Boulder TAB recommends keeping three neighborhood parking permit zones after public outcry
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Summary
The Transportation Advisory Board voted unanimously to recommend that city council keep the High Sunset, Columbine and Fairview neighborhood permit parking (NPP) zones unchanged after staff review and resident feedback flagged concerns about removing or shrinking the zones.
The Transportation Advisory Board on Aug. 11 recommended unanimously that City Council keep the existing Neighborhood Permit Parking zones for High Sunset, Columbine and Fairview unchanged.
The board’s vote follows staff analysis of parking utilization, permit demand and visitation, resident outreach and a public hearing in which several residents urged retention of permits to prevent university and school spillover parking.
Staff said the residential access management program (RAMP), which includes NPPs, is intended to be strategic and data-driven, and that the decision to flag zones for potential removal is based on three metrics: parking utilization, permit demand and visitation estimates obtained from Placer AI. “This option would retain all existing MPP zone boundaries, hours of operations, and time limits for nonpermit holders with no modifications to the current program structure,” Samantha Bromberg, senior product manager, told the board as she presented staff’s recommendation labeled Option 1.
The staff presentation noted Fairview’s nonresidential use is primarily tied to Fairview High School, High Sunset has seen construction-driven demand and previously downtown spillover, and Columbine receives demand from New Vista High School and nearby University of Colorado activity. Using Placer AI, staff estimated roughly 11 nonresidential visits per day in Fairview, about 19 in High Sunset and about 71 in Columbine; staff also collects curb occupancy counts by driving the neighborhoods and using license-plate reader counts to measure parked cars.
Multiple residents from the Columbine and High Sunset neighborhoods told the board the permit program had substantially reduced all-day student parking, speeding and trash problems before the program existed. Jenny Schwartz, a Columbine resident, said she helped organize the original petition in the neighborhood. “We have huge amounts of spillover traffic… CU students driving up and down our street really fast, parking wherever they can, throwing their garbage around,” Schwartz said. Barbara, another resident, said photographic records presented at the time of petitioning showed streets “completely packed” on weekdays before permits were installed.
Some TAB members and residents pressed staff on a discrepancy between the quantitative occupancy estimates and residents’ lived experience. Hernan (TAB member) and others questioned whether the Placer AI visitation estimates and occupancy averages — which are averaged across zones and over time — understate localized peak block-level congestion. Staff replied the occupancy rates shown are averages, that their in-person counts are timed to sample peak and off-peak periods, and that Placer AI provides statistically extrapolated visitation estimates rather than individual tracking. “We do try to look at peak times as well as off peak times,” Bromberg said. She acknowledged no approach is perfect and that staff will continue to refine data collection.
After the public hearing and board discussion, TAB concluded the combination of continued program cost recovery, resident testimony strongly favoring retention and staff findings supported recommending no change. A motion recommending City Council approve staff’s Option 1 (no changes) passed 4-0.
The recommendation will go to city staff and then to council on consent unless council requests further discussion. TAB members repeatedly asked staff to continue improving data collection and to explain how Placer AI and on-the-ground counts are reconciled during future monitoring cycles.
While the board approved the recommendation unanimously, several members asked staff to revisit evaluation thresholds and data methods in future reviews so that residents’ reports about specific blocks or times of day can be weighed against zonal averages.
Votes at a glance
- Recommendation: TAB recommends that City Council approve staff’s Option 1 — retain High Sunset, Columbine and Fairview NPP zones with no changes. Outcome: recommended to council, passed TAB 4-0.
