Boulder OK's House Size Rules

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.

ClimateSmart Loan Program to go to Voters again in Nov.

Boulder County's wildly successful ClimateSmart Loan Program has already loaned out over $10 million to over 600 Boulder County homeowners to fund energy efficiency upgrades. The program has been so successful that it's actually running out of money, so the County will go to voters again in this November's election with ballot issue 1B. Similar to last year's 1A, this ballot issue will authorize the county to sell bonds to fund the program.

Because the loans made under this program are tied to the property, not the borrower, homeowners are more likely to actually make the efficiency improvements to their homes. It's difficult to rationalize making expensive improvements with long-term payoff periods such as windows, furnaces, solar panels, etc. to a home if you don't know how long you'll be in the house. But if the loan is tied to the property, if you sell the house the buyer takes over paying for the improvements that he or she is now benefiting from.

Beyond the energy-savings benefits of the program to the homeowner (and community, and earth) it has also bolstered the local home-improvement industry during a time of economic pain. From contractors to solar installers to energy auditors to architects, much-needed work has been borne from the program as well. (Inhabit has performed dozens of energy audits and consulted for several clients as a direct result of the ClimateSmart program.)

Read more about the program in the Daily Camera, here.