Fort Collins might just get its Land Development Code afterall. Just not their exact version of it. 

A sweeping Land Use Bill was recently introduced by Governor Jared Polis and state Democrats that would affect most cities in Colorado. The bill would direct local governments on how land can be used for housing.

This major legislative development out of Denver comes at a time when Colorado is facing extraordinary high home prices and a housing shortage. 

SB23-213, also being referred to as More Housing Now, directly mentions the housing issues Colorado faces in the bill. 

Section 1A says, “ Colorado housing is currently among the most expensive in the nation. In 2021, Colorado had the sixth highest median home values and the fourth highest median gross rent.” 

Similar to most stakeholders, such as the Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce and the Northern Colorado Board of Realtors,  Governor Polis has said that housing is a supply and demand issue. 

Polis’s Land Use Bill, which is sponsored by Majority Leader Senator Dominick Moreno and State Representatives Iman Jodeh and Steven Woodrow,  aims to increase the supply of housing not just now but for the future growth Colorado is expected to face in coming years. 

Colorado faces a shortage of housing especially when it comes to mountain towns where the ski resorts are located. Ski resort employees are often seasonal workers but their pay is not commensurate with rent prices, making it hard to make ends meet. This is also problematic for the ski industry because it makes it difficult to attract employees.

The bill is similar to the Fort Collins Land Development Code in that it encourages more variety of housing that will increase density. It allows for development such as additional dwelling units on single family plots of land.  It also allows for duplexes and triplexes to be built in single family neighborhoods.

The most far reaching aspect of the Land Use Bill when it comes to Fort Collins is blocking limits of how many unrelated people can live in a house. 

In other words, this would be the end of U+2, the housing rule in Fort Collins that says only three unrelated persons can live in most houses. 

Gover Polis’s Land Use Bill will have less than half the legislative session to get debated, amended and passed before the May 6th deadline. With Democratic majorities in both chambers of the state legislature and a large, diverse coalition supporting the bill, it is likely that it will become law.

This may be a blessing in disguise for Fort Collins and supporters of the Land Development Code. 

Developing ADU’s, duplexes and triplexes will take time but one stakeholder will almost immediately benefit from the demise of U+2: Colorado State University Students. 

ASCSU’s department of Housing Security has been working on overturning U+2 now for a number of years.

“We’ve hosted tie dye events, there was even one year where we were like 200-300 hundred signatures away from like putting it on the ballot,” Jorge Garcia, ASCSU Director of Housing Security, said. 

Despite Fort Collins’ reluctancy to change the U+2 rule, Garica said that efforts will be focused on lobbying the city to overturn U+2 instead of the state legislature, before the state legislative session ends on March 6th. 

“We honestly thought it was perfect timing to either put more pressure on the city, right, are we going to make the state step in or is the city going to do something good for our people,” Garcia said. 

The U+2 policy has been policy in Fort Collins since the 1960’s. The City has considered making changes to the policy on and off throughout the years. 

“I feel like for the first time too the city is willing to listen to us,” Gacia said. 

Regardless of who overturns U+2, be it the city or the state, the elimination of the policy would go a long way in freeing up additional rooms in Fort Collins, not just for students but for everyone who calls Fort Collins home.

“It’s not only  students now that are violating U+2, its community members,” Garcia said.

It is worth noting that U+2 was not included in the Fort Collins Land Development Code. There were no plans to revise the limit or to erase it all together, even though it is a major factor in housing in Fort Collins.