Work continues at The Emerson, a high rise apartment complex under construction in Englewood, on June 20, 2023. Plans call for the 14-story building, when done, to have 264 market-rate apartments and 384 parking spaces, according to developers. in urban areas have served as a white whale for some in Colorado’s coalition of housing advocates and land-use reformers.
While some local governments — including Denver — have taken steps to roll them back, such changes often face passionate local resistance over worries about parking availability. And many local officials now are lining up against HB-1304, arguing it would take away their authority on the matter. Reformers also point to air pollution as a side-effect of accommodating cars on such broad expanses of land, as it encourages more driving, rather than alternative forms of travel like public transit.
It’s not just for housing, either: There are requirements for bars, restaurants, strip clubs, movie theaters and other places — all seeking to ensure that there’s space for tenants and customers to quickly get through the door. A newly laid and painted parking lot can be seen along East 56th Avenue near the site of a new FedEx building on July 13, 2022, in Aurora. The measure’s encroachment on local authority has drawn broad opposition from local governments. They argue the measure would strip away their authority while harming day-to-day life for their residents and pushing drivers toward a public transit system that hasn’t been adequately developed.
Eventually, the two sides settled on one spot per unit, LiFari said, and 116 new units were built. But the associated costs and space constraints meant 45 units had to be scratched.