PLAN-Boulder County The Boulder County Peoples Advocate Aug. 1, 2005 Boulder County public affairs news and analysis

Additional issues

In this issue

Council, Planning Board consider Comprehensive Plan options

Planning staff lists proposed changes to Comprehensive Plan

County Commissioners consider update to land use regulations

Crosswalk policy under review

RTD considers Boulder site for rail yard

Council, Planning Board consider Comprehensive Plan options

Additional discussion and a public hearing on this issue will take place at City Council at the Tuesday, Aug. 2 meeting. more information

For the most part council members and planning board members agreed unanimously. The meeting format permitted planning board members to consider the issues first, followed by council consideration. Council member Gray and planning board member Spitzer were given excused absences. The following topics were brought up for votes:

• The University Hill commercial area was described as both a regional and neighborhood activity center. Both bodies approved the motion unanimously. The planning staff's recommended "areas of change" were rejected unanimously. The staff had proposed specific corridors, such as Broadway and Arapahoe Avenue. Instead the two bodies approved a general policy that the city will consider mixed-use and higher density residential development ³along certain multi-modal corridors² without identifying those in the comprehensive plan. A suggestion that regulations be brought into compliance with the comprehensive plan within three months was rejected unanimously. Proposed changes to historic preservation policies were rejected, with only planning board members Shull and Sopher in favor. Changes to the city's inclusionary zoning and affordable housing policies were rejected unanimously.

• Several changes to the four-body approval process were approved unanimously. These included a ³call up² or referral process for plan changes that affect with the city or the county. In addition, the two bodies rejected requirements in the plan for joint meetings. The staff was directed to develop a policy to better define ³significant community needs and benefits² for service area expansions.

• The two bodies rejected adoption of the precautionary principle. All city council members rejected the principle as did all planning board members but Mole. The two bodies unanimously approved changes to sections of the comprehensive plan dealing with the balance of employment and housing.

• A suggestion that the comprehensive plan specifically state a preference for single-family housing was rejected unanimously.

• The planning staffs recommendations on changes to urban service standards was approved unanimously. Both bodies unanimously rejected implementation of an adequate public facilities approach for transportation and water. A similar recommendation from the public, including PLAN-Boulder County, about carrying capacity as part of sustainability indicators or master plans was rejected.

In general, council members and planning board members voted to reject the most extreme positions offered by the Boulder Chamber of Commerce. However, important issues of adequate public facilities and carrying capacity were also rejected, although members of both bodies seemed interested in considering these issues separate from the comprehensive plan.

Planning staff lists proposed changes to Comprehensive Plan

The Planning Board will hold a public hearing on July 21 about the draft changes. City Council will review the staff's proposed changes on Aug. 2. The staff will then prepare a revised draft of the policies for consideration at a joint hearing by the Council and Planning Board on Sept. 27.

County Commissioners consider update to land use regulations

Crosswalk policy under review

However, last year the city attempted to remove existing pedestrian crosswalks without public input. Walk Boulder and other interested parties, including former City Council member Lisa Morzel, helped stop the removal of the busy crosswalk at 34th Street and Valmont Road. The staff apparently learned from that experience and promises to develop a policy that everyone will support. Watch carefully.

RTD considers Boulder site for rail yard

Currently the staff is considering land along the south side of the railroad between 48th and 63rd streets in east Boulder, a location that would result in the removal of numerous commercial and industrial buildings and probable construction of a grade separation viaduct on 55th Street. Longmont leaders are willing to consider approving the railyard at the future end of line in that city but the RTD staff apparently feels Boulder is a better mid-line location.

The issue may become moot if other planned RTD rail lines in the Denver metro area use commuter rail instead of light rail, requiring the maintenance facility to be built in a more central location in Denver. Even so, the RTD staff wants a site of about ten acres at which RTD trains would ³overnight² in Boulder and be serviced. Locations along the Diagonal Highway northeast of Boulder are under consideration.

The RTD commuter rail line, scheduled to become operational in 2014 to Boulder, will have a lasting impact on the community's development policies and transportation options. However, a massive railyard could also adversely affect Boulder's environment.