Development news from Community Planning and Development (CPD)

In this issue, you will find:

• Denver hires a chief urban designer
• Plan review backlog update: What we're doing
• Adoption of 2022 Denver Building and Fire Code moves forward
• Last call to nominate a project for the 2022 Mayor's Design Awards
• Share your thoughts on potential zoning code updates for accessory dwelling units (ADUs or "granny flats")
• Become a decision-maker on the Denver Building Code Board of Appeals
• Considering electric? Incentives available for commercial and multifamily buildings
• Recognize your building with an "Energize Denver" award
• Thought leaders weigh in: How to reimagine Speer Blvd.
• ICYMI: Recaps from our last newsletter

Plan review backlog update

Permit application volumes are higher today than they were before the pandemic. At the same time the city, like many employers, has been impacted by considerable staffing challenges as we've recovered from the pandemic. We are addressing these issues with the goal of keeping pace with permit demand while improving customer service. 

What's Being Done

• We have pushed forward with aggressive hiring and recruitment efforts to get teams fully staffed and trained. To date in 2022, we have hired over 40 full-time staff both for new positions and to help fill vacancies created through natural turnover. 

• Through a competitive bidding process, we sought third-party plan review services to assist with the backlog of applications. With contracting and training well underway, we expect this service to help review plans as early as September.

• We have shifted administrative resources to field the high volume of status inquiries from customers so that plan reviewers have as much time as possible to complete plan reviews. A new phone system connects callers to a live person.

Read more

2022 Denver Building and Fire Code adoption moves forward

After a year of considering code amendment proposals in technical stakeholder committees, a draft of the final proposed Denver Building and Fire Code and Denver Green Code is expected to be available for public review in September and will move through the legislative process this fall. These codes will become effective four months after their adoption date. The city currently anticipates an adoption date of November 1, 2022, and an effective date of March 1, 2023, for the new building and fire code. These are tentative, draft dates, which may be subject to extension if the code adoption process takes longer than expected.

We will share the full code language in this newsletter when it is available.

View the DRAFT code transition policy for more details on effective dates

Last call to nominate a project for the 2022 Mayor's Design Awards

Since 2005, the Mayor’s Design Awards have honored projects throughout the city for excellence in architecture, exterior design and place-making. The awards are presented to Denver homeowners, business owners, nonprofits, and artists for their creative contributions to the public realm through innovative design. Help us recognize the building and placemaking projects that are elevating our community.

Nominations are due Friday, September 9. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony later this year. To nominate a project, learn more about the Mayor’s Design Awards and see past winners, visit DenverGov.org/MDA.

Community Planning and Development will host an open house starting Thursday, August 25 for you to weigh in on regulatory improvements for accessory dwelling units (ADUs) as well as ways they could better fit into different neighborhoods. Participants will learn about and be asked to consider a variety of possible solutions. Public feedback will be used to inform the project’s draft recommendations, expected to be released this fall.

Considering going electric? Incentives available for commercial and multifamily buildings 

Denver's Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency is offering Electrification Incentives for Commercial and Multifamily Buildings: 

• Existing Building Electrification Pilot Project Incentives: Apply today if your building has natural gas space or water heating equipment that needs replacement within the next three years.

• New Building Electrification Design and Pilot Project Incentives: Apply for electrification design assistance or to have your project considered for pilot project funding.

These projects will showcase the benefits and feasibility of building all-electric using local examples and assist our community in the transition toward net zero by 2040. Please see the Building Incentives webpage for more information and frequently asked questions. 

Recognize your building with an "Energize Denver" award

Denver’s Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency’s Energize Denver Awards are now open. Winning projects will be promoted in webinars, featured in the Colorado Real Estate Journal, and presented with a plaque for display. Apply by Friday, September 2 if a building you own, manage or have worked with is saving energy, installing heat pumps, or advancing equity in the community.  

Panel Discussion:

Reimagining Speer Blvd. 

Last month, we partnered with the Urban Land Institute (ULI), the University of Colorado Denver, the Auraria Higher Education Campus, and the Downtown Denver Partnership, for a panel discussion on reimagining Speer Blvd. to make it safer for pedestrians, cyclists, and public transportation. In the future, Speer Blvd. could be better connected for everyone with more green space, access to the Cherry Creek trail, and improved connections to the Auraria campus and CU Denver’s future innovation district. 

At the panel, ULI brought in experts from across the country who discussed strategies to better the walking and cycling experience on Speer Boulevard -- such as expanding tree canopy to improve air quality and provide shade -- while also increasing pedestrian access to green spaces like the Cherry Creek trail network.

Watch a recording of the panel discussion (~ 2 hours, opens in YouTube)

ICYMI:

Recaps from our last newsletter

• CPD has a new, central phone number. Reach us at 720-865-2700.

• We're making the zone lot amendment application process easier. If you are proposing a zone lot amendment on a vacant lot, you are no longer required to submit an ISP. See revised submittal requirements >>

• Outdoor Places Program to be developed in 2022. Building on the successful temporary Outdoor Dining Program, the objective of Denver's permanent Outdoor Places Program is to facilitate safe, well designed, privately maintained outdoor spaces that enhance and activate the public realm for everyone. Learn more >>

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