Colorado has a housing crisis that won't be easy to fix. In creating and revising city, county and state policies, we should ask ourselves what effect proposed rules might have on the housing market.

If we do not do this, we will exacerbate the problems of millennials and other young adults who cannot find basic housing on the wages of labor or entry-level professional work. That is a drain on our community, economically and socially.

Dramatic inflation in the housing market feels great, at first, among those who get to watch their personal net worths soar toward the millions. In the long run, we will all suffer if increasing portions of the population cannot afford shelter.

A dearth of homes for young adults might become a shortage of doctors, lawyers, engineers, construction workers and just about everyone else we count on for services. We're seeing limited hours at restaurants because labor is short. Too many buses aren't running. It can take three weeks to get a plumber to the house. Items on store shelves are increasingly scant. When working people have no place to live, we'll have no people to work.

City leaders and the rest of the community should seriously contemplate the details of a draft version of the city's zoning code called ReTOOL COS. As reported by Gazette reporter Mary Shinn, residents of the Old North End Neighborhood found something surprising in the fine print of ReTOOL. As proposed, the new rules would end the ability of neighborhood associations to formally appeal development decisions. Only residents or property owners within 1,000 feet of a proposed project could appeal a planning or land-use ruling.

"You talk about taking away the rights of the neighbors and existing population. ... That is just not right," said Bill Wysong, president of the Mountain Shadows association.

He makes a good point and inadvertently casts light on another concern. Wysong and others are right to worry about the existing population. Yet, nothing about this or other planning controversies can be seen in black and white.

Colorado has long exercised the politics of "I got mine," followed by the unspoken "so to heck with everyone else." Understandably, a lot of Coloradans have moved here from other states with the hope they could close the door behind themselves. Everyone wants to be the last person into God's outdoor playground, but we know it doesn't work that way.

This brings us to the rights of neighbors. By all means, people within 1,000 feet of a proposed development should have an appeal process. Don't let Billy Bong from Babylon ruin the neighborhood with makeshift housing.

Under the draft, and these typically evolve, the code would exclude most noncontiguous neighborhood associations from the formal appeals process. It might be worth considering, so long as the code legitimately protects those directly affected by an anticipated development.

We should strike a balance, however, that allows nearby residents their say. We also need the code to protect developments from neighborhood appeals that come from miles away, or across town. If we don't limit appeals, we can expect the housing shortage to worsen.

Activists opposed to growth — any growth, in some cases — have learned to exploit the process to delay or derail appropriate developments people need. Some activists don't want another dwelling space in Colorado, no matter what. Remember, they got theirs.

Colorado Springs, with a half-million residents, has not been a small town since it blew past 100,000 residents in the 1960s. This is the country's 39th largest city and will outgrow Denver before midcentury.

The developments targeted by no-growthers — and coastal transplants who think they're in Mayberry — are needed most by people who teach children, sell food, wait on tables, put out fires, drive buses, or are fresh out of college trying to get started.

Minority communities need more housing, as statistically they remain at an economic disadvantage. We need good, hardworking people of all backgrounds housed comfortably and safely in our community. Otherwise, we risk becoming another Aspen-Boulder-Telluride-Vail — cities with housing so scarce their workers commute to serve the bourgeois.

Not all developments are desirable or good for the community. That is why zoning rules must allow residents to appeal proposals made within reasonable walking distance of their homes. Meanwhile, we should let no one shut the door on Colorado Springs. Let's not Boulderize with elite's-only planning and development rules.

Zone to improve our surroundings, but let's never exclude young families and workers from enjoying this city at the base of majesty. It belongs to us, them and generations of the future.

REPRINTED FROM THE COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE

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