Thornton Council backs staff pursuit of Housing Choice code and policy changes, including expedited review tied to state incentive

City planning staff and their consultants briefed Thornton City Council on a Housing Choice initiative that bundles policy, process and code changes aimed at expanding attainable and affordable housing options.

"Since that time, staff's undertaken interviews with council along with the planning commission, stakeholder groups..." Planning Director Mike Garrett told the council, describing outreach to developers, nonprofits and residents and the project's organization into near-, mid- and long-term actions.

Near-term items emphasized by staff include a housing policy framework that defines tiers of affordability and a fast-tracked permitting process required by Prop 1 23. Staff explained the expedited review would create a 90-day administrative-review cap for qualifying affordable housing projects, accompanied by front-loaded pre-application work, a special checklist and a dedicated affordable-housing team to shepherd projects through the city permitting steps.

Erin Regalski, a city planner, told the council the expedited review would likely require staff resources: "...with an expedited process, it usually requires staff who are able to expedite that process," she said, listing front-loaded pre-application coordination, shorter internal review times and concurrent reviews as possible components.

Staff also presented policy options such as land disposition for top-tier affordable projects, fee-rebate models tied to demonstrated affordability, and code amendments that could allow small-scale residential products, cottage housing by-right in some districts, and a density-bonus program linked to affordability tiers. Garrett noted some fee-waiver approaches are constrained by enterprise-fund structures and would need additional legal and financial analysis.

Council members asked how the plan would translate into 2027 budget requests, whether market-rate products could count toward state incentives, and how the city would make the development environment attractive to small builders and infill projects. The consultants and staff said many implementation costs will be routed through department budgets and SPOT teams, and that the state incentive program could advantage communities that have approved expedited-review processes and documented priorities.

After discussion and a series of clarifying exchanges, the council signaled consensus to direct staff to pursue the policies and code changes with the feedback provided and to bring back draft code language and a resolution for review prior to adoption.

No formal ordinance vote was taken at the briefing; staff said code amendments and the resolution will be returned for later action.