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Committee divided over ADU rules after voters'backed charter language collides with state law
Summary
Members debated Section 65.5 and how a voter-approved charter provision interacts with recent state housing mandates (referred to as the Home Act). Some urged changing the charter date or clarifying language to reduce legal risk; others emphasized voter intent. The committee will forward concerns and options to council.
A lengthy and at times contentious portion of the meeting focused on Section 65.5, a citizen-initiated charter provision addressing accessory dwelling units (ADUs) that committee members said may conflict with recent state housing legislation (referred to in discussion as the "Home Act").
Reed and others warned the charter provision, as written, could prevent the issuance of ADU permits in many portions of the city and put Littleton out of compliance with state mandates. "There are repercussions that we are invited to think about," one member said, noting pending litigation in other cities. Some members favored a narrow remedial step—changing the charter's effective date to the date of the election or July 1—to reduce immediate legal risk while preserving the ballot outcome; others argued altering voter-adopted language would be inappropriate without further public process.
The committee did not produce a single recommended fix. Instead members asked staff to include the range of concerns and possible remedies (date adjustment, drafting clarifications, or leaving it to litigation/interpretation) in the package to council. Committee members emphasized that council and staff should explain legal risks and likely consequences to voters and that any ballot language should be plain language if changes are forwarded to voters in the future.
