Glenwood Springs City Council voted last week to oppose the “More Housing Now” bill now before the Colorado Senate, unless it is amended.

Most of the concerns on Council around SB23-213 were similar to every other rural resort job center municipality the bill is set to apply to. 

One aspect Councilor Ingrid Wussow mentioned at the April 6 meeting was that Glenwood Springs is a much smaller and a less wealthy resort community in comparison to the rest of the rural resort job center municipalities categorized in the bill.

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Glenwood fits into the category because of its jobs to population ratio while having a transit system, said Nathan Landquist,  land use planner/analyst with the Colorado Department of Transportation. 

Other amendments listed by Council included the fear of reversing or halting the work local municipalities have already done, like creating sustainable housing in coordination with the community.

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Councilor Shelley Kaup mentioned bill language lifting off-street parking requirements in Glenwood Springs being problematic in certain parts of the city where there is far less parking space than housing stock. 

Council voted unanimously not to support SB 23-213 unless amended. However, some amendments were slated to be added Tuesday.

Proposed amendments include “cleaning up language,” Lanquist said. The language he implied would make the guidelines more lenient for rural resort communities. 

Guidelines like parking restrictions, possible changes to sewage and water treatment requirements, housing plan strategies language, and creating “menus for local housing plans” are also on the table, Landquist said.  

“I think where we’re going, there’s an overall way to evaluate it and make it eventually more of a collaborative feel between the state agencies and local governments,” Landquist said.

Landquist has a unique perspective for this region of Colorado, working as a city planner for Rifle before working for CDOT. This aspect of the bill is personal for him and he plans to make it work for each unique rural resort community job center.