City of Littleton drops lawsuit against ballot measure aimed at freezing zoning changes

LITTLETON, Colo. — The autumn leaves in Littleton are a reminder that things change, but some in the charming community say city leaders are trying to allow too much change, too quickly.

The group Rooted in Littleton believes housing density is being forced into neighborhoods that don’t need it, hurting their character.

“Fighting City Hall is not easy,” Mark Harris, a board member for the group, told Denver7 Monday. “City council is bound and determined to impose some form of density housing in our single-family neighborhoods throughout Littleton. That means duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes in every single family residential neighborhood. That is too much, and we just said we can't abide by that.”

Ballot Measure 3A would change the City of Littleton's charter, freezing single-family residential zones to where they were on Jan. 1, 2025.

The measure would require the city to hold a public vote in order to make future changes to the charter to allow future zoning district changes. It would also require all affected property owners to be notified by first-class mail.

Rooted in Littleton

“We think it's a perfectly direct amendment that preserves single-family residential neighborhoods, and that's what it does,” Harris said.

The city disagreed, filing a legal challenge last month asking a judge to review the ballot measure.

Denver7 has been following the battle over this ballot measure. Read our previous coverage below

• Littleton voters to decide future of neighborhoods this November
• Littleton citizen-led charter amendment likely heading to November ballot
• Proposed measure aimed at preserving single-family zoning in Littleton set to reach voters this November

Talking with Denver7 this summer, Littleton Mayor Kyle Schlachter called the ballot’s wording confusing and potentially problematic.

“There's four sentences, but they kind of conflict with each other,” Schlachter said. “The second sentence says there can be no changes to land use, and then the third sentence says there can be changes and done this certain way. There's also some conflict with the state constitution, and whether this is actually constitutional for taking away powers of the legislative body of the city, which would be the city council, and also the fact that complying with state law. If this charter amendment were to pass, we would be out of compliance with state law, and then we would have ramifications if the governor signed an executive order, kind of putting cities that are not in compliance to state law at the bottom of the list for funding for various for issues.”

But on Monday, the city dropped that petition for judicial review, saying a completed review was “unlikely” before the election. Mail ballots were sent out to residents last week.

• Read a statement from the City of Littleton below

Ballot Measure 3A supporters call the lawsuit a political move to try to silence voters.

“Their lawsuit was unfounded,” Harris said. “It was late and it was unconstitutional… It's an issue that the people should have a right to vote on.”

But others like Betsy Schwarm, who has lived in Littleton for 31 years, still plan to vote against the measure. A big concern is that requiring a citywide vote could make any future zoning changes difficult and expensive.

“It seems an unnecessary set of complications,” she said. “I don't have a problem per se with something being put up to a vote, but to have elections and regional votes on every little teeny thing is not a good use of city resources.”

Another concern is that because the ballot measure wording takes zoning district statuses back to Jan. 1, changes made during the summer to make it easier for homeowners to build accessory dwelling units (ADUs) will no longer be legal.

Election Day is Nov. 4.

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