FAQ

Over the past two years, the Colorado Legislature has passed and enacted several laws intended to increase housing supply by requiring many Front Range municipalities to adopt State-directed land use policies that encourage greater housing density. While addressing housing affordability is a worthy objective, these laws represent a significant departure from Colorado's long tradition of home rule and local control and conflict with the Vision established in Cherry Hills Village's 2022 Master Plan.

In 2022, Cherry Hills Village completed a comprehensive update of its Master Plan. The process included more than 4,600 resident interactions, 23 public meetings and briefings, and responses from 623 survey participants. Participants had lived in Cherry Hills Village an average of approximately twenty years. The resulting Vision Statement reads:

Cherry Hills Village is fundamentally a residential community consisting of approximately 2,400 single-family homes. Residential zoning ranges from R-1 lots of 2.5 acres to R-5 lots of approximately 16,000 square feet. Unlike many Front Range communities, Cherry Hills Village has very little undeveloped land remaining. As a result, increased density would occur primarily through redevelopment of existing properties rather than expansion into new areas. Because the City does not have any multi-family properties, the addition of high-density housing units would put a strain on our infrastructure, including more traffic, more people on trails and in parks, as well as additional needs for City services.

In 2025, six Home Rule municipalities, including Greenwood Village, Arvada, Aurora, Glendale, Lafayette, and Westminster, filed suit challenging portions of the State's land use legislation. They contend that zoning and land use are fundamentally matters of local concern and argue that the new laws infringe upon constitutional home rule authority and the rights of local initiative and referendum.

In last year's election the City of Littleton and local resident groups pushed back against density and housing proposals by shelving zoning changes and passing a ballot measure to amend the City charter to freeze residential land rules as they existed on January 1, 2025, preserving single family neighborhood restrictions.

In passing the legislation discussed above, the State is trying to exercise zoning and land use rights over the rights of Cherry Hills Village. Although Home Rule is the law, we want to make it clear to the state legislature that the City holds the power over Zoning decisions.

As the legislature debates new bills, we have been defending our right to govern based on our Master Plan. Unlike many Front Range communities, Cherry Hills Village has very little undeveloped land remaining. As a result, increased density would occur primarily through redevelopment of existing properties rather than expansion into new areas.

This ballot measure gives our voters the opportunity to amend the Home Rule Charter, hopefully by a large margin, therefore giving Council extra support to continue to exercise our local land use and Zoning decisions. Your vote helps us continue to send a clear message to the General Assembly from their constituents: Cherry Hills Village intends to keep control of its own community. This is representative democracy at its most fundamental level.

When Colorado became a state in 1876, its Constitution established a strong commitment to local self-government. Article XX, Section 6, adopted in 1902, grants home rule municipalities broad authority over matters of local and municipal concern. Since then, Colorado courts have repeatedly recognized zoning and land use regulation as an exercise of local police powers.

For further reading on the history of the City, including establishing the Charter establishing Home Rule, Master Plans outlining citizens' desires for the growth and development of the City, and past issues with Zoning, visit the History page on the city website.

Here are two AI-generated examples of what the increased density housing rules might mean…