VOLUME 41 • NUMBER 18 • MARCH 30, 2023
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Cities say Polis’ housing plan is unconstitutional Story continues on page 7. See City of Centennial and City of Cherry Hills Village responses to this legislation on pages 8 and 9. BY FREDA MIKLIN GOVERNMENTAL REPORTER
After months of guarded anticipation by city councils and mayors, SB23-213 Land Use was introduced in the state Senate on March 23 by State Senate Majority Leader Dominick Moreno. Other prime sponsors are State Reps. Steven Woodrow of Denver and Iman Jodeh of Aurora. At a press conference announcing the plan on March 22, Governor Polis said, “The last time Colorado made major land-use
changes was nearly 50 years ago. We were a very different state… Housing and the cost of housing is something we know we need to do something about. An unprecedented coalition is here calling for action. We have labor leaders and business leaders, environmental advocates and housing advocates, local elected officials from across the state, Republicans and Democrats, all of whom are saying, let’s take action now to increase the housing supply in our state.” The governor told the crowd that stakeholders held 125 meetings to devise the plan, adding, “The cost
of housing continues to go up,” pointing to the impact of rising interest rates, even when home prices stabilize. He described the key components of the plan as • Legalizing the building of the most affordable types of homes, creating options for property owners, thereby empowering homeowners to be part of the solution; • Incentivizing multifamily housing near transit-oriented development, creating more opportunities “to get to work and where you want to go in a less expensive and more conve-
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nient way;” • Cutting red tape and removing barriers to reduce cost and time delays making it easier to build a variety of housing types; • “Assessing statewide housing needs, working with local communities to develop and implement affordability strategies that are tailored to both local and regional needs. We have the flexibility for local leaders to do more, to go above and beyond.” Moreno explained, “The solutions we are proposing focus on setting goals and eliminating
restrictions so we can build more homes that people can afford quickly.” Greenwood Village Rep. Ruby Dickson said, “We need to start not allowing these localities to arbitrarily limit where people can and cannot live,” but, she added, “People have legitimate concerns about wanting to maintain resources, they want to maintain the nature of their communities.” GV Mayor George Lantz told The Villager that GV is opposed to the governor’s proposal and plans Continued on page 7