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On Tuesday night, September 19, 2006, the Council reconsidered its vote of this last May to ignore the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan rules so that they could make more land available for annexation and development at any time, rather than only once every 5 years.

Under the BVCP, the City can only annex land that is inside what is called the Service Area, or Area II. On Tuesday, the Council voted 6-3 to reject an attempt to limit expansions of the Service Area to once every 5 years, thereby keeping open the option they created in May to enlarge the area from which land could be annexed.

Areas under consideration for possible annexation include the nearly 500 acres in the Planning Reserve north of Jay Road and east of US 36, and, since their May motion was open-ended as to location, possibly other parcels like the Valmont Butte.

The BVCP rules for 5 year updates states, "Certain kinds of changes will be considered only at the five-year review, [in particular] service area expansions...that do not satisfy the criteria for consideration as part of a mid-term review." The mid-term criteria specifically exclude from consideration at any time other than the 5 year review service area expansions of more than 10 acres, those that are not compatible with the surrounding area, and those that have any major negative impact on transportation, environment, services, facilities, or budget.

The proposals that the Council is considering will clearly meet these criteria and thus should be excluded from consideration until 2010.

Unfortunately, the BVCP is not enforceable by the citizens or the Planning Board, as it is an agreement between the Council and the County Commissioners. And so far the Commissioners have remained silent on this matter, which will only serve to encourage the Council to further violate the BVCP and make a mockery of what was once Boulder's most famous land use planning innovation.

See the earlier story on this for more details.