[BoulderCouncilHotline] Suzanne's Council Priorities

[Jones, Suzanne]

Zan’s Council Priorities for 2018-2019
12-20-2017

I think by and large that the proposed 6-month plan hits many of the priorities we teed up in our previous Council and in keeping with long-term City goals, but I have proposed a few additions.

HOUSING & LAND USE DEVELOPMENT ISSUES

Priorities for the next 6 months include for me:

  *   Community Benefits discussion:  I think we should extend the Building Height moratorium as needed to complete a full Community Benefits discussion, starting with affordable housing. I am also interested in addressing other shortcomings of the existing Site Plan Review criteria.
  *   Establish Housing Advisory Board: Given that housing is a top priority, I think we need a Housing Board, but I think it should be an advisory body focused on housing policy, tools, and priorities that makes recommendations to Council (rather than replicating existing project review processes)
  *   Increase Commercial Linkage Fee: Using the existing recent nexus study, Council should consider increasing the commercial linkage fee, as discussed extensively by candidates during the past election season. I think this can be accomplished relatively quickly, perhaps with a study session and one public hearing to bring new Council members up to speed, given the extensive work done on this topic during the past Council.
  *   Sub-community Planning:  I would support Sam’s proposal to initiate a larger North Central Boulder subcommunity plan concurrently with, and to provide context for, the Alpine-Balsam planning process for the BCH site. I think this process could be used to create a template process for subsequent subcommunity planning efforts in other areas of change in the City.
  *   Review/tweak ADU/OAU Policy: ADUs are a way to provide “gentle infill” that is driven by homeowners not developers, and we have discussed tweaking our ADU policy for the entire 6 years I have been on Council. So I think we should follow through on the public process that is already underway per the past Council.  At a minimum, I think we should address some of the structural issues with the existing policy, as well as look at increasing ADU potential at least modestly on a city-wide level, with further increases addressed through sub-community planning.

Over the next year, I would also:

  *   Prioritize Preservation of Existing Market-Rate Affordable Housing:  I think preservation is something that unites all sides of the community and should be a top priority so we stop losing ground on housing affordability. As such, I would include in the February Study Session on Affordable Housing a discussion about what other policies or financing tools we need to give the City/BHP the ability to accelerate and expand preservation efforts, e.g., a public financing mechanism to address the tax credit challenge with housing acquisition (as opposed to new construction), right of first refusal preference, etc.
  *   Begin rezoning of commercial-industrial areas along transit corridors (e.g., 28th, 30th) to provide for mixed use/housing development, as we teed up in the recent BVCP update. Pursuing more housing in commercial and industrial areas would help the jobs/housing imbalance, and allow for creative redevelopment (e.g., of parking lots and single-story commercial buildings) in areas where there are fewer neighborhood character concerns.
  *   Create options/incentives to subdivide large lots to allow for several smaller houses (or duplexes/triplexes) rather than one big mansion. Similarly I would like to explore the Landmark Board’s proposal (made for the past couple years) to create incentives to preserve smaller historic homes by allowing lot subdivision.

I also support exploring:

  *   Next steps on Middle Income Housing, such as exploring Sam & Bob’s Middle Income Shared Equity Housing proposal;

  *   Mechanisms to preserve/create Affordable Commercial Space for small local businesses as an outcome of our retail study, including looking at requirements in new developments, potential space-sharing downtown, or other options; and
  *   Next steps to Preserve our Mobile Home Communities, including planned Ponderosa MHP efforts and exploring new policies such as rent stabilization.

OTHER PRIORITIES

In addition to important work on Transportation, Broadband, and Open Space, I want to call out already planned priorities that are especially important to me, including:

  *   Flood Mitigation: We need to keep moving forward expeditiously on engineering studies for South Boulder Flood Mitigation on the CU South Property;
  *   Climate:  I am very excited that we will be creating a 5-year plan for Climate Commitment Action Plan, and also moving forward with the Municipalization as recently directed by the voters. I think clean energy & climate efforts must remain a top priority;
  *   Inclusivity: Especially given these troubling national times, we need to keep moving forward on our work to become a more inclusive and equitable community, driven by the results of the Community Perception Assessment as reflected in the HRC’s workplan, next steps on our Livable Wage efforts, and protections of our immigrant community;
  *   Monitoring implementation of our new Homelessness Strategy; and
  *   Implementing our new Public Participation Strategy as a mechanism to more effectively, meaningfully and inclusively engage the public at appropriate levels in all of the above processes.


Suzanne Jones
Mayor, City of Boulder
(720) 633-7388
joness at bouldercolorado.gov

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