Boulder Tomorrow Joins Chamber in Tackling Development Review
Author: Anonymous
Saying Boulder's development review process is broken is like saying the sky is blue. It's no secret. But fixing the process so that it meets the needs of both city planners and developers is no easy task.
A joint committee consisting of representatives of Boulder Tomorrow, the Chamber of Commerce and the development community recently convened to develop recommendations it hopes will be incorporated into revisions the City plans to enact in early 1999.
"Earlier this year, the City called together people from the community in focus groups, and asked for our input. Unfortunately, their idea of improvements actually made the process less palatable and customer-oriented," said Bruce Dierking, a land use attorney and member of the board of directors of Boulder Tomorrow.
Preliminary recommendations by staff included reducing the number of application deadlines from two days per month to one, restricting application revisions to one set per project, and a tightening of deadlines - with no leniency - for those going through the process.
"Our group's position is that these preliminary recommendations are simply unacceptable," Dierking said.
Fortunately, the group was successful in getting Ron Secrist interested in being involved in the process, and they hope to encourage city council to make fixing the process a top priority for 1999.
"In Denver, for example, when you submit a project application you are assigned a Case Manager who becomes your project advocate and helps you work your way through the process. In Boulder, you're constantly being referred to other departments, and you never feel like anyone is working with you to make your project happen," Dierking said.
Several key individuals, including Dierking, Ken Hotard from the Boulder Valley Board of Realtors, Vince Porreca of Porreca & Associates, Stan Zemler from the Chamber, Charles Deane and John Fernandez are working on this project along with Liz Hanson, Bob Cole and others at the City.
Individuals interested in participating in this process are encouraged to call Bruce Dierking at 303 441 6514.
