Aspen complies with new state housing law — without compromising character

The Aspen Planning and Zoning Commission on Tuesday approved amendments to the city’s Land Use Code to comply with Colorado House Bill 23-1255, a state law prohibiting local governments from limiting residential housing growth. 

The amendments specifically address Aspen’s Growth Management Quota System, which has regulated the city’s development since its adoption in 1977. 

The proposed changes are now set to be considered by Aspen City Council for a first reading in November.

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The GMQS was created as a response to Aspen’s rapid growth in the late 1960s and 1970s. It set annual limits on the number of new homes, lodging, and commercial spaces that could be built to control development and protect the town’s infrastructure. 

“Aspen has not had to abide by other state initiatives over the years because of our home-rule status,” said Ben Anderson, interim community development director. “Ultimately, we decided to take a very targeted approach to maintain a lot of things that are in GMQS that are still the policy and outcomes that we are looking for as a community.”

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Anderson said that these changes will have minimum impact on Aspen’s character and affordable housing initiatives.

GMQS has been central to Aspen’s growth management policies, establishing quotas for different types of development to maintain the town’s community character and ensure that infrastructure could keep pace with growth.

In its current form, the GMQS allows for 13 free-market residential units, 112 lodging pillows, and 33,300 square feet of commercial space to be developed annually. Recent trends in Aspen, however, have shifted toward redevelopment rather than new construction, meaning that these residential allotments have been underutilized. 

Only 5% of the residential allotments have been used in the past seven years.

“If a home is being built on a vacant parcel, it does not receive an allotment,” said Aspen Planning and Zoning Long Range Planner Haley Hart. “We are issuing the allotments when we are creating new units.”

Anderson said that a lot of the lots that exist today already have an allotment attached to them.

“When the GMQS was created, a lot of studies were done for what was already here,” Anderson said. “If a lot is existing within Aspen, but has not been developed, that lot already has an allotment associated with it.”

He said the allotments are mainly used for new, multifamily units.

The passage of HB23-1255 in June 2023 required cities like Aspen to eliminate any residential growth caps in their land use regulations. The new state law is intended to increase housing supply across Colorado, in response to a growing housing shortage. 

Under the law, local governments are no longer allowed to limit the number of residential permits issued each year, making Aspen’s existing GMQS rules non-compliant.

To address this, Aspen’s planning staff conducted a comprehensive review of the LUC, focusing on the GMQS provisions under Chapter 26.470 and other sections related to residential development. 

The proposed amendments include the removal of the residential allotment table from the GMQS, as well as changes to Section 26.212.010, which defines the powers and duties of the P&Z Commission. 

“We are making these super minimum edits because it doesn’t create policy changes and brings us in compliance with the House bill,” said Hart. 

These changes will bring Aspen’s LUC into compliance with the new state law while still maintaining the city’s focus on managing growth and ensuring affordable housing.

Despite the removal of the residential growth caps, city staff determined that the change would have minimal impact on Aspen’s affordable housing mitigation efforts. 

“Within the house bill, there is an affordable housing provision in place,” Hart said. “The House bill itself is not touching affordable housing. It only impacts free-market residential allotments.”

The majority of affordable housing mitigation fees in the city are now generated through redevelopment projects, rather than through new residential allotments. This means that the city can continue to capture these fees without the need for residential growth quotas.

“Our growth management system is based on redevelopment or development. It is not based on the granting of an allotment,” said Hart. “Because there is that affordability provision in the House bill, it allows for our inclusionary zoning to continue to capture that affordable housing requirement.”