Boulder staff propose simpler, neighborhood‑scale land‑use map as part of comprehensive‑plan update

Boulder City Council study‑session staff presented a draft restructuring of the Boulder Valley future‑land‑use map that would replace 26 granular designations with 13 broader categories grouped as neighborhoods, hubs, networks and institutions.

The proposal is part of the city’s comprehensive‑plan update, a roughly 18‑month process the planning team said is now about halfway complete. Brad Mueller, director of planning and development services, told council, “We are about halfway through an 18 month process.” The team said it has received roughly 5,000 individual community responses so far and will continue public outreach into next year.

Staff said the change aims to return the comp‑plan land‑use map to an aspirational, 20‑year vision rather than a parcel‑level zoning proxy. “The land use map in the comprehensive plan currently has tended to combine really the first 2 levels and even in some cases has bordered on the third level in terms of its level of detail,” Mueller said, explaining the motivation for broader, neighborhood‑scale designations.

Under the draft structure staff presented, the 13 designations fall into four classes: - Neighborhoods (three neighborhood types…