Inside the CU South Annexation Agreement

Short answer: Yes, but many conditions would apply to the new owner which do not currently apply to CU (a sovereign) - like planning and zonnig regulations..

Long answer: CU has other methods of developing and profiting from the real estate at CU South that don't involve at outright sale.

It is actually quite likely that a private entity will develop the housing at CU South. CU does not typically build housing. 

If CU were to sell to a different owner, the annexation agreement specfices that all of Boulder's 

Short answer: CU is conveying water rights to Boulder, but the yield is seasonal and much smaller than the antipated annual water demand at CU under buildout conditions.

Long answer: CU is conveying 30.2 shares of Dry Creek Ditch Company No.2 to the City under the annexation agreement.

An analysis of these shares suggests that they are reliable, but seasonal water rights which are unlikely to produce the necessary volume of water over the course of the year to supply the propery, once developed.

Thus, CU South wil actually use water from Boulder's current water portfolio produced by Boulder's current water treatment facilities.

Furthermore, the value the Dry Creek water rights CU will convey to the City are far less than the value of the water rights and water taps that CU gained through the agreement.

Short answer: 155 acres at CU South will become open space, but much of that land would never be developable because of its location in the floodplain. CU has agreed to sell 75 of the 155 acres to the City for open space at a cost of $37,500 per acre ($2.81 mllion).

Long answer: CU bought a gravel mine that water 100% designated for open space. Eventually about 89 acres were deemed developable. Through the annexation agreement CU adds another ~ 30 acres of developable land to CU South.

The size of the open space area at CU South will be greatly reduced from what it is today and what was originally intended when the gravel mine restoration plan was filed, under the annexation agreement. 

Because CU South lies in Boulder's last intact floodplain, it supports an amazing diversity of plants and animals including several threatened species.

The loss of more than a 100 acres of currently open land to development at CU South will have significant impact.