§ 29-35-201 — Legislative declaration

(1) The general assembly hereby finds,
determines, and declares that:

(a) Multifamily housing is typically more affordable than single-unit
dwellings. According to the American Community Survey, Colorado multifamily
units cost between fourteen and forty-three percent less to rent in 2019, depending
on the size of the building, compared to single-unit detached dwellings.

(b) Allowing higher density residential development is important for the cost
effectiveness and availability of affordable housing. An analysis of over sixty
affordable housing projects funded by the U.S. department of housing and urban
development in transit-oriented areas in Colorado since 2010 found that half were
developed at over fifty units per acre, and twenty percent were over one hundred
units per acre.

(c) Throughout Colorado, less than half of available zoning capacity is
typically utilized, and greater utilization of zoning capacity is necessary to meet
anticipated housing needs. Numerous factors currently prevent development from
fully utilizing available zoning capacity and allowed densities, including site level
constraints, financial feasibility and demand, and landowners' willingness to sell or
redevelop.

(d) Colorado has invested significantly in public transit in the last several
decades, funding over six billion dollars across eighty-five miles of new rail lines.
The investments will continue in the coming years with new bus rapid transit and
rail systems along the front range. Despite these investments, transit ridership lags
behind peer agencies around the country, due at least in part to a lack of density
near these transit lines. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the regional transportation
district had two and three-tenths rides per vehicle revenue mile on their rail system,
compared to over four rides per vehicle revenue mile for agencies in Minneapolis
and Portland and over eight rides per vehicle revenue mile in Seattle, according to
data from the federal transit administration's national transit database.

(e) Allowing higher density residential development near transit is important
for increasing transit ridership and improving the cost effectiveness of transit
services. Researchers have found that higher built gross densities citywide increase
cost-effectiveness for light rail and bus rapid transit services, as described in the
article, Cost of a Ride: The Effects of Densities on Fixed-Guideway Transit
Ridership and Costs by Erick Guerra and Robert Cervero.

(f) Most light and commuter rail stations and frequent bus corridors in
Colorado have lower housing unit density than is necessary to support frequent
transit. Based on 2020 census block housing unit data, over ninety percent of rail
stations and eighty-four percent of bus rapid transit and frequent bus corridors in
Colorado have less than fifteen housing units per acre on average within walking
distance. Researchers have generally found a minimum of fifteen housing units per
acre of built density is needed to support frequent transit.

(g) Living near transit, jobs, and services enables households to also save on
transportation costs by owning fewer vehicles and reducing fuel consumption.
Coloradans commute over fifty minutes to and from work on average, according to
the latest American Community Survey's five-year estimates. Analyses of transit-oriented communities have found that residents take an average of forty-four
percent fewer vehicle trips, according to the article Vehicle Trip Reduction
Impacts of Transit-Oriented Housing in the Journal of Public Transportation.

(h) In Colorado, households in more dense areas, which are defined as census
tracts with more than four thousand units per square mile or about fifteen units per
acre, drive twenty percent less than the state average, and higher density areas,
census tracts with more than ten thousand units per square mile or about forty
units per acre, drive forty percent less than the state average, according to data
from the 2017 national household travel survey;

(i) High transportation costs impact low-income households in particular.
Households making less than forty thousand dollars per year in the western United
States are spending over twenty-four percent of their income on transportation,
when spending more than fifteen percent of income on transportation is considered
cost burdened, according to data from the bureau of labor statistics consumer
expenditure surveys.

(j) In addition to saving on transportation costs by living near transit, owning
fewer vehicles and traveling to work and accessing services without driving or
driving less reduces greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, which impacts air
quality not just in transit-oriented communities but in greater regions across the
state;

(k) In Colorado, household energy demand on average is seventy percent
less for multifamily housing compared to single-unit detached dwellings, according
to the national renewable energy laboratory restock analysis tool;

(l) Scenarios analyzed for the Colorado Water and Growth Dialogue Final
Report with higher percentage of future housing shifting to higher densities were
estimated to achieve a total decrease in water demand between four and eight-tenths percent and nineteen and four-tenths percent;

(m) National studies, such as the article Relationships between Density and
per Capita Municipal Spending in the United States, published in Urban Science,
have found that lower density communities have higher government capital and
maintenance costs for water, sewer, and transportation infrastructure and lower
property and sales tax revenue. These increased costs are often borne by both
state and local governments.

(n) A study for a municipality in Colorado found that doubling the average
residential density for future growth would save thirty-one percent in capital and
maintenance costs over twenty years;

(o) According to a 2022 article titled Does Discretion Delay Development?
in the Journal of the American Planning Association, residential projects using
administrative approval processes are approved twenty-eight percent faster than
those using discretionary approval processes, and faster approval times reduce
developer costs and therefore housing costs. Studies have shown that
homebuilders, including affordable housing developers, will avoid parcels that need
to go through a discretionary process.

(p) Community opposition to specific affordable housing developments
frequently causes delays, increases costs, reduces the number of housing units
delivered, pushes siting of affordable housing to less opportunity-rich areas, and
prevents developments from occurring altogether, according to studies such as
Democracy in Action? NIMBY as Impediment to Equitable Affordable Housing
Siting in the journal Housing Studies;

(q) Researchers have found that upward mobility is significantly greater in
more compact development areas than in low-density areas, primarily due to better
job accessibility by multiple transportation modes, according to the study Does
Urban Sprawl Hold Down Upward Mobility?, published in the Journal of Landscape
and Urban Planning;

(r) Transit-oriented development, including connecting housing opportunities
and services with safe multimodal infrastructure and public transit, improves the
accessibility of cities for people with disabilities and those with limited mobility.
People with disabilities are more likely to live in households with zero cars, are less
likely to drive, and are more likely to rely on public transit or paratransit, according
to the 2017 National Household Travel Survey;

(s) According to the greenhouse gas pollution reduction roadmap published
by the Colorado energy office, dated January 14, 2021, the transportation sector is
the single largest source of greenhouse gas pollution in Colorado. Nearly sixty
percent of the greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector come from
light-duty vehicles, which are the majority of cars and trucks that Coloradans drive
every day.

(t) Motor vehicle pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions, does not
stay within the geographic boundaries of the local government where it is emitted;

(u) The greenhouse gas transportation planning standard adopted by the
transportation commission of Colorado in 2021 set a statewide target to reduce
transportation greenhouse gas emissions through the transportation planning
process by one million five hundred thousand tons by 2030; and

(v) The United States environmental protection agency has classified the
Denver Metro and North Front Range area as being in severe non-attainment for
ozone and ground level ozone, which has serious impacts on human health,
particularly for vulnerable populations.

(2) The general assembly further finds and declares that:

(a) The consequences of community opposition and local land use policies
that limit housing supply in transit-oriented communities impact housing options for
Coloradans of low and moderate incomes and workforce housing to support
employment growth. Increasing higher-density housing in transit-oriented
communities ensures stable quantity and quality of housing for everyone and
corrects policies that perpetuate segregated and unequal communities, reduced
mobility and long commutes, reduced options for older adults to age in their
community of choice, loss of open space and agricultural land, high water usage,
and increased greenhouse gas and air pollution.

(b) There is an extraterritorial impact when local governments restrict
housing development within their jurisdictions. The call for job growth in one
community that does not also address the need for additional housing affects the
demand of housing development in neighboring jurisdictions. In Colorado, the
number of jobs within large municipalities is generally correlated to the
municipality's transit service, and research has shown that regional imbalances
between jobs and housing have a significant impact on vehicle miles traveled and
commute times across jurisdictions, according to studies such as Which Reduces
Vehicle Travel More: Jobs-Housing Balance or Retail-Housing Mixing?, published in
the Journal of the American Planning Association. When people are unable to live
near where they work, workers have no options but to spend more hours on the road
commuting to and from work. The longer commute increases vehicle traffic and
puts additional strain on Colorado's roads and increases pollution.

(c) The availability of affordable housing is a matter of mixed statewide and
local concern. Therefore, it is the intent of the general assembly in enacting this
part 2 to:

(I) Provide funding for infrastructure and affordable housing to support local
governments whose zoning does meet the goals of this part 2, and to encourage
more dense multifamily housing development projects that can address the state's
housing shortage for all parts of the income spectrum, and support more fiscally
and environmentally sustainable development patterns;

(II) Improve regional collaboration and outcomes by reducing the ability of
individual local governments' land use restrictions to negatively influence regional
concerns such as housing affordability, open space, traffic, and air pollution; and

(III) Colorado has a legitimate state interest in managing population and
development growth and ensuring stable quality and quantity of housing for
Coloradans; and

(d) Colorado has a legitimate state interest in managing population and
development growth and ensuring stable quality and quantity of housing for
Coloradans as this is among the most pressing problems currently facing
communities throughout Colorado.

(3) Therefore, the general assembly finds, determines, and declares that the
lack of housing supply and unsustainable development patterns require a statewide
solution that addresses local government policies that effectively limit the
construction of a diverse range of housing types in areas already served by
infrastructure or in close proximity to jobs and public transit, along with a lack of
funding for infrastructure and affordable housing near transit-oriented
communities.

(4) Therefore, the general assembly declares that increasing housing in
transit-oriented communities is a matter of mixed statewide and local concern.

Legislative History

Source: L. 2024: Entire article added (see the editor's note following the part 2 heading), (HB 24-1313), ch. 168, p. 841, � 1, effective May 13.