The era of the slot home may finally be over in Denver, and its funeral turned into an airing of👍 grievances.
“I hate slot homes. I hate them,” said Maggie Miller, a resident who worked to rein in the controversial building👍 design. “It feels like being in a canyon.”
With a unanimous 11-0 vote on Monday, the city’s elected leaders moved to👍 ban the construction of the unusual residences that have spread through northwestern Denver neighborhoods in recent years.
First: What is a👍 slot home?
“Without a doubt, these slot homes were an abuse of our zoning codes,” said Councilman Paul López, whose west-side👍 district has seen plenty of them. “They robbed our neighborhoods of character and they robbed residents of community.”
A slot home👍 is a multi-unit residential project that is designed around a narrow driveway or open space, aka “the slot.” At the👍 heart of the years-long controversy was a seemingly simple design question: Should buildings have to face the street?
“It was much👍 more like a slot than a courtyard,” said senior city planner Analiese Hock.
The outer walls of these buildings often are👍 bare of details — blank walls and utility equipment facing the sidewalk. Critics say that’s not a great way to👍 build a community.
“It’s as though they don’t want us to come to their front doors … because they never come👍 out, they never go out their front door, because there is no real front door,” said Gertrude Grant, referring to👍 her efforts to canvas in slot territory. (Do you live in a slot home? Email me.)
City staff estimate that more👍 than 100 of these projects have been built in Denver. Many have gone up since the city implemented new zoning👍 rules in 2010, but they date back to the 1970s, according to Hock.
The ban will not affect existing slot homes.
Here’s👍 what the new stuff could look like:
Denver planners came up with these illustrations of current slot homes — and what👍 could replace them under the new revisions.
Buildings won’t have to look exactly like this. The different examples apply to different👍 zones. (Check your neighborhood’s zoning here.)
How exactly are they getting rid of it?
The new proposal to kill slot homes was👍 the result of more than a year of work, with city planners working alongside a task force of developers, residents👍 and others.
“We saw some of the ugliest slot homes in the world, and some that were pretty decent, too,” said👍 Councilman Wayne New.
The most obvious change is that housing units near the street now must face the street. The units👍 in the back can still face sideways, but the ones up front have to form a unified block. Parking access👍 for many buildings would be from the alley.
In some cases, the city also is lowering height limits and requiring buildings👍 to be set further back from the street.
Developers have said that the change could reduce the number of residences they👍 can fit on a given lot — shrinking some developments from 12 units to 11 units. (In fact, the slot👍 home was invented to maximize square footage and profits.)
“It will create a better product, but I do think that real-estate👍 wise, there’s going to be a couple hundred land sellers that are going to be very unhappy with this,” said👍 Ty Mumford, a developer who also is on the slot home task force, in an earlier interview.
Councilman Rafael Espinoza, though,👍 has said that many landowners could still pursue larger projects in the form of condos and apartments.
Meanwhile, the city government👍 is asking even bigger questions about whether it can improve the modern architecture of Denver — check out our coverage👍 from last week.
And, no matter what rules the city passes, developers are gonna develop.
“I’ve had developers tell me that if👍 there’s loopholes in the zoning code, they’re going to find them,” said Heather Noyes, who also worked on the proposal.👍 ” … We need the tools and our staff needs the authority to stop this in its tracks.”
But a city👍 attorney warned that it will ultimately be up to the Denver City Council to make changes to the zoning code👍 when issues arise.
