Strong Towns national organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit media advocacy organization. It produces content that analyzes the failures of the post-war North American development pattern while giving citizens the knowledge and tools to start making our places better today.
CityVitals is an urbanist group based out of Boulder, Colorado. Additionally, we are an independent local chapter of the national Strong Towns movement. We’re organizing for a Boulder that works for everyone: walkable neighborhoods, safer, and more vibrant streets, more homes in more places, and the resilient public finances to sustain it.
CityVitals advocates for policy reforms, runs projects, and organize regular events around Boulder. Members are welcomed and encouraged to testify at City Council hearings, organize walking tours, host educational workshops/meeting presentations, and build coalitions with similar organizations in the area.
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The City of Boulder maintains a citywide building height limit to preserve the scenic mountain views and community character. The height limit was established by voter-approved charter amendment in 1971 with a limit of 35ft in general zones, 38ft in the downtown area, 40ft in industrial districts, and a maximum of 55ft.
Recently, City Council has explored easing height restrictions for specific cases.
Upzoning refers to a locality changing the zoning rules for an area to allow for building more densely and for building more housing.
Over the passed years the City of Boulder has engaged in many policy changes allowing for higher density housing to be built. January 2024, the city replaced minimum lot area requirements with Floor Area Ratio (FAR) which allows for more housing and removes incentives to develop larger sized units. March 2025, the city passed Ordinance 8666 which allows for single-family homes within 350ft of a bus line to be converted to duplexes and triplexes regardless of lot size or zoning.
Parking minimums are government mandated requirements that force businesses and residences to be built with a mandatory number of parking spaces. These requirements are often arbitrary and disconnected from the needs and wants of residents and local businesses. Historically, parking minimums hurt local businesses, lead to less housing being built, and reduce cities of the tax funds that they’d get from more productive use of the land than mandatory parking occupies.
Pursuant to Ordinance 8696, August 23, 2025, the City of Boulder eliminated all minimum off-street parking requirements for every land use.
An Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) is a secondary unit of housing on a property with a primary residence. ADUs can be a detached coach house in the backyard or an attached unit within the existing building.
February 2025, the City of Boulder loosened ADU regulations in concurrence with the passing of HB24-1152.