House Bill 26-1001, misleadingly named the “HOME Act,” is heading to the House Transportation, Housing and Local Government Committee on Tuesday, February 3rd. The Colorado Union of Taxpayers strongly opposes this legislation, which would exempt certain housing developments from local zoning rules and remove citizens’ ability to have a voice in what gets built in their own neighborhoods.
Denver7 featured the Colorado Union of Taxpayers in their coverage of this bill, highlighting our concerns about the elimination of public input and the abuse of the Safety Clause. You can watch the full Denver7 report here.
What This Bill Does
HB26-1001 would allow nonprofits, school districts, housing authorities, transit districts, and state colleges to bypass local zoning restrictions when building housing on properties of five acres or less. Local governments would be prohibited from enforcing restrictions on height, number of dwelling units, setbacks, parking requirements, landscaping, and buffering requirements.
Most concerning is how these projects would be approved: administratively, with no public input.
Why CUT Opposes This Bill
This bill is yet another attack on local control and the rights of property owners and community members to have a say in what happens in their neighborhoods.
As I told Denver7: “These projects can be approved administratively, so that means that the people of the community have no voice whatsoever. These are people’s neighbors, and this is changing the fabric of what these people thought was going to be there. When you move this over to just an administrative state, the people’s voices are gone, and that’s not the way it’s supposed to be in America.”
When families purchase homes, they do so with certain expectations about their community based on existing zoning laws. This bill would allow those expectations to be overridden without any opportunity for affected residents to weigh in.
Abuse of the Safety Clause
Adding insult to injury, the sponsors have attached a Safety Clause to this bill. This clause would make the law take effect immediately upon the governor’s signature, preventing Coloradans from petitioning the issue to a vote of the people.
As I explained to Denver7: “We see a real abuse of the Safety Clause. And in fact, the Safety Clause was put on to this bill, and there is no immediate need to have a safety clause on a bill regarding this kind of housing.”
The Safety Clause is intended for genuine emergencies involving “the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety.” There is absolutely no emergency requiring this bill to take effect immediately—this is a clear abuse of the Safety Clause designed to prevent citizens from exercising their constitutional rights under TABOR and the initiative process.
Take Action
Make your voice heard! Visit CUT Engaged to easily contact the bill’s sponsors and committee members and urge them to vote NO on HB26-1001.
The committee hearing begins at 1:30 PM on February 3rd.
Coloradans deserve a voice in their communities. HB26-1001 would silence that voice.
