This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at coloradosun.com.
DENVER | Colorado Democrats abandoned a pair of bills aimed at legalizing homebuilding on smaller lots, delivering a rare win to critics of the state’s steady push for more housing.
One measure, House Bill 1114, would have banned many local governments from requiring lot sizes that exceed 2,000 square feet, while the other, House Bill 1308, would have allowed developers to split lots in order to build two single-family homes on land initially zoned for one.
The proposals marked a new tactic in the state’s push to add density to Colorado neighborhoods and bring down housing costs. In recent years, lawmakers have passed a number of bills to push cities to zone for more multifamily housing, such as duplexes, townhomes and apartments. But housing advocates this session set their sights on a new goal: shrinking the single-family home.
The effort encountered fierce resistance from city officials across the state, who said they need the ability to limit housing density to prevent traffic congestion and protect limited water resources. Neighborhood groups in the Denver suburbs also pushed back, saying they should be able to decide how their communities develop.
“We need solutions that fit each community, not one-size-fits-all,” said Jody Nickerson, a retiree who lives in Lakewood. “Let’s keep the power to make decisions local so we can protect the character and quality of life in our neighborhoods.”
Both measures passed the House with overwhelming support from Democrats, but they lacked the support to pass the state Senate, which is more politically moderate. At the request of the bills’ sponsors, the chamber’s Local Government and Housing Committee voted in April to kill the proposals rather than advance them to the Senate floor.
The measures’ failure comes on the heels of recent local elections that have seen suburbanites reject efforts to encourage new housing. In November, Littleton voters passed a ballot measure that enshrined single-family zoning within the city charter and rolled back recent efforts to legalize duplexes and small townhome projects in more neighborhoods. And in April, Lakewood voters repealed four new zoning ordinances aimed at shrinking single-family lot sizes and allowing duplexes to be built in more neighborhoods.
“This is the state stepping in to override voters when it does not like the result,” Karen Gordey, a leader of the repeal effort, told lawmakers during an April hearing. “This bill tells our voters that their decisions can simply be overridden at the state level.”
Housing advocates point to studies showing that relaxing local zoning restrictions can lead to lower prices. And homebuilders say that when local rules prevent them from building on smaller lots, they’re incentivized to build expensive McMansions to maximize their profits, instead of multiple smaller homes that middle class families could afford.
“The truth is that when every locality has rules that restrict growth, the net impact of that is that costs just go up and up and up,” said Sen. Matt Ball, a Denver Democrat who sponsored both bills.
Kip Kolkmeier, the former chair of the Lakewood Planning Commission, said he learned firsthand how large lot size requirements affect the housing market.
He and his wife recently sold their ranch-style house in Lakewood. But, like many other seniors who attempt to downsize, they couldn’t find anything smaller that fit their needs nearby.
“We had to leave our community,” Kolkmeier said. “And I hear this story over and over and over again from folks.”
House Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell, a Republican from Colorado Springs, acknowledged that the small-lot homes envisioned by House Bill 1114 are rare in much of the Denver metro area — but that’s because local officials are designing their communities with their residents’ desires in mind.
“That’s why people moved there: They want those larger lots,” Caldwell said during a debate on the House floor. “Let them design their areas the way they want to.”