By Ron Rovtar
Cherry Creek Properties LLC
303.981.1617
We have to admit, the quote above really makes it sounds as if Boulder is a city with its priorities in order, its ducks in a row, maybe even a razor-sharp strategic vision!
Choose your cliché.
Problem is, none of the clichés are fully true –– not about Boulder today –– and
neither is the statement from the city's website. It's not a lie. It's just wishful thinking, especially the part about our "collective ability to shape our own future."
Fact is, the city is painfully divided about planning issues right now.
So, as Boulder starts considering changes to the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan (BVCP) at Chautauqua Park this afternoon, I have an unsolicited, probably unwelcome, likely to be ignored suggestion.
Make this a very extended process. And I mean very extended –– perhaps into 2017.
Don't push through an important update process that has little chance of succeeding if it is not done right. Make the effort, the very difficult and time-consuming effort, to really build a consensus so the results have more than a ghost of a chance of surviving longer than a couple years.
There are a number of circumstances making this year a very bad time to launch and hurry through this effort, including the fact we are in the midst of an important city council election. This will mean the council that finishes the job will be different from the one starting it.
We also have contentious growth-related issues on the November ballot. And trust for city government is at a low ebb. Residents don't feel heard even as the city tries to obtain more community input.
But the most important reason for slowing the BVCP process is simply this:
Boulder is now deeply divided about growth issues. Boulder people do generally believe in good planning. But, no consensus exists about what the plan should be. and it will take a lot of time and hard work to build that consensus
Here is the very BIG problem.
Many would continue forward with growth controls similar to those in place since the 1970s. Others would significantly tweak these historically tight controls to encourage construction of more housing, especially entry-level and middle-income housing.
Both sides make very good points.
The city has become something very special under growth-restrictive policies dating back to the 1970s. Today Boulder has a great downtown, and fabulous open spaces.
It is an incubator for start-up businesses and attracts the highest of high tech companies and some of the most talented and creative minds in many fields.
"It's worked so far" is a darned good argument.
Yet this success has created negative consequences as well. Slow growth in a limited area has pushed home prices into the stratosphere. And this is becoming a serious problem because it is changing the very character of the city.
The Boulder population is getting older, wealthier and probably less politically liberal. The proud quirkiness implied by "Keep Boulder Weird" seems slightly diminished each year.
As a result, many interesting people who would love to move to Boulder cannot afford the price of admission.
More importantly, many current residents feel as if they are being shown the city's door because strict growth policies have made living here increasingly expensive –– too expensive.
Many of these people are long-time residents who already have given up much to stay in a place they love. We've talked to some before they left. Some clearly feel betrayed.
They've lived here, they've worked here, they've contributed. Now someone with more money will live where they lived and benefit from their contributions.
It's hard to feel good about that.
Many financially marginal residents who are not yet gone, including a lot of young adults and a good number of retirees, see a solution in national development trends toward more compact neighborhoods.
Tighter neighborhoods with smaller living spaces packed more closely -- neighborhoods with many everyday services at walkable distances -- have a lot of appeal to some. These would be the new neighborhoods, not the traditional neighborhoods that many Boulder people love.
Dismiss high density living as unBoulder, if you will.
But one jumps in the car less often when restaurants, bank branches, bike shops and groceries locate nearby because the population is large enough to support them. And getting people out of cars is an important goal of this city.
Additionally, greater density can promote more regular social interaction between residents and a greater sense of community.
These also are good arguments.
~ ~ ~
Unfortunately, many Boulder residents on both sides see these approaches as mutually exclusive, poisoning the atmosphere for thoughtful dialogue and informed compromise.
Frustration levels are exceedingly high in Boulder. There are those who shudder at every newly-approved development.
Others cringe when a good project gets bogged down in government planning, which seems to be happening more lately.
So, yes, Boulder leaders should slow the BVCP process to take at least a year, maybe longer, just to make sure they get it right. This update is not just a necessary task. It is an important opportunity to heal divisions in the community.
The city should make serious efforts to engage all members of the community –– especially young adults and the companies that employ them. Both these groups have largely been absent from recent city outreach efforts about housing.
The city should bring all factions together in non-threatening venues where all sides can comfortably express concerns and be encouraged to really hear the concerns of others.
It can be done! And the city will be much the better for it.
Sometimes leadership means knowing when to take the time to get it right. This is exactly such a time.
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Ron Rovtar, is a residential real estate broker associate Cherry Creek Properties, LLC in Boulder, CO. He can be reached at 303.981.1617. To learn more about Ron, please visit his website. For more about life in Boulder County and nearby, check out our facebook page. Ron Rovtar does business as Front Range Real Estate, Ltd. All photos © Ron Rovtar
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