Greeley City Council votes to oppose bill aimed at increasing affordable housing options in Colorado, citing concerns over local control
By Kelly Ragan
The Greeley City Council council voted Tuesday to oppose a bill making its way through the legislature aimed at increasing affordable housing options in Colorado.
Senate bill 23-213, nicknamed the More Housing Now bill, would prevent communities statewide from limiting construction of duplexes, triplexes and accessory-dwelling units (sometimes called granny flats or mother-in-law suites).
The motion for a resolution opposing the bill passed with a 5-2 vote, with councilmembers Tommy Butler and Deb DeBoutez voting no.
Mayor John Gates and councilmembers Brett Payton, Ed Clark, Dale Hall and Johnny Olson cited concerns over maintaining local control and home rule authority.
Given that Democrats have a majority in the state legislature, Olson said he believes the bill will likely pass – but that doesn’t mean city representatives have to like it or be quiet about it.
“I don’t see (this bill) doing as much as they say except for impeding on our Home Rule, impeding on the free market with developers and telling them how they have to build,” Olson said.
Background on the bill
The bill would mean saying goodbye to what we know as areas zoned only for single-family homes. It would also remove limits on how many unrelated people could live in the same home.
Sen. Dominick Moreno, Commerce City Democrat, Rep. Iman Jodeh, Aurora Democrat, and Rep. Steven Woodrow, Denver Democrat, are prime sponsors of the bill.
If passed, the bill would designate different requirements depending on housing needs and population.
Greeley would be considered a Tier 1 city alongside Fort Collins, Loveland, and Windsor.
Other cities include: Arvada, Aurora, Boulder, Brighton, Broomfield, Castle Pines, Castle Rock, Centennial, Cherry Hills Village, Colorado Springs, Columbine Valley, Commerce City, Denver, Edgewater, Englewood, Erie, Fountain, Federal Heights, Grand Junction, Glendale, Golden, Greenwood Village, Lafayette, Lakewood, Littleton, Lochbuie, Lone Tree, Longmont, Louisville, Northglenn, Parker, Pueblo, Sheridan, Superior, Thornton, Westminster and Wheat Ridge.
These cities stand to be most impacted if the bill passes.
The bill would prohibit restrictions on duplexes, triplexes and multiplexes up to six units as well as accessory-dwelling units. It would also prohibit zoning rules requiring parking to be tied to such housing.
Greeley and other tier 1 cities would also be required to whip up a housing needs plan based on a state housing needs assessment. One of the goals here is for cities to hash out how to stop sprawl and address environmental impacts such as air pollution.
Greeley would have some flexibility in either meeting minimum land-use requirements set by the state or adopting a land-use code developed by the state.
Tier 2 cities include cities such as Evans, Eaton, Milliken, Severance, Timnath, Johnstown, Berthoud, Firestone, Fredrick, Dacono and more.
The smaller cities would still be able to prevent the construction of duplexes, triplexes and multiplexes, but would not be able to restrict construction of accessory-dwelling units and any associated parking.
These cities would also have to do a housing needs assessment and make plans to address long-term housing solutions, reduce sprawl, and address environmental issues.
What Greeley’s done on housing lately
Greeley city council voted in 2021 to update its development code to attempt to address housing affordability. Many of these changes reflect what the state is now calling for.
Some of the updates included:
Shifting the regulations to emphasize options such as duplexes, townhomes and small apartment buildings in the Residential-Medium and Residential-High density zone districts rather than only on single-family homes.
Reducing the minimum lot size in the Residential-Low zone district — think single-family homes — from 6,000 square feet to 4,500 square feet and provides additional options for even smaller lot sizes in the Residential-Medium and Residential-High zone districts.
Providing additional options for Accessory Dwelling Units (think a granny flat or mother-in-law suite, which functions as an attached or detached accessory apartment on the property) in the Residential-Medium zone districts.
Clarifying regulations related to manufactured housing and adds additional options for other small-format housing types, like mobile homes.
Council did vote in 2021 to quash changes to the city’s existing U+1 occupancy limit
Council has also approved plans for several affordable housing communities in the area, ushering in what will amount to more than 900 affordable housing units.
Why oppose the bill?
It comes down to local control.
“Why do we have to have the state tell us how to do it and why does the state have to tell everybody else to do?” Hall asked. “The state can create some sort of model code but it doesn’t have to be a ‘this way or the highway’ kind of a situation.”
Gates echoed the sentiment, noting he didn’t think the bill was all bad.
Butler and DeBoutez said they supported the bill.
In fact, Butler submitted testimony in support of it. He said he loves that it legalizes different housing types and allows people to use their personal property in ways they want to with the accessory-dwelling unit allowance.
“We’re building 920 units of affordable housing over the next several years that we’ve approved over the last year and a half,” Butler said. “But other cities around us aren’t doing things like that. This bill is telling other municipalities, ‘you need to carry your weight.’”
What’s next?
The bill will get its next hearing Tuesday, April 18. To learn more, go to https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb23-213.