2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 29 - GOVERNMENT - LOCAL (§§ 29-1-101 — 29-37-210) › IMMIGRATION STATUS - COOPERATION WITH FEDERAL OFFICIALS (§§ 29-29-101 — 29-37-210) › Article 37 - State Land Use Criteria For Strategic Growth (§§ 29-37-101 — 29-37-210) › Part 2 - TRANSIT-ORIENTED COMMUNITIES (§§ 29-37-201 — 29-37-210) › Section 29-37-201 - 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.
Added by 2024 Ch. 168,§ 1, eff. 5/13/2024.