An attorney for the Twin Lakes Action Group has sent a formal cease-and-desist letter to Boulder Housing Partners, the Boulder Valley School District, Boulder and Boulder County demanding a stop to development at a proposed affordable housing development.
The group contends two sales of the property where the proposed Palo Park is located were not legal or valid and argue that work on the development must stop until the title on the property is cleared, according to a demand letter.
BHP and Flatirons Habitat for Humanity are working to design housing on the 3.2-acre site located at 4525 Palo Parkway. Boulder purchased the property in 2006 with the intention of developing it as affordable housing and transferred ownership to BHP in 2015, according to the BHP website.
The plan for the site includes 44 housing units for people of mixed incomes and construction, once it starts, will likely take about 14 months. Leasing could happen by the middle of 2018.
The demand letter contends that the 2006 sale of the property by the Boulder Valley School District to the city was improper, because the school district was required to transfer ownership of the property back to the original developer if it no longer had any use for it.
Because the 2006 sale was not done property and is therefore void, then by extension so is the 2015 sale, according to the letter, which demands that the four agencies named in the letter respond before any work moves forward.
TLAG, the organization behind the letter, says on its website that it was formed to “preserve the rural residential look and feel of our neighborhoods and the surrounding areas.”
The group is also involved in a dispute with Boulder County over a planned affordable housing development in Gunbarrel near Twin Lakes Road, but TLAG Chairman Dave Rechberger said the group took Wednesday’s action because groundbreaking is imminent at the Palo Parkway. The proposed development at Twin Lakes is still in the planning phase.
Rechberger said that the Palo Park property was “dedicated,” which means the original developer had to set aside lands to be used for schools or parks. As the owner of the property, the school district had to use it to build a school, and once it had no use for it, the school district was required to give the developer right of first refusal.
“That was never brought to bear in the Palo Park property,” he said. “That is the basis of our cease and desist.”
The letter states that TLAG intends to continue pursuing legal remedies in court, including seeking an injunction, a temporary restraining order and seeking to have the ownership revert back to the original developer.
BHP Executive Director Betsey Martens said her organization is reviewing the points raised in the letter and said she couldn’t comment yet as to the merits of the order. BVSD and Boulder County did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
Boulder spokeswoman Sarah Huntley said that the city has received the letter, which “essentially repeats arguments that have been made in the past.”
“The city attorney’s office will be drafting a response,” Huntley said. “But the city believes the allegations are baseless.”
Sara Toole lives in Northfield Commons, near the proposed development, and said the issue is not about affordable housing — she claims her neighborhood has 44 percent permanent affordable housing already — but one of suitability.
“This parcel of land and location is not suited for high-density development,” she said. “Our neighborhood already has significant parking and speeding issues.”
She added that the property should be used for the “dedicated” purpose as a school or park.
“We should not have had to resort to a lawsuit for the city to follow its own laws regarding dedications,” she said. “The city could have simply listened to us and lowered the density for this development and increased the affordable ownership ratio.”
John Bear: 303-473-1355, bearj@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/johnbearwithme
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