City planners brief BOZA on AMPS parking overhaul and proposed administrative route for front‑yard parking variances

City planning staff described the Access Management and Parking Strategy (AMPS) package to the Board of Zoning Adjustments, telling board members the city intends to remove minimum off‑street parking requirements citywide, update bike- and EV‑parking rules, and add a new administrative option for some front‑yard parking variances.

Lisa Hood, principal city planner, and Robbie Wyler of Planning and Development Services presented the multi‑department project that also involves Transportation & Mobility and Community Vitality. The presentation framed the package as a response to a state law restricting local minimums in transit service areas, council direction to adopt citywide changes rather than creating a patchwork of rules, and city data showing that existing required parking often exceeds actual utilization.

Key points from the AMPS briefing to BOZA:

- State law and timeline: Colorado legislation passed in 2024 (cited in the presentation) prohibits local minimum off‑street parking requirements for certain multifamily and mixed‑use development within defined transit‑service areas; council directed staff to apply a consistent approach citywide rather than limit changes to transit-area pockets. Staff said the transit-service-area map covers about 77% of city parcels. Council was scheduled to consider the ordinances in early June; staff said an effective date of June 26 would apply if council adopts the ordinances.

- Proposed code changes: The primary zoning change in draft Ordinance 86‑96 removes minimum off‑street parking ratios across land uses and eliminates language in the land‑use code that references required parking. The draft ordinance also promotes shared parking, updates rules for EV charging based on spaces provided, and revises bike‑parking standards for security and usability.

- BOZA‑specific item (front‑yard parking): Under current code, parking in the front landscaped yard is prohibited except in a few low‑density districts when certain parking requirements are already met. Staff proposed retaining the front‑yard prohibition to avoid visual and safety problems but changing the test used to allow exceptions: rather than tying the exception to whether a parcel meets a now‑deleted minimum parking requirement, the exception would allow front‑yard parking where the driveway leads to a legal off‑street parking space on the parcel. Procedurally, staff proposed that some requests that now automatically come to BOZA could be handled administratively if adjacent impacted property owners sign an agreement of support; if impacted owners do not sign, the request would continue to be considered by BOZA.

- On‑street and TDM work: Staff previewed related changes to on‑street parking management (including a Goss Grove pilot that would shift some timed parking to paid parking while offering eco‑passes to neighborhood residents), neighborhood permit parking adjustments and a stronger Transportation Demand Management (TDM) ordinance aimed at larger developments.

During discussion BOZA members expressed broad support for the policy direction but also raised practical concerns about enforcement and neighborhood norms, particularly about the occurrence of front‑yard driveways across many Boulder blocks. Staff said enforcement would remain primarily complaint‑driven and that the proposed administrative option is intended as an incremental step to balance citywide reform with established neighborhood conditions.

Staff asked for BOZA feedback to include in the packet to City Council; no formal BOZA vote was required on the AMPS code changes at this meeting.