{"id":34226,"date":"2023-05-02T14:00:56","date_gmt":"2023-05-02T20:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/polis-land-use-bill-a-huge-disappointment-to-activists\/"},"modified":"2023-05-02T20:00:56","modified_gmt":"2023-05-02T20:00:56","slug":"polis-land-use-bill-a-huge-disappointment-to-activists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/polis-land-use-bill-a-huge-disappointment-to-activists\/","title":{"rendered":"Polis\u2019 land use bill a \u2018huge disappointment\u2019 to activists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"New
New town house construction underway in the Ivywild neighborhood of Colorado Springs in January 2022. (Dan Boyce\/CPR News)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Before it was subjected to hours of criticism from local elected officials, before it was trimmed then gutted by legislators trying to appease those same local officials, Senate Bill 23-213<\/a> was a ray of hope for many climate advocates in the state.<\/p>\n

Gov. Jared Polis\u2019 then-sweeping overhaul of land use policies was seen as transformative to many looking to reign in skyrocketing housing prices<\/a> \u2013 as well as to environmental advocates hopeful it would help Colorado make a state-sized dent in climate emissions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a major deal,\u201d said Matt Frommer, senior transportation associate for the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project. \u201cAnd I think eventually it\u2019s what we need to do as a state to fix the housing crisis and reign in sprawl.\u201d<\/p>\n

In its original form<\/a>, the bill would have forced local governments to allow for more residential density in many cities across the state and cut local parking requirements. That would be a big change for many Colorado cities that mostly only allow<\/a> sprawling single family neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

While the bill didn\u2019t win the support of every environmental advocacy group, it excited Frommer and his peers. They point to research<\/a> that says denser living leads to fewer emissions. Smaller homes require less energy to cool or heat, and denser neighborhoods typically require less driving and can make it easier to walk, bike and use public transportation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really can\u2019t meet our climate goals without land use reform,\u201d said Kelly Nordini, CEO of Conservation Colorado.<\/p>\n

But that reform bill is now a shadow of its former self, after Senate Democrats stripped out<\/a> the \u201cupzoning\u201d provisions that inflamed local elected officials who\u2019ve long held the power to make land use decisions and also worried<\/a> the bill could lead to displacement, water problems and changes to neighborhood character.<\/p>\n

\u201cAcross the board, gutting the land use bill is a huge disappointment,\u201d said Alana Miller, the Colorado director of climate policy for the Natural Resources Defense Council.<\/p>\n

Some 20 conservation-focused organizations on Friday sent a letter to legislators, calling on them to restore the bill\u2019s upzoning provisions in the waning days of the legislative session. That could happen as the bill moves into the House next week. But Gov. Jared Polis late this week seemed to suggest it may have to wait.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to make progress every year, is what I can say,\u201d Polis told Colorado Matters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe broad coalition for change is supported by the conservation community because data shows that policies will reduce pollution, protect our air, and natural and agricultural lands, and conserve water,\u201d a spokesman for the governor said. \u201cThe Governor is hopeful that any final policy that reaches his desk will make major progress towards achieving these goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Colorado
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis makes a point during a news conference after unveiling his balanced state budget proposal for fiscal year 2023-24 on Nov. 1 at the governor's mansion in Denver. (David Zalubowski\/The Associated Press)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Density is better for the climate, but some objected to the bill itself<\/div>\n

Colorado Communities for Climate Action, a coalition of 42 climate-conscious local governments in the state, did not support the bill.<\/p>\n

Its members weren\u2019t convinced increased density would help with affordability issues in desirable mountain resort towns and worried about its impact on water supply. They also thought the bill could actually result in more transportation emissions because it initially allowed for more density \u2013 up to sixplexes \u2013 across all residential areas in many jurisdictions, even if those areas were on the fringe of a given city and away from public transit.<\/p>\n

Coalition staff tried to convey those concerns in stakeholder group meetings last year that eventually contributed to the bill\u2019s drafting, said Jacob Smith, executive director of Colorado Communities for Climate Action.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut honestly, we made lots of recommendations and suggestions and none of them found their way into the introduced bill,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

The threat of state preemption of local land use authority split the coalition\u2019s members, Smith said. A more targeted approach, rather than the \u201csuper aggressive, sweeping\u201d initial bill, may have been more warmly received, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe governor thought he had the politics to get something really sweeping done and just kind of went for the whole thing,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThe politics clearly weren\u2019t there and there was clearly not enough investment in building the coalition.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill also did not have the support of the Rocky Mountain NAACP, which also advocates for climate action. The group\u2019s president, Portia Prescott, said the bill didn\u2019t recognize the fraught history African Americans have with density in this country \u2013 specifically being shut out of homeownership programs and being shunted into public housing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you say condensed living, that makes African Americans and a lot of us in our community trigger to Cabrini-Green in Chicago,\u201d she said, invoking racially segregated public housing towers<\/a> that the city neglected.<\/p>\n

Those towers were up to 16 stories tall, far taller than any mandatory upzoning would\u2019ve allowed under the Colorado bill. The governor often emphasized the bill\u2019s allowance of \u201cmiddle\u201d for-sale housing like duplexes and town houses, which he said could be used by young families to start building equity.<\/p>\n

But Prescott was skeptical that any new for-sale homes would be affordable in formerly Black-majority neighborhoods like Denver\u2019s Five Points, or that Black people would be welcome or safe in communities where new density would be allowed.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou live in a fourplex in Castle Rock or in Douglas County, you\u2019re still going to be discriminated against and you\u2019re still going to deal with the issues of policing and the over-policing of one or two Black bodies in that district,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

New density requirements should also have come with new state funding for public transportation, Prescott said.<\/p>\n

Climate groups hope bill is start of something bigger.<\/div>\n

The initial bill went big. And even though that version appears to have failed, Matt Frommer with SWEEP said it succeeded in shifting the conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cHad the governor\u2019s office just proposed something like allowing (accessory dwelling units), we would\u2019ve been fighting about ADUs,\u201d he said, referring to backyard cottages or \u201cgranny flats.\u201d \u201cInstead, it was a much more high-level and holistic conversation about zoning and its role in the housing crisis at all levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

He pointed to California, where state Sen. Scott Wiener<\/a> of San Francisco\u2019s initial big-swing attempts to boost housing production at the expense of local government power failed<\/a>. Some of those policies were later passed<\/a> in smaller bills, and Wiener continues to push for more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou really can\u2019t put the genie back in the bottle on some of this stuff,\u201d Frommer said.<\/p>\n

Nordini, with Conservation Colorado, said polling<\/a> suggests there\u2019s broad public support of the original bill\u2019s methods and goals. That support, along with the ever-pressing nature of both housing affordability and climate change, suggests to her that lawmakers need to keep pushing for a statewide approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now we\u2019re asking every local government on their own to do it on their own,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s not how you solve big problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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