8666 InitiativeBoulder City Council Action on “Family Friendly Vibrant Neighborhoods“ (Ordinance 8666) On January 9, 2025, the Boulder City Council voted 6 to 3 to approve revisions to Boulder’s residential zoning laws to allow for greatly increased housing density. With the passage of Ordinance 8666, the area of any standard size single-family lot can be changed from the required 7,000 – 6,000 square feet to a dramatically lower 2,500 square feet, allowing additional housing units, with no additional parking. The council believes these changes will spur the creation of thousands more housing units by making it easier to add duplexes and triplexes. According to the Boulder Reporting Lab, “City officials estimate the reforms could allow for thousands of additional housing units, helping to address Boulder’s housing shortage, recently estimated at more than 10,000 units.” * These zoning changes are the most that can be squeezed in under our current Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan, which is now in the process of revision. Note that the ‘City officials’ assertion of Ordinance 8666 ‘helping to address Boulder’s housing shortage’, as reported by the BRL, carried no qualifications for the ‘10,000 units’ shortfall that was cited to support the claim that there is a ‘housing shortage’ of this magnitude - other than a link to the group that provided it. We thank Council Members Mark Wallach, Tara Winer and Tina Marquis for their vote against this ordinance. These council members do not believe this ordinance in its current form compels affordability, and if affordability is not mandated, it will not happen. Densifying without affordability does not make sense for Boulder as the need is for affordable housing rather than market-rate housing, supplies of which currently stand at a 12.6% vacancy rate according to City figures. In addition, there is concern about densifying the Urban Wildland Interface (WUI) neighborhoods before regulations to protect those areas are in place. Council Member Marquis’s motion to amend the ordinance to address this issue was rejected. The Council has said they will encourage further changes to allow even more residential density in the updated comprehensive plan, so pay attention! If more and more density in your single-family neighborhood concerns you, find a way to get involved with the comprehensive plan update. Reach out to Boulder Action to find out how to make your opinions heard and take meaningful action. *Source: https://boulderreportinglab.org/2025/01/09/boulder-city-council-advances-zoning-reforms-to-increase-housing-density/ Walk - at your own peril…As you recover from a close encounter with a fast-moving bicycle or scooter, have you wondered what the rules and regulations are for Boulder’s public sidewalks? Well, it’s complicated. It depends on the type of “mobility device”, the category of path, and the speed limit assigned to the device and the type of path. Are you confused yet? Here are the regulations for devices that can ride on sidewalks or multi-use paths: Bikes and e-bikes can be ridden at a maximum of 15 mph, 8mph at crosswalks, and at the posted speed limit if they venture on to the streets; Non-electric skateboards and rollerblades are also limited to a maximum speed of 15 mph, 8 mph in crosswalks and the posted speed limit on streets. They can only be operated in the bike lanes of non-residential streets. Electric scooters and skateboards can only be ridden on a sidewalk if there is no bike lane on the street and if the speed limit on the street is 20 mph, they must be ridden in the bike lane. They cannot exceed 15 mph on a multi-use path or 8 mph on crosswalks.
How would you know the difference between a sidewalk or a multi-use path? Could you tell the difference between an electric skateboard and a non-electric skateboard? Can you tell if a “mobility device” is going 15 mph or faster? All of this points out how little difference all the detailed regulation of moving vehicles on sidewalks and paths makes to the citizens who use them on foot. Perhaps people who use feet as a “mobility device” would benefit from having no bikes, e-bikes, skateboards, or rollerblades on sidewalks. These users deserve some refuge from the faster moving, and frequently careless users of “mobility devices”. If enough people complained about excessive speeds and rude behavior to the City Council, some changes might be approved. For the full list of regulation of mobility devices, check out this chart:
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