Cherry Hills Village charter amendment declaring zoning and land use a local matter regardless of state mandates

Cherry Hills Village, a home rule city in Arapahoe County with 6,389 residents in the Census Bureau's 2025 estimate, would add a new Section 1.6 to Article 1 of its Home Rule Charter. The section declares planning, zoning, density and development "matters of local and municipal concern," to be regulated only under the charter and city ordinances.

Its second sentence says the city need not adopt or implement land-use rules other than those the City Council enacts under Section 3.1 or the city's voters enact under Section 13.11, "irrespective of state mandates to do so." The section writes no new zoning rule and repeals none.

Ordinance 8, Series 2026, names two state laws: HB24-1152, on accessory dwelling units, and HB24-1313, on housing in transit-oriented communities. It also reaches "subsequent similar legislation that seeks to impose one-size-fits-all land use regulations."

The accessory dwelling unit law requires cities of 1,000 or more people in a metropolitan planning organization to allow, by administrative approval, one accessory dwelling unit with a single-family house. The transit law requires each transit-oriented community to zone its transit centers, by December 31, 2027, for total capacity of 40 homes for each acre of its transit areas, not counting exempt parcels, with a housing opportunity goal report due by December 31, 2026.

Mayor Kathleen Brown wrote in April 2026 that the city maintains the transit law does not apply to it, and that, if enforceable, it could require zoning for about 7,200 new units.

A council resolution of October 2025 says an executive order Gov. Jared Polis issued in May 2025 lowers the priority of cities that do not comply with these laws for competitive and discretionary state funding. CPR News reported in October 2025 that the state listed Cherry Hills Village as not following the transit or accessory dwelling unit laws. Six home rule cities sued the state in 2025 over the transit law, a parking law and the executive order, and the council's resolution supports them.

The charter's Section 1.2 already gives the city "all power possible for a city to have under the Constitution and laws of the State of Colorado." Ordinance 8 cites the state constitution as giving home rule cities "plenary legislative authority on matters of local concern," which it says include zoning; both state laws declare their housing aims a matter of "mixed statewide and local concern." A court would decide whether the charter or a state statute governs a particular zoning dispute.

The council passed Ordinance 8 by votes of 4 to 0 on August 4 and August 18, 2026.

The question sets no tax, fee or debt and has no expiration, so Section 1.6 would stand until voters amend the charter again. A no vote leaves the charter as it is.