The University of Colorado at Boulder will issue within a month a request for proposal (RFP) seeking a consultant to prepare a conceptual land use assessment for CU-Boulder South.
Vice Chancellor for Administration Paul Tabolt made the announcement Friday following his appearance Thursday night before the City of Boulder Planning Board, which removed from consideration a CU request for possible city annexation within three years.
The commission removed the issue from the agenda saying there is not enough information on how the university intends to use the 308-acre CU-Boulder South property, and more analysis is needed on the flood study. The board expressed willingness to reconsider the issue once the information is provided. The recommendation to remove the request from planning board consideration came from the city council.
"A conceptual land use assessment will tell us how the site can best be developed and provide us with the answers that the planning board needs," Tabolt said. "The South Campus presents many challenges and opportunities. It must be developed with great care and sensitivity to the environment, and it will serve as a gateway to our community."
The assessment will consider strategies to address transportation, circulation, environmental, utility and infrastructure issues.
The University of Colorado Board of Regents approved the CU Master Plan for the Boulder campus in February 2000. The master plan outlines plans for athletic and recreational playing fields in the earlier years of the 10-year plan that runs through 2008.
The University made a request to the City in November l999 to have the property, formerly known as the Flatirons property, considered for annexation within three years. CU-Boulder South was designated in the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan as a site for consideration within 10 years. CU had also requested a change from "medium-density residential and open space" designation to "public," which is how all other university property is designated.
"We made these requests as part of our desire to integrate our planning efforts into the update of the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan," Tabolt said.
A flood study funded by the Urban Drainage and Flood Control District, Boulder County, the city and the university is currently underway, and the written report is expected to be completed within six months.
"We understand the South Boulder Creek flood issues are extremely important to the community, particularly downstream residents in Keewayden Meadows," he said. "We hope to have our land use assessment completed within a short time frame."
"We are appreciative of the cityÂ’s willingness to revisit the issue at a future date when additional information on both the flood study and site development will be available," he concluded.