State-Wide Land Use Bill 2023

Statewide Land Use Bill 2023

On March 22, 2023, SB 23-213 (“Bill”) was introduced in the Colorado legislature with the support of Governor Polis. The Bill proposes state-wide comprehensive land use reform with the objective of increasing affordable housing. The Bill is lengthy, but the legislation may impact communities by mandating that local governments adopt minimum statewide standards within their local land use codes, or alternatively adopt uniform model codes (promulgated by the executive director of the department of local affairs) to increase construction of a diverse range of housing forms, including accessory dwelling units (“ADU”), middle housing units (“MHU”) [i.e., defined as townhomes, multiplexes (containing between two to six units), cottage cluster homes (defined as no fewer than four detached housing units of up to a maximum of 900 sq. ft. with a common courtyard)], and other multifamily residential housing.

Additionally, as currently written, the Bill will prevent common interest communities from effectively prohibiting the construction of ADUs/MHUs. This depends on community’s current zoning and/or identification and location within statutorily defined transit-oriented areas (“TOA”) or key corridor areas (“KCA”).

How will this State-Wide Land Use Bill affect your community if it becomes the law?

Despite provisions in governing documents saying otherwise, your association wont be able to prohibit owners from constructing on their property:

• An ADU in all communities where construction of a single-unit detached dwelling is allowed as a use by right under local zoning laws;
• An MHU in a rural resort job center municipality or a tier one urban municipality (as those terms are defined in the Bill) where construction of a single-unit detached dwelling is allowed as a use by right under local zoning laws;
• Multifamily residential housing with a minimum gross density of not less than 40 units per acre and mixed-income multifamily residential housing with a minimum gross density of not less than 60 units per acre as a use-by-right in a TOA located within a tier-one urban municipality; or
• Multifamily residential housing that meets the net residential zoning capacity for the municipality as a use-by-right in a KCA located within a rural resort job center municipality or a tier-one municipality.

The Bill has been assigned to the Local Government & Housing Committee which typically meets on Tuesday throughout the legislative session.

The 2023 Bill is consistent with recent trends in several other states.