Gunbarrel Character
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What is the character of Gunbarrel? Well, to start with, it is a rural environment,
surrounded by County and City Open Space with views of the mountains, the plains,
and local lakes. Viewed from the top of Gunbarrel Hill, the low buildings of the
community are obscured by mature trees. The residents enjoy the outdoors, making
good use of the many trails interconnecting Gunbarrel with Niwot, the City of Boulder,
points east over Gunbarrel Hill, and points west via the Boulder Reservoir.
The area affected by the Gunbarrel Community Center Plan, although part of the City
of Boulder, does not look like a city. In fact, the commercial buildings along Gunpark
Drive were constructed to look like residences for just that reason. With the
exception of the one three story building on Gunpark Drive, all buildings in the
Community Center focus area are two stories tall or lower. Even that one three
story building was built to comply with the 35 foot height restriction that has been
effect since the 1970s.
The Gunbarrel community has stated repeatedly that it wants a community center, a
place where people can gather, relax, and shop. There is only one place where this
community center could be built and that is in the vicinity of King Soopers. The
completion of a community center there would fulfill Gunbarrel’s identity, providing,
in the words of the Gunbarrel Community Center Plan, “a viable, easily accessible,
pedestrian-oriented retail town center of appropriate scale to serve the Gunbarrel
Community.”
How, then, is this goal achieved with the development of 23 acres of four-story
buildings? The rural character provided by the surrounding open spaces is not
complemented by the density of this plan. The trees that obscure the remainder of
Gunbarrel will never hide these buildings. The planned “vitality of the commercial
center” will be overrun by the crush of on-site residential traffic. There is not
another place in the City of Boulder where such a concentrated development has been
contemplated.
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page updated 12/26/03
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