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Council adopts East Boulder form-based code and amends subcommunity plan, preserves site-review option
Summary
Council approved amendments to the East Boulder Subcommunity Plan and adopted a new form-based code for parts of East Boulder while adding an explicit opt-out so qualifying projects may choose site review instead.
Boulder City Council on Thursday approved changes to the East Boulder Subcommunity Plan and adopted a form-based code for parts of East Boulder intended to guide redevelopment in the area east of Foothills and north of Arapahoe.
The council passed two separate items: a narrowly targeted amendment to the East Boulder plan and an ordinance (86 69) implementing form-based code standards for the plan's identified areas of change. Both measures passed 8-1.
"The form-based code is only triggered if a property is proposing a substantial change," said Christopher Johnson, comprehensive planning manager. Staff told council the code will only apply when projects meet specific thresholds (for example, additions that increase floor area by more than 60% or large facade or roof replacements) and that any property large enough to use site review may opt out of the form-based path and use the citywide site-review process instead.
Johnson said staff recommended changes after additional outreach with property owners and stakeholders to increase flexibility. Among the changes: allowing production-business space to be incorporated into a main building or provided in a separate on-site structure for projects larger than 15,000 square feet, removing a requirement that site-review projects still meet form-based standards, and loosening some prescriptive design standards to allow more architectural flexibility.
"Maintaining the production business space standard is important," Johnson said, describing it as a way to keep light industrial and maker space that community members identified as at risk in the area's evolution. Staff told council a fee-in-lieu or other alternative compliance mechanism could be explored later but was not ready to implement as part of this ordinance.
Councilmembers asked for continued monitoring of Flatirons Business Park and other East Boulder sites to ensure the plan encourages high-quality employment uses and housing as market conditions change. Mayor Aaron Brockett and several councilmembers emphasized the change is intended to provide optionality: property owners may continue existing uses or choose to redevelop under the new code.
Planning board had recommended approval. After discussion in which one councilmember dissented, the council voted to approve the subcommunity plan amendment and the ordinance adopting the form-based code; both passed on roll-call votes of 8 to 1.
Staff said the map in Appendix L will be updated to identify where the form-based code applies and that follow-up implementation steps may include additional incentives or a potential fee-in-lieu option for production business space.
