Steve Pomerance

Each of the first four acronyms in the headline above identifies some housing “solutions” that have become issues for the lower-density neighborhoods. STRs are “short-term rentals,” where a homeowner rents out part or all of his or her home on a short-term basis. ADUs are “accessory dwelling units,” where a homeowner has built a separate apartment as part of a single-family house, sometimes called a granny flat. OAUs are “owner accessory units,” a completely detached second residential unit, like a garage apartment, on a single-family lot. CHUs are “cooperative housing units,” commonly called co-ops, which may have 12 or more residents in a single-family house. The HAB is the Housing Advisory Board that the City Council is forming, presumably to provide some citizen oversight to all of the city’s housing efforts. So it’s clear, there are already a number of technical advisory groups working on housing. But what doesn’t exist right now is a board that represents the general citizenr

Here we are starting 2018. We have a highly educated and engaged citizenry, a smart City Council, and a hard-working city staff. Yet any number of people I know are worried about the next city project that will likely go awry and leave them, once again, feeling disenfranchised and stuck with a result that they know is far from optimal. Why are we still struggling with this sort of systemic failure? What is the missing piece? The city manager is responsible for the city’s operations and budget, and the city attorney is responsible for writing and enforcing the laws. But in Boulder we also spend a huge amount of time and energy pursuing new paths, dealing with new problems and opportunities, and attempting to be on the cutting edge in many areas at once. However, managing these types of activities is not really anyone’s primary responsibility, nor has there been any focused effort to consider what is required to do so successfully. The Public Participation Working Group touched on th