A motor-court wall about 200 feet back from Cherry Hills Park Drive held up a land decision for three months. It belongs to the home at 1 Cherry Hills Park Drive, a 4.9-acre parcel owned by Chris and Tammy Marsico. In June 2025, the Marsicos applied to split the parcel back into two lots. The land had been platted as two lots in 1997, as part of a 26-lot development, and was combined into one later. The trouble came from a fence-code amendment the city made in 2016, while the lots were combined. With the old property line restored, the solid wall would have sat in a side setback where fences can be no more than 50% opaque. That would have made the wall legally nonconforming. Tearing down the wall was judged too expensive. The applicant's attorney said a variance was likely to be denied under the Village's strict standards. So the applicant redrew the lot line around the wall instead.
Council approved the split 6–0 on May 5, 2026, after hearings were continued twice. The wall is the story people remember. The more useful detail for anyone pricing a large Village lot came up during councilmembers' questions. It explains why two estates with the same acreage on paper can have very different futures.
Two and a Half Acres, Counted Two Ways
The Marsico parcel sits in the R-1 zone, where the minimum lot size is 2.5 acres. At 4.9 acres, it is smaller than two R-1 lots would need. It still qualified because the city code counts the land in the adjacent public right-of-way toward the minimum. Community Development Director Workman explained it this way at the hearing. "Gross" lot size includes that right-of-way. "Net" lot size is only the land inside the property lines. Using the right-of-way is what let both new lots reach 2.5 acres.
In practice, a lot's split potential depends partly on how much street frontage borders it. Two parcels with the same net acreage can come out on opposite sides of the 2.5-acre line once the road beside one of them is counted.
The rule might not last. Before the vote, Councilor Robert Eber said the right-of-way provision "has been used to enable subdivisions that make the City more dense than originally intended." He said he planned to bring a code revision that would end the use of gross square footage for subdivisions. He also made clear that his concern did not apply to the Marsico application. As of early October, no such ordinance appears in the city's posted records, including the already published agenda for the October 6 council meeting, so this is still a stated plan.
Mayor Pro Tem Hoellen raised a second warning that matters for current owners. He suggested that owners who are thinking about combining lots should be told up front that future code changes could make splitting them again harder. The Marsico case shows how that happens. Combining lots looks like a one-way choice about yard space. Years later, it can turn out to be a choice about whether two homesites still exist.
The Window Has Been Closed Since December
Even a lot that clears every test today cannot start the process. On December 10, 2025, Council unanimously adopted Ordinance 7, Series 2025, an emergency moratorium on accepting and processing new subdivision applications. The city said the land-dedication requirement dated to 2004 and needed review. The moratorium was set to end September 10, 2026. On August 18, Council extended it with Ordinance 7, Series 2026. It now runs "through and including January 4, 2027," unless Council ends it sooner or extends it again.
The pause has not stopped much in practice. At the August 4 meeting, staff said no subdivision applications were pending and they knew of no prospective applicants. Before the Marsico split, the last major subdivision was the Calkins subdivision, about ten years ago. Mayor Brown said only a relatively small number of properties remain eligible for subdivision. Splits are rare. When the rules for a rare option change, the effect on a single property's value can be large.
What a Split Would Cost Under Two Formulas
The moratorium exists to rewrite one cost. Section 17-3-30 of the municipal code requires a subdivision to dedicate 7.5% of its land to the city or pay a fee instead. The city hired the consulting firm TischlerBise to study the requirement. Its recommendation is to charge by new housing unit instead of by land area, at 0.049 acres per unit. The firm noted that only Cherry Hills Village and Bow Mar used a land-based model among the communities it compared.
Staff showed what the change would mean at the June 16 meeting:
| June 2026 staff example | Current 7.5% rule | Proposed per-unit model |
|---|---|---|
| Five-acre R-1 lot at $1,000,000 per acre, split into two | 0.375 acres or $375,000 | 0.049 acres or $49,000 |
| Two-acre R-3 lot at $1,041,667 per acre, split into two | 0.15 acres or $156,250 | 0.049 acres or $51,042 |
The consultant acknowledged that it is unusual for a study like this to lower fees. He explained that the Village's lots are already large. The cut only applies to two-lot splits. If the same land were divided into four lots instead of two, the new approach would produce a higher total fee than the current one. So the proposed formula makes a simple two-lot split much cheaper and makes dividing land into more lots more expensive.
The final number is not settled. Mayor Brown argued that because R-1 and R-2 lots can have a guest house in addition to the main home, the fee should count two units per new lot. That would roughly double the charge. The consultant said he could not professionally endorse that approach as defensible in litigation. Hoellen said that singling out guest houses was "antithetical to the City's arguments against state housing mandates." Council accepted the study on August 4 and left the guest-house question for the ordinance drafting. As of early October, no draft ordinance or hearing date has been posted, and the published agenda for the upcoming October 6 council meeting does not list one.
The current rule can also be adjusted case by case. On April 7, Council approved a minor subdivision at 4650 S. University Boulevard. In a separate 5–0 vote, it granted the owner a variance that reduced the fee-in-lieu. That application was filed on December 31, 2024. It took more than fifteen months to reach a final vote.
The State Question on November's Ballot
All of these local rules sit inside a larger dispute. On November 3, voters will decide Ballot Question 2C. It would add a section to the Home Rule Charter declaring that density, land use and development are local matters that the city does not have to regulate differently "irrespective of state mandates to do so." The city's Ordinance 8, Series 2026, names the state laws it has in mind: HB24-1152 on accessory dwelling units and HB24-1313 on housing in transit-oriented communities. On September 15, Council unanimously passed Resolution 29 in support of 2C, according to draft minutes in the October 6 agenda packet.
One state bill that would have directly affected Village acreage did not pass. HB26-1114 would have barred minimum lot sizes above 2,000 square feet for certain single-family lots starting October 1, 2031. A Senate committee postponed it indefinitely on April 23, 2026. At the August meeting, Mayor Brown said the legislature's direction meant the city may eventually need a policy for a future in which nearly every lot is treated as eligible for multifamily development. For now, the 2.5-acre R-1 minimum stands. The bigger risk for a lot's split potential is the local code changes still being worked out.
Where This Year's Large Sales Came From
The Village's biggest 2026 sales were existing homes rebuilt within their current lot lines, not new lots. In April, a Sunset Drive home sold for $10.3 million and topped the Denver-area sales list for the month, The Denver Post reported. CHV Home Inc. had bought it in November 2024 and renovated it from the studs up. A Woodie Hollow Park estate, also remodeled to the studs, listed at $7.1 million on June 11, went under contract August 15 and closed at $6.9 million on August 21. With subdivisions paused and their future cost unknown, these sales show the value buyers and investors are finding inside existing lot lines.
Questions to Settle About Any Large Village Lot
- What are the gross and net acreages? If the net number falls short of the zone minimum, find out how much adjacent right-of-way the lot depends on. A code change could remove it from the count.
- What is the plat history? A lot that was once two, like the Marsico parcel, has a documented line to restore. Title records show past lot-line configurations, a point Councilor Eber raised at the hearing.
- Do any existing walls, fences or equipment depend on today's lot lines? A new property line can make an existing structure nonconforming under the fence code.
- Is anyone pricing in a split before January 4, 2027? No new applications can be accepted until the moratorium ends, and the fee formula after it is still being written.
- How are you pricing in the new fee? Any estimate should assume the per-unit model and the guest-house treatment are still open questions.
None of this is legal advice. Land-use counsel and the city's community development staff are the right sources for advice about a specific parcel.
FAQ
Can I apply to subdivide a Cherry Hills Village lot right now? Not as of October 2026. Ordinance 7, Series 2026, pauses new subdivision applications through January 4, 2027, unless Council ends the pause sooner or extends it.
What are the minimum lot sizes by zone? According to the city's zoning summary, R-1 requires 2.5 acres, R-2 1.25 acres, R-3 one acre, R-4 half an acre and R-5 16,000 square feet.
Has the city stopped counting right-of-way toward lot size? No. Councilor Eber has said he intends to propose the change, but as of early October 2026 no ordinance has been introduced, and the published agenda for the October 6 council meeting does not include one.
Whether you own a large lot in the Village or are looking at one, its acreage is worth checking before you set a price. Lisa Snyder can help you look at the plat history, the gross and net acreage, and the rule changes expected before January, and work out a pricing and timing plan around them. Let's Connect.
