2018-05_1753 Columbine Ave_Disposition Packet
N O T I C E
FINDINGS AND DECISION OF THE CITY OF BOULDER BOARD OF ZONING
ADJUSTMENT DISPOSITION OF ZONING CASE
DOCKET NUMBER 2018-05
CONCERNING THE APPLICATION FOR A VARIANCE OF THE FLOOR AREA FOR AN ACCESSORY
DWELLING UNIT REQUIREMENTS OF SECTION 9-6-3, B.R.C. 1981 AT 1753 COLUMBINE AVENUE OF
TIME AND LYNETTE FULLER-ROWELL, WHOSE MAILING ADDRESS IS 1753 COLUMBINT AVENUE,
BOULDER, COLORADO 80302.
On May 10, 2018, the City of Boulder Board of Zoning Adjustment, a quorum being present, held a public
hearing, after giving notice as required by law, on the application for the following variance:
As part of a proposal to establish an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) within the existing residence located within
the RL-1 zoning district, the applicants are requesting a floor area variance to allow an approximately 1,160 square
foot lower level accessory unit where approximately 1,000 square feet would be allowed per the ADU size
limitations. Section of the Land Use Code to be modified: Section 9-6-3, BRC 1981.
Based on our field investigation and the relevant testimony, exhibits, and other evidence introduced at the
hearing, and in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Boulder Revised Code, 1981, we find by a
preponderance of the evidence that the criteria for granting a variance have been met, and grant the variance as
requested, subject, however, to the following condition:
That at building permit application the accessory dwelling unit will need to demonstrate current code
compliance for all improvements that have been previously unpermitted, that a rental license be acquired before it is
rented out, and that the variance request shall not exceed 160 sq. ft.
This variance is limited to the use and structure for which it was requested, including the location on the lot and
maximum height, as approved by the Board of Zoning Adjustment.
This variance was approved by the vote of 3-2 (E. McCready and M. Hirsh opposed).
EXECUTED this 10th day of May 2018, effective as of, May 10, 2018.
Jill Lester, Presiding Officer of the Board at the Meeting
By: ____________ __________________________
Robbie Wyler, Secretary to the Board of Zoning Adjustment
This decision constitutes a final decision as of the date of the hearing at which it was reached. If a variance was
granted, the variance expires within 180 (one hundred eighty) days from the date on which it were granted unless a
building permit for such variance is applied for within such period.
CITY OF BOULDER
Planning and Development Services
1739 Broadway, Third Floor • P.O. Box 791, Boulder, Colorado 80306-0791
phone 303-441-1880 • fax 303-441-3241 • email plandevelop@bouldercolorado.gov
www.boulderplandevelop.net
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Background of the request
Lynette and I purchased the house in 1990 when we moved to Boulder from London, and
have lived in the house as a single family dwelling for 28 years. The house is a good size,
and has been ideal to raise our three sons, the youngest was born in 1990 so has lived in
Boulder all his life. All three sons now have their own places and are gainfully employed, so
we are empty nesters.
Our oldest son is married with two young daughters. His family recently moved back to
Boulder from New York, and bought a house just two blocks away on Bluebell Ave. One of
the reasons they moved close by was so that we can help with the grandchildren. We
currently share the care giving of the grandchildren, since they both work full-time. Since
our grandchildren live round the corner, we really want to stay in the neighborhood.
We love the neighborhood and would like to “age in place.” The house has become too big
for us, but opportunities to downsize are limited in the neighborhood. I will reach
retirement age next year so income will drop significantly. Lynette had to retire from her
work recently after being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. We hope the
supplementary income from renting out the basement will help to pay the mortgage, and
the expense of maintaining an older home. Hence the wish to apply for the ADU, in order to
make good use of the space and help with the rising cost of living in Boulder as we retire.
We also enjoy the prospect of interaction that renting out part of our house will involve.
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Written statement describing the variance request and addressing all pertinent
review criteria
The size variance request is based on paragraph (1) Physical Conditions
(h) CRITERIA FOR VARIANCES
(1) Physical Conditions
(A) The proposed accessory unit is the Basement of a three-story Cape Cod
style building, which was built in 1946. The floor and walls of the
basement are concrete, which support the upper two stories of the house.
With the internal framing the walls are 1ft. 2 inches thick, the total area
of which are 170 sq.ft., which is included in the current ADU size
calculation. The grade of the land slopes from West to East, rendering the
West, North, and South sides of the basement mostly below grade. On
these sides, small windows in the area above grade allow some light into
the area. On the East side, the grade is cut out to enable walk out from the
basement. More than 50% of the natural light to the Basement is supplied
from the East through a larger window in the bedroom and double patio
doors with sidelights in the laundry/mudroom. A stairwell on the North-
East corner connect the Basement to the main part of the house.
(B) Floral Park has many different house styles and the Cape Cod
construction is unique to the neighborhood. The existing footprint has
not changed since its construction in 1946.
(C) The current area of the basement, excluding the mechanical/ furnace
room and stairwell is currently 1160 sq. ft., which is the area proposed
for the accessory dwelling unit (ADU), and is 36% of the total of all three
levels of the house. To meet the 1000 sq. ft. maximum size limitation or
1/3 of the total area, the only feasible way would require constructing a
wall across the laundry/mud room from North to South, in order to
exclude 160 sq.ft. . This wall would reduce the natural light to the ADU by
50%, making the space greatly undesirable for the owners and future
renters. Therefore, to meet the size restriction would lead to unnecessary
remodeling work of walling off a portion of the Basement, chopping the
room space into two small undesirable spaces. In contrast the current
open area on the East side produces a light and airy space with direct
access to the outside through the double patio doors to a small patio
seating area.
(D) The layout of the house and floor area of each level has been unchanged
since it’s original construction in 1946. It has had only one or two
previous owners, and was purchased by us in 1990.
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(5) Requirements for All Variance Approvals
(A) Would not alter the essential character of the neighborhood.
The footprint of the house has been unchanged since its construction and will be
unchanged by this application. No external changes are proposed so would have no impact
on the character of the neighborhood.
(B) Would not impair the reasonable use or development of adjacent
property.
There is no exterior size increase requested and no change to neighbor’s existing ability to
develop their properties.
(C) Would be the minimum variance to afford relief and the least
modification of the applicable provisions of this title
We have tried to think of alternative ways to reduce the size that would not have the
negative impact of removing 50% of the natural light and making the space undesirable. A
wall running East-West towards the north side separating the laundry area and keeping the
natural light in the ADU, would only reduce the size by 70 sq.ft., so would not subtract
enough area to meet 1000 sq.ft. requirement.
The basement contains ductwork in the ceiling for the forced air furnace heating for the
whole house, which would make the construction of the partition wall difficult, and would
require re-routing of a lot of the existing forced air ductwork.
To replace the lost natural light to the ADU would require excavating the grade around the
house and cutting into the concrete foundation walls to increase the size of the windows on
the South and West side of the Basement. This would be major structural change that could
impair the integrity of the basement foundation walls, which support the two upper stories
of the house.
If a future owner wanted to convert the house back to a single family dwelling, remodeling
work would be required to remove the partition wall.
We also consulted with Boulder company RHAB architecture and planning, 1301 Walnut
St., and they concluded there was not a straightforward way to modify the space to meet
the size requirement, without building the wall from the North to South of the
laundry/mud room that would remove 50% of the natural light of the ADU. Furthermore,
with the forced air heating ductwork below the floor joist it is impractical to construct a
permanent partition because there are no convenient anchor points in the ceiling to
support a new wall structure, at suitable locations, without extensive rerouting of existing
ductwork.
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(D) Would not conflict with “solar access”
The unit and the house conform to all solar requirements and since the footprint of the
house would not change, there would be no infringement on solar access of neighboring
properties.
(i) FLOOR AREA VARIANCE FOR ADUs
(1) The interior of the house is arranged such that the space to be used as the ADU
cannot feasibly be divided in conformance with the size requirement
The basement floor area is the footprint of the whole three-story dwelling. The upper levels
sit above the basement area, and are similar in their size with the exception of the concrete
area on the Southeast corner of the main level, and the reduction on the upper level due to
the traditional sloping room Cap Cod style construction. The only way to reduce the size of
the ADU area is to build an unnecessary wall across the laundry/mud room area. That
construction would reduce to light to the ADU by 50% and make the area very undesirable.
Alternatives either do not reduce the area sufficiently, or would require major structural
changes to recover the natural light potentially impacting the integrity and safety of the
whole dwelling
(2) That the variance, if granted, meets the essential intent of this title, and would be
minimum variance that would afford relief.
Approval of the size variance would have no impact on any neighbors and would greatly
improve the quality of life for the renters, or the owners if it was used returned as a single
family dwelling in the future.
(3) That the strict application of the provisions at issue would impose an undue and
unnecessary hardship on the individual and that such hardship has not been created by the
applicant.
The reduced height in some areas of the basement due to the ceiling ductwork for the
forced air heating system for the entire dwelling, would feel very cramped and
claustrophobic without natural light.
As described above, replacing the lost natural light to the ADU would require excavating
the grade around the house and cutting into the concrete foundation walls to increase the
size of the windows. This would be major structural change that could potentially impair
the integrity of the foundation.
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Support Letters
To gather neighborhood opinion, the following letter was circulated to close neighbors:
1753 Columbine Ave.
Boulder,
CO 80302
Dear Neighbors,
We are applying to the city to use our basement as an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU).
Making it an official ADU means we can put a full size fridge and microwave, etc. in the
basement, and rent it out to no more than 2 people. We have an off street parking space
assigned for any renter we might have. As you know, we are empty nesters, and having
lived in the house for 27 years we would like to stay on, and also make use of the space that
we longer need. Our basement is self-contained with it’s own entrance on 18th Street. We of
course plan to continue to live on the main and upper level of the house. Please come over
and chat if you need more information.
The city has a size limit of 1000 square feet for ADUs, the area of our basement is 1160 sq.
ft. so we are applying to the city for a variance in order to have the space approved. As part
of the application it helps to have letters of support, or lack of objection, from our
neighbors. We are approaching you as our long-standing neighbors to ask you if you would
be willing to agree to allow us use the basement in this way. If you are willing, please send
an email to the address below simply saying you do not object, that we can include in the
application. If you want to add anything else that would help the application that would be
great. We have to submit the application by Wednesday of next week, March 21st, if you are
able to respond before that date.
Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns and thanks so much for giving this
your consideration.
Sincerely,
Tim and Lynette Fuller-Rowell
Email: tim.fuller-rowell@noaa.gov
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The neighbor most impacted by the ADU would be the family immediately across the street
from the ADU entrance on 18th St. Below is the response from Kristin and Matt Moseley at
1805 Columbine Ave..
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The following are additional responses, so far:
Kent and Robin Taylor
1730 Columbine Ave.
Bonnie and Andy Oriel
1703 Columbine Ave.
To date we have not had any negative responses.
3/21/18, 11:00 AMNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Mail - Accessory Dwelling Unit at 1753 Columbine Avenue
Page 1 of 1https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=e051fbd7af&jsver=7NKBh…view=pt&msg=16246a5f988710eb&search=inbox&siml=16246a5f988710eb
Tim Fuller-Rowell - NOAA Affiliate <tim.fuller-rowell@noaa.gov>
Accessory Dwelling Unit at 1753 Columbine Avenue
Kent Taylor <kdtboulder@outlook.com>Tue, Mar 20, 2018 at 9:41 PM
To: "tim.fuller-rowell@noaa.gov" <tim.fuller-rowell@noaa.gov>
Cc: "rmtboulder@gmail.com" <rmtboulder@gmail.com>
Tim and Lynette,
We do not object to the accessory dwelling unit variance you propose. You are great neighbors and deserve to use
the property as you propose.
Kent and Robin Taylor
3/18/18, 11:16 AMNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Mail - the Fuller Rowell's ADU application
Page 1 of 1https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=e051fbd7af&jsver=7NKBhY…h=adv&as_query=from%3A(abcoriel%40aol.com)&siml=16231387cdc47656
Tim Fuller-Rowell - NOAA Affiliate <tim.fuller-rowell@noaa.gov>
the Fuller Rowell's ADU application
BONNIE ORIEL <abcoriel@aol.com>Fri, Mar 16, 2018 at 5:50 PM
To: tim.fuller-rowell@noaa.gov
Hi Tim and Lynette,
Andy and I have no objections to your using your extra space as an ADU. You have always been good neighbors and
therefore we look forward to the same
in the future.
Bonnie and Andy Oriel 1703 Columbine Ave.
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