Who Owns Colorado: Cracking Denver’s new zoning code
By Stephen Titus
For more than five years, Denver's City Council, planning department and hundreds of volunteers and interested hangers-on have been crafting a new zoning code to replace the cobbled-together rule book that currently guides construction and land use in the city.
On June 21, the Denver City Council is scheduled to vote on whether to adopt the new regulations. While few people outside the building industry will ever read this document - besides insomniacs looking for a little late-night sleep aid - it will impact the city's residents longer and greater than nearly any legislation the city has enacted in 50 years.
"It's a big investment. It's probably one of the most important things we can do to guide the growth of the city," said Peter Park, manager of Denver's Community Planning and Development department. "Having the new code is important to matching the vision of Blueprint Denver."
The new code scraps nearly everything about the old version. It is the final puzzle piece in Blueprint Denver, a sprawling plan for the future of land use and transportation in the city that was adopted in 2002 with the overall goal of making sure that where we live, where we work and where we play (today and 20 years from now) are deliberately linked by appropriate modes of transportation.
But property owners in some parts of the city say the changes have them scrambling to develop their property under the old code at a time when banks have placed a kung fu grip on money and are loath to let it loose, particularly on speculative real estate projects, no matter how promising or well capitalized.
"The economy is what it is, and the changes to the zoning code exacerbates the problem for people who didn't get developed already; it's a timing issue," said Larry Burgess, who has 23 buildings along Brighton Boulevard in an area just north of downtown Denver dubbed River North.
Blueprint Denver roughly breaks the city into what Park describes as areas of stability and areas of change. For purposes of zoning, a "stable" designation doesn't necessarily mean there is no construction going on. Cherry Creek, Highlands and Park Hill are all considered areas of stability. The new code looks at these areas and assigns codes that help support the architectural style and general uses that are there. This seems pretty simple, but with zoning codes, even small changes can make a big difference. More about that later.
Then we have the areas of change. Almost all of downtown Denver, including Five Points and Brighton Boulevard north of Broadway and south of Interstate 70 are considered areas of change as are areas around major arteries like Colfax Avenue, Federal Boulevard, South Colorado Boulevard and 38th Street in the Highlands. These areas are slated for drastically different zoning codes that will match the development trends already under way and the kind of transportation alternatives planned for the area.
Perhaps the most drastically affected area is along Brighton Boulevard just north of Broadway. Once upon a time, in an economy that seems far, far away, River North was a promising frontier for developers looking for the next great neighborhood. Many of them took the "build it and they will come" approach, locking up parcels of land at top dollar and rezoning them one at a time into mixed-use Planned Unit Developments or PUDs.
"New developers came in during the high times and paid $35 per square foot, rezoned it to (residential mixed use), boosting the taxes and then didn't do anything," Burgess said. "If you'll pay $35 per square foot, give me a call, I'll sell you some land."
He's not getting many calls, and much of the land sits empty with plans for residential development on hold until banks loosen their grip on funds and federal regulators find the nerve to relax the stricter regulations that lenders are urged to follow. Still, with its proximity to downtown and long-term plans for light rail and other commuter friendly transportation modes, city planners feel this area will again be a hot spot for high-density living. In the meantime, property owners are struggling to hang on in a tough economy.
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