Land Development Ordinance

Between 2018 and 2024, Clarion Associates and MIG partnered with the Town of Parker, a fast-growing suburb southeast of Denver, to modernize its Land Development Ordinance (LDO). Before the initiation of the LDO update, Parker’s ordinance was a slightly modified version of the Douglas County, Colorado, ordinance that had been in use since the Town was incorporated in 1981. That LDO had been updated piecemeal over time, resulting in overly complex standards, inflexible procedures, regulatory inconsistencies throughout the document, and as a result, a near-total reliance on negotiated Planned Unit Developments to manage the growth of the community. The LDO modernization project aligned the Town regulations with the community’s vision and goals established in the 2035 Master Plan, clarified expectations from developers and property owners, streamlined the development approval process to be more predictable and transparent, created new zoning districts that will allow redevelopment to occur without reliance on PUD amendments, and enhanced development quality standards throughout the community. The LDO Modernization project occurred in two phases: Phase 1 included diagnosis and analysis of the current regulations and the adoption of a project charter; Phase 2 included drafting the new LDO standards. The new LDO was unanimously adopted  by the Town Council in January 2025