Louisville City Council votes to formally oppose November ballot measures
The council unanimously voted to approve two resolutions opposing the ballot measures, which will still go to voters
By Julia King | jking@prariemountainmedia.com
UPDATED: October 9, 2025 at 3:30 PM MDT
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct the name of AdventHealth Avista.
Louisville City Council on Tuesday unanimously voted to oppose the two measures that will go in front of Louisville voters on Nov. 4. Those ballot measures — which address zoning rules for certain pieces of land and the fees property developers pay to the city — were also publicly opposed by AdventHealth Avista and Thistle Community Housing this week.
If passed, Ballot Measure 300 would not allow the City Council to rezone Centennial Valley, Redtail Ridge and the Avista Adventist Hospital area for residential use unless it also required developers to commit to building 30% affordable housing on those sites. The city’s draft Comprehensive Plan, which is still under review, designates properties within each of those areas for residential use, although there are currently no finalized plans to rezone them for that purpose, according to city spokesperson Grace Johnson.
Ballot Measure 301 would change the way Louisville imposes impact fees on developers, and establish a resident committee to guide a new fee study.
The City Council approved two resolutions opposing the measures, arguing, in part, that they are “anti-growth” in nature.
“Affordable housing exception in Ballot Question 300 is overly restrictive and forecloses reasonable, flexible and economically viable solutions to address housing affordability,” the first resolution says.
Louisville Mayor Chris Leh also said during Tuesday night’s City Council meeting that Ballot Measure 301 would restrict new development and undermine the council’s authority in setting impact fees for developers.
“In the long run, people really want to wrest control of land-use matters from the list of powers that council has,” Leh said. “This will have the second-order consequence of stopping the building of housing.”
The council’s resolutions don’t change the fact that the measures will appear on November’s ballot, but they do formalize the council’s stance. In August, Leh and all of the sitting City Council members were already listed on the website for Louisville Together, a coalition opposed to the measures that is also endorsed by Flatirons Habitat for Humanity, Together Colorado, the Downtown Business Association, the Louisville Chamber and, as of this week, AdventHealth Avista and affordable-housing developer Thistle Community Housing.
Measures 300 and 301 were brought to the ballot after another group, Love4Louisville, led by residents Janette Kotichas and Jean Morgan, filed them as resident initiatives with the City Clerk’s Office in July. Each initiative collected over 1,000 signatures in an effort to place them on the November election ballot in Louisville.
That process was halted after three residents, including former mayoral candidate Don Brown, his wife Karen Brown and former Ward 1 city Councilmember Tim Bierman — the registered agent for Louisville Together — filed protests claiming the measures violate the Colorado Constitution. A public hearing was held and found those protests invalid, allowing them to be placed on the ballot.
Both sides claim they support affordable housing in Louisville, but they disagree on how the measures, if passed, would affect efforts to create affordable housing in the city.
Don Brown has said the measures are an explicit effort to “limit development.”
“While it’s being sold as an affordable housing measure, I think it goes well beyond that and really locks future citizens and councils from being able to make reasonable decisions,” he said in August.
Brown added that Louisville needs more housing diversity, including for people who could work at the Redtail Ridge development, where AdventHealth Avista is expected to build a new hospital.
“It seems silly to me that we would build a … hospital and not provide an opportunity for those individuals working there — protecting our community — to live in our community,” Brown said.
The measures’ supporters, meanwhile, say they are necessary to ensure developers pay their fair share in fees to offset the impacts new development have on the surrounding infrastructure.
Love4Louisville organizer Kotichas has also argued against claims that the measures are part of a no-growth effort.
“If these areas are rezoned without the initiative, the market rate, luxury homes that developers build will be unaffordable for the majority of our residents. This initiative is crucial for creating a deliberate plan for growth, so we don’t lose the opportunity to build affordable housing,” Kotichas said in August. “Again, let’s let the voters decide.”
Louisville’s election will take place on Nov. 4. All eligible voters will automatically be mailed a ballot beginning Oct. 10, according to the city’s website.
Originally Published: October 8, 2025 at 4:26 PM MDT