Englewood One Community Takes Legal Action to Invalidate City Ordinance Spurring Unprecedented Overdevelopment
Englewood One Community Corporation has filed a legal complaint against the City of Englewood, its Mayor, and City Council. The legal complaint seeks to invalidate a recently passed city ordinance because it is arbitrary and capricious and tainted with conflicts of interest It will incentivize the construction of over 3,200 multi-family housing units by real estate developers that have been improperly zoned to permit this construction as a result of the ordinance.
“At the time [November 1, 2022] City Council obligated the City last year to rezone residential neighborhoods it “was not available to the public for review, input or comment,” the court filing stated.
The ordinance allows unprecedented overdevelopment of apartment buildings in single-family neighborhoods, historic sites, municipal property including the Englewood Police Department building and City Jail, and FEMA Flood Hazard Zones, creating infrastructure, public health and safety concerns.
Further, the court filing stated, “No rationale was provided for the location of the newly proposed overlay zones; no prior notice was given to the Planning Board before it was told it had to approve a housing plan that was incorporated into the Ordinance; and the public was shut out of the process for nearly nine months and subsequently denied the opportunity to voice their objections.”
The Ordinance “permits greater density and height of the buildings with less buffers for open space and green space,” the court filing stated. The court filing further states the zoning areas permit 4 to 5 stories buildings to be constructed next to single family homes
The court filing further explains, if developers buy several single-family homes within the overlay zone, they will build multi-unit high density inclusionary projects interspersed among and between those single-family lots.
There has been significant public outcry since the approval of the ordinance in August. An overwhelming number of residents attended an Aug. 8 council meeting to express their concerns and were ultimately stonewalled by the council and denied to have their voices heard. Additionally, over 300 people attended a town hall meeting hosted by Englewood One to speak out in opposition to the plan just days before it was approved but calls for action ultimately fell on deaf ears.
The Ordinance ignored the City’s historic master plan adopted in 2014 and its zoning regulations to protect the quality of life of residents that no apartment buildings were permitted to be built in single family neighborhoods. The court filing note that “the planning board found the Ordinance No. 23-22 is inconsistent with the Master Plan.
Notwithstanding, the City council recognized that ““Englewood is a fully developed community, with its little remaining vacant land characterized by environmentally sensitive features or constrained by contaminants” as stated in the court filing, the City Council adopted the Ordinance by a 4-1 council vote.
Englewood One Community wholeheartedly supports Englewood’s 50-year history of affordable housing, and is proud that the Court has previously held that “Englewood has been a trailblazer in establishing, providing and sustaining low and moderate income housing for [its] residents” and there is “no similar municipality in the Northern region which has the commitment to low and moderate income housing than Englewood has exhibited, the court filing noted.
The complaint filed by Englewood One Community moves to invalidate the ordinance and to address any new ordinance with smart planning, open and public participation to assure the quality of life all in Englewood enjoy is never lost.