Re-Zone in Denver to Allow ADU

[Steven Tawresey]

Hey everyone. I know there are lots of question on this site about Denver zoning regulations and their allowance for an ADU and I figured I share my recent experience working with the city and my neighbors on a 'spot rezone' of my primary residence from U-SU-B to U-SU-B1.

I bought this house in West Wash Park about a year ago and did a major remodel. One of the things that attracted me to the house when we bought it was an existing 2 car garage with an unfinished studio space above it. My intent when I bought the house was to live in the primary while working to get the ADU allowed through the City of Denver. Yesterday, the Planning Board recommended the rezone unanimously.

Part of the discussion on the board was about the City's intent to remove barriers for constructing ADU's, while they work on regulations that allow them city wide. There was some hints that this was being worked on currently.

The process is not a simple one. You need to fill out an application and provide a lengthy documentation process explaining what your intent is, how that intent aligns with the Denver's Comprehensive Plan, Blueprint Denver, and Housing an Inclusive Denver. All of these documents can be found online and there are very specific portions of these documents that promote the use of ADU's as a gentle growth strategy that the city supports. My application, along with all the other spot re-zones, can be found online here if you are wondering what the documentation actually looks like. https://www.denvergov.org/cont...

This was a very contentious issue in my old, established, mostly well-to-do neighborhood. I had to do community outreach to my neighbors and my local Resident Neighborhood Organizations. They both vehemently opposed the application. I did have a decent number of neighbors who supported my pursuit, but Nimby's are a lot louder than people who generally think density is a good thing. One neighbor even went door knocking for signatures on a petition to oppose the change.

That said, the planning board heard my desire to finish the space, listened to the neighbors complaints, listen to the RNO's opposition arguments, and still voted to unanimously approve the measure. 

From here, I still need a number of approvals from Land Use and Transportation, the City Council, and eventually, the Mayor's signature, but I know having the planning board support the measure is a great first step. 

Anyways, I figure some of you may be interested in going through this process. Reach out directly if you have any questions. I'll try to update this as the process continues. 

Cheers.

[Steven Tawresey]

@John Driftmier, the process has taken me significantly longer than it could have. It has not been my number one priority. The city states that it should take about 6 months. Here is a link to the timeline... 

@James Carlson, my lot is 5,600sf but with my current zoning, It could be as little as 4,500sf. However, I think it would be difficult to build a functional ADU over a garage on that small of a lot since the building form for an ADU has setbacks and building envelopes that would severely limit the building size. You can see the ADU form standards for all residential zonings here on page 5.3-30 and 5-3.31. 

A few other discussion points that can be used if you or your clients are interested in pursuing a zone map amendment:

Traffic in the Alleyway: From the planning board (paraphrased): "The questions is not whether it will have an impact or not. It will. But the City has already considered this and developed Blueprint and Comp Plan to specifically promote ADU's anyways.

Noise: Any tenant or short term renter would have to abide by the noise ordinances already in effect. 

Public Safety and Welfare: From the Planning Board (paraphrased): "the alleyway is a public thoroughfare and the neighboring residents do not have an interest to protect. "Whoever walks down it, walks down it." The traffic argument was essentially thrown out as a result of that statement.

Comp Plan and Blueprint Plan Consistency: From the Planning Board (paraphrased): "There is no neighborhood in Denver that is not targeted for Growth. Even in low density residential neighborhoods, growth is targeted. The City put the verbiage in Blueprint Denver and the Comp plan to specifically promote "spot re-zones" by making it easier if the owner wants to pursue an ADU. The city council supports this aim as well."

Privacy: From the Planning Board (paraphrased): "There's a fine line here, but we do live in a city. Seeing and being seen is part of living in a city."

Existing Building: I also believe it helped me significantly that the building is already there. I don't think this would have been a deal breaker, but from the planning board "to have a building that already exists, that was built for human occupancy, but not currently used that way, seems contradictory to everything we're trying to do here in the city. If it walks like a house and quacks like a house, it's a house."

Attainable Housing as tool for Wealth Building: I will note, that I used this argument in my application documentation and there was unanimous dissent from the board that this point did not apply to my neighborhood and that it should only apply to low to middle income neighborhoods.