Cherry Hills Village, CO: Community Guide for Buyers

Where Cherry Hills Village is and how it connects

Cherry Hills Village sits on the western edge of Arapahoe County, immediately south of the City and County of Denver. City Hall is at 2450 E. Quincy Avenue, at the corner of Quincy Avenue and University Boulevard, roughly in the middle of the city.

It's a city in its own right, not a Denver neighborhood. Residents chose to incorporate in 1945, after the Cherry Hills Improvement Association spent several years pushing for county zoning to hold off commercial uses in the area (city history page). That history explains a lot about what you'll see today: big lots, open space and very little commerce. The only commercial zone district in the code, C-2, is limited to frontage on East Hampden Avenue between South Lafayette Street and South Franklin Street.

Approximate drive distances from City Hall (OpenStreetMap routing, checked Oct 2026). Homes on the edges of the city can shift these by a mile or two.

I-25 is close on the east side, which is why so many buyers I work with compare Cherry Hills Village with Greenwood Village and Englewood. My Greenwood Village guide and Englewood guide cover both, and my South Denver commute guide shows how to test a commute at your real hour.

• Englewood (Hampden Avenue and Broadway) about 3 miles
• I-25 at Colorado Boulevard about 4 miles
• Denver Tech Center (I-25 and Belleview Avenue) about 5 miles
• Greenwood Village City Hall (6060 S. Quebec Street) about 5 miles
• Cherry Creek Shopping Center about 6 miles
• Downtown Denver (State Capitol) about 8 miles
• Park Meadows mall, Lone Tree about 9 miles
• Denver International Airport about 31 miles

The homes, the zoning and how much house a lot allows

Cherry Hills Village is almost entirely residential, and the city's zoning code is what shapes the homes. There are six residential zone districts, each with its own minimum lot size (Municipal Code Sec. 16-2-10 and 16-3-10):

• R-1 2.5 acre minimum lot
• R-2 1.25 acre minimum lot
• R-3 1 acre minimum lot
• R-3A Variable lots, 16,000 sq ft minimum, maximum density of 3 homes per 2 acres
• R-4 0.5 acre minimum lot
• R-5 16,000 sq ft minimum lot

The R-3A district is the exception to the simple acreage rule. Lots there vary in size with a minimum of 16,000 square feet and a cap on overall density, and the code limits two areas specifically: no more than 31 lots in the R-3A part of Highline Meadows in Cherry Hills and no more than 94 in the R-3A part of the Buell Mansion Subdivision.

Size limits matter as much as lot size. Homes can't exceed 35 feet in R-1 through R-3A or 30 feet in R-4 and R-5, and two stories above finished grade (a walkout basement doesn't count as a story). Floor area ratio caps total house size at 23% of the lot in R-1 and R-2, 25% in R-3 and 30% in R-4 and R-5. On a 2.5 acre R-1 lot, setbacks start at 75 feet in front and 50 feet on the sides and rear. Bulk plane rules shape massing on top of that, and guest houses are allowed only in R-1 and R-2. If you're buying to tear down and build custom, those numbers set your envelope, so I'd have an architect or the city's Community Development department confirm them for the specific parcel before you write an offer.

For a sense of scale, a 2009 city committee report counted 2,159 housing units with a median above-ground size, including garage, of about 4,165 square feet, while new homes built in 2005 through 2008 averaged between about 8,800 and 10,100 square feet a year. Those figures are dated, but they show why the floor area rules were written. Today the price band is high: Redfin showed a median sale price of about $3.44 million for the three months ending September 2026, with 37 homes sold in September and a median of 38 days on market (Redfin, checked October 13, 2026). With that few sales, a handful of large estates can move the median a lot, so price a specific home from its own comparable sales. Financing at this level usually means a jumbo loan; my jumbo loan guide explains what lenders look for.

Property taxes, districts and what the city provides

Cherry Hills Village levied 14.722 mills for 2025 taxes collected in 2026 (Arapahoe County Assessor's 2025 abstract; the city's own property tax page shows the same rate). That's only one line on your bill. Arapahoe County's 2025 levy listing shows 46 tax areas that include the city, with total levies from about 102.2 to 118.5 mills. The most common total is 105.258 mills: Cherry Creek School District No. 5 at 54.108, Arapahoe County at 15.959, the city at 14.722, South Metro Fire Rescue at 12.25, Arapahoe Library District at 5.719, plus smaller county, drainage and fire bond levies.

What pushes a parcel higher is usually a small local district. Some tax areas add Country Homes Metropolitan District (13.282 or 4.666 mills, depending on the subdistrict), the Southmoor Circle and Hudson Parkway or Charlou Park 3rd Filing general improvement districts (10.5 and 10.0 mills), Cherryvale Sanitation District (8.75 mills) or Cherry Hills North Metropolitan District (7.285 mills). The two Englewood Schools tax areas total 102.221 mills. Pull the tax area for the exact parcel from the Arapahoe County Assessor before you compare two homes; my property tax and metro district comparison shows how a few mills change a payment.

The city runs its own police department, but it doesn't provide residential trash or recycling, so you'll hire a hauler yourself (city website). My South Denver trash service guide explains how that compares with nearby cities. Fire service comes from South Metro Fire Rescue. Water and sewer are a patchwork. The city's district list names more than a dozen separate water, sanitation and metro districts, several serving as distributors for Denver Water, and Cherry Hills Village Sanitation District is a separate entity from the city despite its name. Check which districts serve the address, because tap fees, rates and rules differ. A couple of local rules surprise people too: short-term rentals of less than 30 days are prohibited, and so is renting a home for parties, weddings or similar events (Sec. 16-2-740).

Trails, parks and the private clubs

The trail system is the city's most extensive amenity. A 2016 city trail inventory counted about 46 miles of trail in total, including on-street routes, with paved and unpaved mixed-use trails and bridle trails used by walkers, cyclists and riders. Here's what's there, with sources checked in October 2026.

• High Line Canal Trail The city maintains a 3.75 mile stretch of the canal trail and resurfaced all of it with crusher fines in 2025 (city website). The full canal trail runs more than 71 miles across the metro area.
• Quincy Farm A 17.5-acre historic farm on both sides of the High Line Canal at 4400 and 4450 E. Quincy Avenue, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and protected by a conservation easement held by Colorado Open Lands. It's open sunrise to sunset; buildings open only for programs.
• John Meade Park and Alan Hutto Memorial Commons Redeveloped in 2019 and 2020 with a picnic shelter and restrooms, a play area, fishing piers at both ponds, a wetlands boardwalk and a terraced lawn amphitheater.
• Blackmer Common A 14.5-acre passive park of native grasses off the High Line Canal Trail, with parking off Dahlia Street.
• Cherry Hills Country Club A private club at 4125 S. University Boulevard, founded in 1922 on 272 acres with a course by William Flynn. It hosted the 1938 U.S. Open, the first held west of the Mississippi, and 14 national championships in all, including the 2023 U.S. Amateur (club website). Membership is private and separate from owning a home.
• Glenmoor Country Club A private club at 110 Glenmoor Drive with an 18-hole, par 71 Pete Dye course from 1984, renovated in 2023 by Love Golf Design, plus two pools and three tennis and pickleball courts (club website). Membership is separate from owning a home.
• Recreation reimbursement The city reimburses each primary household up to $500 a year for qualifying programs from public recreation providers in the seven-county Denver area. Country clubs and HOA pools don't qualify.

What to check before you buy in Cherry Hills Village

On a large lot, the things that cost real money are often outside the house itself. Here's what I check with buyers.

• Zoning and buildable envelope Confirm the zone district on the city's official zoning map, then run the floor area ratio, setbacks and bulk plane for that lot before you plan an addition or a rebuild. The city's online maps are informational only, so ask Community Development for anything you'll rely on.
• Subdivision covenants and HOA Many subdivisions have their own HOA and recorded covenants on top of city zoning; the city keeps a neighborhoods and HOAs map. Read them for fence, design and approval rules, and note that the city fence code sets its own height and opacity limits by zone.
• Water, sewer and taps Identify the water and sanitation districts for the address on the city's district maps. If you're building new or upsizing a tap, city water tap fees run from $2,000 for a 3/4 inch tap to $97,000 for a 6 inch tap, and sewer taps from $10,000 to $333,300, where the city is the provider (city website). Ask whether the home is on public sewer; my septic vs. sewer guide covers what to ask if it isn't.
• Tax area Get the parcel's tax area from the Arapahoe County Assessor so you see any metro district, sanitation district or general improvement district levy before you write an offer.
• Older homes and drainage Many homes here are decades old or have been added on to more than once. Ask for permit history, and check grading and drainage, especially near Little Dry Creek and the canal, where floodplain rules can apply.
• Radon About half of Colorado homes test above the EPA's action level of 4 pCi/L (Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment). Test during your inspection period; my radon testing guide explains the options.

Selling a home in Cherry Hills Village

Pricing in Cherry Hills Village is lot-driven. A 1960s ranch on 2.5 acres in R-1 and a newer custom home on a half acre in R-4 can sell for similar money for completely different reasons, so a broad city median isn't a pricing tool. Buyers here often value the land and what zoning lets them build on it, which means the lot's zone district, buildable floor area, water and sewer districts and any extra tax district should all be in your listing package. Survey, permit history for additions and any covenant approvals help too.

If you're thinking about selling, I'll build a price from recent sales in your zone district and lot size range, not a citywide average. You can start on my home value page or reach out directly. If you're buying, my free buyer guide walks through the Colorado contract timeline.

Nearby guides

• The Preserve at Greenwood Village
• Cherry Creek
• Heritage Hills
• All South Metro neighborhood guides