The state House Transportation, Housing and Local Government Committee on Tuesday passed the Colorado land-use bill 9-4, after a flurry of amendments reinstated many of the upzoning requirements that were stripped from the bill as it wended its way through the Senate. The bill now heads to the Appropriations Committee.
The committee also approved an amendment that would exempt college towns like Boulder from the bill’s prohibition on occupancy limits based on family status. The amendment allows cities that have a student population accounting for at least 25% of the overall population to impose occupancy limits. CU Boulder’s student population of about 36,000 makes up more than 30% of Boulder’s population during the academic year.
The bill, however, would effectively raise Boulder’s minimum occupancy limits from as few as three unrelated people to five. The Boulder City Council was already considering such a change this year.
In the last year, councilmembers updated laws regulating noise, weeds and trash in order to address nuisance concerns from residents who live in college neighborhoods, such as University Hill. Historically, occupancy limits have sought to achieve a similar objective by limiting how many people can live together, but with the downside of creating more insecurity for renters living in over-occupied homes.