Council gives townhome project OK to move forward

The townhome project on Nevada Highway is moving forward, as City Council members approved its tentative map during their meeting Tuesday.

Randy Schams of BCMHP LLC is developing the 65-unit townhome subdivision at the site of the old trailer park. City Council granted the approval with conditions that deal with parking and access to proposed subdivision.

Residents had expressed concerns about parking being allowed on the portion of Yucca Street that bends at Cedar Street, as it can become crowded. Mayor Rod Woodbury agreed with their concerns and asked for a condition of no parking on that portion of Yucca Street, at least temporarily until the effects of the future Interstate 11 are seen.

Ray Fredericksen of Per4mance Engineering &Consulting said the latest plans for the project include no parking on that portion of the street.

The other condition dealt with secondary access to the subdivision. Currently, Schams is attempting to secure ownership of two strips of land that separate the east boundary from Madrone Street, which would provide a secondary emergency access to the property.

In case Schams is not able to secure that property, there are other possible options for that secondary access.

Fredericksen said one is to go straight out to Nevada Highway over the storm drain alignment and another is to go straight out over a parcel owned by the city. Fire Chief Kevin Nicholson said he was OK with those potential access points.

Woodbury also suggested a condition that the developer come back in January 2018 to update the City Council on the project, showing they’ve exhausted all the possible options with obtaining the two parcels of land, as well as if they do secure the parcels, that they be given to the city.

“I’d like to condition that on issuance of reserving half of your certificates of occupancy so that we would have the ability to hold you to that,” he said.

Frederiksen agreed with the conditions of the approval.

Woodbury added that these conditions were not to stop them from developing.

“We just want to see that you’ve done your level best to secure those parcels,” he said. “I think it’s important that we exhaust those possibilities and make sure you go through the process.”

He also said it’s important that the city have access to the parcels because of the access they provide to the old airport.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the City Council also introduced a bill to prohibit other marijuana establishments in Boulder City in addition to its current ban on medical marijuana establishments.

In April, the Planning Commission recommended denying this request in order to further analyze and discuss the topic.

The community development department requested the City Council introduce the bill to prohibit marijuana establishments as the proposed ordinance supports the city’s master plan and promotes the health, safety, morals and general welfare of the city.

The final introduction of this bill will be at the council’s May 23 meeting.

In other actions, council:

n Approved a new contract with the Police Protective Association that provides a 3 percent wage increase annually for the next five years, and contribute more to each employee’s health insurance.

Contact reporter Celia Shortt Goodyear at cgoodyear@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9401. Follow her on Twitter @csgoodyear.