Comprehensive Planning

Overview of Program & Intended Outcomes:

Comprehensive Planning leads planning and policy development projects and programs. This includes long range planning, historic preservation, urban design, and ecological planning. The division develops and implements the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan, prepares subcommunity and area plans and other special planning efforts, manages the historic preservation program, acts as an urban design resource for the city, and coordinates both the urban wildlife management program and integrated pest management program. The work of the Comprehensive Planning program is routinely ongoing. Council work program priorities can take multiple years to complete and can take years to implement. For example, completion of the East Boulder Subcommunity plan has taken three years to receive adoption and will take another 18-24 months to fully implement (land use plan changes, Form Based Code, infrastructure planning).

Comprehensive Planning includes the following 3 work groups:

• Comprehensive Planning (Long-Range Planning)/ C-Team

• Historic Preservation/ P-Team

• Environmental Planning / E-Team

For 2023, the P&DS Department requested additional FTEs for a City Senior Planner, Code Compliance Project Manager, and City Planner. Based on the number and complexity of 2022 council priority projects, future additive work program items from council, expectations around public engagement, and quality of overall work, additional capacity is needed to manage key projects and the day-to-day operations of C Team, including development of the annual CIP, coordination of department master plans, managing community data and census reporting, and additional support at the Boulder Office of Disaster Management. Staff resources to support Comprehensive Planning have been reduced significantly in the past four years. This is a result of changes in funding, staff turnover and layoffs in response to the 2020 budget cuts due to COVID. In addition, general fund dollars that were used for consulting services were reduced because of COVID related budget cuts. The intended outcome is to be able to deliver council’s work program priority items by adding capacity that would allow the team to manage multiple complex projects simultaneously.

2023 Activities:

• Comprehensive Planning Staff. The Senior Planner partially supports the goal of additional capacity to implement specific projects noted below and additional future priority projects as identified by City Council and in the implementation of the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan (BVCP). A ramp-up of staff expertise, local-area experience, and capacity is necessary over the next few years in anticipation of an update to the BVCP.
• Council Priority Projects. Implementation of the East Boulder Subcommunity Plan will begin, and two designated future Council priority projects will be initiated, consisting of Phase 2 of Boulder Junction and a baseline urban services study of the Area III Planning Reserve.
• New Landmarks Activities. These include an update to the demolition code and consideration of a historic district for the Civic Center area.
• Select Urban Wildlife Projects. These projects include an analysis of recent bear activity data and potential expansion of the bear-resistant trash boundary.
• City-wide Coordination. Activity will continue with charter-mandated coordination of the annual Capital Improvements Plan and inter-departmental master plan process, Emergency Service Functions as part of the multi-jurisdictional Emergency Operations Center, and on-going daily business services related to processing permits, demolition reviews, Landmark Alteration Certificates, and historic designation requests.