Quasi Judicial Memo

City of Boulder City Council Quasi-Judicial Agenda Item Meeting Date: May 7, 2026 Agenda Title Second reading and consideration of a motion to adopt Ordinance 8741 designating the property at 745 University Ave., City of Boulder, Colorado, to be known as the Polls and Registration House, as an individual landmark under Chapter 9-11, “Historic Preservation,” B.R.C. 1981; and setting forth related details.

Staff Contact • •

Marcy Gerwing, Principal Historic Preservation Planner, Planning and Development Services Brad Mueller, Director, Planning and Development Services

Draft Motion Language Motion to adopt Ordinance 8741 designating the property at 745 University Ave., City of Boulder, Colorado, to be known as the Polls and Registration House, as an individual landmark under the City of Boulder Historic Preservation Ordinance; and setting forth related details.

Executive Summary On Feb. 4, 2026, the Landmarks Board voted unanimously (5-0) to recommend that the City Council designate the property at 745 University Ave. as a local historic landmark, to be known as the Polls and Registration House, finding that it meets the standards for individual landmark designation in Sections 9-11-1 and 9-11-2, B.R.C. 1981. The purpose of this agenda item is for City Council to consider second reading of an ordinance designating the property at 745 University Ave. as an individual landmark under the city’s Historic Preservation Ordinance. The council must determine whether

the proposed individual landmark designation of the property meets the purposes and standards of the Historic Preservation Ordinance (Sections 9-11-1 and 9-11-2, B.R.C. 1981). This includes that the landmark designation: 1. Will promote the public health, safety, and welfare by protecting, enhancing, and perpetuating buildings, sites, and areas of the city reminiscent of past eras, events, and persons important in local, state, or national history or providing significant examples of architectural styles of the past. 2. Will develop and maintain appropriate settings and environments for such buildings, sites, and areas to enhance property values, stabilize neighborhoods, promote tourist trade and interest, and foster knowledge of the city’s living heritage. 3. Will draw a reasonable balance between private property rights and the public interest in preserving the city’s cultural, historic, and architectural heritage by ensuring that demolition of buildings and structures important to that heritage will be carefully weighed with other alternatives and that alterations to such buildings and structures and new construction will respect the character of each such setting, not by imitating surrounding structures, but by being compatible with them. The property owner is in support of the designation. If approved, Ordinance 8741 would result in the designation of the property as an individual landmark. The findings are included in the ordinance. A second reading for this designation will be a quasi-judicial public hearing.

Council Action Options Option

Outcome

Approve the application

If the application is approved Ordinance 8741 would result in the designation of the property as an individual landmark.

Approve the application with additional conditions

City Council may modify the landmark boundary and landmark name. Council would need to draft any modifications to the draft motion language and approval, based on the criteria for review.

Deny the application

If the application is denied the property would not be designated as an individual landmark.

Key Issues N/A

Background Property Description & Site Context The property at 745 University Ave. is located midblock between 7th and 8th Streets on University Avenue. The house faces south onto University Avenue and the rear backs up to an unnamed alley. Gregory Creek runs along the east property line for a short distance before cutting across the adjacent property (765 University Ave.). The property is located within the identified potential Expanded Highland Lawn Historic District. The house was constructed in 1907 and is significant for its use as a voluntary election place for ward 3, precinct 3 for two decades (1908 to 1928); for its connection to Boulder’s voting history, including municipal questions regarding prohibition, city charter development and adoption, the “Hare system of preferential voting” (now called the single transferable vote in Colorado statutes), and the election of Boulder’s first female councilmember; and as the residence of Leo Novak, professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Colorado–Boulder, and Lena Novak, a teacher at Whittier Elementary School, who purchased the house in 1946 and lived there for 45 years. It is also significant as a good example of the Edwardian Vernacular style, popular in Boulder at the turn of the twentieth century and for its environmental significance with site characteristics that include mature trees and Gregory Creek on the east side of the property.

Application Description The Landmarks Board recommends the property be known as the Polls and Registration House to recognize the property’s use as a voluntary election place for ward 3, precinct 3 for two decades. This is consistent with the Landmark Board’s Guidelines for Names of Landmarked Structures and Sites (1988) and the National Register of Historic Places Guidelines for Designation. See Guidelines for Names of Landmarked Structures and Sites (link). The Landmarks Board recommends the boundary be established to follow the property lines of the lot, consistent with current and past practices and the National Register Guidelines for establishing landmark boundaries. This boundary is supported by the property owner.

Application History On Feb. 4, 2026, the Landmarks Board voted unanimously (5-0) to recommend that the City Council designate the property at 745 University Ave. as a local historic landmark, to be known as the Polls and Registration House, finding that it meets the standards for individual landmark designation in Sections 9-11-1 and 9-11-2, B.R.C. 1981.

Public Comment At the Landmarks Board public hearing, two members of the public spoke in support of the designation.

Criteria for Review Applicable Boulder Revised Code Sections Section 9-11-6(b), Council Ordinance Designating Landmark or Historic District, of the historic preservation ordinance specifies that in its review of an application for local landmark designation, the council must consider “whether the designation meets the purposes and standards in Subsections 9-11-1(a) and Section 9-11-2, City Council May Designate Landmarks and Historic Districts, B.R.C. 1981, in balance with the goals and policies of the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan.” The City Council shall approve by ordinance, modify and approve by ordinance, or disapprove the proposed designation. 9-11-1, Legislative Intent, B.R.C. 1981 states: (a) The purpose of this chapter is to promote the public health, safety, and welfare by protecting, enhancing, and perpetuating buildings, sites, and areas of the city reminiscent of past eras, events, and persons important in local, state, or national history or providing significant examples of architectural styles of the past. It is also the purpose of this chapter to develop and maintain appropriate settings and environments for such buildings, sites, and areas to enhance property values, stabilize neighborhoods, promote tourist trade and interest, and foster knowledge of the city’s living heritage. (b) The City Council does not intend by this chapter to preserve every old building in the city but instead to draw a reasonable balance between private property rights and the public interest in preserving the city’s cultural, historic, and architectural heritage by ensuring that demolition of buildings and structures important to that heritage will be carefully weighed with other alternatives and that alterations to such buildings and structures and new construction will respect the character of each such setting, not by imitating surrounding structures, but by being compatible with them. (c) The City Council intends that in reviewing applications for alterations to and new construction on landmarks or structures in a historic district, the Landmarks Board shall follow relevant city policies, including, without limitation, energyefficient design, access for the disabled, and creative approaches to renovation.

9-11-2, City Council may Designate Landmarks and Historic Districts, B.R.C. 1981 states: (a) Pursuant to the procedures in this chapter the City Council may by ordinance: (1) Designate as a landmark an individual building or other feature or an integrated group of structures or features on a single lot or site having a special character and historical, architectural, or aesthetic interest or value and designate a landmark site for each landmark; (2) Designate as a historic district a contiguous area containing a number of sites, buildings, structures or features having a special character and historical, architectural, or aesthetic interest or value and constituting a distinct section of the city; (3) Designate as a discontiguous historic district a collection of sites, buildings, structures, or features which are contained in two or more geographically separate areas, having a special character and historical, architectural, or aesthetic interest or value that are united together by historical, architectural, or aesthetic characteristics; and (4) Amend designations to add features or property to or from the site or district. Upon designation, the property included in any such designation is subject to all the requirements of this code and other ordinances of the city.

Applicable Plans and Guidelines N/A

Analysis Summary of Significance To assist in the interpretation of the historic preservation ordinance, the Landmarks Board adopted an administrative regulation in 1975 establishing Significance Criteria for Individual Landmarks (link). For additional information on the history of the property, see the Feb. 4, 2026 Landmarks Board Memorandum (link).

ANALYSIS:

A. Would the designation protect, enhance, and perpetuate a property reminiscent of a past era(s), event(s), and person(s) important in local, state, or national history in Boulder or provide a significant example of architecture of the past?

Staff considers, and the Landmarks Board found, that the proposed designation of the property at 745 University Ave. will protect, enhance, and perpetuate a property reminiscent of a past era of history and preserve an important example of Boulder’s historic architecture.

B. Does the proposed application develop and maintain appropriate settings and environments for such buildings, sites, and areas to enhance property values, stabilize neighborhoods, promote tourist trade and interest, and foster knowledge of the City’s living heritage? Staff considers, and the Landmarks Board found, that the proposed designation will maintain an appropriate setting and environment for the building and site, and enhance property values, stabilize the neighborhood, promote tourist trade and interest, and foster knowledge of the city’s living heritage. HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE: Summary: The property located at 745 University Ave. meets the following historic significance criteria. 1. Date of Construction: 1907 Elaboration: Boulder County records list the year of construction of 1907. The finished house was sold to its first resident in January 1908. 2. Association with Persons or Events: The property at 745 University Ave. has had a number of owners over the last 118 years. The longest owners, Leo and Lena Novak, purchased the house in 1946 and lived there for 45 years. Leo Novak was a professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Colorado–Boulder. Lena was a teacher at Whittier Elementary School. Current owners, Celeste Landry and Eric Cornell, have owned the house since 1999. Eric is currently a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and a physicist at the United States Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He was part of a team awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 2001 for their creation of the world’s first Bose-Einstein condensate new form of matter, was awarded the Lorentz Medal in 1998 and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 3. Distinction in the Development of the Community: Polls and Registration House, 1908-1928. Elaboration: The house first appears as a “Voting Place” in September 1908. At the time, the council representatives were Aldermen chosen by the “ward” where they lived. Each of the four wards of the city included three precincts where people could vote, and it was common to hold elections at private residences. In 1910, the

republican congressional convention met at the house. The residents in 1911 specified that the “voting place” was located in the basement. In June 1917, the city held “registration day” for conscriptions into service for World War I at the house with “assistant registrars” serving meals. 1917 was a busy year for municipal elections, and the house hosted four: the first to ask voters if the city should develop a charter, the second to choose 21 committee members to draft the charter; a third election to ask voters to adopt the charter. The charter proposed creating an at-large council who would be elected through the “Hare system of preferential voting,” now commonly called proportional ranked voting or Ranked Choice Voting. After the City Charter was adopted, new councilmembers were elected on December 11 (the fourth municipal election of 1917) and Mrs. Ida M. Campbell was elected Boulder’s first female “councilman.” In 1922 and 1924 the house hosted Democratic Precinct Caucuses, the municipal election and the general election. In 1928, the house was used for the Democratic primaries and the General Election. After 1928, the house was no longer as a polling place, although other residences continued to be as Boulder struggled to find enough places for people to vote as the population increased. In 1948, the city eliminated the redundant ward system to avoid geographically limiting the polling place locations, and by 1952 the city eliminated the use of private residences as polling places in favor of schools. 4. Recognition by Authorities: Front Range Research Associates, Inc. Elaboration: 1989 Survey1 considered the house significant “with its classical detailing, this building is a good example of Edwardian Vernacular architecture.” ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: Summary: The building at 745 University Ave. meets the following architectural significance criteria. 1. Recognized Period or Style: Edwardian Vernacular Elaboration: The building is a good example of the Edwardian Vernacular style, popular in Boulder at the turn of the twentieth century. Character-defining features include the one-and-one-half story front gabled form with flared eaves and decorative painted wood shingle in the gable ends; the full width front porch with stucco and half-timbering in the gable end; and the non-symmetrical window and door openings with stone lintel and arched brick headers.2 2. Architect or Builder of Prominence: Not known

1 Front Range Research Associates. “745 University Ave historic building inventory record.” June 1989. Call No.

780 University 745. Carnegie Library for Local History, Boulder. https://localhistory.boulderlibrary.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A49695 2 “Colorado’s Historic Architecture & Engineering Guide.” 2008. History Colorado. https://www.historycolorado.org/bungalow

Elaboration: Although neither the architect nor builder are currently known, Alfred Wheeler commissioned the house. 3. Artistic Merit: Pressed brick Elaboration: Boulder’s clay soils produced materials for making brick. From about 1890, multiple companies made local brick, including the Adamant Brick Company and Boulder Pressed Brick Company. The house was constructed of high quality, local pressed brick that is consistent in color and quality. 4. Example of the Uncommon: None observed 5. Indigenous Qualities: The stone rubble foundation and pressed red brick is locally sourced. ENVIRONMENTAL SIGNIFICANCE: Summary: The building located at 745 University Ave. meets the following environmental significance criteria. 1. Site Characteristics: Gregory Creek follows the east property line at the front of the property, creating an unusual and unique site, with a stone and concrete retaining wall. The City of Boulder maintains the walls through an easement and uses the creek for the conveyance of storm water. 2. Compatibility with Site: The massing and scale of the house and the property’s mature vegetation is compatible with its residential setting. 3. Geographic Importance: The property is located midblock between 7th and 8th Streets facing south onto University Ave. The building is a familiar visual landmark within the neighborhood. 4. Environmental Appropriateness: None observed. 5. Area Integrity: The property is located in the identified potential Expanded Highland Lawn historic district.

Findings The Landmarks Board finds, based upon the application and evidence presented, that the proposed designation application is consistent with the purposes and standards of the Historic Preservation Ordinance, in that:

1. The designation of the property at 745 University Ave. will protect, enhance, and perpetuate a property reminiscent of a past era of history and preserve an important example of Boulder’s historic architecture. 2. The proposed designation will maintain an appropriate setting and environment for the building, and enhance property values, stabilize the neighborhood, promote tourist trade and interest, and foster knowledge of the city’s living heritage.

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Attachments Attachment A – Ordinance 8741

About Quasi-judicial Items Quasi-judicial decisions before council are constrained by very specific criteria. Specifically, unlike other Council decisions, direct fiscal impact to the city organization is not an allowable consideration. Development projects are required to pay fees and taxes to cover the costs of city review and approval processes and of the development’s impacts on the city’s capital facilities. Review of the project is part of the P&DS team’s standard workplan and its impacts are incorporated into the annual revenue forecasting as part of the annual budget development.