Denver City Council considers plan to reestablish a modern Board of Adjustment for Zoning
Photo: Giles Clasen
By Robert Davis
Denver could reestablish its citizen-led Board of Adjustment for Zoning with a more modern and professional facsimile under a new bill being debated by City Council.
The new Board will still be responsible for reviewing zoning cases, handling variance requests, and enforcing penalties like its current iteration. But you’ll probably have to wear a suit and tie to serve on the Board now as City Council wants to raise the qualifications for its members. Denver’s land use committee voted on January 18 to move the bill to the full city council next month.
Councilwoman Amanda Sandoval, District 1, who is co-sponsoring the bill alongside Councilwoman Robin Kniech, At-large, said the plan is being put forth now because Denver’s zoning code has become increasingly complex since it was first adopted in 1924 and now requires a certain level of proficiency to review zoning cases.
One remnant of Denver’s old code that the City Council wants to modernize is how the Board defines “hardship,” a designation necessary to receive most zoning variances. Hardships are defined under the zoning code to require variances to ensure a development carries the same monetary value as its adjacent properties. City Council wants to relax this definition to provide protections for both unusual physical structures and circumstances.
Kniech said these criteria could help Denver preserve its historic homes, many of which have little-to-no chance of complying with current zoning ordinances.
“It’s an example of how our values are sometimes advanced by having some flexibility in these standards,” Kniech said.
The relaxed definition of hardship could also make it easier for the city’s Temporary Safe Outdoor Spaces to continue operating if the Board of Adjustment turns over its membership. So far, the Board has denied three appeals against the spaces. One of the denials was on a technicality since the Board couldn’t reach a supermajority to overturn its variance, as required by its rules.
The Board is set to hear appeals of Safe Outdoor Space variances in Lincoln Park and at the City-owned property at 3815 Steele St. near the Denver Human Services building within the next month.
Some community groups and neighborhood organizations have described the variances for these sites as illegal land grabs and have chided them for a lack of transparency into their operations. All residents of Safe Outdoor Spaces receive wrap-around services, can access hygiene stations, find free meals, use commercial and personal laundry units, and connect with social workers.
These groups have also argued that the variances stand opposed to Denver’s zoning code, as it is currently written. The plan to reestablish the Board of Adjustment is meant to provide some consistency in these situations, Sandoval said.
To help ensure consistency, the plan seeks to have at least one sitting member with expertise in architecture, administrative law, urban planning, or construction. All members would then be trained on Denver’s zoning code, legal procedure, and city planning processes, as well as federal and state fair housing guidelines. Members will be subject to ongoing training in these subjects as well.
Appointments would be split between City Council and the Mayor’s Office under the new plan. This is the same process used to seat members of the Board of Ethics Nominating, the Civil Service Commission, and the Citizen Oversight Board.
These proposals would bring Denver’s Board of Adjustment up to par with similar entities in cities such as Portland or Boston, according to a presentation given by the council members.
“What we want, and what we’ve heard consistently, is consistency for the community of Denver,” Sandoval said. “We have much gratitude for the current citizen Board members who have a very demanding Board and perform a critical public service.”