Aug
4
Downzoning northwest Denver is contrary to sustainable development goals
Filed Under Colorado, Denver, Denver zoning code | Leave a Comment
City planners are seeking to slam the brakes on duplex development in the Berkeley neighborhood of northwest Denver by simply downzoning the whole area. But the fact is that duplexes play an important role in both the ongoing demographic shift from the suburbs back into the city, and in the organic development of Berkeley into an ever more dynamic, walkable and desirable neighborhood.
In June, the first draft of Denver’s new zoning code was introduced to the tax-paying public. Under the draft code, Berkeley–along with a significant portion of the rest of northwest Denver–is to be re-zoned from R-2 (which depending on lot size, allows for multi-family construction) to an “Urban” district neighborhood with a “Single Unit” designation.
“In the future, only single-unit structures will be allowed in any Single-Unit zone district after the new code is adopted” wrote Denver City Councilman Rick Garcia, commenting on the draft code in the North Denver News.
But it’s not as though the entire Berkeley neighborhood is in danger of being bulldozed for duplex development. The ability to build and sell duplexes profitably is constrained already by lot size requirements and land prices.
Many of the houses that have been torn down to make way for duplex construction have either been uninhabitable, or simply outlived their useful life. The new, large and often quite nice duplexes built in their place simply satisfy the lifestyle choices of fairly affluent contemporary home buyers who want to live in a Denver urban core neighborhood, but demand the square footage and amenities (master suite, home office, etc.) that before were mostly available only in suburban neighborhoods.
Some complaints about duplexes are valid; that they’re too big, and block out the potential solar access of adjacent houses. Fair enough, but those same complaints are also often made about new single family construction. Such issues can be mitigated with some basic design standards. City planners claim to already be working on such standards for single family building, so why not simply include some design standards for duplexes?
More importantly, duplex development has helped pave the way for developers to test the waters of new single family construction in Berkeley. For instance, developer Bruce Prior has recently been building (and selling) highly attractive Craftsman style single family homes on large lots in Berkeley. If this movement proves to make economic sense, we should see a market-driven–rather than a government mandated–move away from duplexes and towards new single family construction.
The proposed blanket downzoning of Berkeley is an arbitrary ban on housing choice that is at odds with the vision for the Tennyson Street Corridor (Tennyson Street between 38th and 46th avenues) as Berkeley’s “pedestrian friendly” business district.
Among other things, “pedestrian friendly” development assumes that people who live within walking distance of Tennyson will help support that development. But downzoning puts up artificial barriers to sustainable growth, meaning that as Tennyson Street seeks to continue its development, the number of neighbors within walking distance will remain roughly the same.
“The proposed zoning moves in the direction of freeze-drying our neighborhoods, as if they are already the best that they can be.” says Denver architect Michael Knorr. “This only stifles new ideas and discourages monetary investment. It will limit the number and diversity of people attracted to our redeveloping neighborhoods,” continues Knorr.
Put another way, simply downzoning Berkeley and most of the rest of northwest Denver flies in the face of the sustainable and contextual development that the designers of the new zoning code claim to want to encourage. The new code should empower property owners at least as much as it empowers planners, regulators and politicians. We aren’t there yet.
The website for the new zoning code is www.newcodedenver.org. It is interactive, and public comment is being taken for the next draft of the code.
Aug
3
Why Denver’s new zoning code should allow accessory dwelling units (granny flats)
Filed Under Denver, Denver zoning code | Leave a Comment
Under the current Denver zoning code, I could scrape off my little house in the Berkeley neighborhood of northwest Denver and build a duplex on my double lot (6,250 square feet). But I can’t build a detached accessory dwelling unit (granny flat or carriage house) on the back of my property. Under the proposed new Denver zoning code, I can’t do either. In other words, the proposed zoning code is even more hostile to property rights than the existing one.
From the July 15 Denver Daily News, my piece on why I should be able to build an accessory dwelling unit on my property.
Under Denver’s current clunky, antiquated and bureaucrat-friendly zoning code, the construction of accessory dwelling units (ADUs, also know as granny flats or carriage houses) is not allowed in Denver neighborhoods.
But in June, and with remarkably little media attention, city planners introduced the first draft of Denver’s new zoning code that quite smartly allows ADUs again, but only in certain parts of Denver.
One big problem though: As currently written, the new code doesn’t allow ADUs in my part of town, the Berkeley neighborhood in northwest Denver.
This is a big mistake that needs to be remedied.
Under the draft code, Berkeley — along with a significant portion of the rest of northwest Denver — is being re-zoned from R-2 (which, depending on lot size, allows for multi-family construction) to an “Urban Single Unit” neighborhood designation that allows single family detached housing only. In other words, no more duplexes, and more significantly, no granny flats allowed.
But that the new zoning coded denies the option of ADUs to Berkeley residents, as well as other areas of Denver, defies logic and flies in the face of the sustainable and contextual development that the new zoning code is supposed to be encouraging.
For example, my wife and I could only afford to live in Berkeley by buying an 800 square foot “fixer-upper” with no garage and no closet space (in other words, a house that has outlived its useful life) that happens to sit on a large (double) lot. We love it here. According to WalkScore.com, my little Berkeley shack has a “walk score” of 92 (probably a bit inflated, but still great), making it a “walkers’ paradise.” There are numerous other properties like ours scattered throughout Berkeley. Since we can’t (yet) afford to tear down our house and build something that better suits our tastes and lifestyle, being able to build an accessory dwelling unit that could be used as a home office or extra living space, or a garage with a studio on top, would be an excellent and economical way to add both square footage and value to our property.
John Norquist, president of the Congress for the New Urbanism (www.cnu.org), which promotes “walkable, neighborhood-based development as an alternative to sprawl,” was surprised to learn that the draft Denver code denies ADUs in Berkeley and in other Denver neighborhoods. By allowing ADUs, “Denver can grow gracefully, as an American you should be able to put a small house on your lot so a relative or caretaker can live there,” said Norquist.
Moreover, denying ADUs in Berkeley is at odds with the ongoing development of the Tennyson Street Corridor (Tennyson Street between 38th and 46th avenues) as Berkeley’s “pedestrian friendly” business district. Among other things, “pedestrian friendly” development requires that people who live within walking distance of Tennyson Street (for the sake of argument, lets say five or six blocks on either side) will actually be among the pedestrians who support the Tennyson Street businesses. Yet the re-zoning of Berkeley puts up artificial barriers that ensure the density of the neighborhood never really increases, despite market demands for housing choices. Meaning that as Tennyson Street seeks to continue its development, the number of neighbors within walking distance available to support that development will remain roughly the same.
Walkable communities require market-driven density to flourish, and accessory dwelling units can help achieve just that. Or as Norquist put it, ADUs allow the neighborhood to “have more people without actually feeling like a denser neighborhood.”
Through a combination of changing demographics, entrepreneurial efforts and free-market dynamics, the Berkeley neighborhood has been developing into an ever-more vibrant, walkable and desirable area. But by first down-zoning Berkeley to single family only, then denying ADUs to the area, Denver’s new zoning code seeks to slam the door on housing choice in Berkeley, thus diminishing the future prospects for sustainable development in the neighborhood.
The Web site for the new zoning code is www.newcodedenver.org. It is interactive, and public comment is being taken for the next draft of the code.
Don’t let city planners and politicians deny you the ability and freedom to develop your property in a way that suits your own tastes and lifestyle choices, while adding value to both your own property and the neighborhood at large. The new code should empower property owners at least as much as it empowers city bureaucrats.