Fort Collins Land Use Code Modeling and Analysis
Fort Collins, CO · 2023
Client: City of Fort Collins
Location: Fort Collins, CO
Year: 2023
CP Role: Sub-consultant to Metta Urban Design
Practice Area: Urban Analytics + Scenario Planning
Team: Jamin Kimmell, Project Manager; Alex Steinberger, Equity Analysis Lead; Paul Runge, Analyst; Lydia Ness, Analyst; Julia Michel, Project Support; Tara Sorrels, Project Support
The Challenge
Fort Collins was rewriting its Land Use Code and needed to know what the proposed code would actually build, where, and what it would mean for housing affordability, equity, and climate goals.
Our Approach
As a subconsultant to Metta Urban Design, we led the economics and housing policy modeling for the first phase of the code update. We calibrated pro forma models with local construction costs, market rents, and developer interviews, then modeled development prototypes for all 15 residential and mixed-use zones in pro forma and in 3D. We tested the prototypes with staff and stakeholders through several rounds of sensitivity testing and expressed each minimum feasible rent as the household income needed to afford it. We also built an equity and opportunity index and a dashboard showing how bonus incentives would make affordable units feasible.
Outcome
City Council adopted the housing code changes in October 2023. The recommended changes raised zoned housing capacity on vacant and redevelopable land by 53%, from about 25,000 to nearly 40,000 units, and capacity for deed-restricted affordable homes under bonus incentives by 194%, from about 1,600 to over 4,600. Bonus incentives now apply in 15 zones instead of 2.
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