Boulder seeking input on vitality plan

BOULDER – Room to grow and incentives are among the chief concerns highlighted by Boulder business leaders as the city begins reaching out to them while developing its new economic vitality plan.

Liz Hanson, Boulder economic vitality coordinator, briefly outlined how the city will revise its plans during a luncheon Tuesday hosted by Boulder Tomorrow.

The city has retained the Boulder Economic Council and the Business Research Division of the University of Colorado’s Leeds School of Business to collaborate on the project. They will help the city reach out as it works to come up with a proposal for City Council, which tentatively is scheduled to review the plan in August.

“Listening will be a really key part of what we want to do,” Hanson said.

Preliminary conversations with businesses large and small indicate that Boulder’s space crunch could become increasingly problematic, Boulder Economic Council executive director Clif Harald said.

“Whatever it is, it’s incredible to me how many companies are looking at significant expansions,” Harald said. “Almost every industry and every size of business is in a very dynamic mode right now.”

While that’s generally good news, Harald said, companies founded in Boulder can outgrow the city and head elsewhere.

“These space constraints become very real, very material and very serious very, very fast,” Harald said. “I’m dreading the day there’s a headline about a brand-name company that heads down the highway, a la Webroot, but it’s going to happen.”

City staffers understand the challenge, Hanson said.

“We have primary employers that want to remain in Boulder and grow in Boulder, but sometimes it’s hard to find the right space,” Hanson said.

Regional competition also is an increasing issue. Boulder doesn’t offer the incentives some local communities do, and the building stock in the city is not as new or nice as that in nearby cities such as Broomfield, Hanson said.