Let’s Put the ‘Comprehensive’ in the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan

Originally published by BizWest, March 31, 2026. 

When I think “comprehensive,” I think something like an encyclopedia, a complete medical exam or a Las Vegas buffet table. I really expect them to have everything covered. I wouldn’t want, for example, to have an encyclopedia that leaves out everything that begins with the letter R, or a medical exam that doesn’t test me for my advancing senility, or a Vegas buffet without the carving table.

Just the same, a truly comprehensive plan should measure success through the lens of one of the most fundamental elements of a healthy community: economic vibrancy.

To be clear, there is a great deal to appreciate in the most recent draft update to the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan, also known as the BVCP or simply the comp plan. The document reflects thoughtful work and meaningful community engagement. Its clarity and succinctness — reducing policies from 210 to 102 — make it far more accessible and usable. This is a significant improvement.

The Boulder Chamber also is excited about elements of the plan that feature previously sidelined industry sectors, such as the arts and culture community and local food system. It states that “Boulder’s creative sector is a defining strength of the community and a key driver of its economic vitality,” and we couldn’t have said it any better. And where it recognizes that a “strong local food system can positively impact the resiliency, culture, health, economy and environment of the Boulder Valley and its surrounding areas,” we say, “Amen.”

Other features of the comp plan align with key Boulder Chamber policy goals. For example, we appreciate the additional focus on “increasing housing options for middle-income households.” This includes positive support from both Boulder’s City Council and Planning Board for exploration of Area III properties for this purpose. There’s also a general move toward greater flexibility within planning zones — moving from 26 rigid defined designations down to 12 with higher level guidance — a central Boulder Chamber advocacy theme. And the emphasis on “moving people” through an “integrated and complete multimodal system” is a direction we endorse.

In areas where we might quibble, we further appreciate the nod to energy resilience. Yet we think there should be even more emphasis on a generally more stable electric power grid that meets today’s commercial and residential needs. There also is important attention to equity, both in how the plan was developed and in the filters it applies. And we applaud a policy that states, affirmatively, that the “city and county work to foster a diverse, inclusive, and welcoming community, recognizing that diversity strengthens community well-being.” However, we must affirm that continued efforts to enhance Boulder’s attractiveness and accessibility to a diversity of residents and a multicultural workforce also are critical elements of our economic vitality.

Finally, with almost a full page dedicated to specific elements of economic policy, we can hardly complain, but . . .

Words and broadly stated policies are one thing. Where the draft Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan moves from guidelines to actual on-the-ground implementation steps, though, there is nary a mention of economic vitality. We see filters for assessing each land use “Hub Class”: “Land Use Goals,” “Environmental Goals,” “Mobility Goals,” and “Equity Goal.” What’s missing is the economic vitality lens.

When we talk about different land use types, it’s a major miss when we fail to measure, understand and consider their impact on our economy. Embedding an economic vitality lens alongside other key evaluation criteria would strengthen accountability and ensure that we are truly aligning Comprehensive Plan implementation with our stated goals.

It’s one thing to say, “Our economy is resilient, inclusive and driven by innovation and collaboration to benefit all who live, work and visit the Boulder Valley” as a value. We make a much more substantive commitment to that value when you measure each action by its impact on our economic vitality. That is what will hold us accountable to the stated goals for our economy, in the same way that we want to measure our commitment to environmental, mobility, land use and equity goals.

This is not about changing the vision — it’s about ensuring we can deliver on it.

A comprehensive plan should be “comprehensive” not only in its aspirations, but in how it measures and executes them. By incorporating economic vitality into the implementation framework, we can better ensure that Boulder remains a place where people and businesses alike can thrive.