BOULDER TILTS AT RETAIL.

• Author: PETERSON, ERIC

CROSSROADS MALL IN CHAOS.

ERRATIC SALES TAX RECEIPTS.

THE FLATIRON CROSSING THREAT.

AND THE COMMUNITY VITALITY ACT.

WEAT DOES BOULDER WANTS.

Imagine an Aurora-sized city nestled up against the Colorado Rockies, complete with its own alpine Coney Island and chic mega-mall. If developers had been left to their own devices for the last 100 years, this would be the Boulder of Y2K. But it's not.

Boulder more or less has avoided sprawl because of its citizens' historic stand against uncontrolled growth. In 1910, long before Mork from Ork came to town, Boulder residents beat back an effort to build an amusement park on the summit of Flagstaff Mountain.

Fifty years later, Boulder's population began to boom, and in 1976 voters approved the Danish Plan, named after Paul Danish, the councilman who had pushed the plan via a petition drive. The ordinance limited the number of residential building permits in any year to 2% of the existing base.

The plan's philosophy lives on in Boulder's growth management system today -- except that the limit is now 1%. Over the years, the city also has purchased 25,000 acres of open space and enacted a 55-foot height limit on new construction.

But no such policies have slowed Boulder's commercial and industrial development, resulting in today's booming high-tech economy and daily influx of 50,000 commuters.

The law of unintended consequences has played a major role, too. City sales tax receipts swooned, then suddenly surged. Boulder's nominal retail center, Crossroads Mall, should be well on its way to a revival. But it continues to resist all redevelopment efforts.

Then there's the Community Vitality Act. Last fall, local organizations proposed the act, which would limit the number of national chains in Boulder and give preferential treatment to locally owned businesses. As the city council reviews the CVA, some Boulderites argue that anti-chain legislation could threaten the city's shaky retail sales tax base. Others see the proposal as a proactive way to defend local businesses against deep-pocketed national companies.

"There's some interesting ideas in (the CVA), but I'm maintaining an agnosticism on the subject," said Danish, who now serves as a Boulder County commissioner. "I think that if Boulder were to pass that[ldots]there are other communities which would welcome those businesses with open arms."

Boulder has served as a regional retail hub for a century But with commuters and others settling in nearby...