Boulder, Colo.'s City Council recently held an emergency vote to curb permit issuance for homes bigger than 3,500 square feet on lots 10,000 square feet or larger.
The ordinance would either prohibit such homes temporarily, or make them more expensive to build. The dimension limits were set based on the findings of a Daily Camera report, showing that two-thirds of all houses built since 2010 were at least 3,500 square feet, limiting the supply of smaller, more affordable homes in a community. The proposal has been criticized by other council members, saying that outlawing large homes could negatively affect residents, especially those in the middle of building or selling their larger home.
Councilman Bob Yates and councilwoman Jill Adler Grano came up with their own measure: implement a $100 per-square-foot fee on homes larger than 3,500 square feet ... to be paid into the city's affordable housing fund. The charge would be temporary; a fee study would need to be performed to determine an amount appropriate to balance the impact of large homes on the community. Both council members agreed that implementing such an ordinance so quickly was inappropriate, but felt that the proposed ban would likely be voted in, forcing them to act.
