Blueprint Denver gets its first update since 2019, because a state law says it has to

Blueprint Denver, the city's main land use and transportation plan, is getting its first update since the Council adopted it in 2019. The update and the Denver One Water Plan go to the Community Planning and Housing Committee on Tuesday, Nov. 17 (26-1723, 26-1724).

Why it matters: Blueprint guides where new homes and jobs should go, and it's the framework the city uses for major land use and transportation decisions, including rezonings and the citywide middle-housing proposal now back in play (our story).

Why now

A 2024 state law, SB24-174, requires cities with comprehensive plans to include a "strategic growth" element and a water supply element by Dec. 31, 2026, according to the staff report from Community Planning and Development (staff report). Blueprint already counts as the growth element, but the law requires it to have been adopted or updated within five years, and Blueprint is more than seven years old. The One Water Plan, finished in 2021 but never formally adopted, would become the water element.

Meeting the deadline also helps the city get priority for some state land use and housing grants starting Dec. 1, 2027, the report says. The state Department of Local Affairs reviewed the water plan and found it compliant, pending adoption, according to the presentation.

What changes

City planners call it a "minor technical update" based on existing policy. The main change:

Industrial land. The update reinforces limits on housing in industrial areas: limited residential in "Innovation/Flex" areas, housing in "Value Manufacturing" areas only in special circumstances, and Manufacturing Preservation Areas made consistent with recent neighborhood plans. It also aligns with the Far Northeast plan amendment supporting industrial uses there.

Other changes:

• Equity maps move from a 50-acre grid to census tracts and parcels. Childhood obesity and life expectancy are dropped from the "Access to Opportunity" measure because of data availability.
• Street priorities for walking, biking and transit are redrawn to match the Denver Moves plans.
• Two map fixes in southwest Denver, in Athmar Park and Overland, where a plan changed the place type but not the neighborhood context.
• References to plans adopted since 2019, a new state growth projection, and accessibility fixes.

The redline draft shows each change page by page (redline).

Water

Denver Water told the city in an Oct. 5 letter that its collection and treatment capacity is adequate for the growth Blueprint anticipates through 2040, according to the staff report. The One Water Plan itself isn't being changed.

How much the public weighed in

Planning staff posted the changes from late June to late July. According to the staff report:

• 188 people opened the review document, and 9 left comments on it.
• 14 more comments came through a general form.
• Staff held four office hours sessions in July. "No one attended any office hours sessions."
• The Planning Board approved both plans 8-0 on Oct. 21. No one spoke at its public hearing, and one written comment was submitted, about the industrial language.

What's next

• Nov. 17, 1:30 p.m.: Community Planning and Housing Committee (meeting)
• Nov. 30: first reading
• Dec. 7: Council public hearing, the same night as the hearing on the Athmar Park warehouse rezoning (our story)
• Dec. 31: state deadline

Staff recommend approval on the condition that both documents "be edited for clarity and correctness."