JULY 8 - 15, 2026
THE DEFINITIVE SOURCE FOR GRAND JUNCTION BUSINESS & COMMUNITY NEWS SINCE 1994
2 housing-code changes advance after planners debate Brandon Leuallen
T
The Business Times
wo proposed zoning and development code changes are headed to the Grand Junction City Council for their first reading after the Planning Commission recommended their approval. The amendments are intended to reduce development costs and address implementation challenges identified following the city’s comprehensive zoning-code rewrite during the planning commission’s June 23 meeting. The proposals, both recommended by the Housing Affordability Code Task Force, would reduce bicycle-parking requirements for many developments and delay implementation of a certified irrigation-designer requirement until 2029. Bicycle-parking requirements The most extensive discussion during the meeting centered on proposed changes to bicycle-parking requirements adopted as part of the city’s 2023 zoning and development code. Tim Lehrbach, the city’s zoning supervisor, explained that Grand Junction’s previous code required relatively little bicycle parking. The updated code, which became effective in 2024, significantly expanded those requirements by creating separate short-term and long-term bicycle-parking standards while adding detailed location and design requirements. See PLANNING on Page 5
VOLUME 33, ISSUE 27
THEBUSINESSTIMES.COM
From Pêche came a
TIKI BIRD
At Tiki Bird Restaurant the menu is chicken, the drinks are tiki, and the staff has nowhere to hide — See story, Page 2 Tiki Bird Restaurant owners Matt Chasseur and Ashley Fees Chasseur stand in front of the tiki mug display in the restaurant, which opened in June. The mugs are purchased for $95 for a year at a time by Tiki Club members, who get discounts, invites to events and can order from an exclusive menu. Matt said they didn’t know if the club concept would work, but they decided: “We’re gonna develop a club for people that love tiki cocktails, that love to sit down and like dive into it.” It definitely worked. Matt said they thought it might take all summer to sell the 190 mugs. Instead, they sold out in a week. “We just didn’t think that part of it was gonna explode like it did,” he said. Photo by Tim Harty.
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