Niwot Road TDR development proposal draws opposition

On July 13, Ifrain and Shannon Rodrigues, the owners of a 39.5 acre property on the southwest corner of Niwot Road and 63rd Street, submitted an application to Boulder County to construct nine additional homes (for a total of 10 homes) on property which they intend to develop by using transferable development rights (TDRs). The proposal is known as the Rodriguez TDR-PUD, docket number SD-2023-003.

The current zoning of the property is Rural Residential, and the County Assessor has determined the actual value to be over $2,000,000.

Neighbors who are opposed to the development have organized, circulated a petition, and obtained over 500 signatures during the Sketch Plan Review phase.The public hearing in front of Boulder County Planning Commission has not yet been scheduled, but will likely take place on or after October 18th.

According to the Boulder County website, the TDR program "promotes county-wide preservation of agriculture, rural open space and character, scenic vistas, natural features and environmental resources." Specifically the program allows development rights to be exchanged between "sending sites" and "receiving sites."

In this case the applicant plans to purchase these certificates from another property owner in the county who would then be unable to further develop their site because a conservation easement would be recorded in favor of Boulder County.

The community of Niwot is largely surrounded by open space and conservation easements as a result of the county's TDR program. Over 30 years ago the Niwot Community Association negotiated with Boulder County to accept approximately 70 TDRs, which would allow houses to be built on land contiguous with the existing subdivisions in Niwot. Those TDRs have largely been built out in Niwot, and have kept the community from being swallowed up by the City of Boulder or the City of Longmont.

Neighbors have galvanized in organized opposition to the 63rd Street proposal. The group, "www.stop63rdstreetsubdivision.org" has a webpage that outlines their concerns which include the additional traffic new homes and residents would bring, the likely infringement of long-standing view corridors, general incompatibility with their existing rural culture, concern for the current prairie dog inhabitants, the low-lying flood-prone nature of the property, and the adjacency of this property to an existing Environmental Conservation Area.

Perhaps more significantly, the group believes that allowing this development request is at odds with stated Boulder County goals that seek to channel new residential (as well as commercial and industrial) building projects into the incorporated municipalities in the county where services already exist.

County planner Pete L'Orange confirmed lot sizes for the additional nine homes would be between 2-3 acres for each, which, while lower in density than the typical Boulder County minimum of one or two per 35 acres, still constitutes a very rural, exceptionally large-lot, residential subdivision, similar to the neighboring subdivisions to the north (Brigadoon Glen), east (Rangeview) and northeast (Oriole Estates) along Niwot Road. Most of these new lots would front and be accessed from 63rd street.

L'Orange stressed that should this application make it through the Sketch Plan Review phase, the next step would be a Preliminary Plan Review which would include considerably more detail and engineering. That would be followed by a Final Platte, each of which will require hearings before the Planning Commission and the County Commissioners with an opportunity for community input. Together, the process could take several years.