The document summarizes how two cities that were once similar in size to Columbia, Boulder, CO and Springfield, MO, have grown and addressed challenges of increasing populations. Boulder chose to strictly control growth through taxes and land acquisition, limiting expansion to 1% annually, while Springfield faced issues from a lack of available land and faulty development plans, slowing its growth rate in half since 2000. Both cities look to increase density and sustainable development to manage future growth.

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A tale of two cities
Boulder and Springfield were once the size of Columbia. Here’s how they stack up today
BY VOXSTAFF
OCTOBER 30, 2015 3:21 PM
Like many cities with flagship universities — Madison, Wisconsin;
Columbus, Ohio; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Athens, Georgia, to name a few —
Columbia is experiencing constant growth and must decide how to handle it.
To better understand the coming changes, we looked at how Boulder,
Colorado, and Springfield, Missouri, which were both once the size of
Columbia, to see how they addressed problems inherent with increasing
populations.
HOME > COLUMBIA DEVELOPMENT > A TALE OF TWO CITIES

2. Boulder, Colorado
By Ben Landis
The population of Boulder, Colorado, has risen slowly and steadily year after
year, and that’s just how the residents like it. From the 1950s to the 1970s,
Boulder experienced exponential growth, which brought large corporations
and technology companies and jobs to the city. The businesses were
attracted to Boulder’s educated population; the city is home to the
University of Colorado. Dramatically affected by the seemingly out-of-
control growth, residents and city leaders decided to control the expansion
with an increase in taxes that would make it harder for property to be
developed.
The goal of the 1967 tax program, which reflected residents’
environmentalist concerns, and was to slow urban sprawl. The Greenbelt
Amendment, or Open Space program of 1967, raised taxes 1 cent, and with
the money, the city bought land to keep it out of developers’ hands.
“We are historically and remain a slow-growth community,” says David
Driskell, Boulder’s executive director for planning, housing and
sustainability. “We have a policy that we don’t want to grow more than one
percent per year.” Driskell, who has held his current position for six years,
says the city has continually met the goal of controlling the population since
1995. Boulder doesn’t directly limit the number of residents, but it does
strictly regulate land use. Residential growth is limited to one percent a year
with some exception including affordable housing. Boulder remains
landlocked by choice and legislation, according to Driskell. However, as the
city contains growth, Boulder County, home to four cities and seven towns, is
expanding.
To put into perspective how densely populated Boulder is, consider that
Columbia, at 63.08 square miles with a population of 116,906, is two and a
half times larger than Boulder, which is 25.8 square miles and has a
population of 105,112. And Columbia is still growing. According to the
annexation map from the city’s website, Columbia acquired two more plots
of land in 2014, located in the south and east.
Similar to Boulder, Columbia has repurposed some of its buildings to better
accommodate the city’s needs. Boulder has sold some of its older industrial
buildings to private sector corporations for repurposing. Historical buildings
have been revitalized and many construction projects have produced a more
appealing downtown for some residents. In Columbia, developments like the
shiny, luxury apartment complexes of District Flats and the Lofts of
Columbia, which target students and young professionals, have been
vehemently debated. Due to the limited amount of available space in
downtown, developers are building up. Both buildings are approximately six
stories high. Some residents worry that building this way will alter the
vantage point of Jesse Hall as the beacon of downtown. Both cities have
height restriction on buildings; Columbia’s is 120 feet or 10 stories high,
while Boulder’s is limited to 55 feet or approximately five stories. Academic
institutions in Boulder are exempt.
Boulder’s long-standing policies have caused property values to rise while
limiting affordable housing. Driskell says the biggest challenge the city faces
is developing and preserving affordability for housing. The median price for
a house was $489,400 in 2014, but the median income was $89,500. The large
discrepancy between income and home values causes a significant problem
when it comes to accommodating what Driskell characterized as those in the
middle class income bracket. “Our focus is on places in the city that are
underutilized, where we can create mixed use and multifamily housing as

3. well as townhomes and small-lot, single-family homes,” Driskell says.
Much of the land Boulder acquired cannot be developed or built upon.
Driskell says outside developers often team up with a local developers to
ease the approval process elsewhere. Up to 40 percent of private real estate
deals are conducted in cash, Driskell says. This indicates developers are
usually well-established financially prior to acquiring the land. Even when
they finish the deal, the purchasers still have to adhere to the multiplicity of
regulations.
Boulder citizens are as active and invested in how the city plans to handle
future development as they were 40 years ago, Driskell says. Residents have
pushed for and in some cases started initiatives such as “Development Shall
Pay Its Own Way” and “Neighborhood’s Right to Vote,” which aims to give
them a stronger voice in how the city redefines land up for repurposing. The
Development Shall Pay Its Own Way initiative is connected to the Right to
Vote Plan and wants developers to “fully pay for or otherwise provide all the
additional facilities and services required to fully offset the burdens that
otherwise would have been imposed by such new development on city
facilities and services,” according to the shared initiative website. With the
highly engaged community, it’s hard to facilitate the development review
process, Driskell says.
In Columbia, many business owners say the new apartments are beneficial to
their businesses. But the developments downtown and large areas of land
being turned into subdivisions have caused some residents to take polarized
stances on the issue. Concern about urban sprawl, storm water runoffs and
how an inadequate sewer system will handle more apartments contributes to
that polarization. Over the years, Columbia has continued expansion in
order to compensate for a growing population, but Boulder chose a decidedly
different option.
Springfield, Missouri
By David Soler Crespo
Springfield, the third largest city in Missouri behind Kansas City and St.
Louis, has experienced strong growth during the past few decades. Columbia
is following the same trend. In Columbia and Springfield, education and
healthcare are the primary industries that helped drive that growth. In
Springfield, 37,000 people — 16 percent of the total city workforce — were
employed in those fields in 2013. Columbia’s five major employers, also in
healthcare or education, accounted for 20 percent of the workforce the same
year.
Springfield is home to Missouri State University, which has a record
enrollment of 24,735 students for the 2015–2016 school year. That number
represents an increase of 70 percent in 20 years. Bob Hosmer, principal
planner for Springfield’s Development and Review Department, says the
city’s growth has mirrored that of Missouri State. Similarly, Columbia’s
growth follows MU’s, which has a record estimated 35,000 students this fall.
Hosmer says it’s important for cities to compare themselves to and learn
from other places that have experienced similar growth. For Springfield, that
means analyzing cities such as Salt Lake City, Utah; Knoxville, Tennessee;
Savannah, Georgia and Huntsville, Alabama. Springfield compares itself on a
variety of factors, including household income and job growth. Although
Columbia doesn’t have an official program, Mayor Bob McDavid says he
looks at similar college cities to better understand how they deal with
expansion.

4. The primary issues Springfield faces, which slowed its growth by half since
2000, are limited available land for expansion and a faulty city plan, Hosmer
says. Springfield hopes to acquire 30 percent more land by 2020 because the
city has exhausted all the land it has, he adds. Hosmer blames Missouri’s
harsh annexation laws for not allowing the major expansion stated in its
Vision 20/20 development plan. “(The plan) was not as detailed as we
needed,” he says. As a result, Springfield does not have a clear line of action
for some problems, such as protecting neighborhoods while encouraging the
expansion of commercial areas.
Because of this, the city’s Growth Management and Land Use Comprehensive
Plan is now focused on sustainable development in already urbanized areas.
In other words, reduce sprawl occurring outside the city, and work on
improving what already exists. Although the city encourages taller buildings
downtown, Hosmer says officials won’t ignore the possibility of growing in
the periphery.
Columbia follows a similar trend. The 2013 Columbia Imagined Plan
mentions limiting growth beyond the established areas and supporting
value-added growth to urban areas.
Although both cities would like to see taller structures, this hasn’t occurred
yet. Hosmer says the practice is not profitable for Springfield developers
because inexpensive land is still available on the edges of the city. He hopes
to see an updated development plan that involves the entire community.
As they eye the future, both cities look to sustainable growth and increased
population density to help solve problems. Yet, how those plans will play out
over the next few decades is anyone’s guess.
Local Perspective: Rachel Bacon, city planner
By Jillian Deutsch
You’d think it was the street view that got someone interested in city
planning, but for Rachel Bacon, a Columbia city planner and liaison to
Columbia Historic Preservation Commission, her interest began in the sky.
Seeing the city grids from the window of an airplane got her thinking about
how someone can “shape the world you live in.”
Now Bacon engages directly with many of the difficult decisions about how
and where Columbia will grow. But, she says, we’re in a good position.
“So many towns would kill to have what we have,” Bacon says. “We have a
vibrant downtown, a mix of people, a place that people want to come to.”
She understands the importance of walkability and of accessing the outdoors
throughout the city with bike paths and green space.
Bacon is also excited about the possibility of mixed-use developments that
provide a variety of housing alongside businesses, including restaurants,
offices and shops. These developments would have a similar feel, all the
while providing an array of activities for residents on foot.
But she doesn’t want Columbia to get too shiny. There needs to be a certain
gritty factor, she says. She used the example of Manhattan in the 1990s,
when people felt like things were too polished and the city was losing its
character.
“It’s hard to put your finger on character,” she says. “That unique cornice,

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that one brick that’s not quite the right color, and you wonder what the story
was.”
Bacon still wants to see interesting people and be surprised when she walks
around the corner.
As she puts it, “I don’t want us to be too perfect.”
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