Tag Archives: News

Boulder News: East Edge

2017-03_BoNews

In December of 2016 a team of designers and developers volunteered their time for a technical advisory panel.  The goal of this panel, the Urban Land Institute Colorado (ULI Colorado) was to design a redevelopment plan for the area of East Boulder north of Arapahoe and west of 55th.  This 325 acre space is primarily used as an office park with some small industrial sites as well.  The panel was tasked by the Boulder Chamber and Boulder Area Realtor Association with seeing how this space could be used for more workforce housing. The panel took this request a step further.   They addressed a complete overhaul of the area, rather than just focusing on housing.    Their vision of this new hub of creativity would be called East Edge.  Linked with new transportation options, East Edge would be broken into three districts that mix residential and commercial use.  Existing business would continue being supported and add new ones as well.  The idea being that each of the businesses within each district would be within walking distance.  This more ambitious and extreme plan is not what many current residents had in mind.  A large scale expansion is seen by many as inconsistent their own vision for their neighborhood.  However, there are some potential benefits in this plan worth considering which may influence public opinion.

This panel envisions East Edge as a “creativity hub”.  ULI Colorado hopes to encourage the growth of new jobs here as well as housing, services, and transportation growth. .  They envision transition from an office park to a more multi-use neighborhood.

One challenge to East Edge’s redevelopment plan is in zoning.  The panel suggests that the city allow them to go beyond the current 55ft height limit in place (up to 90ft in some areas).  This would allow for residential and retail services in the same space.  Additionally, office buildings could have shops on the ground level.  Because of the area’s low ground level relative to the rest of Boulder the panel believes the view shed would not be harmed.

Another concern ULI Colorado has for East Edge, and all potential development plans, is flooding.  The entire area is located within a floodplain, and said to be in need of mitigation.  The panel suggests that the Flatiron Golf course be used for mitigation before moving forward.

The top priority of the East Edge plan is to begin by redeveloping the land between Arapahoe and the BNSF rail corridor.  This land would become one of the mixed-use neighborhoods for residential and commercial space with an interior main street.  This would have the advantage of much safer pedestrian and bike traffic.  But this is just one of many steps and details outlined for East Edge.  The entire plan is available for all citizens to see on the better boulder website, and are encouraged to do so.

Colorado News: Colorado’s Economy to Grow in 2017

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The Business Economic Outlook at CU Boulder predicts that Colorado’s economy will continue to grow through 2017.  Construction, tourism, and healthcare are anticipated to be the main drivers of the expected 64,000 new jobs in Colorado in the coming year.  Expected 2017 growth of 2.4 percent exceeds the 2.2 percent seen in 2016.

Colorado is likely to remain within the top 10 states for job growth, a position Colorado has held for the last 6 years.  The population is also on the rise because of the new jobs.  In fact, Colorado is predicted to become the second fastest growing population in the country this year.

Richard Wobbekind, an economist at Leeds school of Business at CU Boulder, commented on the matter.  “The growth will be across every sector except natural resources and mining and again will support the strongest period of employment growth that we’ve had since the 1990s.”  Wobbekind stated that workers in the mining sector are able to find other jobs opening up.

The construction sector is expected to see the largest increase in jobs.  Approximately 9,000 jobs are expected with more single family home construction predicted.  That would be a 5.7 percent increase over 2016.  Voters passed a large number of bonds which will fund many projects, creating the demand for jobs.

Leisure and hospitality is expected to be second to construction in growth.  This sector is estimated to increase by over 12,000 jobs, or 3.7 percent.  Health and education look to see the least growth with an increase of over 10,000 jobs is expected.  However, farmers are likely to see continued difficulty in the coming year.  A combination of weather, drought, and commodity prices predict further decrease in farmer income.  Agriculture annual income decreased from $850 million to $444 million statewide between 2014 and 2016.  Income is predicted to fall to $392 million in 2017.