Boulder County BOCC, CO General Boulder County, 31 Oct 2011

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From YouTube: Boulder County Comprehensive Plan

Description

The Boulder County Comprehensive Plan was conceived and designed in response to a growth spurt that really began in the 1950s. After nearly 10 years of meetings, independent studies, and community input, the Boulder County Comprehensive Plan was adopted in 1978. The cornerstone goal of this document was to locate future urban development within or adjacent to existing communities in order to eliminate sprawl and to preserve agriculture, forestry and open space land uses. Another important objective was to make it clear that the County was neither interested in nor suited for competing with municipalities for growth, nor would the county provide the services that growth requires.

With direction and guidance from the Comprehensive Plan, a number of policies and land use regulation changes were enacted to preserve agricultural and environmentally significant lands. Among these were a rezoning that expanded agricultural coverage by 25,000 acres and the adoption of a series of land use incentives to restrict development while helping to maintain productive agricultural activity and uses.

The Comprehensive Plan also encouraged the idea of an Open Space Sales Tax, which became a reality in 1992 and continues to exist today. Since the adoption of the Comprehensive Plan, County Open space holdings have increased from 3,500 to over 85,000 acres.

For more information, please visit http://www.bouldercounty.org/property/build/pages/bccp.aspx.

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Boulder county colorado is loved for its natural beauty, its recreational opportunities and its rural character.

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Boulder county has long been recognized as a special place, a desirable place to live, work and visit, but what keeps it special, how we preserve what we love and how can we continue to steer the future of boulder county? The answer in part lies in the boulder county comprehensive plan. An advisory document that establishes a vision for boulder county describes, desired conditions, sets broad goals and policies to achieve these conditions and addresses future needs.

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Boulder county is located along the front range of the rocky mountains about 25 miles northwest of denver. It is bordered by six other counties about 60 percent of the county consists of mountainous terrain, extending from foothills to tundra, with the remaining 40 in the plains.

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Boulder county covers 740 square miles, has a population of nearly 300 000 people and contains 10 municipalities, ranging from larger cities like boulder and longmont to smaller towns like netherland and lions.

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The comprehensive plan was conceived and designed in response to a growth spurt that really began in the 1950s 1954 brought the construction of highway 36, the primary connection between boulder and denver shortly thereafter, an influx of employment centers, including ibm incar and ball aerospace, prompted the development of residential subdivisions.

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People were migrating to boulder county in droves and there were consequences between 1959 and 1973. 235 square miles of agricultural and ecologically significant lands were developed for urban uses. More than 200 subdivisions with over 12 000 lots were approved throughout the mountains and plains the county's precious landscape was rapidly developing.

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There is a history in boulder county of active community engagement and residents had a very strong reaction to the growth that was taking place. They saw this loss of agricultural land and open space. They saw an increase in suburban development and, as a result, there is overwhelming support for strong growth management.

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The idea of limiting and directing growth became the very foundation of the comprehensive plan. There is a unified desire to control where growth should occur, what types of development were appropriate and how to preserve agricultural and environmental land. There was no statewide legislation guiding land use planning. This was a local effort through and through.

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After nearly 10 years of meetings, independent studies and community input, the boulder county comprehensive plan was adopted in 1978..

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The cornerstone goal of this document was to locate future urban development within or adjacent to existing communities in order to eliminate sprawl and to preserve agriculture, forestry and open space land uses. Another important objective was to make it clear that the county was neither interested in nor suited for competing with municipalities for growth. Nor would the county provide the services. The growth requires, with direction and guidance from the comprehensive plan, a number of policies and land use.

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Regulation changes were enacted to preserve agricultural and environmentally significant lands among these were rezoning to expanded agricultural coverage by 25, 000 acres and the adoption of a series of land use incentives to restrict development while helping to maintain productive agricultural activity and uses.

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The comprehensive plan also encouraged the idea of an open space sales tax, which became a reality in 1992 and continues to exist today. Since the adoption of the comprehensive plan county open space holdings have increased from 3 500 to over 85 000 acres, this is land that will forever be protected.

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Another set of policies in the comprehensive plan encouraged collaboration between municipalities and the county to reach agreements about where urban growth should occur and where the rural landscape should be maintained.

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Over the past 20 years, these intergovernmental agreements have been established individually between nine of the ten municipalities in boulder county and reached the ultimate goal in 2003, with the approval of a coordinated, comprehensive development plan. The so-called super iga signed by these nine municipalities and the county.

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The 1978 comprehensive plan and the implementation measures that followed have effectively directed where growth should occur and how much the challenge we are now faced with is living sustainably within the limits we have agreed upon. But what does it mean to be sustainable on a county-wide scale? Does it involve promoting local food production? What about encouraging renewable energy use or alternative transportation modes?

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The 2011 comprehensive plan update is an opportunity for you, the boulder county community, to help us identify these changing needs on a county-wide level to help develop a more fluid integrated system and to encourage.

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