Update on May 11, 2025: Boulder residents have ended their campaign to place two housing-related measures on the November 2025 ballot.
Boulder residents have launched a campaign to place two measures on the November 2025 ballot that would impose additional costs or conditions on housing development.
One proposal would require developers to pay new fees to cover the cost of public infrastructure needed to support their projects. The other would mandate affordable housing commitments when single-family homes are converted into duplexes or triplexes.
The measures reflect longstanding frustration among some residents over real estate speculation and the perceived impacts of increased housing density as the Boulder City Council seeks to address the city’s housing affordability crisis.
The first measure, New Development Shall Pay for Its Impacts, would establish an impact fee based on a project’s demand on water, sewer and emergency services, among other public services. It would also factor in the effects of climate change on water supplies and flood control systems.
Emily Reynolds, campaign manager, said the measure is a response to rising city fees. She cited the utility fees helping to pay for the South Boulder Creek flood mitigation project and the estimated $1 billion cost to extend basic infrastructure to the Area III Planning Reserve, a largely undeveloped area northeast of the city.
“The city just keeps imposing greater and greater fees,” Reynolds said. “Either the developers pay, or you and I pay.”
The second measure would require homeowners to provide affordable housing if they convert a single-family home into a duplex or triplex. The new units would need to be priced for people earning the area median income, which is currently about $2,800 per month for a one-bedroom apartment, according to the Colorado Housing Finance Authority.
The rules would apply to properties zoned as single-family — RR-1, RR-2, RE or RL-1 — as of Jan. 1, 2023. That year, the Boulder City Council approved an ordinance allowing duplexes and triplexes in low-density neighborhoods as a way to build more, smaller housing units and help address soaring costs.
The rules under the ballot measure would take effect on Jan. 1, 2026, and apply to both rentals and for-sale homes.
Some councilmembers have shown an interest in adding affordability requirements to these conversions. But the 2023 ordinance was intended to expand housing options without deterring property owners from pursuing small-scale infill development. The city needs nearly 11,000 homes over the next decade to address its shortage while keeping housing costs from climbing further out of reach.
Reynolds pushed back on the idea that the proposed measure would add extra burdens on developers in ways that might deter housing construction.
“This move would not prohibit anybody from building in their backyard,” she said. Residents, she said, could still build market-rate accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, in much of the city. “The difference here is it would be affordable.”
Supporters of the initiatives include former City Council member Cynthia Carlisle; former Planning Board member John Gerstle; Margaret LeCompte, a plaintiff in a lawsuit over utility fees for the South Boulder Creek flood project; and Steven Telleen, president of the South East Boulder Neighborhood Association and an opponent of the flood project.
No formal opposition campaign has registered with the city.
To qualify for the ballot, organizers must collect 3,401 signatures from registered Boulder voters by May 28.
Good.
The formal opposition campaign will be the Boulder Progressives and the YIMBY’s,, backed by the developers, who believe that only the market can build affordability. Of course this is nonsense. That 11,000 number is not happening, the construction resources do not exist and we are entering a recession.
Why are only these zoning districts targeted for ADU affordability requirements? Is it more to discourage ADUs in certain neighborhoods? Why not extend it to all zones?
Emily Reynolds I need to sign your petition if I haven’t already. lynnsegal7@hotmail.com 303-434-8128 24/7
It is funny that multi-million dollar homeowners are never asked or expected to make ‘affordability’ provisions when selling their house and making hundreds of thousands in capital gains but renters are expected to subsidize other units in their building. I would much rather see taxes go up on existing multi-millionaire homes than charge new residents and renters through development fees and affordability requirements. Development fees just get passed onto renters and prevent new housing from being built while NIMBYs continue to enforce economic segregation and environmental damage by fighting new housing where people want to live. It is time to really solve the housing crisis and just allow by right duplexes and triplexes across Boulder.