Council approves allotments for Liberty Ridge

When the story from last week’s issue of the Boulder City Review concerning the approval of a temporary map for the coming Liberty Ridge development hit social media, the outcry was swift.

Comments ranged from “How did this happen?” to “Don’t change anything about Boulder City” to statements claiming the development meant that Boulder City was becoming little more than a southeast version of Summerlin.

But the most vitriolic statements claimed that city leaders and representatives of Toll Brothers had lied to residents about how many houses would be built each year. Multiple people cited a meeting in which Toll Brothers told residents that they would not be using the split in the development between the Toll Brothers and Storybook brands in order to circumvent the city’s strict growth ordinance, which limits not only the total number of homes that can be built in any given year but also how many can be built by any developer. And they said that was happening despite assurances to the contrary.

Except for this: According to both the city and Toll Brothers and backed by documentation, the perceived split is not happening and all allotments are being given only to Toll Brothers and they are not able to get more than 30 allotments for any given year.

Understanding what’s going on means a little review.

First, the city’s growth ordinance, first passed in the late 1970s, can be fairly complicated. It doesn’t mean zero growth. It means limited and slow growth. No more than 120 new homes in any given year. But it goes further, limiting the number of residential allotments available to any single developer to no more than half of one year’s allotment over a two-year period. In practice, that means no more than 30 allotments for any developer in any given construction year. Construction years mirror the city’s fiscal years, which run from July 1 through June 30.

Responding to questions prior to this week’s council meeting, Deputy City Manager Michael Mays said in an emailed statement, “The city council will consider Toll Brothers’ request Tuesday night for 60 allotments in two construction years. Toll Brothers is the only developer of the property and can only request 30 allotments in each construction year. Storybook is a division of Toll Brothers.

“Toll Brothers submitted 30 allotment requests for the construction year (CY) ending June 30, 2025. They also requested 30 allotment requests for the construction year ending June 30, 2026. Toll Brothers has one year from city council approval to pull permits for construction. If allotments are not pulled within one year they expire.”

Some of the confusion appears to stem from the fact that all of the maps and elevation plans submitted for the project refer to both Toll Brothers and Storybook. Expanding on the statement from Mays, Storybook has a history in Boulder City as the developers of the last large residential development before Liberty Ridge, which lies directly adjacent to the newer development. Storybook was an independent builder based in Las Vegas when those homes were built, but in 2011 they were bought out by Toll Brothers.

Although the question has been asked, Toll Brothers has given little explanation for the split in the new development beyond vague references to branding.

What all of this really means is that Liberty Ridge is not going to just appear quickly. The development has been approved by the city council for 122 homes in total. This means that additional allotments will have to be pulled for the construction years ending in June of 2027, 2028 and 2029.

How many in each year is still a little up in the air and depends, largely, on how quickly the new homes sell once they are built and on the market.

Mays laid it out, in theory, with 30 allotments in the construction years ending in 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028 followed by an additional two allotments in the 2029 construction year to get to the 122 total. But that is just in theory because allotments, once granted, are not a forever kind of thing.

“Toll Brothers is very likely to lose allotments each construction year as construction is based on home sales,” Mays said. “If they do not pull the building permits within a year of council approval, they are lost. So for CY 28-29 they will likely ask for more than two (up to 30) to complete the development. And if sales are slower, they may go into CY 29-30.”

Andrea Meck, senior director of public relations and social media for Toll Brothers said, “Since Toll Brothers acquired StoryBook Homes, they are considered one developer of a single development. This development will be in compliance with the city’s growth control ordinance, with plans to apply for no more than 30 permits total in a given construction year.”