CodeNext: Unified Development Code
On September 25, 2023 city council adopted the new Unified Development Code (CodeNext).
Project Update
On September 25, 2023 city council adopted the new Unified Development Code (CodeNext). The new development code will became effective on October 27, 2023 and may be viewed HERE.
The information sheets below focus on the six topics that shaped many of the conversations around CodeNext. These topics discuss changes surrounding house types, the design and character of our residential neighborhoods, how our commercial spaces and buildings look and operate, and the new sustainable measures created by these revisions.
- Accessory Dwelling Units
- Small-Lot Detached Housing
- Multi-Unit Buildings
- Neighborhood Design
- Placemaking
- Sustainability
- Glossary of Terms/Zoning District Intent Statements
What's new in the code?
- CodeNext strengthens development regulations to ensure that developers build more attractive, sustainable and neighborhood friendly buildings along with biking and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure.
- CodeNext includes new residential design standards to ensure that future development factors the existing character of residential neighborhoods.
Why was CodeNext needed, and what does it bring to the table?
Old development standards that worked in 2004 weren’t aligning with the expanding needs of our emerging city. In recent years, city staff and city council worked to amend the Unified Development Code retroactively, based on the changes the community faced.
Unfortunately, this ‘band-aid’ approach only works for so long.
CodeNext is the first overhaul of the regulations around new construction and redevelopment in Englewood in almost 20 years.
The Lowdown on ADUs
In 2019, many of the residentially zoned lots in Englewood were given the right to build an accessory dwelling unit (ADU).
Up to now, only seven new ADUs have been constructed with six more under construction or having an approved building permit.
- Gives all residentially zoned lots the ability to have an ADU, while R-1 districts are permitted no more than one ADU per lot.
- Increases allowances and options while decreasing impediments to the development of new ADUs.
- Allowing ADUs provides for smaller unit sizes that cost less and allow new citizens, including young professionals, teachers, members of the medical community and many other employees of Englewood businesses, to live in our community.
- ADUs put very little burden on the city’s infrastructure as they have no lawn to water, house very few people and take up a small footprint.
What’s in it for you? A LOT ACTUALLY!
- Preserving your historic home or neighborhood
- CodeNext contains the city’s first comprehensive historic preservation ordinance. Residents can now apply to preserve their home or neighborhood.
- Design and appearance of new homes, apartments and commercial buildings
- Most cities have had design standards for homes, apartments and buildings for decades, but not Englewood…until now!
- Attractive and sustainable landscaping on commercial corridors and lots
- CodeNext has Englewood’s most robust landscaping standards for new development to make the city more beautiful and sustainable.
- Streets designed for pedestrians and bicycles
- New standards for development require bicycle amenities like racks and bike lanes along with new sidewalk standards for pedestrian-friendly sidewalks.
- Smaller housing unit sizes to improve affordability and rental income for homeowners
- Lower lot size standards will allow for the construction of smaller homes along with increased ability to construct ADUs.
- Sustainability and water conservation efforts
- CodeNext contains the city’s first xeric, low-water use design guidelines to enable more sustainable development including encouraging landscaping with native and drought-tolerant plants.
Business Testimonials
"I’m excited for the CodeNext update which will support growth in the Englewood Downtown as well as keep up with current and emerging needs in the city."
Brad Nixon, Business Owner
Nixon’s Coffee and Share Good Foods
"Downtown Englewood employers say their biggest challenge to recruit and retain employees is the high cost of housing. Our local businesses will thrive—and stay here—if their employees can live, work and spend locally."
Hilarie Portell, Executive Director
Englewood Downtown Development Authority
"CodeNext not only benefits our local businesses but also enhances the overall quality of life for Englewood residents allowing a diverse community to continue to grow and flourish."
Hugo Weinberger, President
The Situs Group
CodeNext DOES NOT
- Give developers a greenlight to redevelop the city
- CodeNext does not remove requirements from other city codes that mandate new developments conduct needed studies and/or upgrades to water, sewer or other infrastructure.
- Change existing zoning
- CodeNext does not rezone any property within the City of Englewood.
- Add multi-unit buildings to single-family zoning districts
- CodeNext does not allow for duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes or any other multi-unit buildings to be constructed in R-1 districts.
- Change regulations surrounding short-term rentals
- Force property owners to sell or redevelop their property
- CodeNext does not mandate that owners sell or make changes to their existing home or properties. The provisions of the code apply when an owner wants to make significant exterior improvements or rebuild.
View the Adoption Mailer PDF Here
Project Description
CodeNext represents the update of Englewood’s comprehensive framework of development regulations, or Unified Development Code (UDC), to ensure quality development for all generations. Englewood is a diverse community with development ranging from the transit-oriented CityCenter and historic Downtown to a strategically planned network of early-mid 20th Century bungalow-style neighborhoods. CodeNext contemplated all development contexts in a way that is appropriate to different neighborhood, market, and environmental settings through the code revision process. The UDC includes regulations and design standards that address zoning, land uses, building setbacks, building height, parking, landscaping, neighborhood character, application procedures, and is one of the primary tools used to support the implementation of the city’s comprehensive plan, Englewood Forward.
Englewood Forward was unanimously adopted by city council in 2017 and the Plan places renewed emphasis on community priorities and emerging issues to support Englewood’s existing residential neighborhoods, incentivizing and maintain more affordable and attainable housing, diversifying the types of housing available, promoting mixed-use and transit-supportive development along key corridors, and addressing the changing dynamics of employment and industrial lands within the city.
CodeNext strived to facilitate the implementation of the Plan and address its goals, while responding to shifting priorities and changes in social and market conditions through revisions to the UDC. The former UDC was primarily developed and adopted in 2004 and was not comprehensively revised since its inception.
CodeNext ensured that Englewood’s Unified Development Code, core policy documents and land use regulations were congruent with the community’s goals and values for a sustainable city. Additionally, the process followed these guiding principles during the revision:
- Provided a comprehensive framework for development;
- Ensured that the UDC is user-friendly and modernized;
- Gathered community support from a broad range of stakeholders;
- Strived to make the right things easy with streamlined approval processes with standards that align with desired development patterns;
- Employed local and national best practices with a focus on peer Colorado communities;
- Maintained flexibility and certainty for consistency of outcomes;
- Minimized nonconformities; and
- Community stakeholders will be engaged throughout the process.
Comments and Questions
We want to hear from our Englewood residents and business owners, Ask a question or leave us a comment.
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Unified Development Code Adopted by City Council on September 25, 2023
Below is a link to the adopted Unified Development Code. Previous drafts may be found HERE.
On September 25, 2023 city council adopted the new Unified Development Code (CodeNext).
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Neighborhood Character and Preservation
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During the 2020 Unified Development Code Assessment, the project management team heard that neighborhood character is particularly important to many community members. Neighborhood character can be described as the look and feel of individual areas and is primarily comprised of the design and dimensions of existing architecture, streetscape treatments, and overall aesthetic of an area block by block. The community expressed interest in increased efforts to preserve existing neighborhoods, including revitalizing, and repairing older homes rather than demolition and scraping lots. During the Assessment many respondents stated that the Downtown, Bates-Logan Park, and Cushing Park neighborhoods should be considered for neighborhood preservation overlays with regulations for architectural style and form.
By way of next steps, Pinyon Environmental, Inc. (Pinyon), is underway with completing a city-wide Historic Resource Survey Plan for the City of Englewood. The City-Wide Historic Resource Survey Plan will identify historic contexts, likely to include transportation, Post-World War II development, water resources, and other key themes as identified through research, coordination with the Historic Preservation Commission, and public input.
Pinyon will create a GIS map to organize relevant planning data, including sites with current state or federal designations, sites indicated by the community as high interest, and year built organized by decade. (Please see the Englewood By Decade map in the Documents Library) This map provides flexibility in the planning process and will be used to assist in identification of survey priorities for individual resources and potential historic districts and will be provided to Englewood as a value-added deliverable. While a formal historic survey is not included as part of this context document, the Pinyon team will complete a reconnaissance of target areas identified through the GIS map and coordination with the project stakeholders. Results of the reconnaissance survey will be included as a table in the City-Wide Historic Resource Survey Plan. The City-Wide Historic Resource Survey Plan will follow the outline specified by History Colorado and Englewood. The document will outline recommended next steps regarding further exploration of significant historic contexts for the community, key geographic and/or thematic resource groups for future historic survey, and recommendations regarding application of reconnaissance survey screening and intensive survey evaluation of the identified priorities. Pinyon believes the final product should be a viable working document that reflects both the academic historic significance of the City and areas of historic interest and importance to the community.
Please contact Erik Sampson, Planner II for more information at 303-762-2345.
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Introducing Gould Evans
Share Introducing Gould Evans on Facebook Share Introducing Gould Evans on Twitter Share Introducing Gould Evans on Linkedin Email Introducing Gould Evans linkCUSTOMER SERVICE PHILOSOPHY
Founded in 1974 in Lawrence, KS, Gould Evans is a design firm dedicated to using our creative powers to move the world forward. Our firm culture is built on using the design process to solve problems and improve our clients’ competitive edge. We reward thought leadership that aims high—from high-performance buildings to high-performance cities.
WE VALUE collaborative, multidisciplinary approaches that lend a variety of perspectives and professional expertise to the most challenging community development issues. We believe communities are best prepared to steward long-term collective goals when they consider a wide range of possibilities for the future. We support these possibilities through well-researched analysis that leads to pragmatic outcomes.
WE VALUE our project partners and community stakeholders who provide critical insights that lead to action-oriented steps. We believe that design and planning strategies, no matter how innovative and stylish, must be economically and politically sound to be successful. We do not champion theories or trends that contradict realities and characteristics of a particular community or initiative.
WE VALUE comprehensive and long-range perspectives, and the power of leveraging incremental decisions into significant change. We believe that sustainable community development starts with the region and ends at a site or building; it is not just about what is new and exciting, but more about what is time-tested and resilient. We recognize that the success of a community is measured by generations and not just by a single initiative or project.
WE ADVOCATE
• Ownership – A bold vision requires people who care enough to be there every day.
• Education – Commitment by the community translates a vision into actions.
• Innovation – Research converts progressive ideas into strategies.
• Integration – Comprehensive perspectives organize complex systems into great communities.
• Implementation – Pragmatic courses of action create your legacy.
It needs to be a lot easier to build great communities. Knowing what matters at each scale of the city, focusing limited resources to create productive places, and creating plans that inspire action demystifies the art and science of city building by remembering that cities are made to bring people together.
OUR GUIDING PRINCIPLES
We use a design-based methodology to simplify the building of cities, focusing on the systems, patterns, and types of development that create community. The systems of development including natural features, connectivity, locations, and economic markets that define the city at the citywide/regional scale. The patterns of development— civic and open space, land use, street networks, and market strategies—define a city at the neighborhood and district scale.
The types of development—streetscapes and open spaces, buildings, streets, and capital improvements—define the city at the block and lot scale. We use this organization to specify the context and places needed to create authentic, great cities.
We Design Cities for People
Great and equitable cities encourage human interaction and bring diverse sets of people together.
We Focus on Well-Designed Public Spaces
The arrangement and design of streetscapes and public spaces is a community’s primary opportunity to express their collective values and improve quality of life through public investment.
We Pursue Productive Development Patterns Understanding the public cost of development choices helps a community use its limited resources to create productive, fiscally sustainable cities and avoid creating communities it cannot afford to maintain.
We Enable Cities to be Built in Increments
A community built by many hands encourages the human- scaled, diverse places that define great cities.
We Cultivate Ownership by People
Effective city building requires local ownership. This is only possible when shared values are identified and responsibility to the greater community is cultivated among stakeholders.
Who's Listening
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Phone 303-762-2341 Email bisham@englewoodco.gov
Documents
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Unified Development Code Assessment Report (9.63 MB) (pdf)
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Englewood Community Profile (6.97 MB) (pdf)
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Englewood By Decade Map (10.3 MB) (pdf)
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Parking
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Sustainability
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Walkability and Street Design Discussion/Meeting Notes.pdf (102 KB) (pdf)
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Public Engagement Summary- May 2022 FINAL.pdf (2.26 MB) (pdf)
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Housing Assessment
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10.18.2022 PowerPoint Presentation (3.6 MB) (pdf)
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CodeNext - Adoption Mailer (229 KB) (pdf)
