[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: US Census data for Boulder

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Cowles, Macon

The decadal census is a starting point for an accurate count of the population changes in Boulder and elsewhere. Local policy can have a strong impact on population growth if it is focused on things we can control, such as housing starts. That is the case in Boulder.

Boulder has a Residential Growth Management System (“RGMS”) that limits housing starts to 1%. This is a longstanding policy whose intent is stated in BRC 9-14-1(a): 

“Establish a residential building permit management system that provides for a long-term rate of growth 
in the city no greater than one percent per annum, but recognizes the potential for fluctuations in that 
rate on an annual basis”. 

It doesn’t perfectly cap housing starts at 1%, as there is a means to carry forward housing start allocations for larger projects, and there are many exemptions to the RGMS allocations. Permanently affordable units, for example, are exempted from the allocation limits.

Even including all of the exemptions, however, there has only been one year since 2002 in which housing starts have exceeded 1%—and that was in 2009.

The information that was provided by Sam Weaver from the American Community Survey indicated an average population increase of 1.9% per year 2011-2014. The increase in Boulder housing during those boom years was only 0.8%, however. This is based on the number of certificates of occupancy issued, and includes exempt allocations issued during those years, even though exempt units do not “count” for RGMS purposes. Thus, even when residential uses that are exempt from RGMS are included, the average annual growth rate of housing during the years 2011-2014 was under one percent.

See the  Residential Growth Management System Allocations Analysis which can be found here. This data has been well researched and was presented to Council earlier this year and it is available on the website. I can’t quite pin when it was presented to Council, as we had so many meetings from May 1-June 16. 
 
Macon Cowles
Boulder City Council Member
1726 Mapleton Ave.
Boulder, Colorado 80304
CowlesM at bouldercolorado.gov
(303) 638-6884