City opts for comprehensive rewrite

Even with the mayor absent the dais was full.

Like, really full, as the city council and the planning commission met in a combined workshop to hear from a consultant hired to advise the city on getting its zoning regulations up to modern standards and in alignment with state and federal law.

The changes that need to be made are pretty extensive, which should not come as a surprise given that the last comprehensive update to Title 11 (the section of city code that lays out zoning and development) was done 37 years ago back in 1988.

Earlier this year, the city hired Lisa Wise Consulting to go through both Title 11 and the city’s master plan and present findings, which was done last week by Ethan Stan and Jen Murillo.

“While there are specific recommendations that address inconsistencies between the Master Plan and Title 11, and updating outdated terminology or definitions, these are not the primary results of the consultant’s findings and recommendations,” said city staff in an email to the Review. “Most of their recommendations focus on comprehensively improving Title 11 to address key issues within the city’s development process.”

Those issues include creating administrative processes for nominal code deviations, evaluating existing zoning districts to reduce over-reliance on certain zones, and creating context-specific zones for the downtown, mixed-use, and airport commercial areas.

But, undoubtedly, the headline part of the report is ensuring legal compliance with state and federal law.

“The consultant’s report identifies areas in Title 11 which may not fully align with recent changes in state and federal law, which includes group homes and affordable housing,” staff said. “The existing provisions for group homes must be evaluated and revised to ensure these types of facilities are regulated in a nondiscriminatory manner for compliance with state law and the Fair Housing Act. The city has adopted specified measures for the development of affordable housing as stated in Chapter 10, Housing and Neighborhoods, of the Master Plan, however, Title 11 must be amended to include provisions for the implementation of these measures.”

So what does all that mean? In 2019, the state Legislature adopted NRS 278.235, which lays out a menu of sorts of actions cities can take to encourage and facilitate the development of affordable housing. There are 12 items on that menu and cities have to adopt at least six of them. The city can pick and choose which six, but it has to be at least six.

According to city staff, Boulder City has adopted seven of those options. However, they are listed as part of the master plan but have not been added to Title 11.

Most of the items are related to money with options for subsidizing things like fees for building permits for affordable housing projects and donation or extremely discounted sale of city-owned land for such projects. There is also something called a “density bonus.”

Speaking after the meeting, Community Development Director Michael Mays explained, “Let’s say that the existing zoning for a specific plot allowed for 10 housing units. With a density bonus, the city would tell the developer, ‘You can build 15 units on the same land if it is an affordable housing project.’”

Development is a loaded subject in Boulder City with large numbers of residents intent on maintaining the town’s character to the point of being seemingly against any development at all. Loudly against it. The last time affordable housing came up in the form of a proposed mixed-use development that would provide the Methodist church with a permanent worship space below a number of affordable apartment units, the outcry came quickly and the project died in front of the planning commission. But the consultants made clear that Boulder City lacks what they called “middle housing types.”

“The master plan doesn’t specifically call out townhomes,” Stan said. “From what we can see in the code right now, the types of housing envisioned are pretty straightforward. It’s either going to be single-family, two-family, or a duplex, or multifamily. There’s not really any standards that facilitate townhomes or accessory dwelling units, and senior housing options outside of the senior housing zone. And then there are not really dimensional standards that accommodate these housing forms as well.”

The council and the commission members were all in agreement on the way forward —a comprehensive rewrite of Title 11. The next step will be for city staff to write up a request for proposal and put that rewrite out to bid.