Home Rule

Over 100 years ago, Colorado voters gave cities and towns the right to establish their own rules on local matters by enacting Article 20, Section 6, of the Colorado State Constitution. Article 20 gives local governments the right to determine “matters of local concern,” and is what allows diverse cities and towns to listen to their residents and adopt their own “Home Rules” free from state interference. 

This right to Home Rule allows cities like Greenwood Village to have public hearings before adopting traffic and criminal ordinances, and before determining complex local matters regarding land use, zoning and elections. 

Colorado’s local government rights have been under continuous attack from the Governor and members of the State Legislature. They have shown increasing disregard for the rights guaranteed to us by the Colorado State Constitution. Bills passed by the State Legislature in 2024 eliminated parking requirements, required significantly increased residential density, and eliminated your voice in important development decisions.

These centralized state mandates regarding zoning and land use and constant overreaching and erosion of Home Rule authority are precisely the reason that we feel it is time to take a stand. We know that the best government is that which is closest to the people. There is nothing more personal and local than land development and zoning codes that have been crafted over the years with the opportunity for local citizens to participate and determine what type of city you want to live in. 

We are going to fight to protect that right. The City of Greenwood Village has engaged litigation counsel to challenge those bills and have asked several other cities to join us in that effort.

The two land use bills at the center of the lawsuit are HB 24-1304, which prohibits local governments from enacting or enforcing minimum parking requirements on multifamily housing developments located in transit areas, and HB 24-1313, which requires 32 local governments in the Front Range to change their zoning in transit areas and permit a minimum density of 40 dwelling units per acre—a number that, if met, would produce 10 times the existing housing stock around  RTD stops in Greenwood Village alone. For parcels under five acres in size, there would be no public hearings on dense housing proposals.     

“We’re seeing a steady erosion of our citizens’ ability to control the communities in which they live,” said Greenwood Village Mayor George Lantz. “The flurry of legislative proposals continually eroding our home-rule rights applies a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach, removing all of their uniqueness. The state doesn’t care how cities have carefully planned their communities, nor how the state’s particular vision of land use will affect our cities and the people living in them. Our purpose in filing the lawsuit is to have the court stop the state from controlling local land use matters that require local decision making and public input.” 

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For news inquiries, email Megan Copenhaver, Communications Officer, or call 303-486-5749.