[BoulderCouncilHotline] Demolition permits

[Morzel, Lisa]

Hi James, Charles, and Kara,

I would like information on the process of applying for a demolition permit for residential units, who reviews that application, is the application readily available for public review, what are the time lines between when a permit is submitted and when it is reviewed, who reviews the application and what criteria are used, and what is the threshold for when an application receives public scrutiny, if any?  

Approximately, how many permits are given each year in Boulder? How much does a permit cost and is there a proportional fee on what ends up in the landfill? Is there a tracking process to estimate what is being diverted and reused or recycled and how much tonnage ends up in the landfill? I'm curious if anyone on staff has estimated the approximate amount of embodied energy being thrown away and how is it that large beautiful healthy mature trees are allowed to be bulldozed?

Would there be a way to make these demolition permits more available for public comment and review?  I know currently a notice is posted for x days.  Can the public weigh in once those notices are posted and how would they do that?  Could council request that the Landmarks Board change their current procedures so that all demolition permits are reviewed, in public, by the full board instead of the current practice?

I'm asking these questions as part of our large lot, large house discussion as quite a few perfectly well-tended houses and their trees have all ended up in the landfill and I wonder how that can be given our council goals and community desires to decrease our carbon footprint. If this requested isn't readily available, I'm happy to ask for a nod of five on council so I can be better informed. And these questions can be answered at staff convenience.

Thanks much

Lisa

Lisa Morzel,
Member of Boulder City Council

303-815-6723

"We interact with one another as individuals responding to a complex haze of factors: professional responsibilities, personal likes and dislikes, ambition, jealousy, self-interest, and, in at least some instances, genuine altruism.  Living in the here and now, we are awash with sensations of the present, memories of the past, and expectations and fears for the future. Our actions are not determined by any one cause; they are the fulfillment of who we are at that particular moment.  After that moment passes, we continue to evolve, to change, and our memories of that moment inevitably change with us as we live with the consequences of our past actions, consequences we were unaware of at the time." The Last Stand, Nathaniel Philbrick