Transportation board backs Ponca Place redesign as likely public benefit, flags bike-parking reduction
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Summary
The City of Boulder Transportation Advisory Board generally supported the proposed vacation and redesign of Ponca Place for the Frasier Meadows expansion at 350 Ponca Place but pressed the applicant on a requested 75% bicycle-parking reduction and on TDM monitoring and signage to keep the space welcoming to pedestrians and cyclists.
Vice chair Darcy Kitching opened discussion at the Transportation Advisory Board’s Nov. 10 meeting after staff described the 350 Ponca Place site and the City Council referral. City planner Chandler Van Schaack told the board the combined Fraser Meadows and Mountain View United Methodist Church parcels total about 18.86 acres and that the project is now in site review after concept review earlier this year.
The applicant, represented by Danica Powell of Trestle Strategy Group, said the proposal adds a four‑story building with 96 independent‑living apartments and would connect to Fraser Meadows via a second‑story bridge over a redesigned Ponca Place. Powell said the design would vacate the public right-of-way for Ponca Place and convert it to a private drive with a public‑access easement; the change would allow narrower travel lanes, rain gardens, enhanced paving and improved snow removal. “Ponca Place is proposed to be vacated, meaning the city would get rid of the right of way and return it to the property owner,” Chandler Van Schaack told the board during the staff overview. Powell added that the applicant has committed to relocating a water main so utilities would not remain in the vacated right of way and that construction of the street redesign is planned to start this winter as technical documents are finalized.
Frasier Meadows representatives highlighted demand for senior housing — the applicant said Frasier has a waiting list of more than 700 households — and described existing on‑site services that support a smaller parking footprint, including shuttle services and on‑site amenities. Frasier’s chief growth officer, Colleen Ryan Mallon, and president and CEO Christy Hendricks described long‑running TDM efforts and said Frasier operates shuttles, on‑demand vehicles and programs to encourage residents to reduce car use. Hendricks said residents often decline shared vehicles because “they feel unsafe driving a car that they’ve never driven before.”
Board members praised the proposed redesign as likely to improve safety and public access if it remains clearly welcoming to walkers and cyclists. TAB members expressed concern about a request to reduce bicycle‑parking requirements by roughly 75 percent compared with the code standard — staff and the applicant said existing counting showed about 120 bike parking spaces today and demand figures ranging into the 100s, while the developer is proposing 48 bike stalls (20 short‑term, 28 long‑term) for the new building. Powell said the average resident age is over 84, and the team offered a deferred approach that would allow converting vehicle stalls to bike storage later if demand increases. “We’re all guinea pigs here,” Powell said of testing the new bike‑parking code and pilot reductions for nonstudent housing.
The board emphasized programmatic commitments — monitoring TDM outcomes, sponsoring a nearby bike‑share station, and clear signage indicating the private drive remains open for public walking and biking — as conditions that would strengthen the case that vacating Ponca Place provides a public benefit. TAB members also urged stronger measures to entice employee trips away from single‑occupant vehicles, including vanpool strategies and pursuing restoration of the nearby RTD stop that closed in 2019.
There was no formal vote on a recommendation; staff said TAB’s feedback will be included in the record for Planning Board and City Council decisions. Planning Board will make the site‑review recommendation and City Council must approve any ordinance to vacate the Ponca Place right of way.
