Anyone under contract on a Hilltop house this fall is buying a lot whose future entitlements nobody can state yet. Denver's Unlocking Housing Choices proposal is still a proposal and not enacted law. The version the city presented in September 2026 made a lot's eligibility for additional homes depend first on its distance from a transit corridor, measured on a map the city calls a draft. Within that distance, extra units would come through one of two routes. One requires keeping the house already on the lot. The other requires one income-restricted unit.
For a neighborhood of large lots and frequent rebuilds, that changes what the zoning question is. A Hilltop property's zone district label tells you less than it used to. Its position relative to Colorado Boulevard, Leetsdale, Sixth and Alameda may tell you more. Denver City Council won't decide any of this until late winter or spring 2027 at the earliest.
What the September Revision Took Out
The earlier drafts discussed across east Denver this spring and summer looked broader. In its September 2026 presentation to Council, the city's planning staff listed four structural changes: bonuses only near existing and planned transit, no floor-area limits, updated building-form rules, and a cap on the number of dwelling units.
The transit limit carries the most weight. Under the revision, additional dwelling units would be allowed only on properties within one-quarter mile of Denver's Transit Priority Streets and rail transit stations. The city estimates that about 54% of the areas zoned SU, TU or the equivalent Former Chapter 59 districts fall inside that draft buffer. It also notes that this is not the final map and that revisions will exclude areas where transit service cannot be provided.
Denverite's coverage of the revision described it as Denver scaling back a citywide upzoning. Councilman Darrell Watson called the new version "baked down" but still supported any increase in gentle density.
Two Ways to Add a Unit, and One Starts With What's Already There
Inside the buffer, the revised proposal does not grant duplexes or fourplexes by right. Additional primary units would come only through one of two bonuses.
| Retention Bonus | Affordability Bonus | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it applies | Within ¼ mile of a Transit Priority Street or rail station | Within ¼ mile of a Transit Priority Street or rail station |
| Core condition | Existing house or primary structure is at least 5 years old and retained for 5 years | One unit affordable at no more than 70% AMI if rental, or 100% AMI if ownership |
| Affordable unit required | No | Yes, one; additional affordable units earn no further bonus |
| Vacant lots | Cannot qualify | Not excluded in the presentation |
| Unit cap | 2 in Suburban context; 4 in Urban Edge or Urban | 2 in Suburban context; 4 in Urban Edge or Urban |
The Retention Bonus is the one most relevant to an established neighborhood. Under it, the new units can sit inside the retained house, in an addition, or in one or more new primary structures on the same lot. Unless an owner takes the affordability route, the existing house is what makes the extra units possible under this proposal. A lot that has already been cleared cannot use the Retention Bonus, and a house demolished for a single new residence gives up that route on the lot.
The cap is the other variable a Hilltop owner can't yet pin down. It is two primary units in the Suburban context and four in Urban Edge or Urban. Which of those contexts applies to Hilltop is set in Blueprint Denver, and we have not confirmed Hilltop's category from the readable plan documents. Until the city publishes final mapping, the honest answer to "how many units could this lot hold" is a range.
The Map Hilltop Is Waiting On
The proposal ties the buffer to Blueprint Denver's Transit Priority Streets. Denver Moves: Transit, the city's 2019 transit plan, defines those streets as corridors identified as High- or Medium-Capacity Transit Corridors. The same plan identifies 21 Transit Capital Investment Corridors and sorts them into High-Capacity, Medium-Capacity, or Speed and Reliability.
Hilltop's edges show up on that corridor map. The plan's Figure 3-2 labels corridors named "Colorado," "Speer/Leetsdale," "6th," and "Alameda." Holly Street doesn't appear among the labeled corridors. Appearing on the map isn't the same as qualifying, though. Only High- and Medium-Capacity corridors count as Transit Priority Streets, the map doesn't make each corridor's tier clear, and the city's own UHC applicability map is still a draft with exclusions unfinished.
Two Hilltop houses of the same age, on similar lots, could end up under different rules depending on how far each sits from a qualifying corridor. A house a few blocks in from Colorado Boulevard and a house in the interior near Cranmer Park might share a zone district today and still differ in what the proposal would allow.
Colorado Boulevard brings its own timing problem. CDOT's project page says that as of 2026, the Colorado Boulevard bus rapid transit project between I-70 and Southmoor Station is still in alternatives analysis. A preferred alternative and preliminary design are targeted for 2027, 30% design and NEPA documentation for 2028, and the construction start hasn't been set. Denverite reported in May 2026 that the concepts shown publicly were side-running bus lanes, center-running lanes that shift to side-running at Alameda Avenue, and buses in mixed traffic, plus a no-build option. It also reported that design funding was secured but construction funding was not, with completion slated for 2030.
The Hilltop Neighborhood Association's board formally opposed the Colorado Boulevard BRT "in its current form," according to the association's July 2026 newsletter. So the transit project that may help define the zoning buffer along Hilltop's western edge is itself unsettled, and the neighborhood's own association is pushing against it.
What Stays Open for the Large Rebuild
The revision's second change matters just as much to Hilltop. The city removed the proposed maximum floor-area limits from Phase 1 and deferred them to a possible future phase. The September presentation still includes a Phase 2 table that scales a floor-area allowance by lot size and unit count. For a single unit, it runs from 3,000 square feet on lots under 5,001 square feet to 5,000 square feet on lots over 15,000. The city frames that table as something to consider after monitoring actual redevelopment, not as part of the current package.
Put together, the package makes adding units conditional and leaves the size of a single large replacement home unaddressed for now. Councilmember Amanda Sawyer represents parts of central and east Denver including Cherry Creek, Hilltop and Lowry, and she objected to that removal. "By removing the maximum square footage language, I think you are no longer solving the problem that we see in District Five that is causing gentrification," she told Denverite. District 2 Councilmember Kevin Flynn told the same outlet that missing middle housing "should be guided with a location analysis, not a blanket citywide."
One part of the proposal reaches every lot regardless of transit. The building-form updates apply to all areas within the applicable zone districts. They would:
- Combine the House, Duplex and Tandem House forms into one house-scale form
- Keep and update bulk plane and building height standards, with the rear portion of a lot using detached ADU dimensions
- Update the zoning code definition of "Half Story" and expand allowances for dormers
- Require a porch or canopy at the entry for structures within 30 feet of a Primary or Side Street Zone Lot Line
- Continue to allow two-story flat-roof homes
The September materials don't give numerical height or sidewall limits in feet. Architects sketching a Hilltop rebuild this winter are working toward a form standard whose final dimensions haven't been published.
The Questions the Association Has Raised
In its April 2026 update, the Hilltop Neighborhood Association raised concern about adding density without guaranteed infrastructure upgrades and said it favored a more tailored, neighborhood-led approach. By July, the association said it was examining infrastructure and utilities, stormwater, tree canopy, parking and traffic ahead of a Council vote it then expected in late 2026. Both updates predate the September revision, so they respond to a draft that still included floor-area limits.
The Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle reported in July 2026 on general homeowner skepticism about the proposal and named Belcaro and Hilltop among the neighborhoods some residents fear could change.
The Calendar Between Now and a Vote
The city's project page still carries an older FAQ estimate of Council consideration in late 2026. The September presentation is newer and sets a later sequence:
- October 20, 2026: advisory committee meeting
- November 4–19, 2026: public meetings, with events listed on November 4, 5, 10, 18 and 19
- Winter 2026/2027: drafting of amendments, public review of the draft, and a Planning Board hearing
- Late winter/spring 2027: Council committee review, public hearing and final vote
Denverite reported that the vote, first expected soon after the November election, won't reach Council until spring at the earliest. CDOT has also put a preferred Colorado Boulevard design in 2027. Both decisions that shape Hilltop's western edge fall in roughly the same window.
Questions Hilltop Owners Raise
Doesn't Denver already allow ADUs? Yes. A separate citywide measure made accessory dwelling units allowed in all Denver residential areas, effective December 16, 2024. The UHC bonuses cover additional primary dwelling units, which is a different thing.
Would the proposal let a Hilltop lot be split? The September materials describe added dwelling units on a lot. They don't announce a lot-split entitlement or a change to minimum lot sizes, and no final ordinance text has been published.
What about parking? The UHC presentation doesn't set new parking minimums. Denverite notes that Denver abolished minimum parking requirements for new development in 2025.
How do covenants or HOA rules interact with the bonuses? For ADUs, the city's page says state law overrides HOA rules that prohibit them, and that Denver doesn't review permits for compliance with HOA rules. We haven't found city guidance on how private covenants would apply to the new primary-unit bonuses.
For a Hilltop property, the useful answers right now are specific to the lot. That means how far it sits from a mapped corridor, whether the house on it would count as a retained structure, and how a buyer's or seller's timeline lines up with a Council vote in spring 2027. Casey Perry Properties follows the UHC mapping and the Colorado Boulevard design process parcel by parcel and can walk through what each draft might mean for a particular address. Request a private consultation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
