Opinion: Putting more balance into city processes
On April 26, the Boulder Planning Board finished its
three-day review of the proposed annexation and development of the
Hogan-Pancost property, located adjacent to the East Boulder Community Center.
The city staff did not identify significant downsides in their memo, thereby
effectively endorsing the project, but the planning board still turned down the
annexation request 7-0. This unanimous vote raises fundamental questions about
the suitability of the site for development in general, as well as about the
proposed development plans in particular.
City staff and the planning board members are smart,
capable people. So how did they come down 180 degrees apart? Or, to generalize,
when should city staff be advocates and when is their role to just provide
information?
The planning board had concerns about flooding, ground
water, wetlands, riparian areas and neighborhood impact. All these issues are
covered by policies in the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan, with which
annexations must be consistent. For example, BVCP Policy 8.03 says in part,
“The city and county will consider the impacts of … planning efforts … and
ensure impacts and costs of sustainable decision making do not unfairly burden
any one geographic … group in the city.” But the flood and groundwater issues
on this site would disproportionately impact the neighbors.
Policy 3.22 says, “Undeveloped high hazard flood areas
will be retained in their natural state whenever possible.” Policy 3.06 further
states, “The city will strive for no net loss of wetlands and riparian areas by
discouraging their destruction.” Policy 3.23 attempts to protect critical
facilities (such as the congregate care proposed for the site) from flood
hazard. These policies were violated, at least in many board members’ views.
Boulder has been focusing on energy policy,
and the planning board pointed out that the street layout and building
orientation was inconsistent with the use of passive solar, and contradicts
Policy 4.03, which says in part, “…The city will support private decisions to use renewable
energy, develop local renewable energy resources and preserve options for
developing renewable energy in the future.”
City staff proposed to zone the property RL-2, which
meets the requirement to be consistent with the property’s Boulder Valley
Comprehensive Plan low-density land use designation. But the staff memo states
on page 15, “While congregate care uses are not allowed in RL-2 zoning
districts, this use could be authorized on the site through the annexation
ordinance and annexation agreement” Aside from the obvious conflict with the
Comprehensive Plan designation, “spot zoning” , i.e. changing the zoning for a
particular parcel to allow development that would not otherwise be allowed, is
forbidden because it denies equal treatment, creates an opportunity for graft
and corruption, and voids the very protection that zoning is supposed to
create.
I think the fundamental problem is that sometimes city
staff feels the need to recommend a position, rather than presenting “the good,
the bad and the ugly” and letting the chips fall where they may. Or staff tries
to intuit the council or board’s likely position, and then give them what they
think supports that position. The council and citizen boards sometimes
encourage this by asking for the staff recommendation. For smaller projects,
this might be OK, but where there is significant controversy, it’s critical to
separate decision-making from implementation. While decision-making is still in
process, staff presentations should fully reflect the uncertainties and
conflicts in the data and analyses, as has been done very well in the
municipalization discussions.
Similar problems could emerge with the 2014
Pro Cycling Challenge. In 2012, some staff analyses were done defensively,
months after the de facto decision was made to finish the race on the Flagstaff
summit. This time the staff is wisely starting the discussion well ahead of the
decision regarding hosting the race.
The council now needs to ensure a balanced
presentation of the legal, logistical, financial and life-safety issues. For
example, there are strong arguments that Summit Drive on Flagstaff is part of
Open Space, that such races are not allowed on Open Space, and that there are
significant risks with putting 10,000 people up there in the fire and
thunderstorm season. By opening the discussion up now, an intelligent and civil
debate can happen while there is still plenty of time to resolve any issues.
Taking this approach on all contentious issues would serve our community much
better than starting with a fait accompli.