Opinion ID: 2636718
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The PUD Act

Text: In 1972, the General Assembly enacted the PUD Act, §§ 24-67-101 to -108, for the purpose of supplementing the provisions of [the Planning Act] ..., as the same relate to and authorize planned unit developments, § 24-67-107(6). The PUD Act grants counties and municipalities the power to authorize PUDs [i]n order that the public health, safety, integrity, and general welfare may be furthered in an era of increasing urbanization and of growing demand for housing of all types and design, among other purposes. § 24-67-102(1); see generally §§ 24-67-102, -104. As defined by the General Assembly, a PUD is an area of land, controlled by one or more landowners, to be developed under unified control or unified plan of development for a number of dwelling units, commercial, educational, recreational, or industrial uses, or any combination of the foregoing, the plan for which does not correspond in lot size, bulk, or type of use, density, lot coverage, open space, or other restriction to the existing land use regulations. § 24-67-103(3). We have described the PUD as a flexible zoning mechanism, not a zoning substitute. The rigidity inherent in traditional Euclidian zoning has led to its increasing supplementation with more flexible zoning devices such as the PUD.... Tri-State Generation & Transmission Co. v. City of Thornton, 647 P.2d 670, 677 (Colo.1982). In effect, the PUD Act allows for a unified plan of development as an alternative to traditional zoning requirements. Bd. of County Comm'rs v. Bainbridge, Inc., 929 P.2d 691, 708 (Colo.1996); see also Edward H. Ziegler, Rathkopf's The Law of Zoning and Planning § 88:1 (2009) (defining a PUD as a type of zoning that allows for more flexibility than traditional zoning). Accordingly, the PUD Act functions as a type of zoning regulation.