Boulder agrees to reconsider occupancy limits

Activists aren’t confident in city’s ability to enact change

By Deborah Swearingen. Originally published by the Daily Camera on October 14, 2020.

"A month after Boulder City Council denied a motion to suspend the city’s occupancy limits during the coronavirus pandemic, council on Tuesday agreed to take another look at the issue in the upcoming year to determine whether any long-term changes are warranted.

Councilmembers tentatively discussed pushing back work on Boulder’s oil and gas regulations and parking code changes in favor of prioritizing a holistic look at occupancy limits. City Manager Jane Brautigam requested time for staff to create a plan that ultimately will be voted on in an upcoming meeting.

Occupancy limits have long been a source of contention in Boulder. The Bedrooms Are For People campaign seeks to change Boulder’s occupancy limits to allow more unrelated people to live together. In most areas of Boulder, no more than three unrelated people can live together, but the campaign said the limit should be extended to one person for each bedroom plus one. The initiative almost made it to the 2020 ballot but fell short because of faulty information from the city."

Read the full story on the Daily Camera.