Thread by @shayshinecastle

Last item: Check-in on the East Boulder Subcommunity Plan. And a truly lovely staff presentation: www-static.bouldercolorado.gov/docs/Item_6A_-…

Subcommunity plans are kinda hard to tweet, since it's all conceptual. But I'll do my best.

This is my 'hood, full disclosure. But I obviously didn't participate in any of this stuff. Journalists never get to do things like that.

A bit about East Boulder: 1600 acres
East of Foothills, north of Arapahoe
It's mostly industrial (58%) and is home to 1,700 jobs (I honestly thought it was more, but there you go)

The goals we're trying to meet with this plan: small local business, arts and culture, design quality and placemaking, housing affordability and diversity, resilience and climate commitment, access and mobilit

Mobility*

As Kathleen King says: It's about how we can meet these goals, how much change we can introduce, without impacting over city values.

BVCP envisions the area with still over half industrial space.

Actually, this is NOT my hood. I forgot its east of Foothills and I'm just west. Like, highway is literally the boundary of my neighborhood.

Two highways, a train track and an airport. Primo living, people!

Honestly, it's lovely. Earplugs are all you need, or, like, a fan.

Anyway, back to the plan. What will be in it:
Land use plan
Connections plan (transportation)
Policies, projects and programs recommendations matrix (residents making suggestions since 2019; will be weighed against BVCP and master plan goals)

Working group will come up with three “alternative futures”
To be shared winter 2020/2021 (next public engagement window)

Alternative 1
Focuses on and use changes around three key intersections
55th/Valmont
55th/Arapahoe
47th/Valmont

Expands uses to create 15-min neighborhoods

Adds in mixed-use industrial, mixed-use transit oriented development (around a mobility hub at 55th/Arapahoe) and some residential.

It is the least change from what's outlined in the current comp plan.

Alright, Alternative 2
Adds housing along 55th and Arapahoe corridors
Accounts for mobility hub at 55th/Arapahoe, future Bus Rapid Transit connecting downtown Boulder to I-25 along Arapahoe

Includes alternative use for Valmont Power Plant

Packet didn't say what that was, but maybe they will in the meeting tonight.

King is using it as her Zoom background so...

Increases the amount of community industrial in the area as well

Alternative 3 represents the most changes
Puts housing and mixed-use development along recreation, open space and greenway corridors
Includes some high-density housing.

Next steps will be to compare how each scenario (and current conditions) affect:
Land use
Population
# of housing units
# of jobs
Energy use
CO2 emissions
Transportation trips
Walk access
Parking
Water use
Solid waste

And of course, the comp plan goals both in this area and citywide

This slide shows how much of each use these various plans provide for

King: "What we know is the city has some really ambitious goals for the future and that not all goals can be accomplished simultaneously in the same place."

"We're really not asking people to select a favorite or say what they do or don't like about each concept," King says. We're asking them to make decisions about how land use planning should be used to accomplish city goals. And asking them about tradeoffs.

King: Our working group really shifted how staff works on this. We were hyper focused on city goals, but working group members said, 'My neighbor doesn't care about reaching 15% affordable housing. They care whether this change impacts their commute ...

... or brings a grocery store to the neighborhood.'

Council not really weighing in on the plan itself; more the process tonight.

Swetlik: Aren't most of the buildings along 55th office? Is that light industrial zoning?
King: They are in light industrial land use category today. What we've seen is a lot of light industrial converting to office over time.

Swetlik: Vacancy rates of those buildings might help me make decisions.

Weaver: There are a lot of office buildings, but also a lot of flex space.

He used to work out there. As did I.

"Most of the buildings are either dual use or entirely warehouse," Weaver says. "It's well worth taking a tour out there."

Brockett: What about the idea of combining concepts from various scenarios? What if you hear that feedback?
King: We're crafting how we're going to ask those questions

Be Heard Boulder survey launching in December, FYI

Young: How would you make 47th and Valmont more walkable? That's just a huge intersection.

It's... not. I walk and bike it frequently.

King: There are places that would be great to walk to, but there's no facilities. So we'd look at more connections, putting in a new network (of sidewalks, paths, bike lanes, etc.)

And land use changes "could create more or new destinations."

Young: What are we thinking about annexing San Lazaro mobile home community?

King: We have heard a lot of great input from residents there. There is an interest from those residents to be part of the city. I could foresee an annexation recommendation. But they haven't talked to the property owner yet.

Weaver with some feedback. Concept 2 has mixed use land use proposed for the area around 63rd, which is the recycling facility. It can be noisy and smelly. What are you envisioning there?

King: The thought was to build more opportunities for commercial and retail. We hear a lot in this area about people needing places to go to lunch, etc. It's close to a high school, to a Naropa campus. We were thinking retail, not residential.

Weaver: "That seems unlikely to me."

Weaver: A bigger concern is Valmont (former power plant). It's full of ... bad stuff. "It would be a long time before I would be interested in doing anything park-like there."

King: "I think the direction from the working group is that they want to be ambitious with the vision for this area."

King: Two operating gas combustion turbines at the site. One of those is expected to operate until 2038, "so this vision would be very long term."

Site is owned and operated by Xcel.

CU grad students may look at the feasibility of converting that site in the long-term.

Weaver: As long as we have it 20 years in the future. There are huge environmental issues there.

Weaver: In concept 3, how were you envisioning incorporating more housing? Preserving service industrial? Wiping it out?
King: "The thought was these neighborhoods would evolve over time."

King: "We imagine integration of residential over time that would eventually turn into this mixed-use, predominantly residential neighborhood."

Weaver calls 3 "the most extreme example" of how we would be displacing industrial spaces. Where is it going to go?

"Those do look like interesting areas for mixed use, if they're really mixed use. ... Sometimes you get a monoculture."

OK, we get it Sam, you know this area super well.

Brockett: I think our next step is to let these concepts out into the wild and see what people think.

Council in support of this plan and process.

That wraps this one. @threadreaderapp please unroll. Thanks!