Suzy Ageton George Karakehian KC Becker Tim ... - City of Boulder

movement into more stable daily living. Such stability would enable some of Boulder’s most
vulnerable residents to become fully participating members of the larger community.
BACKGROUND
The Bridge House Board of Directors has been searching for a larger site for the last two years.
The current facility, a 1,250 square-foot carriage house, at 1120 ½ Pine Street, is too small to
accommodate the 120 people it currently serves each day. The day services provided in the Pine
Street facility are physically separated from the agency’s Community Table dinner program, as
these meals are provided in nearby churches. Overcrowding in the current location forces Bridge
House clientele to use the facility in shifts. This results in use of alternative public indoor and
outdoor spaces. Other organizational inefficiencies caused by the size limitations of the current
facility include the inability to have confidential conversations with clients, provide support
services, store adequate supplies and provide adequate work space in the building for staff.
According to the Bridge House strategic plan, a larger facility would enable it to serve more
people at one time during the day, increase service hours, serve evening meals, add more space
for case management, provide space for complementary service providers’ staff to offer on-site
services and provide large meeting rooms to host therapeutic group and other community
meetings.
The Bridge House relocation committee, formed in April 2011 to assist Bridge House in
identifying and assessing appropriate potential sites, meets every two weeks with representatives
of Bridge House (staff and board), several City of Boulder departments (Housing and Human
Services, Community Sustainability and Planning, Downtown University Hill Management
Division - Parking Services, Open Space and Mountain Parks), Boulder County Community
Services, members of Boulder’s research and business communities (Downtown Management
Commission, Downtown Boulder Inc.) and members of the University of Colorado’s School of
Architecture and Planning. The focus of the committee has been on identifying and reviewing
potential properties. The Bridge House Board of Directors will make final decisions on what
properties to move forward with.
ANALYSIS
A process to identify and assess potential sites was developed by the Bridge House and the
relocation committee. To date, approximately 36 properties have been identified and analyzed by
the committee. The process listed below has resulted in four properties being considered in
greater detail by the Bridge House Board of Directors:
A. Site Identification: Potential sites are located, analyzed (see review process below) and
feasible sites are forwarded to the Bridge House Board of Directors for further consideration.
B. Review Process:
1. property of interest is identified through city staff, relocation committee or Bridge House;
2. property is evaluated against zoning and services map;
3. property is evaluated and scored against property matrix criteria;
4. zoning and land use questions are assembled and submitted to Community Sustainability
and Planning staff;
Information Item 2C Page 2