An effort to reduce the hurdles often standing in the way of a new small business is now underway in Boulder.
Members of the Boulder City Council have voted in favor of an ordinance that takes effect this month and is designed to reduce the time it takes to get approval for various development applications.
“This is a huge positive step forward,” Mayor Aaron Brockett remarked of the ordinance, which is the result of a study begun last year by the city’s Planning and Development Services Department.
A more streamlined process, say city officials, could reduce a waiting time that has been as long as more than half a year to just a matter of weeks.
The new process may also prove particularly welcome for a project involving new construction or the renovation of an existing structure.
According to city documents, the streamlining effort includes “transitioning all development review services online, while also integrating in-person and telephone assistance.”
The new ordinance comes after Boulder earlier this year adopted an official Citywide Strategic Plan exploring how to “streamline processes for housing, parking, infrastructure, land use, and events that tie directly to priority community outcomes.”
In taking on a more streamlined approach, the city may well find itself reducing roughly “40% of call-up memos developed by staff and reviewed by the Planning Board.”
According to the publication Boulder Reporting Lab the changes to the process come after businesses in the city have complained about “long wait times, and bureaucratic hassles, costing them time and money.”
Such dynamics are particularly on display, continues the publication, for “businesses and residents unfamiliar with how to navigate the city’s permitting process.”
Project applicants in recent years in Boulder have asserted that compounding their problems has been a planning department that became understaffed during Covid 19. That department is now thought to be back to pre-pandemic staffing levels.
According to the website crowdspring.com, city governments across the country are increasingly trying to reduce the amount of paperwork needed to start a business.
In this effort, nine cities in the West – Austin, Boulder, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Provo, Salt Lake City, Seattle, and San Francisco – are rated as the “best cities in the United States for startups and entrepreneurs.”
By Garry Boulard
Image Credit: Courtesy of Pixabay
