Planning Commission chimes in on NRCD code updates

At a public hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 20, the Boulder County Planning Commission gave its blessing to land use staff’s proposed code updates for the Niwot Rural Community District (NRCD) with two alterations. The first was the removal of a sentence reading “Where alley access is available, curb cuts should not be permitted.” Curb cuts are what the county is defining as access to off-street parking spots from 2nd Avenue. The second change was the addition of wording encouraging the exploration of offering incentives to “legacy” businesses with the hopes that more retail businesses will open in town.

Removing the single line that would have condoned use of the alley that neighboring residents on 3rd Avenue want to secure as off-limits to any newly developed property on the 2nd Avenue properties officially resulted in the most contentious topic being unresolved much to the frustration of all parties.

The planning commission’s recommendation will be presented to Boulder County Commissioners on March 12, a week shy of the expiration of the six-month moratorium placed on development in Niwot’s downtown. If the proposed regulations are approved by the county commissioners, more stringent rules limiting building size and scale, property setbacks, and allowable bulk and lot coverage will be imposed on future developments within the two-and-a-half block span of 2nd Avenue that comprises the downtown commercial zone.  

Land Use Department Director Dale Case made the staff’s recommendation before the seven-member planning commission, informing them that the goal of the updated language is to provide a buffer between residential and commercial areas, to reduce the “looming feeling” on the alley, and to “limit the number of non-conforming buildings” in existence.

He then outlined the potential changes, which were largely the same as those discussed at the community meeting at Niwot High on Jan. 24 and touch on density, mix of uses, parking and the public engagement and review process.

Among the most significant of the proposed updates are to the lot, building, and structures requirements, which Case characterized as a new way to address “bulk and massing.” In the district as a whole, staff proposes reducing the maximum building height to 30 feet, and 15 feet within 25 feet of the rear property line.

On the “non-historic” 2nd Avenue blocks west of Murray Street (1 and 2) and east of Franklin (5 and 6), staff proposes limiting lot coverage to 50 or 55 percent, and the floor area ratio or FAR (the percentage of above ground building footage to the lot size) to 0.6. This is up from the 0.55 limit proposed in the county’s first draft, but still a sizable restriction compared with the 1.25 FAR proposed by the property owners and the unlimited FAR for the historic blocks.

“It’s a very common tool around the country,” Case said of the new FAR and lot coverage limits, which are used sparingly in Boulder County because of a lack of uniformity in most zoning districts. “In this area, we have very common size parcel sizes, so it should work well.”

Case said that the new proposed regulations would make four existing properties non-compliant--198 2nd Ave., 137 2nd Ave., 210 Franklin Ave., and 240 2nd Ave.. Owners won’t be required to bring these properties into compliance, but it could trigger additional regulatory steps in the event of any future construction.

As for the alley between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, due to overlap with county transportation and other departments, its use and regulation of the falls mostly outside of the scope of the code update. However, in the Design Review section, Case and his staff recommend allowing access to the alley in order to reduce or eliminate curb-cuts on 2nd Avenue, which will in turn enhance aesthetics and pedestrian safety. They also suggest that encouraging alley use and rear parking will “encourage less structural development in the rear of lots”.

This is in conflict with the Alley Study, conducted nearly 25 years ago, which stated, “Where physically possible, Second Avenue or another primary road, should be used to access a property instead of an alley. The roads are better designed to handle traffic flow and are maintained by Boulder County.” Since that statement alley use has been limited to garbage pick-up and deliveries.

The hearing opened to public feedback after Case fielded some questions from panel members. About two dozen speakers gave comments, lasting close to 90 minutes. Of those speakers, the sentiment was two to one that the code updates being suggested were unreasonably restrictive and would hinder the business environment in Niwot.

Remarks spoke to the building restrictions as being “short-sighted,” unfair to the non-historic area because of contrasting limitations, and that it would cause development to be financially unfeasible. Business owners expressed that they felt their feedback was being ignored in favor of a small number of residents who were angered by the manner in which only one development – Southpaw Commons at 240 2nd Ave. - came about.

Chuck Klueber, Niwot resident and business owner said throughout Niwot there have been significant downturns in business, because of the uncertain business climate since the moratorium was enacted making businesses hesitant to invest in the town.

“Unfortunately, Land Use in an attempt to figure out what and how to fix what was not broken, has turned a once vibrant commercial area into a decline that may take years to recover,” Klueber said.

Third Avenue residents reiterated their wishes to maintain the precedent that the alley not be utilized by commercial or newly added residences on 2nd Avenue. A few expressed their support of the building size and scale limitations being suggested.

Third Avenue resident Frank Goodnight said, “Today 2nd Avenue is still better designed to handle traffic, yet there is a push to move the traffic over to the alley. The reality is that alley would become a defacto driveway for the new developments.”

During deliberations, members of the Planning Commission expressed their support of the intent to place limitations on building scale and mass to preserve the heritage of the downtown area. The pressure to make a decision at the meeting without belaboring the details was of high importance to the panel.

However, commission member Sam Fitch said, “Changing the alley seems to raise more and more problems than it solves so I wouldn’t go there. Maybe that’s something you might want to reconsider as you take this to the county commissioners.”  

The discomfort of making a decision about the alley in the planning commissions’ recommendation was echoed by other members.

Despite Case saying that “interplay between all of the pieces” of the proposal such as suggested setbacks and alley access work best when kept together, the planning commission decided to peel off the reference.

In the context of the commission wanting to support and bring in more retail businesses, the idea of incentivizing “legacy” businesses was introduced. The model was defined as giving benefits to enterprises that have been successful within the community for “an extended period of time.” It was decided to add a line in the commission’s recommendation to examine how other cities are executing on this concept.

Following the decision by the planning commission, Cotton Burden, owner of Burden Incorporated and the Niwot Emporium said, “The staff actually misrepresented much of what they were presenting to the commission because they showed it in pieces and not how the pieces go together. It’s so difficult to understand the mathematics of how big something can be built. The planning staff presented it as all these compromises. It wasn’t compromise. Everything they did was a further restriction on the development of lots downtown.”

On Tuesday, March 12, Boulder County Commissioners will hold a public hearing at 2 p.m.and make a decision regarding the proposed code. The community is encouraged to learn more and participate by visiting: www.bouldercounty.org/property-and-land/land-use/planning/land-use-code-update/dc-18-0004/. Public opinion may be submitted online a thttps://bouldercounty.wufoo.com/forms/x1kqeo1e0qxw2k5/.