Some city of Durango residents have recently become aware of a loophole in the city’s current Land Use and Development Code that could allow condominium projects to be constructed in existing neighborhoods of single-family homes. The city’s planning staff has said this was a simple oversight and that any condo project proposed now would likely not get through the planning process before the code is revised to prohibit it.
Saying approving a condo project is unlikely, however, is not particularly reassuring to neighbors worried that what amounts to a typo could permanently alter their neighborhood. The City Council should recognize their concerns by enacting a temporary moratorium on any such proposals until the code is properly amended.
Doing so would offer some assurance to the affected homeowners and bolster the idea that planning should be respectful of existing neighborhoods. And by making the moratorium temporary and limited to a fixed time – 30 days? 90 days? – the council could ensure that staff members work out the necessary code amendment in a timely manner.
Or perhaps that should be amendments. Speaking of the code, a city planning official said Tuesday, “We have some oversights. ... We need to go back and make some changes.”
There seems to be little doubt that those oversights were just that, simple mistakes, the kind we all make. But when those mistakes are in the LUDC, they can affect what is by far the biggest investment most people ever make, as well as the day-to-day lives of local families.
The city should take pains to identify those oversights publicly and to describe the steps officials plan to take to correct them. The real estate market is such today that there will be increasing pressure to further develop and increase the density of Durango’s existing neighborhoods. Residents of those neighborhoods deserve to be informed about what is going on with the code that could affect them.
While they are at it, the council and planning staff should examine and explain the related issue of small pockets of multifamily housing within established neighborhoods. Where are they? What are their boundaries? Why were they designated multifamily? And, what can the neighbors do if someone wants to put up an apartment house or a condo project in what they thought was a neighborhood limited to single-family homes?
One of the principal reasons for zoning, planning and regulating land use is to provide some sort of predictability. And while over time, absolute certainty is not possible – things do change, after all – to the extent that it is possible, home buyers should be assured of clarity. Property owners should not be put in the position of suddenly discovering that the lot next door is going to be developed in a completely unexpected fashion, one that the neighbors were not aware was allowed.
No one is suggesting the city has tried to dupe anyone with its LUDC. But as officials have said, there were oversights. Fixing them should be done with an emphasis on defending and respecting the concerns of the residents of the potentially affected neighborhoods.
