After three years of work by residents, business owners and community leaders, along with city staff, the Denver City Council voted to adopt the West Area Plan at its meeting Tuesday, March 28, 2023. The plan breaks new ground as it lays out a vision to guide growth and city decision-making over the next two decades, while helping residents and local businesses stay in their neighborhoods.
Legislative Rezoning
Following the plan's adoption, city planners started the work of bringing the vision for the West Area to life through a city-sponsored legislative rezoning, which was approved by City Council on July 8, 2024. Updating zoning rules puts the plan's land use guidance into place in key areas where current rules did not align with the goals community members identified during the planning process. The intent of this implementation project was to ensure future development in these areas is consistent with the community's vision for equitable development that prioritizes pedestrian safety, makes room for community-servicing businesses and takes advantage of existing transit options.
Plan Recommendations
- Development that enhances the pedestrian experience and is compatible with surrounding areas
- Active commercial uses along the ground floor along main street areas
- Higher-intensity uses along corridors and near high-capacity transit centers
In addition, implementation through rezoning lays the groundwork for better urban design, predictable development, and similar levels of entitlement.
Rezoning Proposal
- Downtown Barnum (commercial properties along 1st Avenue between Meade and Knox):
- Rezone from a two-story mixed-use district (E-MX-2) and a single-unit ADU district (E-SU-D1x) to a three-story main street district with an overlay that promotes pedestrian activity (E-MS-3, DO-8) to foster active ground-floor commercial uses.
- Denver Housing Authority’s Mulroy Center:
- Rezone from five-story multi-unit districts, with area that also include a historic use overlay (G-MU-5, UO-3), to an eight-story mixed-use district (C-MX-8)
- Rezone to allow for increased height and commercial uses to support the implementation of the Denver Housing Authority’s Westridge Homes Master Plan
- Habitat for Humanity Properties in Villa Park (1076 & 1077 N. Meade St.):
- Rezone from a single-unit ADU district (E-SU-D1x) to a two-unit district (U-TU-C)
- This allows for more affordable housing opportunities
The People's Budget in West Denver
Learn more about how to support plan priorities through Denver's participatory budgeting program.
The People's Budget