The City of Denver (“Denver”) released the first draft of its proposed amendment to the Denver Zoning Code (“Zoning Code”) known as Modernizing Parking Requirements Text Amendment (“Text Amendment”), in which it proposes removing minimum vehicle parking requirements for all land uses throughout Denver. This Text Amendment comes as the June 30, 2025 deadline to comply with House Bill 24‑1304 quickly approaches.
House Bill 24‑1304 prohibits certain municipalities (like Denver) from enacting or enforcing minimum vehicle parking requirements for certain developments (like multifamily residential developments and adaptive re‑use developments with 50 percent or greater residential use) within an applicable transit service area. Notably, Denver’s proposed Text Amendment goes much further than House Bill 24‑1304’s requirements by extending the elimination of minimum vehicle parking requirements and enforcement to all existing and future land uses in Denver.
The Text Amendment maintains the Zoning Code’s existing maximum vehicle parking standards and seeks to simplify the Zoning Code’s use tables by removing all minimum vehicle parking space requirements and consolidating bicycle parking requirements into a separate article of the Zoning Code. The Text Amendment will also extend to properties still zoned under Former Chapter 59.
Denver hopes the Text Amendment will promote the development of more housing, lower the cost of housing, provide greater flexibility for redevelopment and infill development, and result in more efficient and quicker staff review times for development applications. With the Text Amendment, Denver will join the likes of other municipalities like Austin, Minneapolis, and Portland – all of which have reported success in eliminating minimum vehicle parking requirements – and will become the second municipality in Colorado to eliminate vehicle parking minimums, as the City of Longmont previously eliminated all vehicle parking minimums in 2024.
The Text Amendment is currently undergoing public outreach and review. It will go before the Planning Board, the Land Use, Transportation & Infrastructure Committee (“LUTI”), and City Council over the next two months for consideration and may be further modified. The anticipated schedule is below.
- April 2025: Community Engagement and Public Review Draft
- May 7, 2025: Planning Board Public Hearing
- May 13, 2025: LUTI Public Hearing
- June 2, 2025: City Council First Reading
- June 30, 2025: City Council Public Hearing and Adoption
- July 2025: Implementation
You can read more about the Text Amendment here.