Alpine-Balsam Implementation

During construction, the Alpine-Balsam flood channel will have an opening of the box culvert (a concrete structure that allows water to flow under the street) under 9th St. that discharges into the open channel in the Alpine-Balsam site. This feature is a first step in resolving the flooding issues occurring in the park during heavy rain events.

Long term, North Boulder Park’s storm infrastructure will undergo some upgrades to increase capacity. See the North Boulder Park Renovation Project webpage for more information.

Park users can expect to have access to most of the park during the construction of the Alpine-Balsam flood channel.

The City of Boulder Parks & Recreation Department is renovating the northern end of the park. More information on the North Boulder Park Renovation Project is available online.

The City of Boulder and contractor, Mile High Flood District will jointly be responsible for maintaining the new flood channel on the Alpine-Balsam site.

Tree impacts are an unfortunate reality of all flood mitigation projects. However, the city is working diligently to minimize tree removal as much as possible while ensuring the project meets its design flow and safety requirements. In the project design, the city’s plan is to replace the trees removed and add more tree canopy to the area.

The city will be keeping all the existing mature trees in North Boulder Park.

There will be a total of 434 parking spaces available to the Alpine-Balsam site to be used by affordable and senior housing residents, city employees and visitors to the site.

Parking for the multi-family market rate units, city staff and visitors will all be shared with the remaining spots. The townhouses will be self-parked.

The city has worked with independent consultants to conduct a supply and demand analysis of multi-family residential sites to determine the parking need at Alpine-Balsam. In 2024, the study determined that 0.95 spaces are needed per dwelling unit.

The city is allocating one parking spot per dwelling until.

The site design includes several pedestrian crossing improvements to increase safety, including an improved crossing treatment across Alpine Ave. and changes in signal timing to include pedestrian head starts. Intersection changes will change turning radii to slow the movement of turning vehicles on to Balsam Ave. from 9th St. and shorten pedestrian crossing lengths.

The site design also includes new bicycle facilities along Balsam Ave. and a multi-use path along the greenway on the north side of the site. The addition of buffered bike lanes along Balsam Ave. will improve safety and the reduction of travel lane widths to 10 feet will reduce vehicle speeds. Based on community input, city staff are also evaluating additional safety improvements for pedestrians seeking access to North Boulder Park and commercial properties across Broadway Ave. City staff are also working to evaluate ways to reduce vehicle speeds and disincentivize the use of Alpine Ave. and Balsam Ave. as cut through streets.

Overall, the new uses of the Alpine-Balsam site will generate less daily vehicle trips than the former use as a fully functioning hospital. The city is also proposing a wide variety of transportation demand management (TDM) strategies and policies to reduce single-occupant vehicle trips by community members and city employees who will be working on the site.

The Western City Campus pavilion building can accommodate up to 450 staff.

Alpine-Balsam refers to the development of the entire 8.8 acre site between Alpine Ave., Broadway, Balsam Ave. and 9th St. The site includes flood mitigation, street and other landscaping improvements, a variety of housing types, a parking garage and the Western City Campus.

The Western City Campus is the parking structure and two buildings: the Pavilion and the Brenton Building. This site is a centralized customer service hub and city office space. See the interactive site map above.

The northwest corner parcel (A) will have 22 for-sale, market-rate townhomes in four buildings. The middle two parcels (B&D) will be developed by Boulder Housing Partners as permanently affordable rentals serving older adults and families. The affordable rentals will be in four buildings with 144 new homes in total. The fourth parcel (C) is on the northeast corner of the site and will either be rental or ownership depending on future market conditions and may include some permanently affordable homeownership opportunities. That parcel will have one building with 51 homes for a sitewide total of 217 new homes.