[BoulderCouncilHotline] Re: OZ questions for staff

[Guiler, Karl]

Council member Carlisle,

Below are answers to your questions (in blue) posed about the Use Tables project and the Opportunity Zone. We’ll be happy to go into more detail at the hearing tonight.

Best,

Karl

Karl Guiler, AICP
Senior Planner/Code Amendment Specialist
[City of Boulder Planning+Sustainability]
O: #303-441-4236
guilerk at bouldercolorado.gov<mailto:guilerk at bouldercolorado.gov>

Department of Planning
1739 Broadway, 3rd Floor, Boulder CO  80306-0791
Bouldercolorado.gov<http://www.bouldercolorado.gov/>

Discretionary Review Track Submittal Date Changes (ADR, AUR, LUR, TEC) take effect on May 6, 2019!
On May 6, Planning and Development Services will change the existing LUR and TEC Review tracks to three-week cycles. This means that applications will be routed for review every three weeks instead of on the first and third Mondays of each month. The new submittal calendar is published on the city’s development services website at https://bouldercolorado.gov/plan-develop. Administrative applications (ADRs, AURs, PARs) will be routed every other Monday but will remain on a two-week review cycle.
This change is being made to create a more predictable and reliable review schedule and to better manage staff’s workload. For more information please email: plandevelop at bouldercolorado.gov <https://t.e2ma.net/click/kx5awc/k5rlxn/kprasq>

1. What is the deadline by which investors have to buy or invest in order to get the initial tax break? Has staff done calculations about the profitability in the OZ? Can the city take advantage of that profit by charging higher—at least double--linkage fees, so that Boulder gets most of the benefit for affordable housing? What would the numbers be?

Community Vitality staff will be available at the hearing tonight to help answer questions regarding the technical aspects of the OZ program.

2. Did the planning dept project the increase in density allowed as a result of its changes to the Use Tables?  (e.g. - how many more housing units (and of what type) and how much more retail and commercial and office space would be allowed under the proposed changes.)   It seems a baseline of what current use table allows versus projection  of low/medium/high potential density is essential to understand the proposed changes.

3.  Based on the projections requested above, how does potential density from OZ ordinance track with City's growth projections?
Questions 2/3:
There are no density projections as the draft ordinance does not propose to change the existing density or the Intensity Standards of the Land Use Code.  No additional housing units or additional amount of commercial or office space would be potentially allowed more than what is already potentially allowed today in terms of number of units per acre or floor area ratio (FAR). What is proposed to change in some instances, is the Use Table allowance categories (e.g., use specific, such as a use previously requiring Use Review and now being permitted by-right or vice versa) and the review processes.  As directed by council, the proposed changes to the Land Use Code are focused on adjustments to the Use Standards and the Use Table allowance categories of Chapter 9-6, Use Standards, B.R.C. 1981<https://library.municode.com/co/boulder/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=TIT9LAUSCO_CH6USST>, with a central goal of creating better alignment with the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan (BVCP) in terms of the addressing the jobs-housing imbalance, preserving and promoting more retail uses and looking at ways to get more permanently affordable housing. As expressed in the ordinance that established the moratorium, the jobs-housing imbalance has been a primary concern.  Therefore the proposed changes would create additional limitations for many office and office related uses in zones where they are currently allowed today, in an effort to better limit the jobs side of the job-housing imbalance. The August, 13 2019 City Council staff memorandum<https://boulder.novusagenda.com/agendapublic/CoverSheet.aspx?ItemID=2111&MeetingID=559> (and the draft ordinance and Attachment F contained within the memo PDF) detail the proposed changes.  Changes are not proposed to the Intensity Standards of the Land Use Code.

While there are some perceptions that the proposed ordinance would loosen regulations in terms of intensity and allowance, it would mostly be increasing restrictions in the applicable zones to achieve the goals above. The only instances of regulations becoming less restrictive are these two instances where the proposed changes would relax existing use allowances and review processes of Chapter 9-6 Use Standards:   I) Efficiency Living Units (ELUs), and II) Convenience Retail Uses. In both instances the intensity regulations (dwelling units per acre or floor area etc.) are not proposed to change.

I) For ELUs, the existing Use Review requirement for projects containing 20% or more ELUs proposed to be removed for R6, M1, M4, B1, B2, B3, B5, D1, D2, D3, and I1 Use Modules of the Table 6-1 Use Table<https://library.municode.com/co/boulder/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=TIT9LAUSCO_CH6USST_9-6-1SCPELAUS>. This is a change to the Use Table category allowance and subsequent review process for ELUs in those respective zones - but it would not increase the density of ELUs. Instead it would make the process more streamlined should a project wish to include more than 20% ELU’s (currently requires a Use Review in those zones, proposed to no longer require a Use Review) in an effort to address housing side of the job-housing imbalance. The proposed change would remove potential barriers to smaller housing units, in-line with the housing diversity and housing capacity policies of the BVCP. It should be noted that the Site Review requirements, criterion, and call-up provisions for projects over a given size would all remain as they are today.

II) Similarly, Convenience Retail Uses are proposed to change from a Use Review or a Conditional Use to an Allowed Use in the M3, B1, B4, B5, I1, I2, and I4 Use Modules of the Table 6-1 Use Table<https://library.municode.com/co/boulder/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=TIT9LAUSCO_CH6USST_9-6-1SCPELAUS>. This would relax the review process for convenience retail in those respective zones in an effort to reduce potential barriers to convenience retail, in-line with the recent citywide retail study that has been conducted.

In addition, it’s important to reiterate that the Site Review process would still be required for projects over a given size or number of units, per Section 9-2-14, Site Review, of the Land Use Code.  Site Review projects must demonstrate that they satisfy the criterion to ensure appropriate development consistent with the code requirements, including context sensitive development. In addition, all Site Review projects may be Called-Up per Section 9-4-4, Appeals, Call-Ups, and Public Hearings, B.R.C. 1981.<https://library.municode.com/co/boulder/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=TIT9LAUSCO_CH2REPR_9-2-14SIRE>


From: Carlisle, Cynthia <CarlisleC at bouldercolorado.gov>
Sent: Sunday, August 25, 2019 10:22 AM
To: Guiler, Karl <GuilerK at bouldercolorado.gov>
Cc: Brautigam, Jane <BrautigamJ at bouldercolorado.gov>; Council <council at bouldercolorado.gov>; HOTLINE <HOTLINE at bouldercolorado.gov>
Subject: OZ questions for staff

1. What is the deadline by which investors have to buy or invest in order to get the initial tax break?

Has staff done calculations about the profitability in the OZ? Can the city take advantage of that profit by charging higher—at least double--linkage fees, so that Boulder gets most of the benefit for affordable housing? What would the numbers be?

2. Did the planning dept project the increase in density allowed as a result of its changes to the Use Tables?  (e.g. - how many more housing units (and of what type) and how much more retail and commercial and office space would be allowed under the proposed changes.)   It seems a baseline of what current use table allows versus projection  of low/medium/high potential density is essential to understand the proposed changes.

3.  Based on the projections requested above, how does potential density from OZ ordinance track with City's growth projections?




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