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5. Community Examples

Local Government Fast Track Adoption

Access a list of Colorado local governments whose Fast Track Review Process has been submitted to DOLA, and have been verified as meeting the statutory requirements in Proposition 123. This list will be updated regularly as more communities across Colorado achieve this milestone.

Local government fast track policy adoption

5.1 Examples of Communities Implementing Expedited Review Strategies

While the communities listed below may not have adopted an expedited review policy yet that meets all the statutory requirements of Proposition 123, the examples below highlight examples of the strategies discussed in Section 4 of this Guidance, and may be useful references as Colorado local governments work to improve their affordable housing review and approval procedures.

 

Broomfield, CO

Broomfield provides an extensive amount of resources online, including applications, checklists, submittal guidance, and overall process workflow details. Additionally, the City and County offer a pre-application meeting with key staff for a developer to review their project and discuss requirements, process, and any “red flags” that staff may see.

Colorado Springs

The City has implemented a Rapid Response Team that serve as technical experts and liaisons for affordable housing projects that align with community goals. These experts provide guidance throughout the process to developers and other staff within the city.

Commerce City

The City has developed administrative and expedited reviews for certain community benefit projects including affordable housing projects that meet certain affordability thresholds defined within the policy document. The City has a seven week, two round review timeframe that includes four weeks for round one and three weeks for round two with the intent of reaching the decision making step after round two.

Denver

Denver has a dedicated Affordable Housing Review Team to prioritize, provide technical assistance, and reduce the overall review time frame for affordable housing projects. The team is composed of key staff from multiple city departments.

Fort Collins

The City of Fort Collins has a variety of online resources outlining application requirements, process flow charts, and policies on affordable housing project reviews. The City’s expedited process includes prioritization by staff to complete eligible affordable housing project reviews within two weeks for each submittal/ resubmittal.

Hugo

The Town amended their local regulations in 2023 to allow a variety of residential housing types through administrative review in the residential zone districts. This eliminated the need for special review of certain housing types that meet the updated dimensional criteria to allow for a variety of housing options within the town.

  • Strategies: Expedited Process (housing types as use by right in residential zone districts)
  • Reference: Town of Hugo website

Littleton

Littleton’s website includes online resources and materials to help a developer clearly understand submittal requirements, certification blocks and forms, and overall workflows. Additionally, the City offers a pre-application meeting that is required for most application types as a benefit to developers.

Multiple Communities

To offset staffing shortages or the need for technical assistance, many communities throughout the state use on-call contract staff. Contract staff provide unique insights and targeted support depending on the contract structure and need of the community.

  • Strategies: Contract Planning Support

Salida

Salida’s expedited review process incorporates administrative review in certain zone districts for affordable housing projects and certain housing types. Shifting to administrative review trimmed weeks from the overall process.

Steamboat Springs

Steamboat Springs has an entire webpage dedicated to application resources with policy guidance, application materials, submittal guidance, and process workflows. The City’s staff liaison structure supports and helps to expedite the overall review process for affordable housing projects. The liaison serves as a point of contact for the developer as their application works its way through the process. The City continues to evaluate and update their internal processes to further expedite the process for affordable housing projects. It has effectively reduced the average number of weeks for review and is actively working to further reduce, the target timeline for an application to reach the decision stage is 8-10 weeks or 56-70 calendar days.

Windsor

Windsor’s website includes a variety of tools and resources to help guide a developer in submitting a complete application including checklists, a concept review meeting process, applications, and submittal requirements. The staff level concept review process is similar to a pre-application process and allows a developer to have their concept reviewed and discussed by the Town’s development review committee.

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