Windsor housing plan would allow duplexes and eight-unit multiplexes

A draft Windsor Housing Action Plan before the Town Board recommends allowing duplexes by right in the ER-2 zone and raising the multiplex limit from six to eight units per lot, with the zoning changes slated for five to 10 years out.

The plan estimates Windsor had a housing deficit of 1,326 to 2,702 units in 2023 and will need 6,359 to 7,734 additional units by 2033. It estimates that 58% of that need is for residents with moderate incomes (81–120% of area median income) or below.

The plan says state Senate Bill 24-174 required Windsor to complete a Housing Needs Assessment and prepare a Housing Action Plan by Jan. 1, 2028; the town completed its assessment in April.

The plan reports that approximately 60% of Windsor renter households spend more than 30% of their gross income on housing. The plan says the annual income needed to afford a typical rental unit has risen to nearly $110,000, and the income needed to buy a median-priced single-family home to nearly $200,000. Those figures compare with a median renter household income of $68,308 and an overall median household income of $121,758 in Windsor, the plan reports.

The plan also recommends defining and allowing cottage courts and courtyard apartments in the MF, RMU-1 and RMU-2 zones, where those housing types are not currently defined or permitted. It recommends allowing live-work units by right in RMU-1, where they are now permitted only in RMU-2.

The plan also recommends exploring residential development along the Main Street/SH-392 corridor, mixed-use and multifamily development around Eastman Park Drive and the Colorado Highway 257 corridor, and missing-middle housing within one-quarter mile of the Poudre Express stops.

Board discussion centered on a recommendation to use the town's mapping tools to list developable parcels. Board Member Ken Symsack objected to using the town's GIS program to identify and publicize potentially developable private properties without owners' knowledge. Owners might not want to develop their land and could receive calls from developers, he said.

"I'm not really comfortable with us being in that position," Symsack said.

A speaker said the parcel-database recommendation was not a requirement and that other cities have used an opt-in database. Another speaker said an opt-in approach could let owners choose to have their parcels listed and could avoid disputes with owners who object.

Symsack said he could accept the listing if it was optional. A speaker then recommended putting the idea lower on the priority list.

Mayor Pro Tem Jason Hallett raised the question of whether the listing was required. "I was just saying it bothers me too, but unfortunately it's a mandate," Hallett said, and he asked whether the Department of Local Affairs was requiring it. Later, a speaker said a consultant had told them that federal rules would require Windsor, if it reached 50,000 people and became an entitlement community, to list town-owned undeveloped land in an affordable-housing database.

The plan lists short-term work that can begin or be completed within two years:

• Preapproved ADU and missing-middle designs
• A Rental Resource Guide
• Development-review improvements

The plan recommends a catalog of preapproved accessory dwelling unit and two- to six-unit missing-middle designs to reduce design and review costs and speed construction. It recommends a Rental Resource Guide covering rental listings and assistance, affordability and housing costs, tenant and landlord rights and responsibilities, and services for renters and special populations.

The town is considering a downpayment-assistance program for municipal employees, school employees and first responders. The plan also proposes exploring a townwide public-private homebuyer-assistance program with participating employers for first-time and moderate-income buyers. The presentation places exploration of a downpayment-assistance program in the two-to-five-year period, contingent on Town Board direction.

The plan identifies central Windsor and southwestern Windsor as areas with elevated displacement risk, while cautioning that this does not mean displacement is occurring there on a widespread scale. In southwestern Windsor, approximately 71% of households are renters and 27% earn less than 50% of area median income, compared with townwide rates of 20% and 24%. Overcrowding there is approximately 9%, compared with roughly 1.3% townwide.

The plan also reports that approximately 91% of southwestern Windsor households earning less than $75,000 a year are cost burdened, compared with 68% townwide.

Mayor Julie Cline said the only change she noticed was switching the Mayor Pro Tem reference from Steinbach to herself. "I think they did a great job," Cline said.

The plan calls for a progress report to the Department of Local Affairs three years after the Housing Action Plan is adopted.