Cherry Creek North - Zoning

Residential Areas:  Cherry Creek North has numerous zoning categories within its borders. The majority of the residential area is comprised of G-RH-3 zoning (General Row House 3 story). This zoning designation allows single family homes, duplexes and row-homes with up to 3 stories in height. Condominium and ‘flats’ projects with stacked units are not allowed under the G-RH-3 zoning form.  

 

BID Area:  The CCN Business Improvement District ("BID") area (which includes a majority of the commercial and retail shopping uses located from 1st Avenue north to 3rd Avenue and from Josephine to the alley between Steele and Adams Streets) has a special CCN zoning category. This BID CCN zoning category includes mixed uses and mixed heights with taller buildings of 12 and 8 stories along 1st Avenue to 4 stories on the north side of 3rd.  The BID zoning heights go up and down within the BID area in order to allow for a mixture of heights and diversity of building forms, allowing sunlight access throughout the neighborhood.

 

Mixed Use Areas:  Due east of the BID zoning, there are commercial mixed use zones for 3 to 5 stories, identified in the map as C-MX -3 or 5 (meaning commercial mixed-use, 3- or 5-stories). This mixed use zoning is also located on the south side of 6th Avenue from Josephine to St. Paul Street. There are also some older developments that are under a PUD (Planned Unit Development) zoning designation. PUDs are zoned properties that are specific to the address/site and were used primarily before the 2010 form-based zoning code went into effect. The actual zoning code designation specifies what can be included in these zoning categories, both in terms of what can be built (height and related forms) and how the property can be used. 

 

Denver's zoning code may be found at www.DenverGov.org/zoning 

 

Cherry Creek North's zoning maps show these various zoning areas and districts:

 

In 2010, Denver adopted a new 'form-based' zoning code which completely revised the way that zoning is designated in the City and that new code dictates what can be built in the City (other than a few area such as Lowry in which the former zoning Code Chapter 59 still applies). This new zoning code defined the majority of the residential neighborhood areas within CCN as G-RH-3 (General Row House 3 story).   

 

In 2012 Denver adopted the Cherry Creek Area Plan which informs development, transit, and future rezoning within the Cherry Creek Area as show in the map below. Cherry Creek North is within the Cherry Creek Area Plan and the residents and businesses in the area worked together for over 2 years to finalize their vision for the future development of the area. It is based on this 2012 Cherry Creek Area plan the neighborhood has developed into what you see today. The entire Cherry Creek Area Plan may be found at: Cherry Creek Area Plan. 

 

The below map is the area included in the Cherry Creek Area Plan and includes all of Cherry Creek, including Cherry Creek North and Cherry Creek East and the area which includes the Cherry Creek Mall and the future Cherry Creek West site. Cherry Creek North is the area shown north of E 1st. Ave on the map. Cherry Creek East is the area south of E 1st Ave on the map and the mall is the area in the s/w corner of the map.

In 2014, the BID CCN zoning was adopted pursuant to the Cherry Creek Area Plan. The BID CCN zoning allowed for and, in fact, encouraged redevelopment of the older buildings, many of which did not have storefronts on the same level as the sidewalk due to old zoning provisions. The new zoning described above paved the way for Cherry Creek North to blossom into the robust and welcoming mixed use neighborhood that it is today.  

 

CCNNA through its zoning/development committee watches over zoning and development issues in and around the Cherry Creek North neighborhood and brings that information to residents and businesses alike.  CCNNA allows residents to know what is going on and how to exercise a voice in the process. This section of the website includes subsections on specific zoning matters and information on specific development sites of interest to CCN.