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Boulder City Council's House Size Hypocrisy
City Council wants to put a stop to home redevelopment in Boulder. One option they are seeking is an ordinance to limit the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) to 3.5 from the current 8.0. At the meeting last night, one council member blithely suggested a moratorium on all building permits. From yesterday's study session it's clear they will attempt to pass an emergency measure this coming Tuesday (March 18th).
If City Council has its way, renovations and property values may be severely impacted. Homeowners with smaller properties, the entry point to Boulder's property market, in particular will be affected. Let's look at Martin Acres for example. The typical untouched, 1950's ranch home in this South Boulder neighborhood is about 1,200 finished SQFT with a market value of $350,000 to $380,000. Many first time buyers consider this neighborhood. In recent years, new owners have been doing wonderful additions to their property (see Martin Acres Poptop Map) to accommodate their needs for a larger home. Most of these homes have been well received by the community. The pattern is similar in many parts of Boulder.
The table below illustrates City Council's hypocrisy. Council Members live in homes that average 2,873 finished square feet with an assessed value of $733,900. That's more than twice the size of the typical ranch in Martin Acres. As everyone knows, assessed trails behind market value so the average market value of Council Member's homes is north of $800,000, twice the price. Council Member Macon Cowles' written statements say he wants an ordinance passed immediately. He lives in a home with a whopping 4,281 finished SQFT.
Clearly, City Council members live in nice large homes but want to stop you from having one. As Dallice suggested to me last night, maybe all the Council Members should try living together in a 1,200 SQFT ranch for a few days. Somehow, I think their perspective on limiting house sizes would change dramatically.
If this issue concerns you, I urge you to contact City Council and share your thoughts. You can contact all Council Members at once at this email address: Council@bouldercolorado.gov. Also, please consider attending this Tuesday's City Council meeting.
The table below show contact detail for individual Council Members (or Google Spreadsheet here)
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8 Comments:
I can understand your position as a realtor but really, if you haven't lived next to one of these gargantuan structures, you just can't really get the impact.
Imagine Donald Trump building a huge skyscraper next door to your house - it's somewhat like that.
People do have rights to dwarf a neighborhood but the effect created is a negative one.
Boulder is a joke. Pink poodles? Fascist city councils? $350,000 houses as "entry into the market"? Yikes...
I'm not qualified to say if what the Boulder City council is doing is good, bad or somewhere in the middle. But, I do know this, towns full of "McMansions" and "Million Dollar Dumps" really suck. The sad thing is, Boulder has been moving in that direction for years.
See a little conflict of interest here? We make it so there won't be any more big homes like ours. Reduced supply = increased price. Could this issue be the watershed that causes the sensible people in this town to take action?
BTW, the market value of some of those homes is probably much higher than the assessor's appraisal.
Before passing judgement i'd like to see their FARs.
This will spur outrage. Time to flush the toilet of these rule-crazed idiots on council.
This is private property and they already have a whole array of limits in their quiver. This is the last straw.
Where do i sign up to fight this?
I've been saving money for 15 years to restore my home in Boulder - and now these hypocrits want to sit in their roomy homes and slam the door on mine? No fricking way!
I think it is important to clarify that Councilor Espinoza lives in a condo (or townhome) and in these discussions the entire row of adjacent condos are included as being her residence.
City Council is potentially opening the door to a major class action suit. Is there a contingency fund to defend a suit against it's own citizens? Do they realize that they are skirting violation of basic Constitutional rights. / There are already plenty of restrictions imposed on building to curtail size abuse. If we really want to be democratic about this, let's put it on the next ballot, not in the hands of a Council with limited expertise, to be deciding such a potent proposition.
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