MONTROSE, Colo. (KREX) — The Montrose City Council has unanimously approved Resolution 2023-06 in an effort to stress the importance of keeping rural Colorado municipalities in control of local land use decisions.

The resolution opposes Senate Bill 23-213 (SB213), a bill that Montrose officials believe to be an attempt to correct Colorado’s housing shortage with mandates on decisions normally left to the local government.

The best people to make decisions for our Colorado towns and cities are the residents and elected representatives in those communities. It is not the legislature who should be telling us how to plan our hometowns, and, in Colorado there is a long history of home rule, which is why Colorado is one of the most unique and attractive places in which to live and work. The legislature’s “cookie cutter” approach to standardize our communities will have major negative consequences over the long term

Montrose City Manager Bill Bell

State leadership should be working with rural cities and towns to create opportunities for more housing, and more affordable housing. Creating new laws that take control away from local communities is not the way to get that done.

Montrose Mayor Barbara Bynum

Resolution 2023-06 states “it is the position of the City of Montrose that municipalities are best suited to determine appropriate zoning laws for their communities and that collaboration and cooperation – not top-down statewide mandates and giveaways to special interests – are the solutions to Colorado’s affordable housing problem.

According to city officials, state-imposed mandates would only hinder current initiatives to bring a more attainable housing supply to Montrose.