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Zoning Glossary
City planners have their own language they use to communicate about zoning. These common words or phrases may be used often both on this website and in The New Code itself:
Areas of Change are designated by Blueprint Denver as places where new investment would be the most beneficial, and increased density and change of use is appropriate, such as the Stapleton neighborhood or Gates Transit Oriented Development.
Areas of Stability are designated by Blueprint Denver as established residential neighborhoods where reinvestment and change will occur while the density and type of use will remain largely as it is, such as the Bear Valley, Cory-Merrill, Regis and Virginia Village neighborhoods.
Blueprint Denver is Denver's nationally recognized growth management plan that integrates land use and transportation policies, which was adopted by Denver City Council in 2002 following two years of community input from more than 2,000 citizens.
Context is the elements which, taken together, comprise a built environment. Context elements include street, block, and lot patterns, as well as land use, and building form and scale.
Context-based Zoning derives zoning regulations from the desirable attributes or development characteristics of existing neighborhoods or planned places (i.e., the "context").
Comprehensive Plan 2000 was adopted by Denver City Council as our collective community vision for Denver's future.
Density is the permitted concentration of residential units in an area of land, or the permitted ratio of building size to land area.
Form-Based Zoning emphasizes regulation of building "form" (versus just "use") to assure a building's general shape, massing, height and orientation positively contribute to the existing or desired neighborhood context.
Greenprint Denver is the sustainability policy and office established by Mayor John W. Hickenlooper to help Denver become a national leader in economic, social, and environmental sustainability.
Main Street Zoning is "context-based" and "form-based" regulations created in 2005 to promote the revitalization of Denver's commercial main streets. To date, City Council has applied main street zoning to 711 properties along East and West Colfax Avenue.
Mixed Use Zoning allows mixing of different land uses, such as residential, retail and office, either in the same building or in the same district/area.
Multi-Modal refers to giving travelers more choices than simply using their cars such as rail and bus transit, car pools, walking, biking, and shuttle service.
Overlay Zoning is a technique whereby certain additional zoning requirements are added to the underlying "base" zoning district.
Planned Unit Development (PUD) is a negotiated zoning district uniquely tailored for a specific property.
Registered neighborhood organization (RNO) registers with Denver each year in order to receive ordinance required notifications that include zoning map amendments, zoning variance applications, liquor and cabaret license applications, as well as permanent street closures.
Rezoning is an action of Denver City Council to amend the zoning map designation of a property or area.
Sustainability refers to the long-term social, economic and environmental health of a community.
Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) creates beautiful, vital, and walkable neighborhoods that provide housing, shopping and transportation choices as well as access to the region's jobs, government centers, healthcare facilities and cultural and recreational destinations.
Use-Based Zoning emphasizes regulation of the use of buildings or land to assure compatible development within an area or district. See, in comparison, "form-based zoning."
Zoning Code is the body of local laws governing what can be built on a property, as well as how it can be used.