Trinity Commons project on council’s agenda

BOULDER – The Boulder City Council will consider adopting an ordinance at its June 3 meeting allowing more units and greater density than current zoning allows for Trinity Commons, a mixed-use, affordable residential project that has been on the planning board for years.

Property owner Trinity Evangelical English Lutheran Church, a Colorado nonprofit corporation, wants to build 24 affordable attached housing units, 16 of which would be earmarked for senior housing, on an existing parking lot at Trinity Lutheran Church at 2200 Broadway in Boulder. The project would include a new fellowship hall for the church.

The Boulder Planning department is urging the council to adopt an ordinance that would allow the project to move forward. Presently, the plans are not consistent with residential density and floor area limits as zoned.

The proposed project will provide affordable housing, community meeting space and office space for nonprofit organizations, all considered benefits to the community. As part of ordinance, the developer must apply to landmark the historic parts of church built in 1929.

The project, first introduced in 2006, has changed its scope since then, but a main stumbling block was the financial crisis in 2008 that impacted the ability of the developer to obtain financing for the project.