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Developers present 2952 Baseline ‘Willville 2’ plan to TAB; board urges stronger TDM and covered bike parking
Summary
City staff and an applicant team presented a site‑review design for 2952 Baseline — commonly referred to in the hearing as “Willville 2” — that would replace an existing shopping plaza near Williams Village with 412 residences, expanded commercial space and a request for a roughly 40% parking reduction.
City staff and an applicant team presented a site-review design for 2952 Baseline — the shopping‑plaza redevelopment near Williams Village often called “Willville 2” — to the City of Boulder Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) during the board’s March 2025 meeting. Chandler Vanscoch, case manager with the Planning and Development Services Department, said the submission proposes four four‑story mixed‑use buildings, one five‑story student housing building and 412 new residences, including 27 student units, and would expand commercial space from roughly 54,000 to almost 60,000 square feet.
The developer team, led by Catherine Vanderspeck of Coburn Architecture, described a design that reduces nine existing vehicle access points to four, creates a pedestrian‑focused L‑shaped main street and hides most parking within structures. Vanderspeck said the project would provide both short‑ and long‑term bicycle parking, electric‑vehicle chargers in garages, car‑share spaces and a multi‑use path connection to nearby bicycle and pedestrian facilities.
TAB members focused their feedback on the applicant’s requested parking reduction and the strength and enforceability of the Transportation Demand Management (TDM) commitments. The applicant is requesting a 40% parking reduction overall — described in the materials and presentation as approximately a 20% reduction for the market‑rate residential portion and an 80% reduction for the student housing element, yielding an overall reduction near 40%. Chandler Vanscoch said the project provided a TDM plan but had not yet resubmitted revisions after staff’s first round of comments.
Members noted that the proposed reductions and TDM measures should reflect local conditions in Boulder rather than generic approaches. TAB member Darcy (last name not specified in the transcript) urged the team to “really beef up” the TDM package with locally relevant measures, such as on‑site e‑bikes, covered short‑term bike parking, stronger connections to the city’s growing protected bicycle network and concrete incentives to shift trips away from single‑occupant cars. Vanderspeck said the development partner for the student housing operates in other U.S. markets and expects lower car ownership among students; the team said proposed TDM measures include subsidized transit eco‑passes for residents, additional bike storage including ebike charging, scooter parking and car‑share parking.
TAB members also recommended operational and design changes to support retail and grocery uses on the site. Members expressed interest in flexible shared parking (day/night overlap for grocery and residential uses), prioritizing compact vehicles or smaller vehicles, ensuring short‑term car parking supports retail visits rather than long‑term storage and providing covered short‑term bike parking so people will ride in inclement weather. Several board members said they were cautiously optimistic about the plan’s pedestrian‑focused design but raised questions about commercial market viability and whether the proposed parking and access approach will support the retail mixes described by the applicant.
Staff and applicants clarified timing and process: the project previously completed a concept review and was referred to TAB, the Design Advisory Board and the Environmental Advisory Board after a March 7, 2024, City Council concept review. Chandler Vanscoch said the application is currently at site review and that the applicant has not yet resubmitted materials after the staff comment round; a staff memo and TAB feedback will be forwarded to Planning Board when the project is scheduled. Chris Hagelin, principal project manager for Transportation & Mobility, told TAB members the city intends to present a TDM ordinance to council in June 2025 as part of the Access Management and Parking Strategies (AMPS) work, but he and other staff advised that historically projects already in site review are reviewed under the regulations in effect at application and that council could alter that approach.
No formal vote was taken at TAB on this item; the presentation was a request for feedback only. Staff asked TAB to weigh in on access, connectivity to the multimodal system and the project’s alignment with the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan and the Transportation Master Plan. The applicant team said it will incorporate board feedback into future submittals and continue coordination with staff.
Looking ahead, staff and applicants said they would provide additional parking utilization data and updated counts when available and consider TAB’s suggested refinements — stronger, locally tailored TDM, covered short‑term bike parking, compact/small‑vehicle priority spaces and flexible shared parking strategies — before future Planning Board consideration.
