Co-ops: A balancing act
By Bob Yates
On Tuesday, October 4, the Boulder City Council will work on an ordinance that could permit co-operative housing under certain circumstances. The ordinance is still very much a draft and Tuesday's hearing will not be the last word on the matter. So, it's appropriate now to take a step back and look at what's being proposed, and why some people think it's a bad idea.
First, let's describe where things stand now. Boulder's law permits no more than three or four unrelated people to live in a dwelling unit; the number depends on the unit's zoning. There are no limits on how many related people can live in a place. In theory, a couple could live with 10 kids in a house (when my father was growing up in Omaha, he was a member of a 12-person family living in a two bedroom house, with one bathroom). Boulder does have a co-op ordinance on the books that permits more than four unrelated people to live in a house, but it is so restrictive that it's never been used. Boulder's three recognized and successful "co-ops" are actually boarding houses under the law. And, of course, there are several co-ops that are technically illegal, along with many houses that are just plain over-occupied. Like many of Boulder's quality-of-life rules, over-occupancy tends to be enforced on a complaint basis; Boulder's police generally don't go out checking who is sleeping in what house unless a problem is reported.
Those who live in unlicensed co-ops--and those who want to--approached the city staff and City Council a while ago and asked that we consider amending Boulder's existing co-op ordinance to permit more co-ops to be formed and licensed... Read more
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