Thread by @shayshinecastle

Moving on: Potential call-up of the partial redevelopment of Diagonal Plaza into housing — including affordable rentals from BHP, which has an adjacent community.

Slides: www-static.bouldercolorado.gov/docs/Item_4A_-…

Hard to tell from the slides, but most of the building will be on surface parking. Only the vacant Sports Authority and the Walgreen's will be redeveloped in the actual Diagonal Plaza. (Walgreen's moving staff and Rx to their location like 3 blocks away)

It would also put two streets through the site, with sidewalks, trees, etc.

Unusual proposal in that developers have proposed two "options" — one with a fourth story and one without. The fourth story obviously allows for more housing (and affordable housing)

195 vs. 177 market-rate and 64 vs. 58 affordable

They would need a rezoning for what they're proposing, bc so much open space is required per unit. 2/3 of the site would have to be open space under current zoning, staff says.

Rezoning is quite atypical in the city, Planner Elaine McLaughlin says, without a look at underlying land use. This may not need 1 of our 6 criteria for rezoning.

So a simultaneous land use change and rezoning might be needed, McLaughlin says, which adds to the process.

Council redid zoning rules for shopping centers like this one, but they neglected to change open space requirements, severely limiting the amount of housing that can go there (which was a big point of the redo). boulderbeat.news/2019/01/16/bou…

Yates: I'd like to call this up. This is prob one of the most consequential land use decisions this council will be part of.

"I'm so delighted that someone has come forward with a proposal that does something different," Yates says. We have "acres" of parking there; the buildings are mostly empty and have been for a decade (or more).

This is just a concept plan, FYI, so a "visioning" of what will go there. No formal vote if/when council calls it up — just feedback.

Young: "We don't have an area plan" here, so "this site would be a catalyst and will sketch out what an area plan might have been like."

Wallach: "I would prefer to have an area plan, but I am loath to let this opportunity pass."

Weaver (joking): "I will miss the acres of undulating, cracked asphalt if something does go in here."

Weaver: It would be fantastic if other property owners on this site (there are, like, 17) would look at this and consider what they would like to do to follow this progress.

Unanimous decision to call this up. I have more to tweet but we're moving on!

I might have a few min: Boulder has tried to do something with Diagonal Plaza for a decade-plus. They considered designating it as blight (it met all the criteria from what I can see) but didn't ultimately do that.

Much study was done, and basically bc there are so many property owners, it would have to be an eminent domain situation. But the study also found that, under current zoning, some city subsidy or fancy tax action might be needed to spur development.

The city wasn't interested in that. It was a 5-4 vote. Basically, a lot of buildup all for nothing.

That's all I have time for! But I will be writing something soon-ish.

@threadreaderapp please unroll. Thank you!