We don’t know the design of the new neighborhoods yet, but if we model upon Boulder’s Holiday neighborhood, it would have about 2000 homes and 270 businesses. In contrast, the airport has 13 businesses and primarily serves fewer than 200 local pilots.

We don’t know the design of the new neighborhood yet, but for a model we could look to the Holiday neighborhood in North Boulder, which is the last new neighborhood that Boulder built from the ground up, in the 1990s. Holiday is built on just over 27 acres and is home to 334 residences and 40 retail businesses. If we assume a similar pattern of development at the airport’s 179 acres, the site could easily accommodate over 2000 residences and 270 businesses. 

In comparison, 13 businesses (some of which are simply private hangar rentals) are currently located on the airport site. The airport manager estimated that fewer than 200 local pilots regularly use BDU.