Boulder City Council agrees to hold off on home-size regulations

Boulder City Council agrees to hold off on home-size regulations
Wilson: 'I think we need to step back'
By Heath Urie Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Public outcry and a recommendation by the Boulder Planning Board not to move forward with a temporary ordinance limiting house sizes prompted the City Council to put the issue on hold late Tuesday night.
In a surprise move after 10 p.m., the council voted unanimously not to hear a first reading of an interim ordinance on the matter, which had been scheduled for its April 15 meeting.
Instead, the council will hold a discussion at next week's public meeting about the possible options for crafting such an ordinance. It will not consider any formal plan.
Mayor Shaun McGrath proposed holding off on the matter at the end of a special meeting in which the council appointed Jerry Gordon as city attorney.
McGrath said he's simply heard too many negative responses about the ordinance, which the entire council previously indicated would be a positive step toward eliminating "pops and scrapes," or huge homes built on the lots of demolished smaller ones.
"It's my belief that, given the input we received from the Planning Board, the direction we gave focused on (floor-area ratios) ... may not really work in a lot of ways," McGrath said.
The Planning Board last week agreed that using a proposed "floor-area ratio" calculation -- or the percentage of a lot covered in finished square footage of a house on all levels -- to tell people how big a house can be is a "blunt tool" that does not achieve the council's goals of controlling the largest homes and preserving neighborhood character.
Many of the board members said they were concerned the City Council would act to draft a short-term ordinance regardless of the board's recommendation.
Opponents of the measure also say it would violate personal property rights and could harm the local economy.
On Tuesday, Councilman Ken Wilson supported McGrath's call for a slowdown in the face of mounting opposition to the plan.
"I think we need to step back and think about the process," he said.
Wilson said, based on the sliding national economy and tightening credit market, an increase in so-called speculation homes in Boulder isn't likely to be an immediate concern.
Councilwoman Susan Osborne said she's received more than 1,100 e-mails about the proposed ordinance and that the community is feeling disengaged from the process in general.
"We need to take the time to think about how we have that discussion," Osborne said. "I think the bigger shame would be having a large sector of our community feeling like we didn't listen ... that we didn't get it that their values and issues weren't being addressed.
"I think it makes a lot of sense to take some time with our staff to figure out how we go forward."
The matter will be placed on the council's April 15 agenda under the title, "discussion of options to address remodels and demolition rebuilds that greatly impact established neighborhoods."
The public will be allowed to speak for 45 minutes during public participation time.
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