In the wake of the 2018 closure of the Montana Developmental Center, Boulder unveiled a growth policy outlining an ambitious agenda to lay the foundation for long-term sustainability.
The City has since completed many of the steps detailed in that document and is now set to embark on a year-long process to update the policy, accounting for that past effort and for the city’s growth since.
At the Nov. 18 City Planning Board meeting, Chairperson LaDana Hintz reported that work on the growth policy likely will begin early next year. The state Commerce Department, which is funding and coordinating the effort, has invited consulting firms to pitch in by devising a research methodology and overseeing community outreach.
Prescribed but not required by state law, a growth policy is meant to guide local development and inform policies and projects to help a municipality reach economic, social or environmental goals.
A growth policy typically is anchored in an inventory of population, infrastructure, land use and economic conditions. Often, as in the case of Jefferson County, which recently completed its own growth policy update, public surveys and meetings are deployed to gather community input.
Boulder’s 2018 growth policy was the result of a two-year effort spurred by the state’s 2015 decision to shutter the MDC. “There was recognition in the community that Boulder needed to do something different,” said Drew Dawson, who helped lead that work and is now president of the City Council.
A series of small group meetings, interviews and other research led to the 2017 publication of the “Making Boulder’s Future Bright Master Plan.” That document laid out steps to help diversify the city’s economic base, build its brand as a tourism and recreation destination, and redevelop the MDC campus.
The growth policy built on that initial vision, outlining an impressive, almost daunting agenda: 56 activities, most slated to be initiated or completed within a few years, that sought to achieve 22 goals covering seven key issues.
For example, the document committed the city to hiring a designer to create a branding package to promote “the community’s unique assets and attract visitors.” It envisioned new ordinances to allow short-term vacation rentals; an Urban Renewal Plan to combat and prevent blight; and regulations to require building inspections for new and remodeled properties.
Its framers eschewed a quick fix. “We know that those are not things that cause an immediate turnaround,” Dawson says. “But they’re designed to cause an improvement in conditions over a period of time.”
In the seven years since, the City or others have completed a surprising number of the activities proposed in the policy. While it hasn’t coordinated with Habitat for Humanity or others to build affordable housing, for example, it has updated its zoning code to allow multi-family housing in some areas and second-story apartments on Main Street.
Boulder still lacks an Urban Renewal Plan, but its relatively new Beautification Ordinance addresses blight. Unattractive plantings in the Main Street medians weren’t replaced. Instead, the planters were removed as part of last year’s Main Street reconstruction.
“It’s been impressive to see what has been accomplished since 2018,” said City Administrator Brian Bullock.
A new growth policy likely will reckon that, with the population increasing, Boulder’s infrastructure needs are changing. At the Nov. 17 City Council meeting, it was noted that the number of connections to the city’s water system has already reached the number that was projected in a 2021 engineering report.
Affordable housing, a front-burner issue in 2018, remains an urgent need. So does the challenge of attracting retailers, restaurants and hotels to the city center. The policy could also reexamine potential uses for the still-vacant portions of the former MDC.
Which is to say that the 2018 growth policy appears to have been effective — but that there’s still plenty of work left on the table.
