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Boulder Council approves reuse of 1836 Nineteenth St. as detached dwelling unit
Summary
By a unanimous vote, Boulder City Council approved a site review amendment and use review allowing the adaptive reuse of a former group care home at 1836 Nineteenth Street into a detached dwelling unit, resolving a long-running planning dispute over whether detached houses predominate in the area.
Boulder City Council on Sept. 4 approved a site review amendment and a use review to allow the existing structure at 1836 Nineteenth Street to be used as a detached dwelling unit and to formalize an existing rear deck. The motion passed unanimously after council replaced a prior planning board denial on the use review criterion.
City planning staff told council the building originally had approvals from the early 1980s as a group care home and that the special review for that use had lapsed. Shannon Moller, senior planner, said staffrecommends a motion to approve the site review and the use review applications, noting the proposal dedicates public easements and maintains the ditch area traversing the corner of the lot.
The case centered on how to interpret the code standard in B.R.C. 9-6-3(e) requiring that a detached dwelling be located in an area where detached dwelling units "predominate." Planning staff analyzed the block bounded by Canyon, Walnut, Eighteenth and 20th and concluded that 47% of physical structures in that area were detached dwellings and therefore supported the application. The planning board, which previously reviewed the project, voted 6-1 to approve the site review but 4-3 to deny the use review, applying a different unit-count methodology.
The applicant said they initially sought a duplex but that updated financial constraints and construction costs made a duplex or larger redevelopment impractical and would raise rents substantially. Brent Grohman, the property owner, said, "We originally wanted to make a duplex here," and argued adaptive reuse as a detached dwelling would preserve a well-built brick structure and keep rents lower than more intensive redevelopment.
Council debated whether the 2019 ordinance intent to limit new detached single-family development in RH zones applied here. One council member who served when the ordinance passed said the legislative purpose was to discourage new detached development in areas zoned for higher density, but added this particular property was built and used historically in a way that is consistent with a detached dwelling's physical character. City legal staff advised council that reasonable differences of interpretation of the criteria are defensible under the code.
The motion to approve was made from the dais and seconded; a roll-call vote recorded unanimous support from Council Members Adams, Benjamin, Mayor Erin Brockett, Mayor Pro Tem Fulkerts, Council Members Marquis, Schuhart, Speer, Wallach and Weiner. Conditions of approval include dedicating public ditch, drainage and flood-control easements and meeting bike-parking, landscaping and parking requirements specified in staff conditions.
Council members and staff said they would welcome a separate case study of the application to clarify how code language and past approvals created the multi-year review path in this case. The approvals allow the owner to proceed with the adaptive reuse subject to the specified conditions.
