[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: Disparities Between Approved and As-Built Projects

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Young, Mary

Please have a look at the two attached files. The approved version was taken from the call-up packet to Council in 2012. The other is a recent photo of the building as built. As you can see, the two are substantially different.


Both of us (Mary Young and Sam Weaver) were on Planning Board during approval of this project and participated in the required Site Plan Review. At the public hearing, much of the board discussion centered around the historical
reference to breweries of yore that was reflected in the architecture of the proposed building. Photos of old breweries were displayed by the architects and developers as their inspirations for the project. A great deal of time and effort on behalf of the board and staff were spent on guiding the building's appearance and materials towards an authentic call back.

Clearly, the Site Plan Review approval (and plans provided to the City Council at the time to inform a call-up) did not reflect what would eventually be built.

As we move forward on the Design Excellence/Site Review Criteria/Form Based Code efforts, the degree of disparity that can occur between site review approvals of buildings and what gets built must be greatly reduced. There should exist real value in the approval process. Disparities, such as this one, suggest a significantly impaired process.

The built version of a building should never be a surprise to the the approval granting bodies. To that end, it would be helpful as part of the Design Excellence and Site Plan Review Criteria review effort for staff to provide Council and Planning Board a side by side comparison of projects as approved under Site Plan Review and then as built over the last two years.

The purpose of this exercise is 1) to inform our approval bodies of just how binding (or not) Site Plan Review approvals currently are and 2) the degree to which design/materials/use changes can occur after approval. These comparisons could inform Planning Board and City Council in guiding staff on potential revisions to our approval processes.

Thank you.

Mary Dolores Young
Boulder City Council Member
303-501-2439

Sam Weaver
Member of Boulder City Council
weavers at bouldercolorado.gov
Phone: 303-416-6130


"All ethics . . . rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts . . ." - Aldo Leopold
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