Measure that would increase housing density near transit earns final Colorado Senate approval
(Colorado Newsline) The Colorado Senate gave final approval Tuesday to one of the most significant housing policies debated this legislative session. The measure would boost housing stock and increase allowable density.
House Bill 24-1313 passed on a 19-15 vote. It seeks to raise housing density to the tune of 15 units per acre close to bus routes, train lines and other transit corridors in the biggest cities along the Front Range.
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“Coloradans are begging for more housing, and there is no better place to build housing and increase density than near transit,” bill sponsor Senator Faith Winter, a Westminster Democrat, said in a statement following the vote.
The bill passed the House in April on a 37-24 vote. Democratic Governor Jared Polis supports the bill.
The now-passed bill looks very different from its introduced version. Through amendments in both chambers, it lost its most forceful — and controversial — strategy to ensure compliance: a plan to withhold tax money intended for highway infrastructure in cities that fail to meet density goals.
The bill still retains the creation of a new $35 million fund to support infrastructure in cities that work to meet density goals.
The watered-down version still earned no votes from four Senate Democrats.
“We are still preempting local governments and their authorities,” said Senator Rachel Zenzinger, an Arvada Democrat.
More ADUs
The Senate also approved House Bill 24-1152 on Monday night, which will allow accessory dwelling units on single-family properties to be built along the Front Range. That passed on a 20-15 vote.
Both bills now head back to the House for consideration of Senate amendments.
Both the density bill and ADU bill were part of a housing package born out of last year’s failed, massive land use bill that died on the last day of session. This year, lawmakers brought individual bills to resurrect some parts of that policy.
Polis already signed a bill to eliminate occupancy limits in the state, and a bill to eliminate parking minimum requirements in some urban parts of the state is headed to his desk.
The legislative session ends Wednesday.
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