Thornton remaining neutral on Land Use bill

BY LUKE ZARZECKI LZARZECKI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

e ornton City Council decided to stay neutral regarding their stance on the State Legislature’s land use bill, SB 213, as many municipalities stand opposed. ey will not be issuing a statement or an o cial position.

ey discussed the bill at the April 4 planning session meeting, with City Councilor Karen Bigelow, Kathy

Henson and Eric Garcia voting to stay neutral. Mayor Jan Kulmann and Tony Unrein voted to oppose the legislation.

Kulmann said she’s opposed due to the bill taking away local control.

“ e ideas are not bad,” she said.

City Councilor Kathy Henson said that there is a housing supply crisis and the bill addresses it.

“It works hard to help create the

He said he’s con dent that if passed, it would be challenged.

Jennifer Cassell, one of the lobbyists, said that they’ve had conversations with Northglenn’s delegation and more will happen, such as changes and amendments to the bill.

Cassell said that Sen. Faith Winter could be a supporter of the bill, but Rep. Jenny Willford is opposed to the bill as it is currently written.

Mayor Pro Tem Shannon LukemanHiromasa said that there are no a ordable housing guarantees in the bill and that a homeowner can sell their land to a developer for a high cost and the developer in turn can rent the development or sell it for a high cost.

She also said that Northglenn is already at the forefront of housing solutions and that the city is already one of the more a ordable communities in the area.

Mayor Meredith Leighty condemned the process the governor’s sta took in creating the bill.

“It did not feel good and I expressed that when I met with the Governor’s sta and it didn’t feel collaborative,” she said. “When you see that CML opposed it early on and is sticking to it, there’s a reason for that.”

Previous meetings

Northglenn city council received a presentation on a housing needs assessment done for the city at the Oct. 17 study session.

Aaron Finley, the senior consultant for the consulting agency who com- pleted the assessment, said the median home sale price was $505,000 in Jan. 2022. It was lower than Denver proper, ornton and Westminster. at’s up almost 70% from January 2018, when the price was about $350,000. ose prices meant that the median cost of housing was, as a share of household income, 31.82% for renters and 19.63% for homeowners since the median household income was $71,104 in 2020. e median rent for 2020 was $1,372 and about 14% of Northglenn’s rental units cost under $800 per month. at is a price considered a ordable for a median household income of $32,000 per year, Finley said. at’s more a ordable housing than Denver, ornton and Westminster, who have 11%, 10% and almost 8% , respectively, of their rental units priced less than $800 per month.

For rent over $1,500 a month, Northglenn has the least amount of stock at that price with27%, compared to Denver, ornton and Westminster at 37%, 35% and 37% respectively.

“ ere seems to be a good number of a ordable rental units and considerably lower of those in a higher price range,” Finley said.

Which housing exists

Northglenn is mostly single-family homes, with about 65% of the housing stock single-family attached or detached.

Of the housing stock, 3.20% is 3 or 4 units, 5.50% is 5 to 9 units, 10.4% is 10 to 19 units and 12.7% of 20 or more units.

“Less than 10% is in that middle density,” he Finley said.

He noted that duplexes, triplexes and condos lead to lower housing costs, more options and less maintenance. at’s dubbed the ‘missing middle housing.’

Carrie Makarewicz, an associate professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Colorado Denver, said roughly 80% of residential land in the metro area is zoned for single-family homes.

According to Root Policy Research, between 2000 and 2019, Adams County increased single-family attached homes by 34%, Arapahoe County by 26%, Douglas County by 76% and Je erson County by 11%.

Based on the time when Northglenn saw its development of housing, Finley said the middle-density type of housing were running out of favor. Single-family homes were what the people wanted, and it was what got built.

Data shows, he said, that Northglenn is mostly rst-time homebuyers. at’s where the lack of the missing middle housing is creating a bottleneck situation.

“Without the options in the moveup home buyer range, some families seem to be moving out to other communities,” he said.

He said the lack of the missing middle doesn’t allow for seniors to downsize.

Not only does a diverse housing stock provide lower prices, but it also improves racial diversity and culture, o ers seniors the to stay within Northglenn and it helps a city weather economic downturns.

Some di culties

Northglenn is nearly built out and it costs unusually high for infrastructure for in ll development. After the Karl’s Farm and the Civic Center developments, Northglenn will be built out.

Finley recommended looking at Northglenn’s zoning code and to consider overlay districts, which provide more exibility. For those overlay districts, he said to prioritize transit-oriented developed

With high infrastructure costs, Finley suggested targeted incentives for infrastructure improvements, such as renaissance loans for residents to improve their homes with 0% interest.

Another suggestion was to allow single-family homes greater variety through use-by-right permissions, like upgrading the lot to a duplex or a triplex. He also noted more awareness about accessory dwelling units, which are allowed by Northglenn but not many people have built them.

At the Oct. 17th meeting, both Former Mayor Pro Tem Jenny Willford and City Councilor Becky Brown said they can’t support allowing single-family homes to be turned into duplexes. Brown cited Northglenn residents not in favor of change at the Oct. 17 meeting.

“We’re very steadfast,” Brown said.

She also pointed to why ADUs haven’t been built or homes being expanded.

“ at’s why they aren’t popping the roofs o their houses,” Brown said.

City Councilor Katherine Go said that Northglenn’s demographics are changing, with a lot of young people in the city.

“I wouldn’t automatically assume people are dead set against making duplexes,” Go said.