FAR Timeline
March 2008 — City Council proposes a .35 FAR as an interim ordinance.
April 9 2008 — After intense public outcry, City Council is forced to withdraw the proposed interim ordinance.
May 2008 — City Council publicly flagellates themselves for poor handling of several issues, including the proposed FAR ordinance
June 2008 — City Council hires an “outside consultant” firm, the local firm of Winter and Co., to study the FAR issue for a budget of $100,000 (the actual amount paid will likely well exceed that).
October 2008 — Winter and Company designs and the City mails a survey to all single-family homes in the zoning districts under study. Curiously, all of the homes depicted in the survey have either a detached or no garage. 62% of the potentially affected homes have attached garages.
September 2008 — “Neighborhood” group meetings at three locations Downtown, N. Boulder and E. Boulder Rec Center. None take in place in South Boulder.
October 2008 — Focus group meetings. Members invited by the consultants and the city include Leonard May, a prominent FAR proponent who also served on the city’s committee that selected which consultants were to be hired.
December 22 2008 — First draft of the consultant proposal received. Key points of the recommended strategy include a .42 FAR, a 25% building coverage standard, exemptions for detached garages/accessory structures and wall articulation standards. Buried in the report is a recommendation to apply standards citywide and not simply to the affected neighborhoods. Only three diagrams out of some seventy-odd diagrams in the report illustrate a home with an attached garage.
January 8 2008 — Second draft of consultant proposal received, containing mostly minor revisions.
January 2008 — Focus group meetings held to review the consultants’ proposal.
January 2008 — “Neighborhood” group meetings to review the consultants’ proposal. They take place downtown only.
January 2008 — Presentations from representatives of cities with “successful” FAR ordinances. No representatives from cities who considered but did not pass an FAR regulation were invited to participate.
February 2009 — Joint Consultant and Staff proposal emerges. Key points include that the FAR was increased by .03 to a .45 FAR to compensate for removing the detached garage/accessory structure exemption. The building coverage standard is increased to 30% after residents of South Boulder point out that many of their original unexpanded ranch homes already approach 25% building coverage. To accommodate homeowners calls for more flexible regulation, staff propose a staff level design review that could allow projects to exceed the standards by up to 20% only if certain criteria are met.
February 24 2009 — Joint Planning Board / City Council public hearing. An majority of those speaking argue against the proposed restrictions.
February 2009 — Planning Board recommendations emerge. Key points include: a .55 FAR, a 35% building coverage, and a 22% second story building coverage standard.
March 3 2009 — City Council meeting reviews Planning Board recommendations. They add numerous new possible regulations for review (e.g. virtual floors, rear-yard second story setbacks); a majority of members indicate support for even lower FAR and even more regulations; led by the Mayor, most members express hostility toward the notion of any substantial staff review process to function as an escape valve.
April 2009 — Community Workshops at City Hall. Proposal details include a .45 FAR, a 30% building coverage, a 40% building coverage standard for single-story structures, no exemption for accessory structures and a complex set rules for how to calculate the FAR of a basement.
May 2009 — Mayor Matt Appelbaum attends Martin Acres Neighborhood Association meeting. Defends proposed FAR regulations. Insults membership in attendance by suggesting that they are being manipulated by realtors when in fact the homeowners attending have followed the public process and know the current proposal’s details better than the Mayor does.
May 2009 — FairFAR.org, a citizens’ group organized to push for a more reasonable FAR ordinance–or to defeat an unreasonable one at the ballot box–is formed and a website launched.
June 26 2009 — City Staff, in conjuction with the consultants, prepared draft ordinance language to be forwarded to the Planning Board for consideration and to the City Council for possible adoption. Key points: a .45 FAR (.55 in RMX), a 30% building coverage standard (35% RMX), no larger building coverage standard for single-story structures, basements to count in proportion to the space exposed above ground, some parts of the side wall height limits replaced by a new bulk plane standard.
July 9 2009 — Planning Board reviewed the City staff recommendations and voted on recommendations. Modifications: a .5 FAR sliding scale, 35% building coverage, no single-story building coverage exemption, excluding 150 sf for additional covered porch not in the front yard and excluding RMX-1, BoZA hardship rules to apply with respect new variances for Bulk Plane and Building Coverage.
August 4 2009 — City Council scheduled to hear the draft ordinance on a first reading.
August 18 2009 — City Council scheduled to hear the draft ordinance on a second reading.
October 3 2009 — Proposed effective date of ordinance, should it pass as currently scheduled (already was pushed back two weeks so it may take effect even later). All building permits no approved and complete will be subject to the new review rules.
November 2009 — Municipal Elections.