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Design advisory board questions layout of 82‑unit J Road neighborhood, urges redesign of west‑edge units
Summary
At a DAB review of the annexed 2801 J Road site, staff and the applicant presented an 82‑unit for‑sale neighborhood with 33 permanently restricted middle‑income units. Board members pressed the applicant to redesign west‑facing units for clearer pedestrian access, reconsider a detention pond on the primary frontage, and rebalance parking and alley layouts before Planning Board review.
The Design Advisory Board (DAB) reviewed plans for 2801 J Road and raised repeated concerns about unit orientation, circulation, and stormwater siting.
Shannon Moeller, City of Boulder Planning Department, introduced the item as a site‑review referral from City Council and summarized the proposal: "this project is a proposal to create a new residential neighborhood with 82 attached homes, including market rate and middle‑income, permanently affordable homes." The applicant team and staff confirmed the 4.6‑acre site is now annexed and zoned RMX2.
Michael Nota of Neo Studio, the applicant presenter, walked the board through the design. "We have 82 for‑sale homes, 33 of them are permanently restricted middle‑income units," he said, and described a plan with a central linear open space, two play areas, dispersed on‑street and parallel parking, and a 30‑foot easement for a future collector/multi‑use path. The applicant and Margaret Freund (applicant) emphasized site constraints imposed by required right‑of‑way dedications and easements and confirmed a 5‑foot sidewalk and landscaping will be installed immediately where the future path easement exists.
During clarifying questions, board members focused on three recurring issues. First, several members objected to placing a detention pond on the site’s primary street frontage. "We keep… seeing this around Boulder, where we have, on Principal Street, site detention," said Stephen Eckert (DAB), who recommended relocation or design solutions that would integrate stormwater facilities into interior open space rather than exposing a basin along the public edge. Staff noted the site review criteria ask for a defined edge along major streets and that the pond location largely reflected engineering constraints and low points on the parcel.
Second, board members repeatedly challenged the layout of western perimeter units, which place garages and car access toward the public realm while primary pedestrian entries face a multimodal path or interior courtyard. "It really feels like there's more pavement than necessary," said Harriet Ingham (DAB). Matthew Schexnyder (DAB) added that units that "turn their back on the new street" risk producing an illegible, car‑dominant frontage and urged redesign so front doors clearly face public sidewalks or streets. Members suggested design options including combined garage/entry treatment, side entries, slightly wider unit footprints, or reconfigured building types (e.g., rowhouse/fourplex) to free space for pedestrian access.
Third, participants debated parking and alley stacking. Board members said the combination of one‑way streets, dispersed parallel parking and alleys produced a vehicle‑dominant plan that undercuts the intended pedestrian porosity of the central open space. The applicant responded that public street dedications and density thresholds were part of the economic viability constraints that informed parking and street decisions.
A public commenter, Lynn Segal, urged the board to stop further development in Boulder, criticizing infrastructure pressures and fiscal impacts. The board acknowledged the comment but focused its recommendations on the site‑review criteria and design solutions the applicant can feasibly address.
The board summarized its recommendations for the record: consider relocating the detention pond away from the primary frontage and integrating stormwater into interior green space; redesign west‑edge units to provide clear pedestrian‑facing entries and improve wayfinding; re‑examine alley/road stacking and parking distribution to reduce excessive pavement and improve pedestrian circulation; and explore alternatives (e.g., altered building footprints or consolidated unit types) to free space for better entries and open space.
DAB members asked staff to forward a written summary of the board’s comments to Planning Board. The applicant team indicated it will take the feedback into the next iteration of design and the item will proceed to Planning Board review. The meeting ended after a brief board‑matters section in which members thanked departing member Matthew for his service and agreed during the call to transfer the vice‑chair role to Stephen Eckert.
