“Most zoning code changes are esoteric, relatively minor, and don’t elicit much public interest. Just the phrase “zoning code changes” is probably making your eyelids heavy. But this year was a little different. In late June, Denver City Council approved a major change to the city’s affordable housing zoning code by reducing the minimum parking requirements. More than 70 nonprofits and businesses expressed support for the change, as did the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, Division of Housing. The bundle passed unanimously. And it’s expected to have some major, positive implications for affordable housing in the city.
But, first, let’s back up and explain why parking is eliciting so much excitement.
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RTD’s report was bolstered by a second study, released in February by Shopworks Architecture, a Denver-based firm that focuses on affordable housing projects, and Fox Tuttle Transportation Group, a transportation planning and engineering company in Denver. The audit of affordable (for people earning 30 to 60 percent AMI) and permanent supportive housing (zero to 30 percent AMI) properties found that, in general, Denver’s zoning code required 5.5 times more parking than was needed. “I would love for any decision-makers or staff members or other consultants to see that we need to build these projects to actually serve the folks who are wanting and needing to be in these homes,” says Cassie Slade, principal and part-owner of Fox Tuttle. “The data drives better decisions to really overcome our entire community’s problem of not having enough affordable housing.”
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The change is having an immediate impact: Charity’s House Apartments, a supportive housing complex in Five Points that Shopworks is involved with and had been halted for at least six months due to parking issues, is now able to break ground.”
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Singer, Daliah. 5280 Magazine 11 July 2021.