[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: Planning issues and potential action items

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Weaver, Sam


Since I have previously listed specific issues of concern for me around planning and development processes, I am using this input to address the Boulder planning issues from a high level, without addressing many individual specific issues. 
 I am further putting forth a desired outcome that I have for our meeting on Tuesday, which can be seen at the end of the text.
 
In the City of Boulder today, there are a lot of development planning efforts occurring.  These include staff-level site and use reviews, Planning Board site and use reviews, the Civic Area plan, Envision East Arapahoe, Sustainable Streets
 and Centers, and more.  Greatly affected by these plans will be the success or failure of the Transportation Master Plan and the overarching Climate Commitment goals.  Like the last two aspirational plans, the Comprehensive Housing Strategy attempts a community-wide
 plan, but does so in a way that is not fully comprehensive.  In order to address many of the fundamentals driving housing affordability, land-use issues, and transportation and other social impacts, Boulder also needs to consider the level of commercial development
 that can occur within our constrained growth boundaries.  Commerce, jobs and economic vitality are crucial to a community’s health, but are not the whole story regarding quality of life.  In additional to local environmental health, other values that must
 be balanced with economic growth are social equity, community services, access to local open space, and the proper accounting and distribution of the costs and benefits of that growth.
 
In my opinion, Boulder planning has fallen short at the most strategic level – how much growth do we want, of what type, where, when, and under what conditions and requirements.  We have a wonderful Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan,
 which is very aspirational, and contains many worthwhile guidelines, but does not provide direction regarding the tradeoffs that are part of every specific planning decision.  As such, it is not a planning document that is useful on a day to day basis, and
 in two years on the Planning Board, I was told quite frequently not to cite it for any decisions, except for annexations.  Outside of zoning regulations, the governing code provisions are really in the site and use review criteria in Title 9 of the Boulder
 Revised Code, and most are very subjective.  This code has some significant shortcomings, and could use a major overhaul which is not part of the above-named planning efforts (except for ‘early wins’ in the Comprehensive Housing Strategy).
 
What I think is needed is a Comprehensive Development Strategy which identifies, quantitatively and qualitatively, how development and growth should proceed in Boulder.  As mentioned above, qualitative guidance is scattered in many
 places in code and could use some re-organization, but the quantitative aspects are largely absent.  Community characteristics to consider for quantitative measurement and monitoring: 10- and 20-year residential and employment populations, commercial growth
 rate, residential growth rate, relationship between these growth rates, levels of service or updated quantitative measures for all modes of traffic, similar standards for access to services for libraries, rec centers, schools, and open space, etc.  All of
 these quantifiable characteristics could have targets, limits, or levels deemed adequate.
                                                                                                                                                                   

There are 30 major projects in the Boulder development pipeline, half already through the planning process and beginning construction, with more certainly on the way given current economic conditions.  There are also some major challenges
 with the development code governing this building boom.  These challenges will lead to ever more expensive housing, more traffic, more stress on our water supply, and more demand for services. What is a credible process that determines the desires of Boulder’s
 residents around growth for the next decade or two and implements those with development management policies?  Below are my suggestions:
 

1)               
Temporarily pause all major Planning Board level site and use plan review projects by no longer accepting applications for site or use review.

2)               
Implement an appeal process that could enable a project that is past the Concept Plan phase to proceed to full site plan review during the pause, given adequate community benefit.

3)               
Implement a Comprehensive Development Strategy process in which the City uses every method at its disposal to create robust public processes to determine what the residents want quantitatively and qualitatively regarding community character
 in 10 and 20 years.

4)               
Use this process to guide changes to the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan, propose changes to the City Charter if appropriate, and update City codes and planning processes.

5)               
Use a mix of Council members, Planning Board members, and City staff to design and implement this process, including a majority of Council members.
 
A motion that would accomplish the goals and process outlined above is included below, and is one that I am considering putting forward under Matters on Tuesday.

 
MOTION LANGUAGE:
“I move that:
(a) the City Manager be directed to not accept applications for any Site Review as defined under BRC 9-2-14, or any review where land use intensity modifications or height modifications are requested, nor issue building permits for structures
 not already approved under such reviews except as provided in (c) below, and not accept applications for rezoning, as of tomorrow September 17, 2014, except as required by state or Federal law;
(b) the City Attorney be directed to prepare and present to the Council at its next regular meeting the text of an ordinance to impose a temporary stay on the acceptance by the City of such applications and on issuance of such permits as
 noted in (a) above, and on any further action on those applications which have not already been approved as of this date, except as provided in section (c) below, from tomorrow September 17, 2014 until June 30, 2015, or until the measures referred to below
 are deemed adequately advanced (even if not fully complete) to lift the stay with a majority vote of Council, whichever occurs earlier;
(c) the City Attorney be directed to include measures in the ordinance that provide that any project that has already applied for Site Review or other review as mentioned in Section (a) above, and has received a Concept Plan review from
 the Planning Board, but that has not been previously approved through the regular process, may apply once through an appeal process for consideration prior to the end of the period mentioned in Section (b) above, and after demonstration of inclusion of all
 required affordable housing generated by the project on-site and after demonstrating exceptional community benefit and with the approval of 4 Planning Board member and 5 Council members at a subsequent regular meeting of each body, may be allowed to be processed
 through the currently established development review processes.
(d) the City Manager be directed to undertake a robust public process to create a Comprehensive Development Strategy using surveys, public meetings, consultation with neighborhood organizations, community organizations, and other stakeholder
 groups, and other appropriate means to test alternative growth outcomes and scenarios, and thereby determine the amount of future residential, commercial, and industrial development, and other factors, quantities, and qualities related to such development,
 to be identified during the process, that Council determines a majority - or at least the largest plurality - of the citizens of the City believe to be in the City’s best interests;
(e) this comprehensive public process be initiated, designed, developed, managed, and reviewed on an on-going basis by a committee of Council members selected by the Council, Planning and other Board and Commission members and citizens
 as designated by the Council, and city staff members as designated by the city manager and city attorney, and the design be approved by the Council before the process is initiated;
(f) the City Manager work with the Community Planning and Sustainability Department to make any legislative, process, or code adjustments that are determined to be needed in the process described in (c) above;
(g) the outcome of this process be reflected in the upcoming five-year update of the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan;
(h) the outcome of this process be used as the basis of an ordinance or ordinances regulating development in the City; and
(i) the City Manager be directed to suspend activity on any long-term planning processes that the City Manager determines could be substantially negatively impacted by the Comprehensive Development Strategy effort, until the time such process
 is completed.”
 
All the best,
 
Sam Weaver
Member of Boulder City Council
weavers at bouldercolorado.gov
Phone: 303-416-6130