Mesa County updating land development code to address housing crisis

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KJCT) — Mesa County is working on a full update of its land development code, addressing new regulations and the regional housing crisis.

Greg Moberg, community development director for Mesa County, said the land development code sets the standards and regulations for development within the community. That includes how high buildings should be, how far away they should be built, landscaping and parking requirements.

The code was last updated in 2023. This latest update will be streamlined and align with the county’s 2023 Master Plan.

It will also comply with new state regulations for electric vehicle charging, density and affordable housing.

The biggest changes for housing will involve increasing density in commercial zones, meaning more roofs can be packed into one zone.

Moberg said the changes could help with affordability.

“We’ve heard from some developers that one way we can start hitting maybe some lower price points is getting that density up in that single-family home market,” he said.

The update will allow more density in mixed-use developments, which are commercial zones, and will also allow single-family detached homes in the RMF-12 zone, which is generally multifamily.

“We wanted to create an opportunity where if somebody wanted to do single-family detached, they could do that at a density that’s closer to what’s downtown Grand Junction,” Moberg said.

Moberg said the update will not make any changes to residential neighborhoods.

“The community generally wants to keep their residential neighborhoods fairly tight and secure,” he said. “And so that’s what we’re really kind of looking for, those options in the undeveloped areas of how they can develop and develop in an appropriate manner that the community wants and desires as we grow into the 21st century.”

The county still wants feedback before the update is finalized.

The county will host a public workshop on May 14 where the community can hear directly from county staff and submit their own feedback for the land development code.

The workshop will start at 5:45 p.m. at 200 S. Spruce St., room 40.

More information can be found here.

Mesa County updating land development code to address housing crisis

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