Avery Brewery Time Lapse
by Osman Parvez Did you know Avery's new $27MM brewery took nearly two years to go through the planning process? When complete, it will feature the area's largest craft brewing production, offices, tap room, and restaurant. From a real estate perspective, it will also create a magnet for the Gunbarrel neighborhood. Here's the time lapse (courtesy of Avery). In addition to supporting all those construction workers and solving the brewery's production challenges, when operational, Avery will also add at least 20 full time jobs to their payroll. By the way, this is the type of project that the proposed [...]
More on the Moratorium
by Osman Parvez A few additional thoughts to my post yesterday on Council Member Sam Weaver's proposal for a moratorium on building permits. 1. I'm not against additional study and public process. I'm for that. I'm against using emergency ordinances as a policy tool. 2. If you're against the emergency moratorium, consider signing this petition. You can also email Council directly at Council@BoulderColorado.gov and attend tonight's public meetings. 3. Erica Meltzer's Daily Camera article is informative. Here's an excerpt from my favorite comment: If we don't like how a few buildings turned out -- that, by the way, house [...]
Council Seeks 9 Month Ban on Building Permits [Aspenization]
by Osman Parvez Heads Up. Boulder City Council is preparing to vote on another emergency ordinance on Tuesday. The proposed ordinance is below. Links and bold text are my additions. The proposal is from Council Member Sam Weaver and of course, Plan Boulder supports the measure. ----- (a) the City Manager be directed to not accept applications for any Site Review as defined under BRC 9-2-14, or any review where land use intensity modifications or height modifications are requested, nor issue building permits for structures not already approved under such reviews except as provided in (c) below, and not [...]
Council Looking for Ways to Increase Hobos Downtown
by Osman Parvez This is a controversial topic. I'm probably going to offend some people. I'm still diving in... Last week, the Daily Camera published Message to Boulder Council: Fight homeless with more housing. Here's the lede: The solution to homelessness is housing. That was the message the Boulder City Council heard from a series of speakers... If that's the primary message Council is getting, no wonder they're tone deaf to the community's outrage. The comments section nails it. Here's the top rated one: Oh give me a break. My wife can't even walk [...]
How Tight Can You Squeeze? [Development]
by Osman Parvez Earlier this week, Boulder City Council enacted a moratorium on building permits for multi-family housing on University Hill. Did you catch it? The (cough) emergency moratorium runs through March 18, 2015. Sound familiar? Long term blog readers may recall this was the very same tactic Council used in their opening salvo against view blocking large houses in Newlands. It eventually led to the Compatible Development Ordinance - rules limiting house sizes and certain architectural design elements such as so called "looming walls." In economic circles, this is called squeezing the balloon. CU plans to expand [...]
Boulder Council Approves Transportation Master Plan
by Osman Parvez source: Boulder Transportation Master Plan The chart above shows the percentage of trips taken by single occupant vehicles in Boulder. The blue line is the trajectory needed to meet our target of 25%. (My) Baby in Tow Want to know how Boulder intends to reach our goal? Check out the recently approved Transportation Master Plan (TMP). 25% SOV is just one of city's goals. As a cyclist, I'm proud that Boulder bicycles at 20x the national average. I'm also a heavy user of our bicycle infrastructure. Resident cyclists are now [...]
City Budget Swells to Supersize
by Osman Parvez So - just how big is the City of Boulder's budget? I don't know about you, but I find myself wondering every time I see our municipal fleet rolling around town. specialty vehicles for all! In case you don't have time to sift through hundreds of pages of budget-ese, I'll tell you. The total 2014 budget is $269.5 million, or about $2,700 for each and every Boulder resident. 84% is for operating purposes, the rest allocated to capital improvements. Here's something that should concern you. Boulder's budget has grown an average of 6.2% over the past [...]
Boulder Flood Damage Breakdown
by Osman Parvez The majority of flood damage to public infrastructure in Boulder impacted open space and mountain parks and stormwater/flood systems, according to a preliminary report. The total damages are estimated at $48.9MM. Here's a chart. data: City of Boulder 93 miles of the 145 miles of trails within the OSMP system have significant to severe damage. 35 of the 98 parks and recreation facilities have significant damage. Just 1 percent (or three miles) of roads, citywide, have been damaged. The City of Boulder has 60 miles of bike path within city limits. Approximately, 15 [...]
New Meeting Date for Pops and Scrapes Ordinance
by Osman Parvez ---- The date for the Planning Board meeting on the language of the ordinance has changed. The new meeting date is July, 9, 2009. If you care about the impact of new, far more restrictive house size limits on Boulder, please consider attending. The city of Boulder Compatible Development in Single Family Neighborhoods project and proposed ordinance language will now be heard at Planning Board on Thursday, July 9, 2009. The meeting begins at 6pm at 1777 Broadway (City Council chambers). Please note the date change as the hearing was previously scheduled for next Thursday, June 18, [...]
No Surprise, Council Draws Legal Fire on Pops and Scrapes
by Osman Parvez ---- From the Daily Camera: ...the law offices of Packard and Dierking has been retained to figure out how to "prevent or revoke any unfavorable actions" that the Boulder City Council might take to prevent so-called "pops and scrapes." What did Council expect to happen? Residents of Colorado traditionally hold a strong view on property rights. The council, for more than a year, has floated the idea of lowering the allowable floor-area ratio to curb redevelopments that are out of scale with established neighborhoods, prompting impassioned responses from residents on both sides of the contentious issue. [...]
The Impact of NEW House Size Limits
by Osman Parvez ---- An Economic Impact Report on the effect of house size limits was made public on February 24th. An important issue for many when considering massing and scale standards is whether they support or detract from property values. A short answer is that it depends on what characteristics confer value. There is an ingrained assumption that limiting size also limits potential profit. It is true that limiting size may limit unit sale value, but this is not the same as limiting profit. Depending on the neighborhood and the reason for purchasing a unit in a given neighborhood, building larger [...]
Grandview Brouhaha: City Council Sends a Message
by Osman Parvez ---- Here we go again. Despite a deepening budget shortfall and the strong threat of higher taxes and fees being imposed on Boulder residents, City Council seems determined to run up legal bills by jostling with CU over redevelopment of Grandview. The facts: 1) As a state entity, CU is not subject to the City's building rules. 2) CU identified Grandview as a logical area for expansion of campus a long time ago and began acquiring properties in the early 60s. In 1990, CU's Master Plan suggested that most of the acquired buildings in Grandview should be [...]
Council Set To Massively Increase Taxes on Development
by Osman Parvez ---- As if the draconian new neighborhood compatibility rules aren't enough to kill your remodeling plans, Boulder City Council is trying yet another approach. From Sunday's Daily Camera: "Beginning next year, building a new home, an addition or a business in Boulder could cost a lot more if the City Council decides Tuesday to move toward changing the way new development is taxed." In addition to excise taxes on development, the new scheme would assess a fee based on... you guessed it, house size. "For the first time, such fees would be based on the square footage [...]
County Eases Green Build Rules
by Osman Parvez ---- From today's Daily Camera: The Boulder County commissioners agreed Tuesday to ease the green-building rules that went into effect a year ago. After more than two hours of public testimony, the commissioners asked county staffers to return in three weeks with a tweaked scale for determining how energy-efficient new houses must be and some ideas of how to better regulate remodels. Consequences cannot always be predicted, but the ones described in the article were fairly obvious. Given the lack of attention to economic consequences in the process of developing new rules, expect more tweaks in [...]
More Affordable Housing – So it is Written, So it is Not Done
by Osman Parvez ---- The City currently requires 20% of a new development to be affordable, or for the developer to pay the city a fee of $110,000 to $119,000 for each one not built. According to the Daily Camera, City Council thinks this isn't good enough and wants more affordable housing in our community: Developers should either build more affordable-housing units alongside the rest of the homes in their Boulder projects, or put more money into the city's affordable housing fund, elected leaders said Tuesday night. Most developers are paying the fee instead of building affordable housing, so the [...]
