HomeMy WebLinkAbout11.19.24 PB Item 5A - Area III-PR Step 2 PB PH Continuation_241114CITY OF BOULDER
PLANNING BOARD AGENDA ITEM
CONTINUED HEARING
MEETING DATE: November 19, 2024
AGENDA TITLE
Planning Board continued public hearing to consider:
(1)A motion to find that there is interest in considering a Service Area expansion
into the Area III-Planning Reserve as part of the 2025 major update to the
Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan.
Following the joint public hearing with City Council on November 14, 2024, the
Planning Board moved to continue the hearing to November 19, 2024. On November
19 and 21, the two bodies, respectively, will deliberate and consider a motion
regarding its interest in considering a Service Area expansion into the Area III-
Planning Reserve as part of the 2025 major update to the BVCP. No additional
testimony will be taken on this subject at the continued hearings .
Item 5A - Continued Public Hearing:
Area III – PR Service Area Expansion Community Needs Study
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PRESENTER(S)
Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde, City Manager
Chris Meschuk, Deputy City Manager
Mark Woulf, Assistant City Manager
Brad Mueller, Planning & Development Services (P&DS) Director
Kristofer Johnson, Comprehensive Planning Senior Manager, P&DS
Sarah Horn, Senior City Planner, P&DS
Chris Douville, Deputy Director of Operations, Utilities
Chris Douglass, Utilities Engineering Senior Manager, Utilities
Kim Hutton, Water Resources Senior Manager, Utilities
Valerie Watson, Interim Director, Transportation & Mobility
Gerrit Slatter, Civil Engineering Senior Manager, Transportation & Mobility
Ali Rhodes, Director, Parks & Recreation
Mark Davison, Planning Senior Manager, Parks & Recreation
Joel Wagner, Deputy Director, Finance
James Macdonald, Tax Manager, Finance
Teresa Tate, City Attorney
Laurel Witt, Assistant City Attorney II, City Attorney’s Office
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan (BVCP) establishes a clear process for
consideration of a Service Area expansion into the Area III-Planning Reserve:
“The city may consider a service area expansion into the Area III -Planning Reserve
following acceptance of the baseline urban services study. Service Area expansion
may occur at a mid-term or major update to the BVCP. At the beginning of each
BVCP update, the Planning Board and City Council will hold a public hearing to
determine if there is interest in considering a Service Area expansion as part of that
update. If the city is interested in considering a Service Area expansion, a planning
effort to solicit and identify priority community needs will begin.”
The Urban Services Study (USS) was considered for acceptance on November 7, 2024. If
accepted, Step 1 of the Service Area expansion process will be complete. Per the
procedures outlined in the BVCP, after acceptance of a USS and at the beginning of a
BVCP update, Planning Board and City Council must hold a public hearing to determine
whether a Service Area expansion should be considered during the BVCP update.
If Planning Board and City Council are interested in exploring Service Area expansion
further, a community needs study (Step 2) will be incorporated into the BVCP Major
Update project. Both bodies need to find there is an interest in considering a Service Area
expansion as part of the 2025 BVCP update for the process to continue. If one or both
Item 5A - Continued Public Hearing:
Area III – PR Service Area Expansion Community Needs Study
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bodies do not approve such interest, the process will stop, and Service Area expansion
cannot be considered until the next mid-term or major BVCP update.
If both bodies approve considering a Service Area expansion, a planning effort to conduct
a community needs study is authorized (Step 2). The process for the community needs
study within the BVCP Major Update is outlined below. The process would culminate
with public hearings with City Council and Planning Board at the end of the community
needs study to determine if the needs are of sufficient priority to warrant preparation of a
Service Area Expansion Plan (Step 3).
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
BACKGROUND
The Area III-Planning Reserve (Planning Reserve) is approximately 500 acres in size and
was identified through the 1993 Area III Planning Project as the portion of Area III where
the city maintains the option of expansion for future urban development in response to
priority community needs that cannot be met within the existing Service Area (Areas I
and II). Nearly 200 acres of the 500 acres was acquired by the city and is designated for
parks and related uses. Most of the remaining acreage is held in private ownership.
A three-step process for Service Area expansion (i.e., changing of the Area III-Planning
Reserve designation to Area II which allows for annexation) was set in place in 1995 and
is defined in the BVCP to ensure a methodical approach to potential expansion of the city
into the Planning Reserve. In 2015, the process was revised to incorporate the Urban
Services Study as the first step in the expansion process. Per the BVCP, “the purpose of
the study is to learn more about the feasibility and requirements to provide urban services
to the area, and to understand potential phasing and logical areas of planning and
potential expansion.”
Prioritized by the 2022 City Council, staff prepared an Urban Services Study (USS) over
the last year (Step 1). The USS provided an objective technical analysis of the feasibility,
phasing, and potential costs of extending urban services into the Area III-Planning
Suggested Motion Language:
Staff requests planning board consideration of this matter and action in the form of the
following motion:
A motion to find that there is interest in considering a Service Area expansion
into the Area III-Planning Reserve as part of the 2025 major update to the
Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan.
Item 5A - Continued Public Hearing:
Area III – PR Service Area Expansion Community Needs Study
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Reserve and was considered for acceptance (“was accepted”) by City Council on
November 7, 2024.
With the acceptance of the USS, Planning Board and City Council are now required to
hold a public hearing to determine whether the Service Area Expansion process should be
considered during the BVCP update. On November 14, 2024, the City Council and
Planning Board held a joint public hearing. Both bodies moved to continue to the public
hearing on November 19 and 21, respectively.
If there is such interest from both bodies, a planning effort to solicit and identify priority
community needs (Step 2 of the Service Area expansion process) will be incorporated
into the BVCP Major Update process. If both bodies do not authorize a community needs
study, Service Area expansion cannot be considered until the next BVCP update.
ANALYSIS
If Planning Board and City Council both approve considering a Service Area expansion
as part of the 2025 BVCP update, staff will move forward with Step 2 of the Service Area
expansion process and a community needs study will be incorporated into the BVCP
Major Update project. As defined in the current BVCP, the community needs study is
intended to:
• Help identify and prioritize community needs.
• Assess underutilized capacity in existing service infrastructure or regulations
(e.g., zoning) within the existing city Service Area in relation to identified needs.
• Determine if these needs can reasonably be met within the current Service Area
boundary, which could include policy adjustments or enhanced infrastructure, or
if there is sufficient community need to warrant a Service Area expansion.
• Determine if expansion will address long-term BVCP values and will benefit
existing residents in the Boulder Valley as well as future generations.
City staff will be assessing a variety of needs across the entire community as part of the
update process. Those needs will be evaluated within the context of existing policies and
infrastructure capacity of the current Service Area, and the potential opportunities and
constraints offered by the Area III-Planning Reserve. Multiple solutions may be possible
to address these community needs and expansion into the Planning Reserve will be
considered alongside alternative options as part of the overall BVCP upd ate.
A preliminary approach to continue exploring a Service Area expansion through the
BVCP update is outlined below. The preliminary approach is designed to fully
incorporate community engagement and policy considerations related to Area III-
Planning Reserve into the BVCP update process to ensure a comprehensive review and
analysis of community needs and potential solutions.
Item 5A - Continued Public Hearing:
Area III – PR Service Area Expansion Community Needs Study
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Jan – Mar
2025
Community engagement related to Community Needs (aligned with
BVCP Update Phase 2)
• Use Existing Conditions data to identify preliminary unmet
needs
• Engage community through Vision, Values, and Focus Areas
activities to discuss preliminary needs identified by staff, add
new needs brought forward by community members, and
prioritize most critical needs
Apr – May
2025
Preliminary Analysis of Needs (aligned with early BVCP Update
Phase 3)
• Determine if priority community needs could reasonably be
addressed within the current Service Area through policy
adjustments or enhanced infrastructure
• If needs could be addressed through the Planning Reserve,
include Service Area expansion in Draft Policy Framework to
be further explored through detailed analysis in BVCP Update
Phase 3.
Jun – Oct
2025
Analysis of Service Area Expansion (aligned with late BVCP Update
Phase 3)
• Analyze Service Area expansion as a possible solution to
priority community needs alongside alternative or additional
options that maintain the existing Service Area
• Engage with the community to explore various policies/tools to
meet community needs, including Service Area expansion, and
weigh possible tradeoffs of each alternative
Nov 2025 -
Feb 2026
Determination on Step 3 Service Area Expansion Plan (aligned with
early BVCP Update Phase 4)
• If Service Area expansion appears to be a viable alternative
based on community feedback, prepare analysis of Service
Area expansion per the criteria outlined in the BVCP (see
below)
• Refer unmet priority community needs to Boulder County
• Host public hearings with Planning Board and City Council to
determine if the unmet needs are of sufficient priority to
warrant a Service Area Expansion Plan (likely Dec 2025 or Jan
2026)
• If needs are of sufficient priority, develop policies to be
incorporated into the draft of the BVCP update.
• Service Area Expansion Plan process (Step 3) would occur
after completion and adoption of the BVCP update.
Item 5A - Continued Public Hearing:
Area III – PR Service Area Expansion Community Needs Study
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At the end of the Community Needs Assessment, public hearings with City Council and
Planning Board will be held to determine if the needs are of sufficient priority to warrant
preparation of a Service Area Expansion Plan. Prior to the public hearings, the identified
needs will be referred to the county. Per the BVCP, to determine if there is sufficient
need to expand, the city will consider the following factors:
a. Community Value: Expansion will address a long-term community value as
articulated in the Comprehensive Plan.
b. Capacity: Expansion is needed because there is not suitable existing or potential
land/service capacity within the existing Service Area.
c. Benefit: Expansion will benefit the existing residents in the Boulder Valley and
will have a lasting benefit for future generations.
NEXT STEPS
If both bodies find there is an interest in considering a Service Area expansion as part of
the BVCP update, a planning effort to conduct a community needs study (Step 2) is
authorized and will be incorporated into the update process. If it is determined that there
is sufficient community need to warrant a Service Area expansion at the completion of
Step 2, the final step (Step 3) of the process is to develop a Service Area Expansion Plan
for a portion or all of the Area III-Planning Reserve.
The preparation of this plan would occur at some time after completion of the BVCP
update (after 2026). A Service Area Expansion Plan is considered for approval through
public hearings by four bodies including the City of Boulder Planning Board and City
Council, along with Boulder County Planning Commission and Board of County
Commissioners. If approved, portion(s) or all of the Area III-Planning Reserve could then
be reclassified from Area III-Planning Reserve to Area II during the next mid-term or
major update to the BVCP, and properties within Area II will become eligible for
annexation.
Item 5A - Continued Public Hearing:
Area III – PR Service Area Expansion Community Needs Study
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