Development news from Community Planning and Development (CPD)

In this issue, you will find:

• Proposal to expand housing affordability moves forward
• 2022 building code adoption continues
• We're hiring! Explore a new career with competitive pay and great benefits
• Anticipate plan review times using our online dashboard
• Denver Landmark Preservation receives 2022 Stephen H. Hart Award
• ICYMI: Recaps from our last newsletter

Ensuring that as new homes are built, more affordable homes are built too

On March 30, the Expanding Housing Affordability project released an updated policy proposal, which addresses community feedback received in the latest comment period. To see what’s changed in the latest version, visit the project webpage. 

The proposal is now being reviewed by City Council's Land Use, Transportation & Infrastructure (LUTI) committee. This follows an April 6 public hearing before the Denver Planning Board in which the Board unanimously approved the changes in the proposal that would impact the Denver Zoning Code (DZC). These changes include the proposal's zoning incentives as well as the 38th and Blake rezoning, which is necessary to bring the pilot approach used in that area into the proposed new citywide policy.

If approved in LUTI, the next step for the proposal will be a public hearing before Denver City Council expected in June.

The city's proposal balances the immediate need for affordable units with the need to provide adequate time for existing projects to move through development permitting under today’s regulations and linkage fee schedules. 

Projects subject to a Site Development Plan (SDP) review can continue under existing rules if they have:

• a concept site plan submitted by June 30, 2022; 
• AND a final SDP approved by August 30, 2023 (14-month window). 

SDP projects also subject to Large Development Review (LDR) or subdivision requirements have until December 31, 2023 (18-month window) to have a final SDP approved. 

Projects under residential review (one or two units or small additions to such units that are not subject to SDP review) can continue under existing rules if they have:

• a building permit and plan review fees submitted by June 30, 2022; 
• AND a building permit issued by December 31, 2022 (6-month window). 

To improve transparency standards, the city has included reporting requirements in the Expanding Housing Affordability proposal. The proposal will require the city to monitor and report on the following:

• the number of concept and formal site development plans that were submitted before June 30, 2022,
• typical review times, and
• number of resubmittals.

Using this information, the city will monitor the impact of review timeframes and determine whether an extension to effective dates or another solution is warranted in the future.

The City and County of Denver is adopting a new building and fire code, which will incorporate the 2021 series of international codes, as well as advance the voluntary 2019 Denver Green Code. The city is considering amendments to the 2021 international codes to ensure they work for Denver’s specific climate and context. We will also take a look at our existing Denver amendments with the goal of eliminating unnecessary sections, jargon, and complexity.

Visit the code adoption webpage for an overview of this process and to...

• download and review all public code amendments submitted for consideration,
• join code committee meetings (or watch replays),
• access additional webinars,
• and more.

We're currently hiring for 50 positions across the department

Explore a new career with competitive pay and great benefits. Denver Community Planning and Development is hiring for a number of positions across multiple workgroups.

From plan reviewers to inspectors, we have a variety of job openings for all levels of experience and expertise. Please share these postings with your family and friends.

Search all open positions >>

Anticipate your review time using the plan review times dashboard

The ability to estimate permitting timelines is an important factor in managing your project. Since actual review times vary by volume of projects received and staffing capacity, static due dates will soon no longer be available in e-permits.

Rather, to provide customers with the ability to estimate permitting timelines more accurately, we have developed an interactive dashboard for average plan review times. The dashboard allows customers to view rolling 30-day average review times, individual reviewing disciplines, and total average duration from permit application to approval. Data is refreshed daily.

Bookmark the dashboard >>

Denver Landmark Preservation receives 2022 Stephen H. Hart Award

Each year, History Colorado presents Stephen H. Hart Awards for Archaeology and Historic Preservation (named for Colorado's first State Historic Preservation Officer) to recognize organizations and individuals who have made significant contributions to the fields of archaeology and historic preservation in Colorado.

This year, Denver Landmark Preservation, Historic Denver, and neighborhood advocates including Felix Herzog and Cathy Prieto received the "State Historic Preservation Officer Award" for the La Alma Lincoln Park Historic Cultural District designation. The La Alma Lincoln Park designation was one of only five projects from around the state chosen to receive this prestigious award.

Watch the awardee video (~3 minutes, opens in YouTube)

See the full list of award winners >>

ICYMI:

Recaps from our last newsletter

• The Denver Planning Board has vacancies and is actively seeking applicants for these seats. Learn more and apply >>

• Over the past two years, services offered at the our customer counter have changed and we would like your input on the future of our counter operations. Please take a brief survey to let us know what you think. (~5 min)

• As the 2022 Denver Building and Fire Code adoption process continues, multiple proposals to address climate concerns have been introduced. Denver's Department of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency has detailed several that they believe could accomplish more than 90% of what it will take to have Denver on the path to Net Zero Energy by 2030.

• Landmark Preservation webinar series continues! View the full series and watch past webinars >>