In a meeting on Dec. 3, board members voted unanimously (5-0) to recommend approval of the ordinances, which are expected to align Boulder city code with recent state legislation. Board members Jorge Boone and Mark McIntyre were absent from the meeting.
Under a landmark new state law passed this year, local jurisdictions can no longer limit residential occupancy based on family relationships. That law went into effect on July 1. Another new law will require some jurisdictions to allow ADUs, subject to an administrative approval process, anywhere single-family detached homes can be built effective June 30 of next year. This law applies to municipalities with 1,000 or more people or certain parts of counties with at least 40,000 people. These jurisdictions also cannot require parking spaces or owner occupancy for ADUs.
This bill also set up a new ADU Fee Reduction and Encouragement grant program for what it termed “ADU supportive jurisdictions.” Jurisdictions meeting certain requirements will be eligible for financial assistance to encourage the development of more ADUs.
It was immediately clear that Boulder’s regulations would likely need to change in response to the new state laws. Boulder has long restricted the number of unrelated people who can live together. The city also currently has parking, owner-occupancy and other requirements for ADUs that are not allowed under the legislation. City staffers have also suggested the city should pursue funding from the new ADU grant program.
A proposed new occupancy ordinance would strip away all references in city code to residential occupancy limits based on family relationships. City staffers have already stopped enforcing these limits. The ordinance would also get rid of the permitting process that once enabled groups of more than five unrelated people to live together.
City workers still plan to maintain health- and safety-based occupancy limits that meet the standards of the International Property Maintenance Code. Only Boulder’s occupancy restrictions based on family relationships, which housing advocates have called “discriminatory,” would go away.
Meanwhile, city staffers have suggested a new ADU ordinance that would eliminate certain design and other requirements for ADUs and allow them to be built in more zoning districts.
Planning Board members were strongly supportive of the new occupancy and ADU ordinances.
Speaking about the occupancy ordinance, board member Claudia Hanson Thiem said, “I think this is an incredibly important ordinance to help Boulder stay in step with new Colorado State law to encourage a variety of housing and living situations in the city of Boulder, and also to further the city’s long-standing commitments to nondiscrimination.”
And on the ADU ordinance, board member Kurt Nordback said, “I’m very excited about this. I think that this is a sensible progression in our long but rather persistent process of liberalizing our accessory dwelling unit rules and allowing this as a relatively sustainable, relatively affordable and flexible form of housing.”
Before the new state laws came into play, Boulder had taken some steps toward relaxing its occupancy and ADU regulations. City Council members and staffers have also been working toward zoning changes that could enable more dense housing in the city as housing has grown prohibitively expensive for many and homelessness has trended upward.
The City Council loosened its occupancy restrictions last August, increasing the number of unrelated people who can live together from three or four to five. The controversial vote thrilled housing advocates and residents who had been forced to live in over-occupied housing units out of financial necessity, but it upset some residential community members who worried about noise, litter and other concerns. Some opponents were also angered that the council approved the occupancy increase after the Bedrooms Are For People ballot measure failed in 2021.
Earlier in 2023, council members unanimously voted to ease some of the city’s rules around ADUs. Some of the changes included removing a saturation limit for certain neighborhoods and increasing the maximum allowable square footage. These changes enabled more ADUs to be built across the city.
The new occupancy and ADU ordinances will now move on to the City Council, where they are set for a first reading on Jan. 9 and a public hearing and vote on Feb. 6.