File Photo by Philip B. Poston/The Sentinel
AURORA | Decrying encroachment on local control, Aurora lawmakers killed a measure last week seeking to align city building codes with two state laws intended to increase affordable housing — despite city staff and affected groups endorsing the changes.
“This is an attack on our home rule authority by the state legislatures,” Councilmember Françoise Bergan said in a study session May 19.
State lawmakers and Gov. Jared Polis passed several measures in 2024 aimed at increasing the availability of affordable housing. Some of the changes focused on increasing home density in an effort to bring down rental and purchase housing prices. Many of the measures were opposed by a variety of Colorado municipalities, citing zoning matters as a uniquely local issue.
Despite complaints then about eroding local control of housing and zoning issues, the measures were signed into law last year.
Aurora has already joined a handful of Colorado cities in a lawsuit against the state and Gov. Jared Polis after he announced that the state would begin withholding grant monies for municipalities that don’t comply with recent affordable-housing oriented laws, according to reporting by CPR news..
The issue of local control has risen to the top of legislative concerns recently with Polis vetoing a handful of legislative endeavors, sometimes citing worry over a loss of local control.
As part of a regular city legislative process, city staff propose changes in city building ordinances to align Aurora building codes with those mandated by the state.
One ordinance, killed earlier this week, would have aligned city law with the requirement that cities eliminate minimum parking requirements for multifamily housing within a quarter-mile of light-rail transit stops, called Transit-Oriented Developments, or TODs.
The other ordinance killed would have aligned city building codes with new state requirements, expanding the ability to create Accessory Dwelling Units. So-called ADUs are living spaces either attached to existing homes or garages, built separately in yards or even inside an existing home. So-called ”mother-in-law” homes are an example of ADUs.
The new state laws, taking effect June 30, expand statewide the ability for homeowners to create ADUs on their properties by allowing for regulated construction, regardless of some local bans or restrictions.
City staff, the city’s Planning Commission, queried residents and even groups representing area builders and developers endorsed the effort to bring Aurora code into compliance with the new state laws.
“The proposal is supported by several policies and goals of the Aurora Places Comprehensive Plan,” city building officials said in statements endorsing the changes.
The other affordable housing realignment ordinance, accommodating HB 24-1304, prohibits local governments from imposing minimum parking requirements for multifamily buildings within one-quarter mile of transit-oriented housing development, according to city planning documents.
Currently, Aurora requires 1.2 off-street parking spaces per apartment unit for multifamily developments, according to the packet.
Proponents of the bill said parking minimums drive up apartment complex costs by creating requirements to provide more parking than is actually needed. Critics, however, worry that without parking space minimums, parking lots will fill and nearby neighborhoods will be forced to deal with parking overflow.
The now-mandated parking-requirement changes would remove the minimums only in “Applicable Transit Service Areas,” allowing developers to set their own parking levels.
Public hearings and efforts to solicit comments from the public and builders netted no negative feedback about either of the proposed alignment changes, city officials said in background material.
Despite that, some city council members said the state should not dictate such building and zoning matters to municipalities, even if the changes align with existing city policies.
During a study session focusing on the realignment ordinances, city council members opposed to the state mandates discussed a strategy that could result in seeking court action to strike down the changes.
Advised by city attorneys, lawmakers agreed to move the measures to the city council floor and then strike the alignment ordinances down to facilitate a possible lawsuit.
During the June 9 meeting, that’s what the majority of city council did, voting 6-2 to turn back the alignment ordinances.
During the study session, City Attorney Pete Schulte explained that the city must abide by the new state mandates, whether they adopt the alignment ordinances or turn them back, unless courts back opposition to the measures.
Neither ordinance was approved June 9. There were two votes in favor, but it was unclear how each council member voted, as this information was not displayed during the virtual city council meeting recording, and the city clerk did not announce the voting results.
So let me try and get this straight. Polis and the legislature believe they’re free to ignore the Supremacy clause in the US Constitution on immigration and national security matters while at same time they shove their local land-use dogma down the throats of home rule municipalities like Aurora?
The audacity and stupidity of this state government is beyond belief. It seems Colorado has joined both the Confederate south of 1861 and the Soviet Republic of 1961. Both the Confederacy and Soviet-style central planning were epic failures of the first order — and our state leaders are following the exact same playbooks.
Colorado adopted home rule laws to give municipalities greater local control over their own governance. Starting in 1902, the state constitution was amended multiple times in response to dissatisfaction with state legislative interference in local affairs. We now see the same issues resurface as the super majority of Dems in the state legislature passed laws that preempt local control over land use, zoning, housing density, and other issues. I support the Aurora, the Colorado Municipal League (CML) and its other city and town members in pushing back against these illegal state mandates.
We bought our Forever Home in Aurora, in an R-1 zoned neighborhood ON PURPOSE. The now-trashy rental house across the street, privately owned when we moved in, has consistently had 7-8 vehicles associated with it since Governor I-don’t-care-about-your-rights removed the restrictions of R-1. This in a five-driveway cul-de-sac! Of course the slumlord could do something about this, but the money is all the jerk cares about.
We cannot ignore this pronounced unwillingness of Gov Polis and these other downtown judgment-damaged politicos forward march to disallow Aurora, or other home rule cities pursue their own interest of local governance. They would rather dismantle the goal of local control, and replace it with their forced rationed parking, less city park area, redoing zoning set-backs to move us so close to each other, no room for any access between buildings. It’s something they have convinced themselves with their ridiculous social engineering theory this signals progress. They want us to accept their notion what they describe as needed for a better society to fix all social ills and injustices and thus riding a bus will cover all the problems. This is the same bunch that can’t fix the potholes I-70 has had on the books to the Kansas border left in disrepair for years. Aurora council has a couple identical twins that oddly were omitted in this piece that buy into this same Polis thinking. One went to Paris, to learn best practices in some World-united neighborhood planning exercises. That was rich, about as good as this Polis idea.