Durango City Council

City Council approved an emergency moratorium on building heights in downtown Durango. The emergency moratorium was proposed by Greg Hoch, City Planning Director, who cited several proposed projects in the downtown that he believed could change the character of downtown if allowed to proceed. Under the current City Code, height in the Central Business District (“CBD”) is limited to 70 feet. The Downtown Design Guidelines only restrict building height on Main Avenue where four stories are allowed on corner parcels and three stories in the mid-block. Design Guidelines pertaining to building height and massing on Second Avenue and along Camino Del Rio are less restrictive. Senior Planner, Tim McHarg, believes that efforts to stop large scale development along Second Avenue or along the Animas River in the Camino Del Rio district could easily be challenged because of the lack of clear direction in the guidelines.

The recent Downtown Vision Plan recommended that building height be reduced in the CBD proposing a height limit of 55 feet in most areas and 35 feet in sensitive areas near the Animas River and adjacent to Third Avenue as the graphic below illustrates. Please check back in the coming weeks to learn about the City’s efforts to restrict building height in the CBD.