For the second year in a row, the sounds of Cinco de Mayo echoed into the Capitol as lawmakers toiled on a Saturday to find common ground on proposed reforms to state land use and property tax policy. The 120-day legislative session ends Wednesday, and lawmakers are still wrestling with some of the marquee proposals … Read more
It’s been more than five years since the Larimer County commissioners said no to Thornton burying miles of pipe in the county to transport water from the Cache la Poudre River. Now the northern Denver suburb is back in the same hearing room. And it has the same basic request: Let us move the water … Read more
At this time last year, Colorado lawmakers were preparing to gut Gov. Jared Polis’ massive and marquee land-use bill that would have reshaped zoning across the state, spurring a stalemate that preceded the proposal’s death. Now, after reviving most of that proposal in smaller pieces as part of a new strategy, reform supporters see a … Read more
Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill into law Monday that officially eliminates most restrictions on how many unrelated roommates can live together in Colorado. House Bill 1007 prohibits local governments from enacting occupancy limits, which Polis and other critics of the policy have derided as discriminatory and outdated. Roughly two dozen Colorado cities have such … Read more
Transgender and nonbinary people would be better protected from harassment in Colorado under new bill Transgender and nonbinary people would receive more explicit protections in Colorado’s anti-bias and harassment law if a newly introduced bill becomes law. Advocates characterize the bill as a simple legislative fix to ensure gender identity and expression are protected across … Read more
Colorado lawmakers are poised to ban occupancy limits in cities and towns across the state, clearing the way for more roommates to live together as part of Democrats’ push to reform local zoning regulations and address the state’s housing crisis. Roughly two dozen cities and towns in Colorado have the type of occupancy limits that … Read more
Legislation promotes construction of data centers. Not everyone supports the idea. Here’s why. A bill that would provide state tax rebates to draw data centers to Colorado has run into opposition from critics who warn of the facilities’ large demands for energy and water and potentially higher costs for other electric customers. The legislation would … Read more
For years, minimum parking requirements in urban areas have served as a white whale for some in Colorado’s coalition of housing advocates and land-use reformers. They’ve looked at those vast seas of concrete and asphalt with a combination of distaste and a desire for what those spaces otherwise could be used for. Instead of more … Read more
As the clock neared midnight on the penultimate day of last year’s legislative session, a core piece of progressive housing policy sputtered toward a bitter, procedural end. The bill would have granted “just-cause” eviction protections to Colorado renters, essentially giving them the ability to renew an expiring lease even if their landlord wanted to move … Read more
Colorado lawmakers were solidifying their plans for land use reform this year just as a tale seemingly as old as zoning codes themselves — and as predictable as alpenglow — unfolded in Fort Collins. Local leaders passed a sweeping measure allowing higher-density development in more parts of town, the cornerstone of the city’s housing strategy. … Read more
