Residential Density
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During the course of the development of the Gunbarrel Community Center Plan,
the City Planning Staff was tasked to estimate the number
of residential units the Plan could be expected to generate. The answer,
published in a spreadsheet, was 705 units. That number is often referred to
by representatives of the City Planning Department as the expected residential
impact of this plan.
Spread over the plan area of 111 acres, 705 residential units averages 6.35 units
per acre. This is a very reasonable sounding average. For example, the Gunbarrel
North residential subdivision, immediately adjacent to the Plan area, averages
closer to 12 single family units per acre. But is this estimate realistic?
Terry O’Connor has submitted three proposals for the development of his 9.2 acre
parcel immediately east of King Soopers. In spite of the fact that: (1) he is
not redeveloping the 27,900 square foot medical / office building on the site,
(2) his plans include a 5,000 square foot single story restaurant, and (3) one
of his three large retail / residential buildings will be partly three stories
high; he is planning to put 317 units on the site. That is 34.5 units per acre if
you consider the full 9.2 arces, but it is 39.6 units per acre if you exclude the
site of the existing medical building.
If we assume the more “conservative” residential density estimate for Tom
Harrington’s six acre Gunbarrel Shopping Center, we find that it will support 207
units. While we do not expect the King Soopers five acre lot to redevelop any time
soon, that redevelopment is authorized by this Plan. That is another 173 units.
Similarly, with the remaining three or so acres of the Plan’s “retail core,”
redevelopment could net another 104 units. That is a total of 801 units, more than
the Planning Staff's entire estimate, just in the retail core.
So, what is a realistic estimate of the number of residential units generated by
this plan? Is it really 705 or is it really far more that that number?
A Table of Mixed-Use Developments in Boulder
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page updated 02/16/04
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