Denver homeowners to pay $150 for sidewalk repair program

Denver homeowners will likely be on the hook for $150 a year to pay for the city’s sidewalk repair and maintenance program.

The city's Land Use, Transportation and Infrastructure (LUTI) committee advanced several changes to the ordinance, approved in 2022, to the full City Council on Tuesday.

The voter-approved measure ran into delays and required extensive reworking, including a proposed fee restructuring in February. Some councilmembers on Tuesday expressed concerns. Notably, they criticized what they described as a modified discount system that favors landlords and not those living in income-restricted housing units.

City officials said the reason is technical — landowners are the ones who pay the bill, so the discount applies to them.

The $150 fee applies to every homeowner throughout Denver, except those who have more than 230 feet of sidewalk space. Those homeowners must pay the $150 flat fee, as well as an additional charge of $3.50 per foot of sidewalk.

Billing has been delayed to 2025 and the program is expected to go live in January, according to a report from city officials.

The original ordinance would have charged a fee based on the length of the sidewalk and the street type.

The sidewalk program shifted the responsibility of maintenance from residents to the city. There are well over 3,000 miles of sidewalks in the city, with more than a third — or 1,235 miles — being deemed “deficient” by the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. These are sidewalks less than five feet wide.

Additionally, Denver has about 350 miles of sidewalk gaps, which the program seeks to plug.

In previous meetings of the transportation and infrastructure committee, councilmembers sought amendments to the ordinance so that it remains “revenue neutral,” ostensibly staying in compliance with Colorado's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR).

City officials said the adjusted fee structure maintains that revenue neutrality and generates enough funds to build out the network in “a timely manner” and keep it in a “good state of repair going forward.”

“Within the category of properties that will be paying an impact fee, a tiny percentage will end up paying more than they would have under the original ordinance,” said Jill Locantore, executive director of the Denver Streets Partnership. “The vast majority of property owners will be paying the same amount or even slightly less.”

Changes were also made to the way residents can apply for rebates.

Under the original system, residents would have to make a separate application proving their income level in order to qualify for a rebate. But since the ordinance was brought forward, the city introduced its solid waste program, which also offers a rebate.

So, rather than making residents fill out two different rebate applications, both asking them to prove their income level, DOTI staff reworked the application so it applies to both solid waste and sidewalk repair rebates.

But officials said large multifamily properties with deed restricted affordable housing were at risk of falling through the cracks and the committee previously asked DOTI to investigate how to ensure those residents — many of whom may be on a fixed income — can get rebates.

This confused Councilmember Flor Alvidrez, who wanted to know the impact on people living in a building that has affordable housing and who may not live in one of the affordable units.

The 20% discount applies to the whole building, transportation officials said.

Nick Williams, the deputy manager of internal and external affairs at DOTI, said the blanket discount is the “best fix the committee could come up with.”

“So, theoretically, yes, some residents in that building who would not normally meet the individual need would get a little bit of a discount,” he said. “Since we know fees that go to landlords get passed down to renters, this was the only way we could think of to get some sort of relief to those properties.”

Alvidrez insisted the approach made little sense.

She said someone not living in an affordable housing unit should not be able to use the discount. She took issue with the fact that landlords are the ones getting the discount — not the residents directly.

Williams replied that it's because landlords are responsible for the bill, describing the fee for one parcel as “one single account.” Building owners in large residential developments are responsible for a number of fees — such as for storm water — that residents in their building are not directly responsible for paying.

However, those expenses are passed on to residents in some way, whether through the rent or other fees assessed.

Williams called it a “trickle down discount.”

“If 80% of the units are not affordable why would we give the landlord such a huge discount?” Alvidrez asked. “If 20% of the units are affordable, why can’t the landlord get a 20% discount on 20% of the fee?”

Williams believes that is a good idea worthy of further investigation, but he said much of the language and policies in Denver’s sidewalk ordinance were done so the city remained in compliance with TABOR.

If the city mishandled or misallocated a fee, he said, the entire program could go away because of that error.

He is open to investigate tweaks as data become available and so the city can offer more precise discounts to buildings, he said.

“We should be able to find what units have deed restrictions, I don’t think that should be hard,” Alvidrez said.

Ultimately, the committee advanced the amendments forward to the full City Council.