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

As we originally reported in our June 2022 Otten Johnson Alert, in June of 2022 Denver’s City Council passed a number of amendments to the municipal and zoning codes in an effort to expand affordable housing in the City.  Denver’s Expanded Housing Affordability policy (the “EHA Policy”) included a period of time under which existing development projects could continue through the approval process under the prior regulations. On May 22, 2023, Denver’s City Council passed two bills extending certain approval process deadlines.  While the concept plan submission deadline remains unchanged (June 30, 2022), the site development plan (“SDP”) approval process dates for projects to be evaluated under the prior regulations have been adjusted as follows:Continue Reading Denver’s City Council Extends Deadline Requirements for Developers While New Denver Mayor Pledges to Push for Affordable Housing