Boulder City Council
At the April 10 study session, council will:
• Hear findings from a study on how “replacement homes and substantial additions to homes contribute to the need for affordable housing” and discuss putting an impact fee on these types of developments.
According to a city memo, single-family redevelopment often replaces “smaller, relatively affordable” homes with “large expensive” homes, and substantial additions reduce affordability as well.
Single-family home teardowns aren’t subject to the city’s inclusionary housing regulations — which requires new developments to pay into the city’s affordable housing fund — because they aren’t considered new development.
The impact fee would be paid into the city’s affordable housing fund. If council agrees with staff’s recommendation to move forward with an impact fee, staff will meet with stakeholders and begin engagement in April. The new code would be developed later this summer/fall.
Boulder County Commissioners
At the March 27 meeting, commissioners:
• Approved some budget requests, but denied others as part of a quarterly budget amendment process. Commissioners approved, for example, two new employees in the county attorney’s office to “address additional workload” resulting from the newly formed union. They denied the sheriff’s office’s request for $2,319,823 to add 25 full-time equivalent employees for the new booking and housing wing of the jail as well as $303,572 for new vehicles.
There were 50 budget requests totaling $12,043,197. Commissioners formally approved $8,521,427 at the April 1 meeting.
On Monday, April 7, commissioners will:
• Hear a presentation from Front Range Nesting Bald Eagle Studies President, Dana Bove, on Stearns Lake in Carolyn Holmberg Preserve. A pair of eagles has nested in the area for over a decade and has recently been disturbed by “a dramatic increase in trail use that has forced them from their long-held territory,” Bove wrote in a March 2 opinion piece in the Daily Camera.
The virtual meeting is open to the public, but no public comment will be taken. Registration required: bit.ly/StearnsEaglesBW
On Tuesday, April 8, commissioners will:
• Decide whether to approve a transfer of 14 properties that were acquired by the county after the 2013 flood. The private residential properties had been severely damaged in the flood and were put into open space uses. Parks and Open Space has suggested transferring them “to applicants who competed in a detailed public process to find private individuals and entities that will be best suited to own and manage them, and to retain ownership of one.”
The properties would continue as open space and remain undeveloped, according to the agenda.
Longmont City Council
At its April 1 study session, council:
• Reviewed options for an ordinance that would restrict where registered sex offenders can live. The push for this legislation has come in response to a group of residents who first expressed concerns at a Feb. 25 meeting regarding a sober living facility in their neighborhood that was housing six registered sex offenders.
After an overview of multiple setback distances, council directed staff to draft an ordinance that will restrict all registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of schools and daycares, and 500 feet from public and private parks.
Lafayette City Council
At the April 1 meeting, council:
• Heard a presentation of polling questions for the community on whether the city should place a question on the November ballot asking for funding for three potential capital projects: an expansion of the aquatic complex at the Bob L. Burger Recreation Center, a renovation of the Parks and Public Works Service Center and a new Civic Center to replace the current City Hall.
The city is hosting community info sessions at City Hall, 1290 S. Public Road, 6-7 p.m. Wednesday, April 30 on fiscal responsibility and Thursday, May 15 on environmental stewardship and sustainability.
• Set a public hearing and vote to determine eligiblity for annexation of 78 acres of undeveloped property northwest and southwest of the Intersection of Baseline Road and N. 119th Street currently in unincorporated Boulder County. The owners have proposed a mixed-use development on the property called Gateway Lafayette.
Went into executive session:
• For legal advice on the city’s home-rule authority. At a March 4 meeting, council previously agreed to meet in executive session to discuss the effects of state legislation on local planning and zoning regulations, specifically HB 24-1313, Housing in Transit-Oriented Communities, which requires cities of a certain size to allow more dense housing in areas served by buses, light rail or other transit. In Lafayette, it could result in 7,000 to 30,000 more homes, according to previous Boulder Weekly reporting.
All agenda items are subject to change. Karen Norback contributed reporting.