Nine parcels tapped for development

The City Council on Tuesday directed staff to lease or sell nine parcels as part of the city’s annual 2014 Land Management Plan implementation.

Some directives, which were based on recommendations from the Community Development Department, were new this year and some were carried over from previous years.

The council directed staff to begin preparing a master plan and zoning ordinance regulations for two large parcels that were added to the plan in December: 720 acres for highway commercial development near the future Interstate 11-U.S. Highway 95 interchange, and 242 acres for a business park targeting the aeronautical industry near Boulder City Airport.

It will likely take the city the entire year to develop the master plan, Community Development Director Brok Armantrout said Wednesday.

“We’ll involve the community and have workshops,” he said. “I know right now we’d like to target markets that aren’t currently in Boulder that wouldn’t necessarily affect our current businesses, but complement them.”

Councilman Duncan McCoy said he was “particularly concerned” with the development near I-11 and supported public involvement in planning the “major junction.”

“We can’t think about what makes sense in that area without talking about zoning and activities,” he said.

Also new this year, the council directed staff to remediate 50 acres in Eldorado Valley where the city’s defunct motocross track is located. Councilman Cam Walker requested that staff look for alternative uses for the site.

For the first time, council directed staff to study development options for 40 acres bordering Boulder Creek Golf Club and 20 acres south of the golf course. Those parcels were approved for sale by voters in November 2010, but Armantrout said the real estate market did not favor development at that time.

The council recommended a 29-acre parcel at the southeast corner of Adams Boulevard and Bristlecone Drive be placed on the 2014 general election ballot to get approval for its sale. Armantrout said about 100 midsize homes could be built on the land.

“I’m trying to look out for our schools and our existing families here in town who want to stay in Boulder but they don’t have a price-appropriate home they could move up to,” he said.

The council’s directive to sell 5½ acres for a 10-lot subdivision and 2 acres where the old Boulder City Animal Shelter was located on San Felipe Drive were carried over from last year’s land management plan.

“There’s only so many staff and we can only do so much in the day,” Armantrout said.

City staff, following the council’s December directive for 1.7 acres at the old Boulder City Airport hangar area, will appraise and get requests for development of the land.

The land management plan is the tool the city uses to determine where and what type of development should take place and what parcels, if any, should be offered for lease or sale during the upcoming year.

There are 44 properties identified in the plan.