Woodland Park planners review ordinance to align ADU and occupancy rules with 2024 state laws

Woodland Park planning staff presented a draft ordinance at the Planning Commission work session on Aug. 14, 2025, to amend the city code so it complies with two 2024 state laws: House Bill 1007, on residential occupancy limits, and House Bill 1152, on accessory dwelling units (ADUs).

Karen, a city planning staff member, told commissioners the city’s larger code rewrite is taking longer than expected and staff brought forward a focused ordinance so Woodland Park will not be out of compliance with state law. “I did have opportunity to opportunity to have someone from Nina’s office, review all this,” Karen said, adding the draft language has had a legal review.

The draft would remove the city’s definition of “family” and add the state-model definitions for “household” and “household living.” It also separates the existing single ADU definition into three clearer definitions: “accessory dwelling unit,” “habitable dwelling unit,” and “primary unit.” Karen said the changes are intended to implement the state requirements without waiting for the full recodification.

Key changes staff highlighted

- Parking: The draft removes the city’s ability to require additional parking for ADUs. Karen said, “what we cannot require anymore is parking spaces,” and noted that if an ADU is later used as a short-term rental, parking requirements in the STR code could still apply.

- Owne…