Louisville council to consider $340,000 grant for development-code rewrite

Louisville City Council is scheduled to consider July 21 whether to accept a Colorado Energy Office grant of up to $340,000 for a citywide rewrite of its development code. The posted record does not show that the council has approved the agreement.

Resolution No. 60, Series 2026, would support updates to zoning, subdivision and development standards, including mixed-use and transit-oriented development, complete streets, transportation-demand management, green infrastructure and electric-vehicle readiness, the staff report says. The grant-funded appropriations are not in the current budget; if the council approves the agreement, Finance would return with a budget amendment adding professional-services appropriations and offsetting them with grant revenue.

The records conflict over the city’s local match. The staff report says Louisville must provide 5%, split between 2.5% in-kind staff time and 2.5% from previously budgeted Development Code Update appropriations. But the proposed grant agreement says no matching funds are required and marks the match section as not applicable. The report says matching is tracked outside the agreement, so the city’s ultimate obligation is unclear from the posted documents.

The agreement would run through July 31, 2029, and reimburse documented allowable costs. It requires monthly invoices and progress reports, annual reports each Sept. 15 and a final report within 45 days after expiration. The initial phase provides $40,000 for quality-assurance work; the remaining $300,000 depends on an initial procurement milestone and Colorado Energy Office approval of a continuation request. The posted agreement does not show a completed issuance date or all required signatures.

The work would begin with project setup, public engagement and a review of existing regulations rather than immediate code drafting. Louisville’s request for proposals calls for a consultant to create a project schedule and advisory structure, launch an Engage Louisville project page, inventory regulations and legacy planned-unit developments and entitlements, and produce a diagnostic work program. Later phases would develop a regulatory framework and market analysis before drafting code and design standards.

The rewrite would cover Titles 16 and 17 of the Louisville Municipal Code — subdivisions and zoning — and targeted portions of Title 15, plus commercial, industrial, mixed-use and downtown design standards. The RFP says the project would implement the city’s Comprehensive Plan and 2024 Housing Plan and evaluate housing choice and affordability, inclusionary-housing rules and development-review procedures. It also calls for stakeholder outreach, public meetings and communications, and consideration of transit-oriented zoning, parking, landscaping, green infrastructure, hazard mitigation and resilience.

The RFP describes the effort as roughly two years, with adoption support and post-adoption assistance potentially continuing beyond drafting. Optional work could include expanded market analysis, cleanup of legacy entitlements, city-initiated rezonings or an online code platform. Major changes to building and energy codes, recent accessory-dwelling-unit rules and the historic-preservation ordinance are generally outside the scope. No consultant had been selected when the RFP was issued, which says it is not an offer to contract.