Council hears state land‑use and housing law update; staff to pursue DRCOG housing assessment compliance

City of Englewood community development staff gave the council a broad update Monday on recent state land‑use and housing laws and executive orders that tie certain state grant funding to municipal compliance.

Brian Isom, planning manager, and Brad Power, community development director, described eight measures adopted in the 2024–2025 legislative sessions that require local code changes, reporting or housing planning. They also described two governor executive orders (May 16 and Aug. 13) that prioritize some grant programs for cities that comply with the laws. City Attorney Tamara Niles told council a lawsuit has been filed by several municipalities challenging the governor's earlier order; she said the case is pending and the lead counsel was not seeking additional plaintiffs at this time.

Staff asked council whether Englewood should pursue compliance with all, some or none of the state laws; Isom said the city risks lower priority for state grants if it is noncompliant. Power outlined three laws staff planned to focus on immediately: the sustainable affordable housing assistance law requiring a local housing needs assessment and housing action plan; a parking minimums law limiting local minimum parking rules for certain multifamily and mixed‑use projects in transit areas; and the accessory dwelling unit (ADU) law.

On the housing‑needs requirement, Power reported the city had submitted a local housing needs assessment (Root Policy Research, 2022) and received conditional approval from the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) on Dec. 6, 2024; DOLA indicated additional outputs were needed and gave the city until Dec. 31, 2026 to complete them. Power said Englewood can comply alternatively by adopting the DRCOG regional housing needs assessment, which was completed this year and would meet the state's requirement immediately if the council provides comments during DRCOG's 60‑day review window that closes Sept. 12.

John (DRCOG presenter) showed DRCOG's dashboard and said it produces city‑level estimates. DRCOG's analysis finds the Denver region needs about 223,000 housing units over 10 years, and that Inglewood's greatest need is in the 0–50% area median income (AMI) range (DRCOG estimate: roughly 2,040 renter units needed at 0–50% AMI for Englewood over 10 years). Power said staff's recommended near‑term step is to use the DRCOG assessment to meet the state's housing‑needs requirement while staff consider whether to keep or update the local assessment.

On the parking law, staff explained that the measure prevents municipalities from imposing minimum parking requirements for multifamily, adaptive‑reuse residential and certain mixed‑use projects in DOLA‑identified transit areas and that cities may adopt exceptions for projects over 20 units or regulated affordable housing. Power reviewed neighboring cities' approaches (Littleton has limited exemptions; Denver removed parking minimums citywide) and asked council whether to amend Title 16 to comply. Council members raised concerns about spillover parking and public safety, requested parking utilization data and zoned‑map overlays that show where the DOLA transit zones intersect Englewood zoning, and did not reach consensus.

On ADUs, Power said most compliance steps for Englewood would be minimal because the city completed substantial Title 16 updates in 2023. Staff noted they had requested an extension to Dec. 30 to finalize compliance and that most required code edits were largely definitional (ADU definition, setbacks, allowances in PUDs) or removing some design compatibility limits. Several council members said they supported moving forward with ADU code changes.

Council members pressed staff for additional detail: which state grants are affected, dollar amounts the city has received from those grant programs, the timeline on DOLA scoring, and a zoning overlay showing where the parking exemptions would apply. Power and City Manager Sean Lewis said they would gather grant inventory and dollar amounts from department directors and return to council with more detailed analyses. Several council members said they do not want to litigate the governor's executive order with city funds; the city attorney said other cities have filed suit and Englewood could consider its own legal action but the lead plaintiffs were not recruiting more plaintiffs.

There was no formal council vote on adopting or rejecting the state laws; council directed staff to return with maps, grant inventories, and more detailed timelines and cost estimates ahead of a follow‑up meeting scheduled for Sept. 8.