After an hours-long discussion and with the clock nearing 1 a.m. Wednesday, Boulder City Council voted 6-3 to temporarily ban development of office space and demolition of apartment buildings in a broad eastern swath of the city designated as a federal opportunity zone.
Councilmembers Bob Yates, Aaron Brockett and Jill Adler Grano dissented.
“With this moratorium, we just turned an opportunity zone into an opportunity-free zone,” Councilman Yates said. “There’s so many unknown unknowns, I don’t know where to start. This moratorium is super indiscriminate. The unintended consequences are mind boggling.”
The ordinance, passed on emergency, prohibits the creation of any additional non-residential floor area for the office, medical or financial uses, as well as any demolition that results in the removal of any multi-family or commercial floor area.
There are exemptions for housing communities under four acres; larger housing developments can be permitted if they provide all the required affordable units on site. Property owned by Colorado nonprofits also is exempt.
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