The Lafayette City Council plans to review its own authority over how to administer a new state law that requires more apartments and condos to be built along transit corridors in designated communities.

The state law is intended to increase the amount of housing in state-designated transit areas, according to the state Legislature website.

In Lafayette, the required density is expected to be 40 dwelling units per acre along South Boulder Road, for example, according to Phil Kleisler, principal planner for Lafayette.

The law has municipalities calculate what’s called a housing opportunity goal number based on a state-designated transit area zone map, Kleisler said.

The goal number is meant to allow zoning regulations to allow for a certain level of development in those areas. Kleisler said the average would be 40 dwelling units per acre in those designated transit areas, primarily along South Boulder Road in Lafayette.

“The takeaway with this bill is that it requires cities to create a significant or sufficient zoning capacity along some key transit corridors to encourage more housing in proximity to said transit,” Kleisler said.

Kleisler said if realized, the growth to the town would have significant impacts to city services like water, infrastructure and staff time spent on reviewing applications.

During a Tuesday meeting, the council received an update regarding multiple new state laws, but the council focused on the Housing in Transit-Oriented Communities law, previously House Bill 24-1313.

A date for an executive session to go over Lafayette’s home rule and land use authority regarding the law has not been announced. Councilmember Nicole Samson and Brian Wong said the Colorado Municipal League and Denver Regional Council of Governments were strongly opposed to the law, and last year Lafayette officials passed a resolution stating their concerns with the bill.

“What are the unintended consequences of this” law, Samson said.

Wong said DRCOG also felt the law chips away at home rule rights, which allow municipalities to set their own policy rather than follow state statutes. Councilmember David Fridland suggested the council work with state representatives to find a middle ground over the law that does not feel like the state is taking away a home rule municipality’s right to run itself.

The bill does allow municipalities to deny applications based on transportation, utilities and public works standards. The bill also allows for a water supply analysis, which allows the city to lower its zoning requirements if the city can prove it does not have sufficient water rights to serve a development. A preliminary housing opportunity goal assessment report from the city is due to the state by June 30.