Boulder City Council discusses changing occupancy limits
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Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect that a plurality, not a majority, of Planning Board members supported changing Boulder’s occupancy limits.
Boulder’s occupancy caps have been a source of controversy for years — but City Council has said it favors increasing existing limits to address the city’s affordable housing shortage, and city staff will soon be creating an ordinance to put those increased limits into effect.
During Thursday evening’s council meeting, councilmembers heard a presentation on the topic and were asked to provide direction on the council-initiated occupancy reform initiative to help city staff develop the ordinance. The initiative was discussed at a study session on March 9.
Karl Guiler, a senior policy advisor for the city, said during a presentation that although building codes establish occupancy limits for safety reasons, city staff are mainly targeting zoning regulations, which can be more restrictive and potentially “rooted in discrimination.”
Currently, Boulder’s occupancy regulations allow up to three unrelated people to live together in homes in low-density zones. In higher-density zones, up to four unrelated people can live together. At the March 9 study session, most councilmembers wanted the occupancy limit raised to four or five unrelated people, citywide. Read full article here