Streamlining affordable housing development review and permitting process for Fort Collins

The City of Fort Collins, Colorado, faced an operational challenge: ensuring that its permitting and approval processes could support expanded affordable housing production while simultaneously executing an expedited development review process. The City needed to evaluate and improve its development review process, specifically for affordable housing projects. 

Raftelis partnered with the City to analyze historical development, review timelines, and permitting data. The project team conducted interviews with staff and stakeholders involved in planning, permitting, and development review. This assessment focused on identifying specific process bottlenecks, evaluating how current procedures aligned with the City’s overarching housing goals, and clarifying roles and responsibilities across the various departments involved in the workflow. 

To position the City to reduce review timelines and increase process transparency, the resulting recommendations focused on streamlining the review processes. We outlined strategies for strengthening project management practices within the development review workflow, improving coordination across departments, and establishing clearer, more efficient procedures for affordable housing project approvals to better support the development of new housing in the community. 

For more information, contact us.