Boulder City Council Are Out of Control
by Osman Parvez ---- I attended last night's packed City Council study session. Before the meeting, I was under the impression that they were calmly studying the issue of a few oversized, out of character houses in Boulder and carefully considering reasonable options for addressing the problem. I was wrong. Dead wrong. Before I had a chance to write this post, Mark Hartwig provided the following comment: Osman, I'm not sure if you made it to the meeting tonight or not, but I was there. The city council means business. At least 5 of the city council members were in [...]
Pop and Scrape Map and Analysis (+Meeting Details)
by Osman Parvez ---- A commenter in my post on efforts to limit home sizes asked for more details on the meeting. Where: Municipal Building at 1777 Broadway When: Tonight, March 13th. 5:30pm to 9:00pm Contact: 303.441.3008 The earlier Pop/Scrape/Floor Area Ratios study and the more recent FAR subcommittee memo are particularly interesting. Here's a few tidbits I thought worth posting (a little fuzzy, but readable). Demolitions and additions citywide from 2001-2006 : Map of demolitions and additions 2001-2006: ---- Like this analysis? Subscribe to our client research report. Want to get blog updates via email? Click [...]
Your House is Too Big
by Osman Parvez ---- 5 Questions About Limiting House Sizes in Boulder "Your House is Too Big." "What?" "Oh, you heard me. Your house is too big. You're ruining the neighborhood." Sounds pretty confrontational, doesn't it? Well that's precisely the path that Boulder City Council is taking. Beginning last summer, the city revived an effort to study maximum home sizes and has indicated it will pursue the issue aggressively. If you think you can be complacent, guess again. In January, City Council held its annual retreat during which members shared their priorities. Many want new restrictions on redevelopment put in [...]
Boulder Neighborhood Map
by Osman Parvez ---- I know postings have slowed down recently. I've been quite busy here over the past few weeks. The good news is that blogging will resume this week. I've got a few articles up my sleeve. To start off, here's a map we've created showing neighborhoods in Boulder. Thanks to Adam Sharp for your efforts putting this together. Clicking on shaded areas will pull up a few relevant statistics. Play around with it and let me know what you think. I suggest clicking the larger map link before clicking the shaded areas. View Map Here ---- Like [...]
An Expert’s View on Boulder – Lawrence Yun’s Slides
by Osman Parvez ---- It appears that Lawrence Yun, the Chief Economist of the National Association of Realtors has put out a presentation on local market conditions here in Boulder as well as other parts of the front range. Here's a selection of slides from the presentation. The comments are mine. 2007 looks a little optimistic to me, but the NAR might be using different data. I expect the estimate to be a revised downward. See my index analysis for more details and a better dissection of Boulder's market. Subprime delinquencies are at a record high. Interestingly, delinquencies were quite [...]
Rough Waters
by Osman Parvez ---- Looks like the Camera is finally reporting what I told readers about a month ago... From Rough Waters: Nationally, 2007 was a disastrous year in the residential real estate market, with new home sales plunging 26.4 percent, median sales prices barely gaining and foreclosures skyrocketing 75 percent. While it was rough in Boulder and Broomfield counties, as well, things weren't nearly as bad locally as on the national scene. In Boulder County last year, sales of new and existing homes dropped nearly 7 percent and foreclosures jumped 28 percent to hit a record high. Home sales [...]
Lying to Barack Obama – Kash’s Book Corner
by Osman Parvez ---- As you might guess, I'm a insatiable reader. Seems as soon as I could read, I was visiting the local library. I will never forget the little library in the town where I grew up. I still remember the day I got my first library card. As a kid, I spent endless hours in that building, voraciously devouring books on countless subjects. Books will always fill a special place in my life. One of the things I love about our community here in Boulder is the number of strong independent businesses. They run a wide spectrum [...]
Toxic Waste: Mapping Boulder and Beyond
by Osman Parvez ---- When we help you buy a house, we'll advise you to complete your due diligence before purchasing a property. Typical items we recommend include simple steps, like walking nearby streets and talking to neighbors. We'll even walk the streets with you, if you'd like. Some of the check list items we recommend include calculating your commute, distance to grocery stores, and local schools. Articles posted on this blog are one of the ways we help people find the tools to do a better job at investigating the facts. From the list of labels on the right, [...]
Beetle Epidemic
by Osman Parvez ---- Yesterday the Daily Camera had a piece on the Pine beetle epidemic. From the Camera: "It's started to move into the ponderosa pine and forest," said Kevin Zimlinghaus, who works for the Forest Service's Boulder Ranger District. "That could pose a problem. If the beetles do get into the ponderosa pine and continue to move, they could come all the way down to the plains." The tree die-off could have major social and economic impacts on the state. No kidding. How long have we known this? For those following the issue, be sure to read Myths [...]
The Land Grab: What Would You Do?
by Osman Parvez ---- A friend and I had a good discussion this morning over breakfast at Lucile's (highly recommended by the way). Let's say you found yourself in the position of the Boulder couple who won judgement of their neighbor's land using adverse possession. Little did you expect to draw the ire of the community, much less the attention of the nation. Now what? When most people act, they usually think they're doing the right thing. Although it may seem reprehensible to most of us, when Richard Mclean and Edith Stevens took legal action against their neighbor they more [...]
FasTracks Update
by Osman Parvez ---- It appears that a few federal transportation rules have changed, with the potential to add sizable costs to the FasTracks project. Meanwhile Boulder City Council is preparing to lobby for noise mitigation. From the Daily Camera: Some federal transportation rules have changed since voters in 2004 approved the $4.8 billion FasTracks initiative, said Chris Quinn, FasTracks Northwest Rail project manager. And those changes could cost real money by the time the rail line is complete in late 2014, he said. Also, be sure to check out where the proposed stations are in my development map. ---- [...]
Ready to Lose 25% of Your Property Value?
by Osman Parvez ---- Should there be limits on the size of homes in Boulder? How large is too large? Results from an economic study on the issue were released yesterday. From the Daily Camera: The latest version of the proposed house limits would cap houses in the plains at 4,500 square feet above ground and houses in the mountains at 3,000 square feet above ground. The study also presented a "quick and dirty" analysis on how the new program would affect property values and estimated it was possible that some land could lose as much as 25 percent of [...]
A Lot to Lose
by Osman Parvez ---- A quarter of the 9000+ signatures gathered by opponents of Washington Village were not registered to vote in Boulder. The group is just 86 short. With 10 days and their well organized efforts, there's no doubt they'll get the signatures needed to certify their petition. It's a given. So now what? It will first go to City Council, with four new members (of seven total), who can choose to reverse their decision to change zoning to allow the Washington Village project. There's a fair chance that the new members will help the Council's decision. If not, [...]
Washington Village Under Fire
by Osman Parvez ---- Neighbors of the Washington Village Cohousing Development filed a lawsuit today. From the Daily Camera: The lawsuit, brought by neighbors who live next to the former Washington School at 1215 Cedar Ave., alleges the Boulder City Council broke the law in changing zoning lines to accommodate a proposal to build homes, condominiums, commercial space and a "co-housing" community. The complaint lists as defendants the city of Boulder, the City Council and the Wonderland Hill Development Company, which brought the plan forward. The suit contends that the zoning change broke the law because it "confers a special [...]
Hey Buddy, Take a Hike
by Osman Parvez ---- Given the balmy weather, here's something you might enjoy this evening. Unwind on a contemplative hike and remind yourself of one of the reasons people choose to live in Boulder. Join city of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) Naturalist Jake Davis on a tranquil, introspective hike from 4 to 5 p.m. tonight, Monday, Nov 19. Meet at the Chautauqua Ranger Cottage, 900 Baseline Road. The hike will be followed by free hot tea, cocoa and conversation in the Chautauqua Ranger Cottage. For more information, visit the Open Space and Mountain Parks website or call [...]
