Council adopts ‘Advancing Equity in Rezoning’ text amendment to Denver zoning code

Denver City Council on Feb. 3 adopted a text amendment to the Denver Zoning Code intended to “advance equity” in the rezoning process and to update staff procedures for community outreach, notices and staff analysis.

Council’s vote completed a multi-year project led by Community Planning and Development (CPD) that updated rezoning review criteria, clarified notice requirements and outlined new standard operating procedures to improve applicant outreach and equity analysis.

Brandon Shaver, senior city planner and project manager for the Advancing Equity and Rezoning Project, told the council the changes were intended to make the rezoning process more accessible and aligned with adopted plans. Shaver said the amendment preserves consistency with adopted plans while adding a narrowly drawn exception for “community need” that was not anticipated when a plan was adopted. He summarized proposed changes: simplify review criteria, change “public health, safety and general welfare” language to “public interest,” require a sign posted on the subject property within 10 days of application completion, and expand mailed notice to include tenants and occupants as well as property owners within the 200-foot radius used for protest petitions.

Shaver said the city will also implement a suite of updates to CPD standard operating procedures outside the zoning code: requiring applicants to begin outreach during the pre-application phase, updating public notice materials and guides, expanding staff equity and climate analysis in reports and starting templates for voluntary commitments to equitable outcomes.

Planning board chair Caitlin Quander and task force members who testified supported the changes and the public-engagement process that informed them. Quander, speaking as planning board chair, asked council to remain engaged as CPD implements operating-procedure updates and offered planning board’s help: “I would share 1 recommendation for all of us as, Planning Board will as well is to stay active and involved as CPD implements this particularly around the standard operating procedures,” she said.

Task force member Joel Noble, who served on the committee for three years, told council the changes are small but meaningful and urged adoption. Joel said the project should also allow people to sign up for project-specific notices and suggested publishing user-friendly, pre-recorded staff reports to make technical material easier for nonprofessional residents to understand.

Several public commenters praised improved tenant notice and urged CPD to continue work so that residents without technical expertise can access rezoning information. A virtual commenter, Jessica “Jess” Paris, criticized rezoning generally and warned of gentrification, while still supporting tenant-notification changes.

Council discussion ranged from technical (questions about shortening agency review periods from 21 to 14 days) to equity-focused (how to notify tenants, whether the new “public interest” language has legal risk, and how the city will implement the standard operating procedures). Jonathan Griffin, deputy legislative counsel, said replacing “public health, safety and general welfare” with “public interest” did not raise identifiable legal issues in their review.

CPD said the notice changes will use mailing-address data the city already maintains (per-unit addresses where available) and will continue to send notices to property owners. CPD attorney Adam Hernandez and city attorneys added language clarifying that mailed-notice failures would not necessarily invalidate a hearing when the city used the most recent address available.

The council and CPD clarified how the amendment will apply to rezoning applications already in the pipeline: applications with planning board hearing dates after the amendment’s effective date (Feb. 25) will be evaluated under the new standards; applications before that date will be evaluated with current rules or a combined approach described by CPD and city staff.

Council members praised the task force process and urged CPD to finalize and publish accessible guides, templates for voluntary commitments and tools so residents can sign up for project-specific notices. Councilmember Andy Alvarez noted the absence of many nonprofessional residents at the hearing and urged continued outreach. Council President Hines, who had championed revising the rezoning criteria, said the change corrects a mismatch between recently updated plans and older rezoning language.

The council approved Council Bill 24-17-97 on final reading with a unanimous roll-call vote: 13 ayes, 0 nays.

Ending CPD will implement the code changes after the ordinance’s effective date and publish the new guides and operating procedures; council and planning board members urged continued engagement and monitoring during implementation to ensure notices and guidance reach renters, nonprofessional residents and communities of concern.