After years of community discussion, City Council gave final approval to the East Boulder Subcommunity Plan on Oct. 6, 2022. The plan guides the evolution of East Boulder over the next two decades into a local business hub with a variety of housing options and an artful community that is well connected to the surrounding city and the region. Code updates to facilitate future redevelpoment are a first step in implementing the East Bolder Subcommunity Plan recommendations.
City staff are hosting two Office Hour sessions to review the draft Form Based Code (FBC) update, answer questions and gather additional input from the community. These are open all community members in-person or virtually.
A list of comments received in the last few months and staff analysis of each has been prepared to facilitate the discussion. Staff encourage interested community members to attend both sessions to learn about the staff recommendations at the first meeting, and weigh in on any additional responses/modifications at the second meeting.
Please submit additional feedback by Friday, Jan. 31. If you are interested in submitting comments for City Council consideration, please send them to Sarah Horn, Kathleen King or Kristofer Johnson.
The city has completed a final draft Form Based Code update and minor amendments to the East Boulder Subcommunity Plan. These were presented at public hearings with Planning Board on Oct. 15, 2024, and City Council on Dec. 5, 2024. City Council deferred a decision on the code update and Subcommunity Plan amendments to allow staff to gather additional community input, and continued the public hearing to their meeting on Feb. 20, 2025.
The City of Boulder is building off extensive community input from the East Boulder Subcommunity Plan, adopted in 2022. We’ve worked together with the community on envisioning the future of East Boulder and are now making the vision happen!
This next phase of the process will result in updates to the city’s Form Based Code, which will be applied to areas of change identified in the Subcommunity Plan. This will:
The purpose of the FBC in Boulder is to establish building form and design standards for development within areas designated by the “Form Based Code Areas” map, with the goal of achieving the type of place described by the community’s vision.
The FBC will ensure that East Boulder’s buildings and public spaces (streets, sidewalks, parking, plazas, gathering places) are designed to create high-quality, enduring places that are interconnected, accessible and appropriately scaled.
The place types defined in the East Boulder Subcommunity Plan were used to inform these code updates, including:
Multiple steps were taken to respect and carry forward the area's industrial identity.
The subcommunity plan envisions a variety of different gathering spaces interspersed within a creative mix of building types and materials.
Several other elements of the FBC have been updated to respond to issues identified by architects and staff to improve readability, set clear expectations and make the code easier to use by designers, staff and community members.
No, the city is not rezoning any parcels in the East Boulder subcommunity. If a property owner is interested in changing or expanding the allowed uses on their property, they may submit a Rezoning Review application
Yes, the city is not rezoning any parcels in the East Boulder subcommunity.
No, there is no requirement to change anything on your property as a result of the code update.
If your property is identified as a FBC area in the Appendix L map of the Boulder Revised Code, then FBC applies. The update proposes to add most of the “Areas of Change” identified in the East Boulder Subcommunity Plan (pg. 22) to the Appendix L map. If City Council approves this update, the FBC will apply to those properties following the adoption of an ordinance.
A FBC review process may be applicable to major additions to existing buildings (more than 60 percent), new façades within the frontage setback, major replacements of existing facades within the frontage setback (more than 60 percent ), and full redevelopment proposals. Renovations of an existing building that do not exceed these thresholds will not be subject to FBC. Properties with an existing Planned Unit Development (PUD) or Site Review approval are also not subject to FBC, but may choose to ‘opt-in’ to a FBC review.
If you have a previously approved Site Review or a Planned Unit Development (PUD), your approved application is still in effect and FBC does not apply. Changes to these properties will be reviewed through the Site Review Amendment process. You may still choose to ‘opt-in’ and redevelop your property under the FBC Review process by rescinding the previous approval.
No. Most of the East Boulder Subcommunity Plan area is outside the FBC and only under specific circumstances are residential uses necessary where the East Boulder FBC applies. Properties without existing PUD or Site Review approvals in the future 55th & Arapahoe Station Area or directly adjacent to Valmont City Park can still expand existing structures up to an additional 60% of existing floor area and can build new projects up to 35,000 square feet without residential uses. New redevelopment projects or major expansions to existing structures (greater than 60%) in these locations that are greater than 35,000 square feet in total gross floor area must include at least 50% residential use in alignment with the goals of the East Boulder Subcommunity Plan, unless they have an existing PUD or Site Review approval.
The Form Based Code updates include:
