Frasier proposes 98-unit expansion on Mountain View United Methodist site; neighbors press board on parking, right-of-way and scale

Frasier and Mountain View United Methodist Church on Jan. 21 presented a concept plan to the Boulder Planning Board to redevelop the church parcel at 355 Ponca Place with a new four‑story, 55‑foot addition to the Frasier Meadows retirement campus that would add 98 independent‑living units and two levels of underground parking.

The Planning Board hearing was a concept review: staff said no formal action was being taken and that the applicant must return for site review, but the meeting highlighted neighborhood concerns about traffic, parking, the proposed vacation of Ponca Place and the building scale.

Staff told the board the project triggered mandatory concept and site review thresholds because the combined site is about 18.86 acres and the proposed addition exceeds 30,000 square feet. Chandler (staff planner) summarized staff’s view that the proposal is “in keeping with the intent of the high density residential land use designation,” noting the site is roughly a third of a mile from Baseline Avenue and near transit. Staff identified several items that must be addressed before site review: usable open‑space layout, building massing and transition to lower‑intensity neighborhoods, accessibility and circulation, and stronger Transportation Demand Management (TDM) measures to reduce vehicle demand.

The applicant’s proposal would demolish part of the existing church building, vacate (convert) the Ponca Place right of way and extend Frasier’s campus into the vacated space. The new building is presented as a roughly 170,000‑square‑foot, four‑story addition containing 98 independent‑living units. The applicant said the vacated portion of Ponca Place would be redesigned as a private drive with enhanced landscaping and maintained by Frasier; the church would retain part of its building and shared parking access to the new garage via a shared‑parking agreement, the details of which…