Planning Board and the City Council will hold joint listening sessions to hear from the public on November 18 and 19, 2009. The City Council plans to have a final public hearing on February 22, 2010.
The Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods Zoning Committee and Board of Delegates have worked extensively to study and comment on the proposed zoning code and zoning map. The overall CHUN motion is below. CHUN has also submitted more detailed comments relating to CHUN Neighborhoods 5 and 6.
The new zoning for Denver is important to all citizens because:
• Zoning, along with many other factors, can have a major impact on the quality and character of a neighborhood.
• The last major re-write of the Denver zoning code was in 1956. It is 53 years old and very outdated.
• The current zoning code has very little recognition of the great diversity of the buildings and context in Denver’s many different neighborhoods. One size of allowable building forms does not fit all single-family neighborhoods. The new code will require that new buildings in stable residential neighborhoods should fit the character and context of the neighborhood.
• The new code will encourage that much of Denver’s new growth will be channeled to higher-density areas such as around transit stations and downtown.
• The city hired a consultant to study how the new code can encourage affordable housing and many of these ideas are in the new code.
• The city hired a consultant to study how the new code can encourage environmental sustainability and many of these ideas are in the new code.
• The new code will be much better organized and the procedures will be much clearer, making it easier for owners, citizens, architects and city staff to use than the current code.
MOTION - CHUN Comments on New Zoning Code and Zoning Map
Passed unanimously by the CHUN Board of Delegates, October 15, 2009
Capitol Hill United Neighborhoods (CHUN) generally supports the 4 ˝ year effort of the Zoning Code Task Force and the Denver Community Planning and Development Department in preparing a draft of a new Denver zoning code and zoning map to replace the 53-year-old zoning code and map. The current code and map are very confusing and do not reflect Denver’s current values, particularly:
• The desire to stabilize Denver’s stable neighborhoods and to ensure that new structures in stable neighborhoods should reflect the context and character of the existing neighborhood;
• The desire to direct most of Denver’s future growth to areas of change, including near transit stations and transit lines;
• The desire to preserve existing housing and to encourage more affordable and diverse housing;
• The desire to make Denver more environmentally sustainable.
CHUN appreciates the importance and the complexities of the new zoning code and map and the city’s effort to involve neighborhood representatives and other citizens in the creation of both.
CHUN, however, expresses the following concerns about Draft 2 of the new zoning code and zoning map:
1. Higher density can offer benefits such as increased affordability and diversity, less urban sprawl and reduced need for driving. However, Draft 2 of the zoning map proposes too much height and density in some neighborhoods of Greater Capitol Hill that is not consistent with the existing predominant character.
2. The new zoning code should encourage the development of housing that is genuinely affordable for lower-income and workforce residents. Such affordable housing should particularly be encouraged near transit stations and along transit lines, but should also be allowed and encouraged in all parts of Denver. In addition, the city should contribute financially and programmatically to meeting this need.
3. Registered neighborhood organizations must receive adequate notice of proposed re-zonings. The current draft, which provides for RNOs to receive a copy of an applicant’s submission from the Community Planning and Development Department within 45 days is much better than current practice.
4. Accessory dwelling units should be more clearly defined and should be allowed where they fit the existing character of a neighborhood.
5. Parking requirements are very important to the quality of life in a neighborhood. The needs of residents for parking must be balanced with needs of nearby businesses. In the multi-unit areas of Greater Capitol Hill, residential parking requirements should not be reduced from the requirements of the current code (1.5 spaces per residential unit in the current R-3 and R-4 districts), Almost all of the streets in the Capitol Hill, Cheesman Park, North Capitol Hill, City Park West, South City Park and Congress Park neighborhoods have very little on-street parking available for residents or guests. Shared parking should be encouraged.
6. Open space is an important Denver value. There must be adequate open space and adequate front, side and rear setbacks in stable residential neighborhoods to retain zone lot open space.
7. Front setbacks in residential neighborhoods should be required to reflect the existing rhythm and feel of the blocks. Some of the multi-unit districts in the current draft of the new code do not require front setbacks to conform to the average front setbacks, as is required in lower-density residential districts. Block-sensitive setbacks should apply to all building forms in all zone districts.
8. Parks and parkways are extremely important to Denver citizens and neighborhoods. Control of zoning in parks and parkways should not be removed from elected City Council representatives and the Community Planning and Development Department and given to the Parks and Recreation Department. Citizens must have an opportunity for 1) meaningful involvement and comment about new structures and uses in parks and 2)a public hearing and decision-making on zoning issues in parks by elected officials.
9. The zoning for designated historic districts should match the existing structures and not indicate that higher and larger structures will be allowed. In the Draft 2 map, several of the historic districts in Greater Capitol Hill (for example, Sherman-Grant, Quality Hill, Pennsylvania Street and Swallow Hill) are designated to indicate that 5 or more stories would be permitted, whereas the existing structures are generally no more than 3 stories.
10. Vegetation should be maintained in a living state. Section 10.4.1 of the draft code requires business developments to maintain plant material (including pruning, weed control, watering, replacing dead material, etc.), but there is nothing that holds residential homeowners to the same standard.
11. Rooftop gardens should be allowed in all zone districts in all parts of the zone lot.
12. The public and City Council must be meaningfully involved in reviewing Campus and Civic District plans.
13. All civic form buildings should have a public review process.
14. Transitions between residential neighborhoods and businesses must be sensitively regulated, regarding both the form of structures and the environmental impacts, such as placement of dumpsters, speakers, noisy generators, glare, lighting etc.
15. All restaurant or tavern outdoor patios within 50 feet of any residential zone should be reviewed by the Board of Adjustment-Zoning to assure that nearby residents’ concerns about noise and other issues are addressed.
16. Preservation of historic structures is very important to CHUN; however the current office use exception for individually-designated landmark structures in R-3 districts should be modified in the new zoning code to allow such an office-use exception only if the structure is not already protected by being a contributing structure in a historic district In addition, the office-use exception should not be extended to low-density residential zones.
17. Solar access is an important Denver value. The new zoning code and zoning map should recognize the importance of solar access and should encourage preservation of both passive and active solar access for residences in stable residential neighborhoods. This must be carefully balanced, however, with the great aesthetic and environmental value that trees bring to neighborhoods.
18. Comments from the public about the new zoning code and zoning map should be made available to the public to review.
CHUN looks forward to further discussion with the Zoning Code Task Force, the Community Planning and Development Department and City Council
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