The Denver City Council land use committee approved a plan Tuesday to rezone the Sloan’s Lake neighborhood and part of West Colfax to allow for accessory dwelling units, colloquially called “granny flats.”

The committee approved the plan unanimously, passing it forward to the full council for a final vote and public hearing. The public hearing is currently scheduled for Aug. 9.

If approved, the plan would allow owners of all single-unit residential properties in Sloan’s Lake and six properties in West Colfax to build ADUs on their properties without asking the council for permission. Each of these individual rezoning requests costs homeowners $1,000 in filing fees, officials said. 

This rezoning would apply to more than 1,400 parcels over approximately 239 acres, according to Associate City Planner Libbie Adams.

“Legislative ADU rezonings not only save property owners time and money, but also benefit the city by being a more efficient use of taxpayer dollars than one-off rezonings,” said sponsor Councilwoman Amanda Sandoval when the proposal was first submitted in February.

An accessory dwelling unit is a small living area that shares a single-unit lot with a traditional home. This includes apartments in basements and above garages and small stand-alone structures in yards.

Sandoval said the council has received “numerous” rezoning applications from Sloan’s Lake residents in the past few years to allow for ADUs. In addition, homeowners from a block of West Colfax with the same zone district as Sloan’s Lake specifically asked to be included in Sandoval’s mass rezoning plan.

In August 2020, Sandoval began neighborhood outreach to gauge interest in large-scale rezoning to allow ADUs in Sloan’s Lake. She said 73% of residents support the rezoning, with 20% in opposition and 7% undecided.

These results are from a Jan. 8 survey, following two virtual town halls, two rounds of door-to-door flyering and sending mailers to each property in the neighborhood. The council has also received 38 letters from the public in support for the rezoning and only six letters in opposition.

The plan similarly received no opposition from committee members Tuesday; however, Councilman Paul Kashmann did request the city consider developing a branch of ADU zoning that would not allow the additions to be used for short-term rentals.

“I’m a long-time supporter of ADUs,” Kashmann said. “All of the plan support that I see for ADUs is to increase our housing stock, and I agree with that 100%. But I also agree with a lot of constituent voices I’ve heard that feel the short-term rental usage runs against the goals that we state in our plans.”

If the proposal is approved, the rezoned areas would still have to comply with 51st and Zuni View Plane restrictions. These restrictions limit maximum building height to 16 feet immediately east of Sloan’s Lake Park and 61 feet near Federal Boulevard.

This effort comes after Sandoval successfully rezoned the Chaffee Park neighborhood to allow of ADUs in November 2020 – the first neighborhood-wide rezoning in Denver’s history.

Current zoning regulations allow for one ADU per lot in approximately 25% of the city.