Planning board hears AMPS update; staff recommends eliminating parking minimums and a tiered TDM ordinance with annual financial guarantees

Boulder Planning Board members on a regular meeting were presented with a staff update on the Access Management and Parking Strategy (AMPS), a three‑department code and policy package covering off‑street parking, on‑street parking, and Transportation Demand Management (TDM).

Lisa Hood, principal planner with Planning and Development Services, said staff is "continuing to recommend eliminating minimum parking requirements citywide for all land uses," and outlined related recommendations on bicycle parking, shared parking approaches and coordination with the recently updated Energy Conservation Code for electric‑vehicle (EV) requirements.

The board heard that eliminating minimum off‑street requirements would apply to new development and redevelopment and create legal nonconformities for some existing sites rather than forcing retroactive changes. Hood said staff does not recommend a citywide maximum parking requirement, though it remains an option for particular places such as Boulder Junction.

Chris Hagelin, principal project manager for Transportation Mobility, described a recommended three‑tier TDM ordinance for new development. Under the proposal: small projects (Tier 0) would be exempt; mid‑sized (Tier 1) projects would require an approved TDM plan and annual financial guarantees but no vehicle trip targets; and the largest projects (Tier 2) would have trip generation targets, annual and remedial financial guarantees and annual third‑party monitoring until they meet targets for three consecutive years. Hagelin characterized the central funding mechanism this way: "The real hallmark of of this ordinance approach is the use of financial guarantees." He and staff said those ongoing funds would be intended to pay for the kinds of annual programs that change travel behavior — for…