Six Denver-Boulder Metro Governments Sue Colorado, Polis for Home Rule Control
- On Monday, six Front Range municipalities initiated legal action in Denver District Court against Governor Jared Polis and the state of Colorado concerning two land-use bills enacted in 2024.
- The lawsuit challenges the laws and an executive order linking over $100 million in state grants to compliance, alleging they violate the state's Home Rule authority.
- The contested bills require increased housing density near transit and eliminate minimum parking requirements for multifamily developments in transit areas.
- Greenwood Village Mayor George Lantz expressed concern that residents are increasingly losing their influence over decisions affecting their local communities, highlighting the worries of local officials.
- The lawsuit highlights tension between state efforts to address housing shortages and local governments' defense of constitutional local control over planning decisions.
23 Articles
23 Articles

Why Jared Polis’ warning to local governments to comply with Colorado housing laws won’t matter much in mountain towns
Calling the need for more affordable housing a statewide concern, Gov. Jared Polis last week signed an executive order to withhold funding from cities and counties that don’t comply with a suite of new Colorado housing laws. Polis, in his order, said that despite “many communities pursuing local actions,” the state is short of more than 100,000 housing units. “As such, these regional and statewide actions are critical and our success requires t…


Front Range cities, claiming home rule violations, sue Colorado over housing policies
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed an executive order May 16 that pushes local governments to comply with certain state housing laws as a condition of receiving state grant funding, at the Colorado Capitol in Denver. (Lindsey Toomer/Colorado Newsline)Six cities in the Front Range filed a lawsuit against Colorado and Gov. Jared Polis claiming recently approved state housing laws violate the Colorado Constitution’s home rule provisions. The 86-page…
Six Denver-Boulder metro governments sue Colorado, Polis for home rule control
DENVER (KDVR) — Six Colorado cities in the Denver metro area have filed a lawsuit against the state and Gov. Jared Polis, claiming the state has infringed upon home rule city controls. The city of Lafayette announced the legal action in a press release Monday and said that it aims to secure its constitutional right to control the manner and rate at which the community is growing, developing and managed. Lafayette is joining the cities of Aurora,…
Colorado cities sue Jared Polis, state over housing policies
Six “home rule” cities in Colorado are suing the state, alleging it has unconstitutionally usurped their local authority over land use and zoning as it pushes communities to allow denser housing development. This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org. The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of an executive order Gov. Jared Polis signed last week to withhold some state grants from lo…


Lafayette sues Colorado, Gov. Polis, citing home rule violations
Lafayette has joined other Front Range municipalities in a lawsuit against Colorado and Gov. Jared Polis to secure the city’s home rule authority and land use code management. Lafayette has joined Aurora, Arvada, Glendale, Greenwood Village and Westminster in the lawsuit, according to a Monday news release. The news release says that House Bills 23-1255, 24-1304 and 24-1313 violate the city’s home rule authority by overreaching and telling home …
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