Aurora, Colorado

With a population of over 350,000, Aurora, Colorado, is the third largest city in Colorado and the dominant destination for new development on the eastern flanks of the Denver metropolitan area.  The city is both ethnically and economically diverse, and is served by both the I-225 and E-470 freeway corridors and the new Aurora line of RTD’s rapidly expanding Fast Tracks light rail system. Clarion Associates was retained by the city to lead a team including Winter & Company to draft the first new zoning ordinance for the city in many decades.

The new code integrates the city’s zoning and subdivision controls, consolidates 66 zone districts into 21 districts that better match the community intent of the Aurora Places Comprehensive Plan, establish different character-based development standards for the city’s urban, suburban, and raw land development areas, creates streamlined minor site plan and administrative adjustment procedures, and allows for innovative new forms of affordable housing.  The new Unified Development Ordinance was adopted unanimously by the Aurora City Council in August 2019.