As contentious Colorado housing laws take effect, some cities are playing nice — while others resist or sue

Lafayette s mayor JD Mangat can t afford a house in the city he leads On a salary as a middle school social studies guide home prices in the Boulder County city of are out of reach for the -year-old Lafayette native I live at home with my parents he commented None of my friends growing up still live in Lafayette Yet when it comes to a cluster of housing bills lawmakers passed last year all designed to abate the astronomical price of housing in Colorado Mangat is firmly opposed It would eliminate city standards and put in place state standards the mayor mentioned This is going to have really detrimental impacts on Lafayette This approach is insane The laws two of which go into effect on Monday reached into matters that previously were local decisions They removed home occupancy limits will allow for accessory dwelling units on single-family lots will limit parking requirements in transit corridors and prodded cities to increase housing density in those transit-rich areas The laws largely apply only to Front Range cities Last month Lafayette joined five other metro Denver cities in suing Gov Jared Polis who signed the measures into law a year ago Two of the laws the plaintiffs claim unconstitutionally impinge on the authority of local governments to set their own land-use rules Just miles up U S from Old Town Lafayette Longmont is taking a different approach While the city opposed the transit-oriented density bill as state administration overreach Longmont is fulfilling what the law requires without resistance Just last week the city submitted a preliminary document to the state on how it will comply with the law It also outlined for state bureaucrats the rollout of its accessory dwelling unit protocol covering ADUs like backyard cottages and garage apartments And just weeks after Polis signed the parking bill last year Longmont became the first Colorado city to eliminate minimum parking requirements for all future developments A similar proposal is pending in the Denver City Council A parking minimum standard designed to ensure there s enough spaces to accommodate a new building s users often adds to a developer s costs or limits smaller sites maturation possible Longmont was and is already moving in the direction of paving the way for additional transit and affordable housing opportunities which is what the law was aimed at Assistant City Manager Sandi Seader declared New construction is seen on Great Western Drive in Longmont on Friday Aug Photo by Matthew Jonas Daily Camera The contrasting strategies embraced by the two Boulder County cities illustrate the increasingly scrambled patchwork of approaches Colorado communities are taking to tackle the state s affordable housing problem which has put home ownership out of reach for countless young families A contemporary investigation determined that from to the median price of a metro area home jumped more than Though prices have come off their peak the median home in metro Denver in May cost according to the Denver Metro Association of Realtors That s about twice what a household making nearly a year can afford State lawmakers municipal authorities and advocacy groups across Colorado agree that something must be done to tame prices and increase the availability of housing units in the state But how to achieve that goal and more importantly who gets to call the shots is where deep disagreement lies It s less about the two specific bills it s more about the principle of home rule and about what the society s vision is declared Kevin Bommer the executive director of the Colorado Municipal League This comes down to who is in the best position to determine what works best for their communities State Rep Steven Woodrow who took a leading role in crafting the bills disclosed he understands the passion of city and town leaders who don t want to cede their land-use authority to the state But not enough has been done locally to alleviate a situation that seems only to worsen he stated We really don t have the time to take years and years in the courts while people can t afford to live here the Denver Democrat commented If these local governments were truly doing such a good job we wouldn t have this affordability predicament Pedestrians cross North Inhabitants Road from East Simpson Street in Lafayette on Thursday Oct Matthew Jonas Staff Photographer Resistance grows to state laws Aside from the half-dozen cities that filed suit against the governor last month Aurora Greenwood Village Glendale Arvada Westminster and Lafeyette several others have made it clear they assistance the legal challenge Centennial s City Council passed a resolution to that effect this month and Thornton City Council members expressed assistance for the lawsuit at a new meeting In Parker the Town Council passed two ordinances in early May zealously asserting the town of Parker s home-rule authority to chart its own subject on residential occupancy limits and ADUs The Douglas County suburb minced no words with its ordinances declaring that each supercedes and preempts state law Parker which has mushroomed from a population of fewer than in to residents last year continues to put up new housing It issued building permits for single-family homes in and another last year On the multifamily growth side Parker issued permits in and permits for the first half of Construction is underway at the Looking Glass expansion in Parker on Wednesday June Photo by Hyoung Chang The Denver Post State laws that foist more housing on Parker while jacking up the foreseen for more residents living in a house threaten to upset the town s painstaking long-term planning process Mayor Joshua Rivero reported Parker he disclosed provides for adequate housing based on the available support including water and increases in density can have a detrimental impact on those tools and the town s residents Its May ordinance on the accessory dwelling unit law bluntly states that town leaders have determined that Parker will not be able to provide the essential populace services necessary to serve one ADU for every single-family home in the town Not that there s any likelihood ADUs would ever be so widespread in Parker for example Denver issued just permits for ADUs over the last eight years according to an October story by Denverite In Lakewood Colorado s fifth-largest city the sentiment is less adversarial Roger Low a city councilman explained he was glad his city didn t join the lawsuit against the governor Instead I am proud our City Council is in problem-solving mode working hard with our constituents to draft a zoning update that will comply with these new state laws in order to make progress on our affordable and attainable housing goals he announced Lakewood plans to retool its zoning code this summer Low revealed the laws passed by the legislature in will serve as essential guideposts in addressing the metro s housing shortage which Zillow last year pegged at houses apartments and condos That shortage is driving rents up cost-burdening and displacing too various Lakewood families and directly fueling our homelessness emergency Low disclosed I have little patience with the argument that this is purely a local concern when it is clearly also an issue of important regional and statewide concern But Lakewood s efforts to comply with state law won t move forward unimpeded Karen Gordey a -year resident and a business owner in Lakewood organized a population potluck last week to let people know about the upcoming land-use updates She sees numerous of the proposed changes to Lakewood s zoning code as damaging to the character of the city s neighborhoods I m hoping we get enough of a turnout that they change their mind Gordey declared of the council That s what happened in Littleton in January when residents came out in force to push back on an effort by city leaders to boost density in the southern suburb They proposed allowing the construction of duplexes triplexes and attached townhomes in single-family neighborhoods but the City Council ultimately tabled the idea Rewind two years and the same thing happened in Englewood There an attempt by city leaders to coax the building of denser developments in the city which abuts Denver prompted recall elections Single-family homes line a neighborhood street in Littleton on April Photo by RJ Sangosti The Denver Post Give people more options Woodrow the state lawmaker noted local resistance to proposed housing solutions has had wider negative impacts ones that only state act can address Restrictive municipal zoning and land-use rules he reported have the effect of artificially suppressing supply and driving up prices fueling our affordability predicament While certain local governments have done great work and gone above and beyond other local governments have shrugged their shoulders and revealed Not in my backyard you can build elsewhere he explained So what we have are specific local jurisdictions shouldering an outsized share of the burden while others are saying It s not our obstacle State law Woodrow announced can act to take the pressure off of local governments and get the housing built Matt Frommer the transportation and land-use initiative manager at the Southwest Vigor Efficiency Project disclosed cities are going to have to do something to correct a concern that isn t going to just disappear on its own SWEEP a group that favors climate-friendly approaches monitors Colorado cities and what they are doing with their housing policies The housing situation is not new he explained Cities are feeling it were feeling it like six or seven years ago That s when we started to see all these housing necessities assessments What did they learn through those They don t have housing diversity in their locality and they need to allow more housing choices to lower costs and give people more options Frommer s organization points to a Keating Research survey conducted last year for Centennial State Prosperity a nonprofit organization that pushes for more housing in Colorado It located of respondents help the new state law requiring cities and counties to allow more housing near transit stops and shopping districts Related Articles Colorado cities sue Gov Jared Polis state to block housing reforms Metro Denver housing territory remains in holding pattern years after COVID- shock Gov Polis Dems on verge of a real step forward on housing as land-use bills sail toward finish That same poll also revealed of respondents backing Colorado s ADU law that goes into effect Monday The push for more housing options in metro Denver Frommer reported is starting to proliferate in the form of pro-housing groups which typically operate under the YIMBY moniker for Yes in My Backyard There are YIMBY chapters in Denver Fort Collins and Denver s northern suburbs One of late sprouted up in Arvada one of the cities that sued Polis last month over the state s housing laws All these groups are popping up saying Hey housing s too expensive I want to be involved in this Frommer announced That s going to put more pressure on elected authorities to respond A newer condo building built in a residential neighborhood near Canyon Avenue and West Mulberry Street in Fort Collins on March Photo by AAron Ontiveroz The Denver Post We know our communities best Bommer with the Colorado Municipal League has no matter with pressure being applied at the local level Housing and zoning guidelines he disclosed should be decided in city and town halls across the state not under the Gold Dome in Denver We spend all this time figuring out who gets to tell who what to do instead of spending time to solve the trouble he announced We have one more year with this Polis administration and I d like to see partnership rather than preemption Mangat Lafayette s mayor stated state legislative action on housing strategy feels like an out-of-touch attack on communities that are already working hard to address the affordable housing crunch We don t want people who don t come to Lafayette often telling us how much parking we should have the mayor reported We don t disagree with the mission and goal we disagree with the process and implementation of it We know our communities best Get more Colorado news by signing up for our daily Your Morning Dozen email newsletter