After much debate and rancor, the Boulder city council on Tuesday night, Oct. 6, finally passed an ordinance which will limit house sizes in Boulder. It all starts with this relatively simple premise: you can build a 3,500 square foot house on a 7,000 square foot lot, a nice even 1:2 ratio. However, if your lot is smaller the ratio increases, and if it's larger the ratio decreases. But that's not all. There are also rules which limit the floor area ratio to 35% of lot size, rules spelling out the maximum allowable "bulk plane," rules outlining and defining "virtual floors," and other rules affecting stairwells, basements and wall sizes. Rather than try to summarize it all, I'll simply refer you to the Boulder Daily Camera article about it here.Whether you agree with whether the city should pass ordinances limiting house sizes or not, I think that everyone can agree that these rules are almost certain to make building a house in Boulder even more complicated (and more expensive) than it is now. Bottom line: if you're planning on building in Boulder any time soon, you might consider applying for a permit prior to Jan. 1.
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