Arvada, CO Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Density Bonus Law (2026)

Section 2-1-10-4, Incentives for Increased Building Height, grants a 15-foot height bonus "within the MX zoning districts" for "projects that include affordable housing units," capping the resulting overall building height at 120 feet regardless of what the base zoning district would otherwise allow. Subsection B defines the qualifying affordable component narrowly: the project must include units financed with federal low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC) under Section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code, and the LIHTC-funded affordable units must be built alongside market-rate units in the same development, rather than as a stand-alone affordable project.

The bonus interacts with the base height limits set for each MX district. The mixed-use districts (MX-N Neighborhood, MX-S Suburban, MX-U Urban, and MX-T Transit-Oriented) each carry their own maximum building height under their respective lot and building standards tables in Division 2-1-4; the 15-foot LIHTC bonus is added on top of whichever of those base limits applies to the specific MX subdistrict, subject to the 120-foot ceiling. Because the incentive is written as a height allowance rather than a density or unit-count bonus, a developer still has to satisfy every other applicable standard in Chapter 2, including setbacks, frontage-zone build-to requirements, and parking, for the taller building; only the maximum height number itself is relaxed. The incentive does not apply outside the MX districts, so a similar affordable-housing project in the RN, R6, R13, R24, or Olde Town districts receives no comparable height increase under this Section.