In July, voters in Lakewood approved a one percent per annum cap on residential unit construction. Now, a proposed ballot measure aiming to require counties along the Front Range to follow suit is one step closer to appearing on Colorado’s 2020 ballot.
Continue Reading Front Range-Wide Residential Growth Cap One Step Closer to Colorado’s 2020 Ballot
Lakewood Voters Pass Strategic Growth Initiative
This post was authored by Alexandra Haggarty. Alex is a summer clerk at Otten Johnson, and a rising 3L at the University of Colorado Law School.
This post is an update on three earlier posts about a citizen initiative to limit residential growth in Lakewood, Colorado.
With a near 53 percent majority, voters in the City of Lakewood approved Ballot Question 200, capping growth of residential unit construction by one percent annually and requiring city council approval of projects with forty or more units. The city joins Boulder and neighboring Golden in responding to Colorado’s population growth by capping development.
Proponents of the initiative argue that it will preserve Lakewood’s culture and environment. Specifically, the initiative was pitched as a way to preserve open space, protect single-family development, ensure that infrastructure and services are not overburdened, and curb alleged problems of unmanaged growth, such as crime and urban decay.
Continue Reading Lakewood Voters Pass Strategic Growth Initiative
UPDATE: Lakewood’s Strategic Growth Initiative to go to voters in special election on July 2
This post follows up two earlier posts about a citizen initiative to limit residential growth in Lakewood, Colorado. Details about the proposal can be found here.
On Monday night, the Lakewood City Council voted 10‑0 to call a special municipal election for July 2 to allow voters to decide whether to impose a
Denver Bans Source-of-Income Discrimination in Real Estate Transactions Beginning January 1
Denver’s ban on source-of-income discrimination took effect on January 1, 2019.
The ordinance, which the Denver City Council approved back in August, prohibits a wide range of conduct in real estate transactions “based upon … source of income.” Protected sources of income under the ordinance include government housing assistance, Social Security payments, veterans’ benefits, student loans, legal settlements, and court-ordered child support and alimony payments. The income source must be both “lawful” and “verifiable” to be eligible for protection. The new law applies to landlords, real estate agents, property managers, and mortgage lenders. Property owners who rent a single unit are specifically exempt.
Continue Reading Denver Bans Source-of-Income Discrimination in Real Estate Transactions Beginning January 1
Boulder County Municipalities Look to Double Affordable Housing Linkage Fees
We’ll start in Boulder and with commercial development. In February, the Boulder City Council directed city staff to draft an ordinance that would raise the city’s affordable housing linkage fee on new commercial development from $12 per square foot to $25, $30, or $35 per square foot. Boulder’s current $12 linkage fee is the highest such fee of any city in the country between the two coasts, with Palo Alto the highest in the country at $35. Even so, City Council members expressed that the current fee is still low enough vis-a-vis fees on residential development to incentivize commercial development over residential development. And more commercial development without new housing only exacerbates the city’s acute jobs-housing disequilibrium.
Continue Reading Boulder County Municipalities Look to Double Affordable Housing Linkage Fees