Six “home rule” cities in Colorado are suing the state, alleging it has unconstitutionally usurped their local authority over land use and zoning as it pushes communities to allow denser housing development.
This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.
The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of an executive order Gov. Jared Polis signed last week to withhold some state grants from local communities if they fail to implement a slate of recent housing laws. The cities say the order encroaches on the powers of both the General Assembly and the judiciary to say what the law is and is “beyond the governor’s authority.”
The cities are also asking the courts to find they don’t have to follow two new laws approved by the legislature last year which require cities to allow denser housing near transit and to do away with minimum parking requirements for some new multi-family developments.
“We’re seeing a steady erosion of our citizens’ ability to have a voice in the communities in which they live,” Greenwood Village Mayor George Lantz said in a written statement. “The flurry of legislative proposals continually eroding our Home Rule rights applies a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach, removing all of their uniqueness.”
In addition to Greenwood Village, the cities of Arvada, Aurora, Glendale, Lafayette and Westminster joined the lawsuit filed Monday.
Lantz said the laws the cities are challenging prevent local governments from holding public hearings on dense housing proposals near transit. Local communities, the lawsuit argues, have a right to weigh in on how they develop and already have comprehensive plans on growth and development that have been vetted by the communities.
“For over 100 years, local land use planning has been left to residents and their locally elected officials, rather than the state,” said Lanz.
Polis has made housing affordability and increased housing development top priorities for his administration. In response to the lawsuit, his office told CPR News that the state faces a housing shortage and Coloradans are demanding action from their leaders to bring down housing costs.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis speaks to reporters on Thursday, May 8, 2025, during a news conference in Denver about what happened during the 2025 legislative session. (Jesse Paul, The Colorado Sun)“The governor wants to bring everyone to the table to help find solutions because this is a challenge that crosses local boundaries. It’s disappointing to see certain local governments that have among the priciest homes in Colorado use taxpayer money on a lawsuit that could go toward lowering the cost of housing. It’s clear this lawsuit is about preventing more housing from being built that Coloradans can afford,” said spokeswoman Shelby Wieman.
Wieman said the laws are a common sense effort to break down barriers to new housing.
“The governor is proud of this work, appreciates the partnership and collaboration with so many local governments, and looks forward to seeing its impact in communities across the state. We are confident a court will rule in the state’s favor.”
The lawsuit is just the latest twist in the increasingly confrontational push and pull between the state and some local communities on housing.
On Friday, Polis signed an executive order requiring local governments to show that they’re enacting recently passed housing laws in order to be eligible for more than a $100 million in state grants for things like transportation and energy.
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Polis has consistently asserted that the state has authority to regulate in this area.
“Housing is an interjurisdictional regional issue,” he told CPR News on Friday, ahead of the executive order. “That’s why it’s an issue of state concern. What one community does affects housing prices in other communities because people have a choice of where to live.”
Polis noted that a 20-minute commute in the Denver metro area can potentially cross 14 jurisdictions, “so it’s really about how we address this as a state.”
He said local communities should be following state law.
The housing policies targeted in the lawsuit have been championed by the Polis administration as well as some Democrats at the statehouse as a way to increase the amount of housing available and to slow the rise in housing costs.
But some local governments have pushed back, with some saying they do not intend to follow the new laws.
“Colorado municipalities will not be bullied by an administration and legislature that gives lip service to local control but does not understand or respect home rule authority,” said Kevin Bommer, head of the Colorado Municipal League, in a news release responding to the lawsuit.
Bommer also blasted Polis for Friday’s executive order, saying the state would be better served to work with local governments, rather than trying to preempt them. He argued Colorado municipalities have been leaders and innovators on housing and land use issues for decades, while listening to their residents on how they want their own communities to grow and provide services.
“The last three legislative sessions could have been spent working to solve housing shortages. Instead, the dogged insistence on telling local leaders what is best for their communities – followed by this weird flex of threatening to withhold grant funds – has been a greater detriment to building more housing than has market conditions, inflation, and all the other factors that Colorado has experienced.”
The housing laws at stake
While Polis’s executive order requires cities to comply with more than a half dozen recent laws to keep receiving state funding, the new lawsuit takes aim at two in particular.
One law would allow new multi-family developments near transit hubs to include fewer off-street parking spaces per unit than cities have traditionally allowed. Backers of the policy argue that requiring parking essentially subsidizes sprawl and drives up costs for developments, to the point where some projects may be financially unviable.
But in the lawsuit, cities pushed back, arguing new buildings with few parking spots would negatively impact their communities.
“Especially in Arvada’s Olde Town area, despite having dedicated garage and lo parking, Arvada continues to struggle with parking availability and often faces shortages,” the lawsuit notes in one example.
In the lawsuit, the cities said they have important reasons for requiring parking, with Glendale describing properly managed parking as “essential to ensure the health, safety and welfare of both Glendale’s residents and its substantial business community.”
Glendale said if residential developments lack sufficient parking, residents will just park in commercial lots, causing conflicts with local businesses.
The other law centers on denser housing near transit. It requires cities to allow up to 40 units per acre on lots near transit hubs, a density similar to the condo developments that have grown up in parts of northwest Denver. Cities also could also fulfill the mandate by concentrating even denser development in smaller areas.
Thirty-two local governments along the Front Range are covered by the law. Backers say Coloradans are begging for more housing and there is no better place to increase density than near transit, allowing those residents to get around without cars.
But Lanz said the communities in the lawsuit disagree that upzoning will bring housing costs down or boost ridership on RTD.
“Affordable housing requires subsidization and the low ridership on RTD is not going to be fixed by zoning,” he said.
This story was produced by the Capitol News Alliance, a collaboration between KUNC News, Colorado Public Radio, Rocky Mountain PBS and The Colorado Sun, and shared with Rocky Mountain Community Radio and other news organizations across the state. Funding for the Alliance is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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