Planning board reviews concept plan for 170-unit mixed-use project at 5450 Airport Blvd; board praises redesign but flags transport and parking issues

The Boulder Planning Board on Jan. 7 reviewed a concept plan for 5450 Airport Boulevard, a 4.29-acre site proposed for a mixed-use project with 170 attached dwelling units, a community building and about 10,000 square feet of office and restaurant space. The review was advisory; no formal approvals were requested or taken.

Shannon Miller of the City of Boulder planning department summarized staff's analysis and key issues: the property is zoned IM (Industrial Manufacturing) and was designated light industrial in the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan and the East Boulder Subcommunity Plan. Staff noted the site meets contiguity requirements that make residential use eligible through a use review, but said the project must show how it meets the use-review standards, site-review criteria and BVCP policies for light-industrial areas. "This property was part of prior site reviews," Miller said, and staff recommended the applicant address site permeability, on-site amenities, a high-quality Transportation Demand Management plan and ADA access given the substantial slope on the site. Miller added, "No public comments were received" prior to the hearing.

The current plan presented by the applicant team (Markell Homes and Ripley Design) reorients buildings to the south to front an open-space corridor and proposes reduced on-site surface parking supplemented by a shared-parking agreement with a neighboring property to the north. Sam Coutts of Ripley Design described the design goals: "The overall theme of what we wanted to accomplish with this new design…