As used in this article 35, unless the context
otherwise requires:
(1) Accessible unit means a housing unit that:
(a) Satisfies the requirements of the federal Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C.
sec. 3601 et seq., as amended;
(b) Incorporates universal design; or
(c) Is a type A dwelling unit, as defined in section 9-5-101 (10); a type A
multistory dwelling unit, as defined in section 9-5-101 (11); a type B dwelling unit, as
defined in section 9-5-101 (12); or a type B multistory dwelling unit, as defined in
section 9-5-101 (13).
(2) (a) Administrative approval process means a process in which:
(I) A development proposal for a specified project is approved, approved with
conditions, or denied by local government administrative staff based solely on its
compliance with objective standards set forth in local laws; and
(II) Does not require, and cannot be elevated to require, a public hearing, a
recommendation, or a decision by an elected or appointed public body or a hearing
officer.
(b) Notwithstanding subsection (2)(a) of this section, an administrative
approval process may require an appointed historic preservation commission to
make a decision, or to make a recommendation to local government administrative
staff, regarding a development application involving a property that the local
government has designated as a historic property, provided that:
(I) The state historic preservation office within history Colorado has
designated the local government as a certified local government; and
(II) The appointed historic preservation commission's decision or
recommendation is based on standards either set forth in local law or established
by the secretary of the interior of the United States.
(3) Applicable transit plan means a plan of a transit agency whose service
territory is within a metropolitan planning organization, including a system
optimization plan or a transit master plan that:
(a) Has been approved by the governing body of a transit agency on or after
January 1, 2019, and on or before January 1, 2024;
(b) Identifies the planned frequency and span of service for transit service or
specific transit routes; and
(c) Identifies specific transit routes for short-term implementation according
to that plan, or implementation before January 1, 2030.
(4) Bus rapid transit service means a transit service:
(a) That is identified as bus rapid transit by a transit agency, in a
metropolitan planning organization's fiscally constrained long range transportation
plan or in an applicable transit plan; and
(b) That typically includes any number of the following:
(I) Service that is scheduled to run every fifteen minutes or less during the
highest frequency service hours;
(II) Dedicated lanes or busways;
(III) Traffic signal priority;
(IV) Off-board fare collection;
(V) Elevated platforms; or
(VI) Enhanced stations.
(5) Commuter bus rapid transit service means a bus rapid transit service
that operates for a majority of its route on a freeway with access that is limited to
grade-separated interchanges.
(6) Commuter rail means a passenger rail transit service between and
within metropolitan and suburban areas.
(7) County means a county including a home rule county, but excluding a
city and county.
(8) Department means the department of local affairs.
(9) Displacement means:
(a) The involuntary relocation of residents, particularly low-income residents,
or locally-owned community-serving businesses and institutions due to:
(I) Increased real estate prices, rents, property rehabilitation, redevelopment,
demolition, or other economic factors;
(II) Physical conditions resulting from neglect and underinvestment that
render a residence uninhabitable; or
(III) Physical displacement wherein existing housing units and commercial
spaces are lost due to property rehabilitation, redevelopment, or demolition;
(b) Indirect displacement resulting from changes in neighborhood
population, if, when low-income households move out of housing units, those same
housing units do not remain affordable to other low-income households in the
neighborhood, or demographic changes that reflect the relocation of existing
residents following widespread relocation of their community and community-serving entities.
(10) Light rail means a passenger rail transit service that uses electrically
powered rail-borne cars.
(11) Local government means a municipality, county, or tribal nation with
jurisdiction in Colorado.
(12) Local law means any code, law, ordinance, policy, regulation, or rule
enacted by a local government that governs the development and use of land,
including but not limited to land use codes, zoning codes, and subdivision codes.
(13) Metropolitan planning organization means a metropolitan planning
organization under the Federal Transit Act of 1998, 49 U.S.C. sec. 5301 et seq., as
amended.
(14) Municipality means a home rule or statutory city or town, territorial
charter city or town, or city and county.
(15) Objective standard means a standard that:
(a) Is a defined benchmark or criterion that allows for determinations of
compliance to be consistently decided regardless of the decision maker; and
(b) Does not require a subjective determination concerning a development
proposal, including but not limited to whether the application for the development
proposal is:
(I) Consistent with master plans or other development plans;
(II) Compatible with the land use or development of the area surrounding the
area described in the application; or
(III) Consistent with public welfare, community character, or neighborhood
character.
(16) Regulated affordable housing means affordable housing that:
(a) Has received loans, grants, equity, bonds, or tax credits from any source
to support the creation, preservation, or rehabilitation of affordable housing that, as
a condition of funding, encumbers the property with a restricted use covenant or
similar recorded agreement to ensure affordability, or has been income-restricted
under a local inclusionary zoning ordinance or other regulation or program;
(b) Restricts or limits maximum rental or sale price for households of a given
size at a given area median income, as established annually by the United States
department of housing and urban development; and
(c) Ensures occupancy by low- to moderate-income households for a
specified period detailed in a restrictive use covenant or similar recorded
agreement.
(17) Universal design means any dwelling unit designed and constructed to
be safe and accessible for any individual regardless of age or abilities.
(18) Urban bus rapid transit service means a bus rapid transit service that
operates on a surface street for the majority of its route.
(19) Visitable unit means a dwelling unit that a person with a disability can
enter, move around the primary entrance floor of, and use the bathroom in.