FairFAR.org

The sections of the 2009 IPMC portion of the proposed SmartRegs ordinance are at last freely and publicly accessible online. (Note that you must consult attachment A from the City's SmartRegs website to determine which sections of the IPMC model code are being adopted.) The second public hearing and second reading of the SmartRegs ordinance have been tentatively rescheduled for September 7th.

Today’s Boulder Daily Camera has an article on another group forming around this same issue!

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2009/jun/11/law-firm-hired-to-prevent-pops-and-scrapes-pops/

Just over two weeks ago, we formed this group over lunch and resolved to put up this website.  We discovered the same clauses in the City Charter that this group did, and decided we should create a space for discussion and to gather together the opposition.  We even thought about eventually recruiting a lawyer to help with the 501(c)3 process, but hadn’t gotten there yet.  So kudos to whoever had the same idea and started a similar group.

Matt Appelbaum, you were right about one thing: The opposition to this proposal is widespread.  But it is also grassroots, stemming from the fact that your and many on council’s high-handedness on this issue has alienated so many of us ordinary homeowners.  And guess what?  Homeowners vote in overwhelming numbers in our municipal elections.

Welcome to FairFAR.org!

We are a newly formed citizens group in Boulder, Colorado who are concerned about the direction of the FAR / house size limits proposed by the Boulder City Council.  Formed by ordinary homeowners who feel that our ability to expand and modify our own homes to our present and future needs is being threatened by the proposals put forth so far by the City Council, the consultants and the city staff, we have started this website for several reasons:

• to serve as a central location at which we can gather and disseminate the City’s various FAR proposals and track the changes in them
• to provide a forum for discussion and critique of the City’s proposals
• to develop a database of interested registered electors in the event that a citizen-initiated petition is necessary to put any ordinance to a popular vote
• to coordinate strategy to prevent Council from passing an unreasonable ordinance, and to hold them individually accountable if they do

Members of our group are not necessarily opposed to any form of regulation to address the underlying issue(s), though some of us certainly may be.  In fact, the founders of our organization have repeatedly said that they would be willing to consider a moderate form of regulation, but the proposals to date do not fit that description and Council’s proposals appear to be becoming even more complex and less sensible.  Though we expect most of you are generally opposed to what is being proposed, we welcome participation from all interested points of view–including those of you who would favor tighter regulation.