Arvada council questions state ADU, parking and occupancy mandates; legal review ordered

At a Jan. 13 workshop, Arvada staff presented amendments to the city’s Land Development Code to align the code with recent state laws on residential occupancy limits, accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and minimum parking requirements.

Rosalyn Thompson, the city’s principal planner, told the council the presentation grouped proposed changes into two categories: items required by state legislation and miscellaneous clarifications and corrections to the LDC. “The amendments to the Land Development Code, or LDC, in this presentation can be divided into 2 categories,” Thompson said.

The state statutes summarized in the presentation were HB24‑007 (residential occupancy limits), HB24‑1152 (ADUs) and HB24‑1304 (minimum parking). Thompson said HB24‑007 prohibits limits on who may live together based on familial relationship but preserves local authority to limit occupancy for health and safety under building and fire codes. On ADUs, she summarized that HB24‑1152 requires jurisdictions to allow one detached or conversion ADU, to permit administrative review, and bars requirements that the primary or ADU unit be owner‑occupied in perpetuity (with a narrow exception at the time of application). On parking, she said HB24‑1304 removes minimum parking requirements for new multifamily projects of 20+ units in applicable transit service areas after June 30, 2025, subject to reporting and other conditions.

Why it matters: council members warned the state…