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Council debates switching park-dedication formula; consultant recommends population-based model
Summary
A consultant recommended replacing Cherry Hills Village’s land-based park-dedication model with a population-based formula (0.049 acres per housing unit). Councilors raised concerns about PUMA data, nonexistent housing types in the city, potential minimum acreage requirements, guest houses, and inclusion of trail easements.
Community Development Director Paul Workman presented Tischler-Bise’s update on the park land dedication and fee-in-lieu nexus study and described the consultant’s recommended shift from a land-based model to a population-based model using 0.049 acres per housing unit (0.037 acres parks + 0.012 acres trails). Director Workman said the City currently has 80.71 acres of parks and 25.02 acres of trails (a combined 16.3 acres of parks and trails per 1,000 residents) and staff showed example calculations comparing outcomes under the current and proposed approaches.
Mayor Katy Brown and other councilors pressed the consultant’s methodology and data choices. Mayor Brown expressed concern about using PUMA data that includes denser areas east of I‑25 and recommended removing housing-type tables that do not exist in Cherry Hills Village. She said the proposed per-unit factor would produce "0.049 acres of open space dedication [which] is useless," and asked whether a minimum-acreage requirement or a zone-sensitive adjustment (e.g., accounting for guest houses allowed in some zones) could be built into the formula. Council discussed whether trail easements or right-of-way improvements should be included in the calculation and whether the study should be expanded to support other impact fees beyond parks. Staff will return Council’s comments to Tischler-Bise and may bring revised results back for further review; depending on the scope of changes Council might consider whether to extend the moratorium on subdivision submissions that was adopted in December 2025.
The presentation included concrete examples illustrating the difference in fee-in-lieu outcomes: under one illustrative R‑1 scenario the current model would yield a 0.375-acre dedication or $375,000 fee-in-lieu, while the population-based model would yield 0.049 acres or $49,000. Director Workman and staff recommended proceeding with the transition to a population-based model but explicitly noted further refinement will be required to reflect Cherry Hills Village’s unique lot sizes and policy goals.
