City Council FARs and a Little Clarity

First a little clarity about my last post.

The point I'm trying to make is that it's very easy for Council Members living in large houses to set limits on others in the community from expanding their own property. Most members of City Council will not be negatively effected by a decision to drop the FAR ratio to 0.35 because, for the most part, they already own large homes. If Council chooses to limit the FAR ratio at this Tuesday's meeting, they will effectively reduce the supply of new larger homes in Boulder. This will likely bolster the market value of larger homes, including their own, while diminishing the value of homes which previously had potential for expansion.

Perhaps the use of the word "hypocrisy" in my last post was a little too strong. It may not be hypocritical in a technical sense but it's clearly self serving economically. Most members of City Council have a conflict of interest in preventing others from building large homes such as their own.

My position: If the goal is to reduce redevelopment of certain disproportionately large properties, we need a more thoughtful, balanced process than City Council's emergency measure to reduce the FAR ratio. I'm not against reviewing setbacks, solar shadows, and zoning ordinances. I'm against the use of a blunt, economically disruptive instrument like hacking the FAR ratio.

Many people have their nest eggs tied in real estate. Many purchase their property with an intention to expand as their needs change. As young families have children or seniors age, the need for more flexible housing increases. It's also been a long cherished right of Americans to modify their property to suit their needs, within reasonable limits. Most of us buy our homes with a sense of what changes we may make down the road. City Council will effectively rob those families of that opportunity if they institute a radically reduced FAR ratio. They will also cause a disruption to the housing market, potentially triggering a decline in value for homes that once had potential for expansion but are now over the FAR limit.

Current zoning does an adequate job in the vast majority of redevelopment projects in Boulder. Let's tweak the existing system, if we must, only after careful consideration and a process that involves the tax payers. City Council seems to be having a knee jerk reaction to a problem that has arisen from only a few redevelopments.

Many people have asked me to calculate City Council's FAR ratio. They've also asked me to include Mayor Shaun McGrath and Deputy Mayor Crystal Gray's homes. OK. You asked for it, you got it. The first question is what goes into the calculation. It's my understanding that City Council is still debating the definition of FAR but at the meeting on Thursday, it was discussed that if a house's basement was partially above grade then the basement would count in the square footage. I prepared the analysis below on that basis.


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