Land Use

Subscribe to Land Use via RSS

The National Zoning Atlas (NZA) team is digitizing, demystifying, and democratizing information about zoning conditions in more than 33,000 jurisdictions in the United States.  Fully comprehending the zoning conditions of a particular state, and therefore housing and development opportunity, is often stifled by lack of standardization.  Which jurisdictions have the authority to exercise powers is…

Several Colorado municipalities have sued the state challenging the constitutionality of landmark zoning reforms enacted in 2024.  The lawsuit specifically concerns two new laws passed by the legislature and one executive order issued by Governor Polis related to those measures.  The first law, HB 24-1313, is aimed at increasing housing density around transit.  Under…

On May 16, 2025, Governor Jared Polis signed Executive Order D 2025 005 (“Order 005”) to address implementation of recently-passed strategic growth legislation.  As discussed below, Governor Polis has ordered certain state agencies to consider whether municipalities are compliant with the requirements of seven laws when awarding millions of dollars of discretionary funding.  Three days after…

The City of Denver (“Denver”) released the first draft of its proposed amendment to the Denver Zoning Code (“Zoning Code”) known as Modernizing Parking Requirements Text Amendment (“Text Amendment”), in which it proposes removing minimum vehicle parking requirements for all land uses throughout Denver.  This Text Amendment comes as…

More cars on the road means higher carbon emissions, and studies have found that more road actually results in more cars. In an effort to reduce greenhouse gases, Governor Polis passed a bill in 2021 that, in part, tied transportation funding approvals to agencies’ emissions targets. As a result, the Colorado Department of Transportation has…