Council approves rezoning and land‑use plan for Palmer High School but fails to vacate Boulder Street

The City Council on Tuesday approved two of three related applications from District 11 to remake Palmer High School’s downtown campus but declined to permanently vacate a one‑block section of East Boulder Street that would have been occupied by athletic facilities.

On three separate votes the council: approved rezoning the roughly 8.27‑acre site into the form‑based zone T2A (11A) on a 5–3 vote; failed to approve the vacation of East Boulder Street between Nevada and Weber (11B) on a tie vote; and approved the Palmer High School land‑use plan (11C) by a 7–0–1 vote.

Project proponents — including District 11 leaders, the superintendent and students — argued the consolidated campus would reduce the number of daily street crossings required of students, permit on‑campus athletic facilities and better connect students to downtown internships and partnerships. "Connecting a campus is not a convenience and it's not a design preference," Superintendent said in the presentation, calling safety and coherence primary aims for a downtown high school.

Traffic and engineering consultants presented two studies — one before a temporary construction closure of Boulder Street and one after — and said measured impacts since the closure were smaller than initial projections. The city's traffic engineer testified that levels of service at major intersections remained acceptable and that the closure trial had not generated significant complaints from emergency services in the nine months it was in place. Traffic staff cited an internal memo estimating an increase in ambulance response time from 2 minutes, 32 seconds to 2 minutes, 52 seconds for a particular route if the block were closed.

Opponents — residents, the Historic Uptown Neighborhood Association and many nearby business owners — urged the council to keep the arterial open. They cited potential adverse effects on emergency access to the nearby hospital, loss of public right‑of‑way, parking displacement, uncertain funding for the athletic components (phase 2) and the project's impact on a nationally registered historic district. "The permanent closure of Boulder Street would have serious implications for mobility, accessibility and long‑term planning for our city," said a neighborhood representative urging delay.

Council discussion reflected the split: some members prioritized long‑term viability and competitiveness of Palmer as a downtown high school and student safety benefits of a connected campus; others emphasized the loss of an east‑west arterial, neighborhood and business impacts, and the lack of guaranteed funding for later phases that would fully realize proposed circulation changes.

Conditions of approval for the vacation proposed by staff — which the district expressed willingness to accept — included retaining utility easements, negotiated public egress outside school hours and a return provision if the district later disposes of the vacated land. The council approved rezoning and the land‑use plan but did not grant the vacation; staff and district representatives said they will continue coordinating with neighborhoods, work on parking mitigation and discuss pedestrian and signal improvements regardless of the vacation result.

Votes on the three agenda items were recorded in the council minutes. The planning department noted extensive mailed notice and public engagement, and staff maintained the technical reports and recommended conditions are in the packet for council review.