Denver plans 2027 council review for 828-acre Burnham Yards plan
The plan would guide development around the Broncos’ review area as the city develops zoning, urban-renewal and anti-displacement strategies.
Denver is advancing an 828-acre Burnham Yards Small Area Plan toward a public draft in October and a targeted City Council hearing Jan. 4, 2027, after Planning Board review later this year.
Planning staff presented the plan Sept. 16 to the Denver Planning Board as an information item. The board took no action. Staff said the plan would set high-level policy for the broader Burnham Yards area while informing the Denver Broncos’ development review, which covers roughly 150 acres the team has assembled within its review boundary.
The schedule calls for a public draft in October, a Planning Board recommendations and feedback session Nov. 18, Planning Board action Dec. 2, a City Council committee step Dec. 9 and a targeted City Council public hearing Jan. 4. Those are planned milestones, not completed approvals.
The small-area planning process is proceeding alongside the Broncos’ development review, possible zoning text and map amendments, work on an urban-renewal area, and possible development and community-benefits agreements. None had been approved as of the presentation. A related rezoning would proceed separately, likely about six weeks after plan adoption and sometime in February 2027, staff said.
Staff reported more than 2,000 survey submissions, at least 780 open-house attendees and about 16,000 community connections. The engagement included a 26-member Community Advisory Committee, three open houses, focus groups, six community navigators, canvassing, business outreach and resident meetings.
The plan is also examining anti-displacement tools for residents, businesses and industrial users in Burnham Yards and surrounding communities. Staff highlighted concerns about gentrification, preserving Latino and American Indian cultural heritage, maintaining industrial activity and developing affordable housing strategies.
One zoning concept would require at least half of a large assembled parcel or block to remain in industrial uses if new residential development is allowed under industrial-mixed-use zoning. Staff presented the concept for further consideration, not as an adopted requirement.
The Burnham Yards plan is separate from Denver’s citywide Regulatory Reform Project. That effort, funded in part by a $4.5 million U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development PRO Housing grant, would change parts of the zoning and development-review system. The city is targeting a public-review draft in November and City Council adoption in February or March 2027. The city’s regulatory-reform presentation identifies the package as the first phase of that broader effort.
The city’s Unlocking Housing Choices project page provides information about the citywide reform effort, including project materials, meetings and recordings. A spring 2026 engagement summary describes earlier outreach for that package.
The Burnham Yards plan’s draft strategies remain subject to public review and later decisions by the Planning Board and City Council.