Great Divide Up-Zoning Request Reveals Ugly Truths About Form-Based Zoning
By Robert Davis
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Denver City Council approved an up-zoning request by one of Denver’s oldest breweries without a development plan or intent to sell its property – a move that revealed the heart of the disagreement between those calling for more affordable housing and local developers.
Great Divide Brewery’s request seems simple on its face but is highly technical. In layman’s terms, the business asked to be up-zoned from a special classification to the Downtown Arapahoe Square (D-AS) District. What made some councilmembers uneasy is that the request won’t change the functionality of the building but makes the brewery’s parcel of land more attractive to private investment.
Up-zoning is a staple of form-based zoning, which Denver adopted in its 2010 code. In essence, it’s supposed to cut down on design costs while maximizing a property’s value by adding additional height entitlements.
Meanwhile, councilmembers are required to approve re-zoning applications that meet the criteria for redevelopment, regardless of the project’s impacts.
Great Divide is currently zoned as a Planned Unit Development (PUD), a classification Denver added to the zoning code in 1995 to incentivize development outside of Lower Downtown and the Platte River Valley. Many buildings in the Arapahoe Triangle have the same classification.
The zoning code says the intent of the PUD district is “intended to respond to unique and extraordinary circumstances” where “multiple variances, waivers, and conditions can be avoided.”
By requesting a re-zoning to a D-AS-12+ classification, Great Divide must “provide a pedestrian-friendly transition from the surrounding lower scale neighborhoods to the high-rise scale of downtown.” according to the city’s zoning code.
The brewery currently satisfies this requirement because many of Denver’s affordable housing and homeless service providers like Denver Rescue Mission and St. Francis Center are nearby. Last week, Denver City Council approved funding for a development at California Street and 21st Street that will add 98 housing units for Denver’s extreme-low-income earners.
However, one concern offered by two Councilmembers – Debbie Ortega and Candi CdeBaca – is that the D-AS-12+ classification allows buildings to reach 20 stories with a slender point tower, a common characteristic of skyscrapers.
Further, by re-zoning out of the PUD classification, Great Divide won’t have to request City Council’s approval if they decide to sell their building, a move some fear could hinder Denver’s goals of developing affordable housing in Five Points.
“Right now, in a global crisis, during a global pandemic, this brewery could go out of business, and they might want to sell to a developer who will build a 16-story luxury development,” CdeBaca said.
Before voting on the proposal, CdeBaca created a minor controversy by asking for “council respect,” essentially saying the councilmembers should vote with her because the project is in her district. City attorneys at the meeting said they had never heard of this practice and told councilmembers to vote their conscience.
Councilmembers Jolon Clark and Chris Herndon made it a point to say their job is to review the criteria of re-zoning applications and pass all of the ones that meet the standard.
For Ortega, the request is part of a broader conversation Denver needs to have about how it manages its land.
“We have been rezoning property after property without development plans. If we want to see details that give us clear information, then we should go back and change the zoning. Until we change it, this is what we’re going to receive,” she said.
Ortega ultimately agreed to support the proposal, but that was only because the nearby Ballpark neighborhood is growing. She also hinted that if Denver had the right to own its land, requests like this would not pass the sniff test.
“I think we have to control the land before we’re going to see the results we want,” Ortega said.