Accessory dwelling units may soon be allowed at residential properties Denver-wide after the city’s land use committee advanced a proposal to the full City Council. The measure was advanced to committee by the city planning board last month.

An accessory dwelling unit (ADU) — commonly known as a “mother in law house” — is a small living area separate from a regular house. They offer all the utilities one would expect in a house like water, power and gas and are a fully independent living space, including laundry and a kitchen.

One of Denver’s districts, District 1, already has this in place and Council President Amanda Sandoval has consistently spoken in favor of applying a blanket zone change to the city to allow ADUs everywhere. At the state level, Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill into law requiring local governments to allow the construction of ADUs on residential properties, which takes effect in 2025.

The bill provides certain exemptions, according to a Colorado Politics report. As written, Denver’s change is not in full requirement with state requirements and councilmembers said they are continuing to work on coming into compliance with it.

But some councilmembers, like Paul Kashmann, were still worried as the zoning change did not include any degree of ownership or occupancy requirement.

This concerns him as he believes Denver has seen “enough of corporations buying up tons and tons of properties,” and wondered why that requirement was not still in the city’s amended zoning moving forward.

“What happened is that, partly through the council president’s advocacy at the state legislature, they were going to disallow any form of owner occupancy requirement but they walked that back,” Councilmember Sarah Parady said. “They will allow owner occupancy to be a requirement at the time the permit is pulled, and so we’re coming into alignment with that.”

Parady said it does not “eliminate owner occupancy” but gives a clear point in time when it gets checked.

Kashmann also asked what the long-term ramifications of being out of compliance with the state-level ADU change would mean. Though Denver is out of compliance with state laws, Councilmember Parady said the city is “virtually entirely in compliance” except for one aspect: setbacks.

Though only out of compliance in one major way, that noncompliance may impact residents further down the line, according to city staff.

“Part of the law created a grant fund for ADU supportive communities which is a term that the state will use for communities that have come into compliance with all the laws around ADUs,” Senior City Planner Abe Barge said. “And so a consequence of not being in full compliance would be that we wouldn’t be eligible for grants for ADU affordability.”

But the opportunity to apply for these grants won’t be until next year, Barge said. The bigger concern is the potential for lawsuits in the future if the city does not approve an ADU application while out of compliance with the state law.

Editors note: This story has been updated to reflect the start date of the statewide ADU law.