Gunbarrel Commercial Area Plan
History
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Since the early 1990s, the residents of Gunbarrel have sought to have a role in the
development decisions affecting Gunbarrel. One of our recurrent themes has been that
there ought to be a plan for the completion of Gunbarrel's development. To date, the
only sub-community (of the eight in the City of Boulder) to have a plan is North Boulder.
On many occasions during the calendar year 2002, the Gunbarrel Community Association
(GCA) stressed the need for an area plan for the City portions of Gunbarrel. This
position was precipitated by Terry O'Connor's proposal for a Gunbarrel Town Center to be
built behind the Gunbarrel King Soopers. Most Gunbarrel residents recognize that
development of the remaining open parcels in Gunbarrel is inevitable and wish to see
that development occur in a manner that makes Gunbarrel a better place to live. In the
fall of 2002, the City took the first step towards the goal of a Gunbarrel plan.
At their meeting on the evening of December 3, 2002, the Boulder City Council passed a
resolution directing the City Planning Staff to produce an area plan of the Lookout
Road corridor in the vicinity of the Gunbarrel Shopping Center. This did not address
all the City areas in Gunbarrel but it did address those that are experiencing the
greatest development pressure at that point in time.
Planning Staff called the first meeting of the task force to produce this plan on January
29, 2003. Invited partcipants were the owners of commercial land in the study area
(both developed and undeveloped), representatives of the Gunbarrel community, and City
staff.
Planning Staff held the first community meeting on the area plan at Heatherwood School on
February 26, 2003. It was attended by 25-30 residents of the Gunbarrel area. Peter
Pollock (City of Boulder Planning Director) briefed an overview of the planning process.
Marilee Utter (Citiventure Associates) briefed the results of her study of the retail and
residential development potential in the Gunbarrel Area. Considerable dialog resulted
during the public question and answer session following the presentations.
The first working meeting of the task force was held on March 5, 2003. Subsequent meetings
were held on March 12th and March 19th. During these meetings, three development options
were described by architect Erik Hartronft and discussed by the members of the task force.
The simplest of these options (current trend) described what would happen to the area if
no action were taken. Options 2 would include retail developments concentrated at the
Gunbarrel Shopping (King Sooper's) and the Hugh M. Woods site. The third and most
comprehensive option called for a central retail area focused around a pedestrian mall at
Spine road and included a Lookout Road bypass around the mall area from Gunpark Drive to
63rd Street. At this point, with such significant changes to the Gunbarrel area being
discussed, it was decided to broaden the number of participants to include a larger
percentage of the property owners in the planning area.
The Gunbarrel Community Association representatives to the planning process hosted a public
information meeting on March 25, 2003 at the Heatherwood School. The purpose of this
meeting was to inform the residents of what was happening during the area planning process
and to listen to the comments and suggestions of those present.
Subsequent to these meetings the name of the plan was changed to "Gunbarrel Community
Center Plan" to better describe the intent of the development.
The first draft of the Gunbarrel Community Center Plan was published on August 11, 2003.
This document emphasized the "community center" ideas expressed during the planning process
by the Gunbarrel representatives and documented objectives including pedestrian orientation,
vehicular and non-vehicular connections, and a cultural heart for the community. However, it
also contained a provision calling for two to four story buildings in the retail core of the
plan's focus area. In a private meeting with the City's planning Staff on August 14th, the
Gunbarrel representatives emphasized that four stories in Gunbarrel was a "show stopper" and
that they could not support the plan with that provision. City staff was equally firm, stating
that their recommendation to the Planning Board and to City Council would include four stories.
The meeting ended with the two sides "agreeing to disagree."
The Gunbarrel Community Center Plan entered the approval process on this note of disagreement.
That process is discribed on the Area Plan Approval Process page on this site.
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page updated 02/14/04
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