September 18, 2024 — Boulder Junction Access District Joint Session

Transcript

Captions from City of Boulder YouTube recording.

[0:00] Think we can. Okay. Great. Ready. Rico. Start recording. It's Tuesday, September 18, th 4 o'clock or 4 Pm. This is the Covid Direction Access District Parking and Tdm. Travel demand management commissions. and I will call all Rebecca Dumichel. Cedar. Can you hear us. Rebecca? Are we on mute and. I can hear you. Maybe her headphones aren't working potentially, or something like that. I've been in Japan. Let me message her.

[1:06] We can continue with that Stephanie Pike present Susan Grant. but present Jennifer Shriver is not able to attend Ryan cook. Here. Rebecca Dumichel again for the Tdf. Commission, the Fire Commission. Kevin Knapp that resume. and Robin Brody Brexit. you know. But I'll turn the meeting over to our chair. Thanks. our 1st item today, as usual, is approval of the minutes from the 24th we should be able to do that for parking right.

[2:02] Yes. Okay. Robin or Rebecca. Any any questions or corrections for the minutes from July. I do not have any. How many? Okay? I think we could make a motion then to approve. I'll make a motion to approve the minutes. Great. I think I can second. but we would hopefully like Rebecca to give a cent. were you able to message with her, Chris. I did, but she did not respond. Okay? Well, let's just come back to that vote. Then. and we can move on.

[3:04] given our attendance today. It sounds like, we'll be pushing our vote. Another meeting for adjustments to chairs and vice chairs for the commissions. Does that make sense? Okay. Oh, she cannot hear us! She will rejoin. Okay? And then, while she's doing that, I don't see any members of the public. Am I incorrect? There. No. Doesn't, doesn't look like I didn't mean to speak over you, Chris. There are no members of the public sorry. Okay. great. So we can. Maybe will if you'd like to. give the update, and then we can do our vote after you're done once. Rebecca's back in.

[4:06] Sure. Hi, everyone! We'll chiming in with a quick boulder junction. Tdm, update happy to say that things continue to proceed. I field requests almost every workday. Certainly every week of new residential members and business hires. It seems like splunk and uplight in particular, have a pretty healthy roster up to over 200 staff each. Netapp is sort of leading the charge for return to work plans. So they're one who we will continue to work with for trip reduction efforts. The the myride program. I I really only worked with Karen for a few months in terms of issuing the authorization forms last year. But the digital platform. I I would say, is really helping both the coordinators and the riders themselves. And we had an interesting situation a few weeks ago, where a station agent downtown sort of brought to our attention a bit of questionable behavior, and we were able to get in touch with one of the

[5:12] property managers of a relatively new addition to the district and resolve it quickly. But that really brought to light sort of the integrity that we're seeing in these digital passes. It seems a benefit across the board. I would say. there are one sort of partner update that I wanted to share is just a few hours ago we learned that Boulder B cycle has announced an acquisition with Bts, which I believe is bicycle transportation systems. So women owned Lgbtq ally based in Los Angeles. I believe that operates about 15 dock based bike share systems across the country. I didn't know that there were still that many in operation, but they're proclaiming to be the 1st vertically oriented.

[6:02] rather the only vertically oriented provider nationwide. So we're expecting this could result in more access to both residents and employees in Boulder Junction, particularly in the form of the new 2 point, O docs, that you might see in front of sundry. So that was some late breaking news that just came across our screens this afternoon. We're also working with the Roots Music Project, which is a nonprofit that's based in what will be the Boulder Junction phase 2. District to expand the transportation engagement area of their concert on September 28.th So so far we have Boulder B cycle, who will be present, as well as the Boulder Chamber of Transportation connections, and a few others that are likely to join, so I would warmly welcome everyone on the call. It's a Saturday afternoon evening, from 5 to 9 Pm. I can put a link in the chat, but I've alluded to that before, and there is a poster that I'd sent over to Lisa. If anyone is interested in promoting this free community event that the city is sponsoring and supporting and then, as a final, aside from the Chamber side, we have our quarterly luncheon tomorrow from 1130 to one. So if anyone is interested in a bit of in person interaction, we'd love to share some of the sustainable, commute things that are coming within and beyond Boulder Junction.

[7:23] and there's lunch being catered from Curtis Park, which some have said is the best Caprese in Boulder Junction, so I'll put a link to that as well in the chat, and look forward to seeing any of you who can join tomorrow. I'll step back now, but happy to field any other questions that came up. Great update. Thanks, Will Rebecca Robin any questions on your end for Will's topics. I guess my only question would be, and I this is, I'm sure, way too early to ask this question. Do we have any?

[8:00] Is there an expectation of any downtime with the current B cycles that we have in town, as we transition because of that acquisition. It is very early news. I think it was literally 2 h ago that I got my 1st disclosure about this. I consider myself a friend with Kevin, but I would not put this exclusively on him at all. The press release said that they do not expect any service interruptions. So I I see this as one of those behind the scenes, infrastructural improvements. The the notice declared that it was in October 1st or early October that the structural change would occur within the business. So I don't actually expect much infrastructural implementation until November or the 1st quarter of next year. Cool thanks. Sure. Who have you reached out to for the event

[9:01] with that flyer? Well. A growing roster of many of the I would call it multi unit property management organizations. So timber and spark west 30 per. Well, it's it's now 3,100 pearl instead of Griffiths, the 30 Pearl property managers. But basically anyone who will listen. I'm I'm trying to welcome to attend. Our team was at the Cu Bike fest last week, which was great. It's it's well outside of the Boulder Junction district, but we had a hundred 50 people really early in their commuting career, as I like to say, who are who are interested in see Boulder Junction as a great car free destination. So it's it's really helpful when we can point people to something as simple as Goose Creek Path Junction Place exit. And they know what we're talking about. That's that's a great thing. But I would really welcome any extra help and promotion among your communities with the flyer.

[10:01] Did you reach out to boom? Boom properties. No, I've not done that yet. If you have a specific person you'd recommend, please let me know. And just for reference, I've I've been sort of basing outreach over the last 2 months, just with the city website. And then Jesse, from the Roots Music Project actually gave us a I guess I would call it localized flyer. There's numerous bands that have been performing up on the hill, and so they have an update where, instead of saying the hill in July or August, it's now Boulder Junction, September 28.th Okay, thanks, will. Rebecca. Welcome back. I think we can do the vote for the july minutes. If, unless you have corrections, suggestions, questions about those.

[11:03] Okay, robin had already made a motion that we seconded. So I think it's just an all in favor. Okay. Hi. Thanks. I think that covers it for parking at least. Let's see here, I'm looking for my agenda. Think that puts us into questions or comments about the budget or the consent agenda. I did not have any for today. Nor do I. Okay. great. Then we can move on to matters from staff. Alright. thanks, Ryan. 1st up. We have Regan with a couple small updates on both communify

[12:00] and if she has anything more to share on the roots. Basic project that she entertainment express. So communify refers to the boulder. Clean theme program. Just a refresher. This is the Tdm program that we launched earlier this year, officially launched on April 1st in Boulder Junction and in Cajun, and it encourages companies to fund and participate in more sustainable commuting practices through a financial incentives matching program directed at their employees. So, in other words, just to summarize the city will match the employer provided plans for their employees who take sustainable trips to and from work. and with that employers can then apply for the State tax credit that provides a 50% ex credit towards dollars that employers spend on sustainable transportation initiatives for their employees. So we receive quarterly reports from communify the tech company that we're working closely with to launch this program.

[13:06] The quarter to Quarterly report should be in your meeting packet. But I do have some updated statistics for you all. Since that that quarterly report is a bit outdated. So we currently have 22 employer participants. Approximately 5, and will rejection about 1,200 sustainable steps have been logged in the program so far by approximately 40 employee users. And so. looking ahead, although we are seeing some level of engagement with the program, we ideally, we'd like to see more. You know, this is a pilot. So it's kind of an opportunity for us to assess the opportunities and challenges as we move forward. And so we're really looking to boost our outreach efforts later this year, we want to contact some of the employers that we've already reached out to and haven't signed up just to get a better understanding of any hurdles or barriers.

[14:06] So again, it's really enhancing our outreach efforts, and I'll just end by saying, It is in our recommended budget for 2025. We've allocated additional funding for commutified in 2025. But official City Council. Approval on the budget will take place till October 17.th Happy to answer any questions you might have about the program with no questions. Roots, music project. I don't have anything to add. Thank you. Will. I think we're just excited. That this last event is taking place in Boulder Junction will help raise awareness of Boulder Junction as a neighborhood and kind of bring more visitation to the area so very excited for that.

[15:06] Regan, can you maybe share how it's gone on with him. Yes, it's gone really, really well, on the hill, just in terms of getting visitors to the area supporting local businesses. I think, in total, we had 1,000 visitors. Between the 3 events collectively, that were on the hill, so great foot traffic and just really great turnout overall. Robin. Do we have an estimate, or any data on any gains to the businesses that they've seen in an uptick in sales with that event happening. Just curious if that's been done. That hasn't been done specific to the events yet, but certainly something we could look into, either just by talking to the business surrounding businesses, or maybe looking at some of the place area. Yeah, there are we? So we aren't able to do deep dives to individual businesses on sales tax data. So it is more anecdotal, based on what we hear. So we can certainly do more of that. And hopefully we'll see some.

[16:14] Oh, I see. We'll just put some information in the chat. So certainly something that we follow closely. We tend to aggregate more than just focus on one individual event. Part of the the intention for Boulder Junction is, how do we get folks to even know that that space is there? So it's the residuals, not just the event itself, but also just the the marketing, the branding, the identity of the space, in hopes that folks go there for one event and realize. Just like for the hill. Hey, this is actually a nice space. And there are restaurants up here, and I want to spend more time up here. If we aren't able to analyze. You know how many of those folks come back from. you know music event and then return for other things. But we do aggregate on whole. How often folks visit certain geographic areas. You're going to see some data about this later on.

[17:10] In matters from staff. And so overall. We want to over time. See more visitors coming more frequently, and things like the Roots music project are intended to help improve those numbers as they're aggregated over time. for sure. Thank you. Yeah. Thanks for getting it. Great, thank you. Your Regan. Yeah, moving. Moving right along. Our next item is the commercial areas, update connections and analysis. Matt Szanski is our project manager. I'm not sure, Matt, if you are planning to share your screen and drive the presentation. Yeah, I think that's the best. Great also.

[18:00] It's gonna have to free me up to share screen. So. Oh. Lisa will work on that so I'll queue as as we're working behind the scenes to get the Powerpoint up. Just want to let the Commissioners know. Here are our guinea pigs. In a way, this is our second dress rehearsal for our Council meeting tomorrow. With the work that we've all been talking about for some time now related to a variety of district based work areas that have been highlighted in councils. priority around connections. And quality of life improvements. We are working to daylight a number of issues, including the mill levy considerations that you all have been talking about for some time for Boulder Junction. We're using this as an opportunity to daylight a number of of district initiatives and then other

[19:01] elements of work. So with that we'll dive into our presentation next slide, please. So first, st I'm going to give a bit of a background. It's stuff that you all as as commissioners close to our Gids are pretty familiar with, but we have a lot of Council members who are not familiar with the work of community vitality and and the role of general improvement districts in the city. So we're going to just do a little background information and I'll kick it over to Matt, who's going to dive into the deeper details of 3 specific work areas that either ongoing or in development. So district enhancements and investments. These are things we're doing right now. The improvement districts. Analysis. This is the deeper dive into the existing general improvement districts, and governance and identifying some, some key moves that we can make in the near term to improve operations and better deliver services.

[20:08] And then the boulder commercial areas blueprint. This is a longer range visioning effort that Matt's going to provide more details on. Then we do have some questions for city council, and then some next steps. So before we dive into the the work that is coming up right now, it's important to take a step back and recognize the legacy that we've all inherited in our roles today, and how everything that we are managing has come to be, and I'd like to take a step back to when Boulder was founded, and our 4 with, I don't know. Forefathers is a word that we want to use. But 4 people had a vision for a community in this space. It's important to, of course, note the unfortunate sides of of envisioning. Our our key commercial areas in the downtown did lead to the displacement of indigenous peoples. And later on some of our very 1st African American neighborhoods that existed in the downtown.

[21:18] I just wanna make sure. We know that as we are contemplating future investments in this space. But you know, before the automobile became such a central focus of our culture. Our downtowns across the country were very pedestrian, oriented. Boulder was certainly much more rural place within the downtown. You could find all of your daily needs. And it was a very walkable space. It was accessible by multimodal transportation. There was a train running into Denver every day. You can see a little picture of it here, with maybe what's Boulder's very 1st park, and ride on for on Broadway at Pearl Street. So really a a special time of vitality in our community way back when and then, of course, as the automobile became more prolific, through the forties and the seventies. We saw a lot of impacts due to population change and cultural shifts.

[22:21] And a lot of change coming to downtown with the opening up Crossroads Mall over at 28th and Canyon, which was at that time unincorporated. Boulder County, really did suck a lot of vitality, and the the pedestrian activity out of our downtown area, and a lot of a lot of decisions got made at that time, including the creation of the general improvement districts in downtown and University Hill. in order to start taking steps to reinvest in strategies to protect the character of our spaces. So that's when the Gids were envisioned to assume all of the long term, parking liability for all the parcels within the districts, so that property owners weren't compelled to tear down their neighbors building in order to provide parking for their customers.

[23:10] And so we. We have a great legacy that we've inherited and the decisions that were made during those years that set up our communities for success in the years to come. Of course, as we moved into the 19 nineties and early 2 thousands we learned a lot about. We cannot park our way. We got billed parking as the only solution to allow folks to access our spaces. So the creation of the 1st contract. Universal Bus pass with Rtd. Happened in downtown boulder in 1,989. That's when we started invested investing in other modes of transportation. Cajud was a early funder of the hop service when that transit route was just coming online, and that was a flagship service. That was a model across the country of how communities can provide improved transit service in their communities.

[24:09] it's about, you know, again, over time, as we move into today where we're providing all types of transportation demand management tools you heard from Regan just now about communify and the boulder clean commute as a strategy that we're using to encourage folks to find ways to get downtown into our key commercial areas in ways without having to to drive and store a vehicle for long periods of time. And while all those programs are really expensive, it's still cheaper than building more parking and maintaining more parking structures. So now we're in today, we have, we have new challenges that we are facing and new priorities to be considering and the community vitality role takes a important as an important role, unique role in our city organization to address those challenges next slide, please.

[25:06] So you all have heard this before, but again wanting to make sure that we highlight with city council, the 3 strategic pillars of our department and the unique role that we play in this organization and our community. we have cultural vibrancy. So that's really our office of arts and culture and office special events housed in community vitality, district vitality, which is largely our management of our general improvement districts throughout the city and our our commercial areas, and then access for all that's really speaking to the multimodal transportation support function that our department provides through parking access services and transportation demand management tools next slide. So we're breaking. We're broken out into a number of divisions district management, the office of arts and culture in the office of special events are all led by Matt Szanski. He's our senior manager of cultural vibrancy and district vitality.

[26:04] parking and access services is led by our senior manager of operations and maintenance, Christine Edwards. She's not here in this meeting today. I don't think, unless I see her online, but she will be joining us at City Council tomorrow. and then, of course, business services supported by our senior manager of business services. Eliot Labonte. next slide when it comes specifically to the management of our Gids. There are 4 Gids in the city, focused on commercial areas. And so, of course, Cajun Central Area, General Improvement District and University Hill General Improvement District, established in 1,970. They've been around for more than 50 years. Working towards these access related goals, and then Boulder Junction, Tdm, and Boulder Junction per game. Those were established in the early 20 tens as a way to continue the model of lessons that we learned in the downtown and University Hill, in a new emerging commercial district in the city wanted to make sure that we could get ahead of parking and access challenges as that part of our city has developed

[27:20] slide. It's important to note that our Gids are made possible, due to state statute and that really is, is, lays the foundation for what Gids can be used for and how they operate and what their purpose is. And so Gids are are intended to establish capital funds that can build facilities that can generate revenue. That also, you know, generate great resources to maintain those facilities. They're paid for through property taxes from the property owners. And since Boulder is a triple net lease community. Those

[28:03] monies are, you know, the taxes are passed through to the business owners of the folks that are occupying those commercial spaces. They're governed by a board of directors, which is the city council, but they form as the board of directors when they're making decisions specifically related to Gid management. These, you know, quasi governmental entities that are are separate from the city are allowed to condemn properties, operate those facilities, generate revenue from those facilities, and issue bonds to pay for capital projects within or benefiting the districts next slide. So over the past 50 plus years, community vitality and the work of managing general improvement districts has led to the construction of a number of facilities and purchases of many parcels. We now have 6 mixed use, parking garages, or sorry 7 mixed. Use parking garages. 6 are in the downtown. We have 2 surface slots, one in downtown boulder at Broadway and spruce, and another on University Hill. And of course we have the the 100 spaces in the garage at Boulder Junction.

[29:12] So this totals more than 2,300 district owned parking spaces that does not include all of the on street facilities and advantage. We also as part of our access component of our work, own, maintain, replace repair 1,300 bike racks primarily in the downtown university. We also, of course, do manage all of the on street parking infrastructure in our managed districts. So all the pay stations, all the pay for park pay to park signage as well as the the camp or Chautauqua Access management program area during the weekends and holidays in the summer. We also have other assets owned by the Gids or owned by you all are familiar with this. It's not just limited to the 100 spaces in the garage at Boulder Junction. We also have ownership interest in the plaza amenities, the placemaking components, and the same goes for number of assets on University Hill in the downtown.

[30:18] And of course the city has arts, public art, infrastructure throughout the city and our arts. Our office of arts and culture manages those assets as well. Next slide. So this leads us to where we're at in our conversation today and mapping our our future, and doing some near term and long term planning. And this relates really closely to the council priority that was established back in April. Where this commercial area connections priority was was highlighted. focusing on connections between commercial areas with the with a specific emphasis on the connection between University Hill and downtown. And so we're really looking to this council priority as the the impetus for us to start this conversation. Take a look at how we've been doing so far, what we've already been doing in support of

[31:15] of this priority work that we know we need to do to help advance this priority? In the years ahead, and then the development of a long term vision for what comes next. So with that, I'm going to hand it over to Matt, who will lead us into the details of these 3 areas. Great thanks. Chris. so yeah. As as Chris said, we're gonna start with what's going on right now with the asset management infrastructure and especially beautification of our commercial areas and the work that's going on in community vitality and really across the city. So you know, when we think about connections between and quality of life in our commercial areas. This is central to the ongoing work plan of the community vitality department.

[32:06] All of our divisions have a role to play, and as caretakers of our general improvement districts, the work on beautification, capital projects, asset management, placemaking and associated programming in our districts is a central focus of our work projects that directly relate to Council's priorities for commercial areas which are underway or in our current work plan. So you're going to hear over and over again this refrain, that that work, even though it's in community vitalities, work plan is part of our everyday work. It relies on strong partnerships with other city departments and organizations that includes planning and development services, parks and recreation, transportation, mobility facilities and fleet. The business improvement district downtown the Hill Boulder Merchants Association, the University of Colorado. So many people make sure that this safety, vibrancy and connection between districts happens. The vision for community vitalities, district Revitalization and investment efforts is to advance the district priorities through through those investments and to do so in collaboration with all of these strategic partners.

[33:11] So when we think about what's going on right now. These are things which you know a lot about. Maybe council doesn't pay as close attention to. But we want to highlight that this this everyday work is really making a difference. And so we've got projects that are completed or nearly complete. Obviously the 1st 2 matter greatly to Boulder Junction, the the way finding and place making icons, the roots music project collaboration. It's been all things that are. We're really looking forward to. There's also a massive project going on across our downtown garages to do concrete repair. And that's not only a structural thing to make sure we're taking care of that assets, but making sure that there's a welcoming environment with really well maintained buildings that are your 1st footfalls into the city. We've implemented gateless garages, which I have personally enjoyed greatly and want to highlight for that reason, but also the outdoor dining pilot which we're looking to move forward into an ongoing program, the painted crosswalks which we already have.

[34:14] some in what one instance in downtown. And we're looking at another one coming to the hill soon, and the wayfinding signs that temporary installations that guide people from the hill to downtown, looking at the permanent version of that and other ways at a pedestrian scale to guide people between districts. So this is just 7 of these will also be presenting in City Council's packet 22 others that are underway right now that community vitology staff are working on. And so when we think about the scope of of those projects underway. I'm also thinking about what's coming up. What's in our work plan ahead. I'm not going to read all these that are on the screen. Again. There's a a even longer list in the packet

[35:03] that we presented to city council, but one that we do want to linger on is in the city manager's 2025 recommended Budget, and that's the University Hill streetscapes investments project. This is going to be a series of projects that will enhance the streets with new infrastructure and improvements. Community vitality and transportation and mobility departments will be collaborating on this, and it will include some things like possibly adding drought, resistant plants, adding artistic elements, upgrading alleys, sustainable irrigation systems. It's a project that I think will be transformational, and we hope to have done in the next few years. So, as I said, collaboration is the the operating principle that we do deploy in community vitality, and that includes supporting other departments and their projects that affect our districts and our commercial areas. I won't read all these off, either. I think. The big one that I'm looking for is the Boulder Valley comprehensive plan.

[36:03] There's going to be an update and then implementation. And that is going to be a guiding principle in some things. We're going to talk about in a second, but also will give us some criteria and some vision for how commercial areas are going to respond for the next generation of priorities. You know. Chris's timeline laid out these cycles of what was most important, and so the Comp plan is going to help us to define the future of the priorities for districts moving forward. And I also want to point out that a lot of the projects you saw that our community vitality leads, and that are part of other departments. We do have a collaboration called All things downtown, where department directors and project managers can get together and make sure projects align and don't overlap and make sure we're all working in pulling in the same direction. So that was now what's happening right now and next, I want to talk a little bit about what happens next.

[37:03] And we've talked about the District Analysis project before. Not only is this a chance for you to sort of see what we're going to be presenting to council, but also check in because there's been some evolution on this. And so we want to talk through the refinement of this project, and how you'll be participating with us in the months coming up. So since that last section was, what's happening now. And this is what's next. We're really talking about the near term answering the question of what we're going to be doing to address the city council priority of commercial areas in the in the next few years. To get the answer to that question, we have to study conditions in our commercial areas. and from that understanding come up with recommendations for governance and finance tools that will help us achieve the near-term priorities. The Improvement District analysis will address structural solutions to improve efficiency and effectiveness of governance and financial tools in the current and potential new districts over the next few years. So we have the 4 current districts we know a lot about. We also have a lot of area pan area plans, sub community plans, other strategic documents that recommend improvement district tools. So we want to start to investigate where those improvement district tools might take us in current and future districts.

[38:18] For the scope. After we review existing policy and strategy, we're going to conduct conduct any supplementary research and engagement that is needed. We'll be mindful of overlaps with other projects. For instance, like I said, the Boulder Valley comprehensive plan update, but also the civic area phase 2. There's a lot of inquiry going on in the community. We're going to take full advantage of those. Those questions will develop individualized tools for each current and potential district and follow a near-term action plan for policy needs and work plan items that staff can deploy. This will be a useful development. And it it's going to be very useful for the 2026 budget cycle. So we're really looking at that as a deadline. We need recommendations. So we know what to do in the next the next budget cycle which will begin in May of 2025, the development of the 26 budget.

[39:10] But that also leads then into some other deadlines for the state that we're keeping an eye on. To make sure that in the next year, 2, maybe 3, we have the tools. We need to make good decisions on all of that. So we're going to kick off that project as just coming up in a few weeks months here with, like, I said, final recommendations we're looking at in May of 2025. We don't anticipate extensive engagement. We will be consulting with very smart people like yourselves. With the our commissions taking a look with stakeholders to confirm assumptions and to refine the process. But this is really about getting those near term next steps based on existing priorities. And so that's what the focus will be.

[40:00] But as we think about what to do next, we also need to think about the future. And so this longer term document, this longer term effort is what we're calling the boulder commercial areas blueprint. So you know again, back to Chris's timeline and those generational priorities that you saw. This is our chance to address that for the long term, the next phase of our districts we think about the challenges that we're experiencing, like the evolving economy after the pandemic and new opportunities like the new hotels and conference center on the hill. This is the right moment to thoughtfully consider the future and what new priorities are going to guide our commercial areas over the long term. we plan to study the existing and potential districts with a long-term time horizon. And this blueprint will be a strategic document that provides recommendations on action items for staff intended to implement the vision and goals of the sare framework of the sustainability, equity, and resilience framework. That's where we establish the vision and goals over the long term.

[41:04] and then from those sere framework goals we also look for policy, direction, and strategy from the Boulder Valley comprehensive plan, as well as the one boulder framework and the citywide strategic plan as the basis to do that, we really 1st have to have great outcomes from the Boulder Valley comprehensive plan update. So we're going to support our partners in planning and development services as they take on extensive research data and engagement projects for the update of the Comp plan. The quality outcomes of that updated Boulder Valley. Comprehensive plan is then going to feed the blueprint, so that with that foundation we'll do a study of the vision and strategy documents plus supplementary data and engagement to produce priorities for each district. The blueprint will conclude with recommendations for the improvement district tools necessary to achieve the priorities. So to understand that first, st we're going to share with council something that you've seen before, which is this chart of the of the current state of affairs. This is a moment in time of the 2024 assessment of each of our districts, and we're not really going to dig into the data here or with council. The idea is just to say that there's a variety of

[42:12] of equations that are happening across the different districts between the taxation and the taxable property value, and what that means for revenue, and then that leads into what we use that revenue to afford, and some of these are perhaps in balance, some of them are out of balance, and so the blueprints idea is to examine this against the the priorities for each district. and then determine what efficiencies can be gained by any changes. And so here's another chart. This is one that goes through each of the types of districts that are available by State law to municipalities. We have in boulder several of these obviously gender improvement districts, but also urban renewal authorities, downtown development authorities. We've deployed some of these before. There's also digging into the details of this. Once we determine that there's good options for some of these districts to do new things.

[43:13] we need to decide how to implement them. Should borders be redrawn should taxing structures or revenue structures be rethought, so it'll be a careful consideration in each district of what our options are and what's going to be best for the future. So in thinking about how to do this, we don't yet have a timeline. This is in the early phases of scoping and creating a project charter, but we do. What we do know is this is going to be a project that follows a half a step behind the Boulder Valley comprehensive plan update. And we're going to integrate closely with that process to get this done. and then, as far as our outreach to the community. We we will supplement with some stakeholder and community feedback or other types of engagement. We don't have a scope for that yet, but we do want to make sure that whatever the foundations are from those from the Boulder Valley, comprehensive plan and other documents that we take the time to inquire with our stakeholders, with people in the districts to build the vision and the tools.

[44:15] So with that lot of information wanted just to circle back and say the real reason for us approaching council. And what we'd love for your input on to to improve. This presentation is that there's vision and scopes for each of these 3 work areas for the now, the District Revitalization investments for the next improvement district analysis and for the future with the commercial areas blueprint. So I can come back to that. But the 1st thing we're going to do is, ask you if you have any clarifying questions for us in about that presentation. If there's anything that was unclear that we could circle back on before we ask for your input and suggestions.

[45:04] and I will stop sharing for a second so we can see each other's faces. There you are. Thanks, Matt. I had a question just a clarifying one. The purpose of the slide describing the different types of districts is just to say to council. that these are the different tools that you might have available, depending on how that analysis proceeds. So if we see it's we need to do. X, then maybe we want a district or sorry. Yeah district, you know of this type to help affect it. And maybe we already have that. Or maybe it needs to be a new one or something to that effect. Is that right? That that's precisely it is is we have some tools that are available made available to us by the State. We want to sort of start with a blank slate and say, What do we want to accomplish? And what's the best tool to achieve those goals. Chris, do you have anything to add to that response. No, that's right. On.

[46:02] Thanks. Any other clarifying questions from commissioners. Yes. Oh, go ahead, Robin! Mine might be a little might be slightly off of topic. I wanted to just kind of circle back to something. 1st of all, I really appreciate the way that Chris started off everything with this presentation. I was just kind of curious, as some of this revitalization, and some of these projects are multi generational. I'm just kind of curious with the art projects we're doing. How are we? Considering the history of Boulder, and presenting maybe a more diverse perspective of that in our street paintings and other signage that we're using to acknowledge that history. That's an excellent question. It is a little off topic, but that's great practice for council. So I think. Sorry. Sorry.

[47:00] So good. Chris, do you mind if I jump in on that. Okay, how about it? Great. So, yeah, I, I appreciate that question because it is very important that our public art program represent the community really? Well, and that means a couple of things. It's first, st we're narrating what's important to our community right now for future generations. But that also means that the artists who create art and the images of the art itself are representative of the people in our community, and that everyone can see themselves and their lives in the artwork. And so we do take that very seriously in how we go through the public art process. And so when we have a new Commission. A selection panel is formed. and the Arts Commission helps to assemble the right people to represent the community. Given the nature of the project, so you know, for instance, if it's if it's a neighborhood project that really means something to a small locality, we want the people who live with that art every day to be a part of the selection. Those selection panel members from the community are then given training, including with train training that comes out of our race equity plan

[48:06] and helping to diminish unconscious bias and structural issues that happen with any sort of selection process like this, but also to raise up other voices and make sure that whatever artists apply and end up developing proposals, that they truly understand the community. And so we have deep, deep public inquiry to help bring forward voices and make sure that artists, as they develop an idea that they have the full range of voices and can access people who usually don't get heard in those types of things. So that that's sort of process issue. But that's how we start to get at that. Thank you for the process issue. The second Chris said it was stuck in my head. I was like, Oh, I wonder how they're taking how they're taking this into account. So thanks for going down the rabbit hole with me. I appreciate it. That was way too humble. There was a great article in the Boulder weekly. I think it just came out today. That speaks directly to positive outcomes in this space, so certainly recommend.

[49:02] I will definitely check that out. Thank you so much. Thanks, Chris. all right. Any other questions help clarify the slides. Yeah. One other one just about the the blueprint. is that something that has kind of an intended lifetime like, so we're we're gonna come up with this, based on, you know our engagement, and you know Council's desired direction, and and then that will guide us, for, you know, 10 years or 5 year. I just am curious if if there's kind of a an intention for how long that plays a part in community vitalities work. Chris, do you want me to jump in on that. Well, I retire in 22 but sure, Matt, you can jump in.

[50:02] So. It it will. I don't have a number for you right now. What I will say is going to drive. That is, 1st of all, since it is coming out of the Boulder valley. Comprehensive plan. Update those projects, do have a cycle, and there's usually a 5 or 10 year, you know, between a small and a large update. This being a large update. So we're mindful of lining up to that time horizon. We're also aware that some of the great big ideas for what we might do in the future districts might include building things, you know. When back, when we were building parking garages, we need to to be careful about a vision that was set forth enough time to build something that we can be proud of, and so that will kind of guide it. I think, if the community comes forward and has a vision that implies a timeline, I think we'll try and line up to that, at least to create the type of steps and and processes to get us there in enough time. So it's not going to be a short

[51:05] time span. But I don't have a number for you right now. I think that will emerge from the data and engagement. That makes sense. You know, my! What I gathered from your presentation was that it was intended to be a little bit of a longer lived guide for the department not short lived. And so I think I was just trying to measure my understanding to see like, oh, no, this is just what we're doing for the next 2 years like oh, well, maybe I didn't understand what it was. But no, I think I I think that's clear. Okay. And Chris, did you wanna jump in on that. Oh, yeah, I was just gonna say that. Yeah, we as an organization, we've been shying away from a stated number of years for our longer range plans. But, as you described, that's exactly what it's intended to be is a document that guides our work for for many years. Thanks.

[52:04] Great any other questions. So If you have a question still, ask it, and we'll be around. You can always ask us questions. But we wanted to move into advice at this point. When the council meeting we'll ask council to weigh in on those priorities those visions and scopes make sure that lines up with their city council priorities about well connected and commercial areas with great quality of life. and they'll give us feedback on that and help us. Redirect, but for for my question for you along those lines is, if you have any advice about this presentation, the content that could help us improve and make sure that we're presenting what you think Council should. The the way in which we present this to Council is going to be well received, and, you know, hits all the points. So any advice for us again, this is something. If you think of it later, we'll be around. But

[53:01] since it's tomorrow we'd love your input. Well, great like, I said, oh, sorry! Who's jumping in? I'm ready. That was just Regan saying it. Megan. We're in good shape. I was counting my 8 seconds. Regan, you let me get the stick. Sorry. Well, thanks everyone. If you do have thoughts that come up in the next 24 h, or even afterwards, just please let Chris and I know we want to make sure this is really great represents you well, represents us well, and then the last slide, which I won't pull up. But we are going to do a next step. Slides kind of just outline of in those 3 buckets, those 3 work areas. We have some things that are coming up immediately. there's going to be the new painted crosswalk on the hill. It's going to be beautiful. Looking forward to that. We're gonna get that last Boulder Junction lace making, icon installed. And we're also just launched an affordable commercial pilot. It's a project that's mainly centered around downtown using some Arpa funds that can be city wide. But it's going to be a grant program to help

[54:15] with capital costs for new projects to come online to help with the affordability of retail space. So if anyone has any any one in their network who might benefit from that, please send it. Send them our way soon, and Regan and I can help them walk them through that program. But that's aside. We're also gonna hire our contractor for the district analysis that short term strategic document and then start to scope out the longer term document, get integrated with the Boulder Valley comprehensive plan update and get that longer term document kicked off early next year. So that's sort of what's ahead of us. And there's a lot of work to do so. I just wanted before I hand it over to you, Chris, to wrap us up. There's going to be so many people in our department working on this, and they all have to be brilliant, and they are going to be brilliant. And so I'm looking forward to working with you and with our staff on making all this happen.

[55:10] Chris. Thanks, Matt. I do want to hire highlight. There is a 23rd project that we have not been talking about. Oh, my! Gosh! Painted Adirondack chairs on the east end. Thank you. Yes, which is is really coming up. Okay, I'll add that. Thank you. Great. thank you, Matt. We're going to move now over to Elliot, who has a couple of items related to economic conditions and budget updates. Good. Thanks, Lisa. Would you want to pull up the place where you are? Thanks. So part of the meeting, Patty, you all should have received the property overview for Wilbur Junction. as presented here on the screen, and we kind of looked at q. 1 q. 2, between 2 23 and 24. Just

[56:06] kind of balancing out those differences and the visitation numbers and the foot traffic that's within Boulder Junction to Chris's point, as we activate that space like we did last year. And then also, we'll like we'll be doing this year. We just want to be cognizant of any efforts that we have. And although there's not a direct correlation to those efforts of doing activation, we do want to see kind of that trend going up to where more and more folks are experiencing and accessing that district. So a quick overview. If you go to the next slide there, you can just see, here's the map, both direction. This is really combining Tdm and parking into one. So it's not really signifying either one from those 2. And then the next slide there you'll see here on the left, in the blue, is your 2023 numbers, and in the red. On the right is your 2024 numbers, so you can see kind of a little bit of a change here in terms of the actual demographics, and then the May of the visitations.

[57:11] The number of visits is a little bit lower, as you can see, but the visitors are a little bit higher, so kind of thinking about unique individual visits coming in. And really, the the panel visits are individual devices that are pinged within that geographical boundary. So that's really you know, it's either more people have more than one cell phone in their pocket, or there's more actual people coming into the district, and I think it's probably more the latter than the former. And you can also kind of see a little bit of the dwell time increase as well. So people are staying a little bit longer, and we'll get into the length of dwell time. There's a uniqueness that multi junction has we'll talk about. We can go to the next one. So this is just a little bit of the trend over time. You can see these are the the visits. So there's a little bit of a change there. In 24 compared to 23, but really trending about the same kind of starting to peak back up the weeks didn't overlap exactly the same due to the dates, but we can see it started to change a little bit more

[58:20] at the next one. So this is a kind of an interesting view. So this is looking at Boulder Junction as a region. There's other categories that we can look at in terms of like neighborhood districts or shopping centers. But region really felt appropriate for here, and you can see that as a region. The visitors per square foot rank Boulder Junction by 5, even 23 and 24 nationwide Colorado, and then within that 30 miles and if you go to the next slide we'll see a little bit about the the oh, actually, I apologize. You did not get this so my apologies. This does not put it in the packet. But the comparison there that the top 5 regions from a nationwide perspective is really looking at places in San Antonio, Texas.

[59:14] New York, New York, Nashville, Tennessee, and Boston, Massachusetts. So you're looking at some pretty big metropolis areas that it's, you know, in terms of visitors per square foot. It's still ranking really high. So we see you can go into the next slide and kind of jump into the visitor journey here. So again in blue 2023. This is kind of what we were seeing people prior coming into the region and post, leaving the region. You can see the majority of its home which makes sense. There's a big residential component as well. in the Boulder junction area, but also work. So you can see how kind of that those home numbers started to increase a little bit more on the post. So actually, from these numbers, it looks as if, though more people are working outside of Boulder Junction than working in Boulder Junction, which probably makes sense due to the number of jobs available there.

[60:11] And you can also see that the number of college students who are leaving the district. Going to the university is also increased on the post side. And let's compare that on the next slide to 2,024 so even more in the college, as well as what you're seeing and more on the work side, so it could just mean that there's more people moving into the district, more of those vacant residence spaces are being occupied and filled by residents, and that's why you'll see a little bit more of the post changes there and then. Really, the last slide wanted to look at was the trade area coverage by distance. So this looks at from the left side of the graph. You'll see people who are within less than a mile, if you will, of the district, and how many of those visits in terms of percentage that makes up versus the number of visits from people that are over 250 miles away.

[61:09] On the very far right side you can see the bulk of the the percentage of visits is actually majority outside of the district. Out even outside of the area where you're seeing a lot of those visits and thinking about what Boulder Junction has to offer terms of the lodging. You can see how that really plays a big part into the actual visitations within Boulder Junction area. So that's kind of a snapshot into what we're seeing from foot traffic. Lisa, feel free to to go back to the folks on the panel. and I just wanted to know if there's any questions. Looks like, Brian, you have your hand up. Yeah, just about that last slide. Are are you thinking the hotel is having the large effect on the mileage distance of resident or of visitor to the to the district. Okay.

[62:02] Yeah, yeah, that's kind of what it's what it seemed like. And we can look into kind of specifics about the the hotel itself. There are some little nuances that we can get into we didn't really pull it into this slide in this presentation. We haven't really dove really far into it. But just knowing that Boulder Junction does have that hotel presence there and and thinking, you know, majority, the percentage of those visits aren't going to be people driving from 250 miles to come and work. So really, that hotel does play a big part into the foot traffic in both junction. So it's a great way to think about how we leverage that type of visitor and and providing support for Bowler Junction specifically got it. Yeah, Rebecca. Thank you. Absolutely. Related to that. I mean, obviously, the hotel is a is a component of that. But I wonder if there's been any comparison of the the budget of the offerings in the district versus the the income of of, you know people within

[63:02] yeah, 2 mile, some 5 miles. Can you kind of expand on that a little bit. Yeah. So if we, I'll pick on Pearl Street for a second, right? If we look at the types of businesses and brands that are that are available on Pearl Street. You have to be fairly affluent to shop there. wondering if we're we're seeing that as well with like 29th Street brands and and Boulder Junction. you know, budget levels of of the restaurants things like that. Yeah, it's it's interesting. You mentioned that. So I did do a comparison to 29th Street, your kind of closest neighbor, if you will and the the percentage of visitations of those folks that are over 250 miles drops significantly at 29th Street. So kind of signifies that a large number of the visitations at 29th Street are more, I guess, local, if you will. So folks who live within the area more so than at Boulder Junction. So you're looking at a

[64:09] 35% of visits in Boulder Junction versus about a 5% visit and 29th Street for that 100 to 250 mile range of where people are coming from. So yeah, certainly the the cost of. And it's not just the cost of goods and services and those types of things, but also what services are provided. So Boulder Junction doesn't have the heavy retail, heavy restaurant section that, like 29th Street Mall does, and a large portion of Boulder Junction residents, I'm sure, make their way over to 29th Street, because it's such a walkable community to be able to go over there and access that. So again, that's more. Why, you're seeing more local visits to somewhere like 29th Street. But Pearl Street is actually much more like Boulder Junction in terms of the actual foot traffic that they're seeing down. There is, is more of that kind of tourist. Community.

[65:14] Thank you. Other question. Yeah, go ahead. Any other questions. Great. So the last thing we'll wrap up with just a couple of quick slides on the city manager's recommended budget that should close out our matters from staff, so I promise I won't keep you much longer. Just wanted to fill you in from the last conversation we had what's changed between now and then? So not a whole lot changed for Boulder Junction, and the request that we had, as as Regan mentioned, that funding that we expanded for Boulder Junction for the beautify clean commute program. Was approved. It's going to be submitted to council for their review. And I can talk a little bit about the timeline with that but one of the the most significant changes we saw, of course, not really impacting Boulder Junction, but is impacting. One of our districts is kind of the funding that will be used on the Hill.

[66:11] We're doing some streetscape renovations and revitalizations. So some juggling of the general fund, as it always happens due to limitations on what's available. Shifted a little bit more towards you did in terms of how it funds that project itself. So nothing real crazy for Boulder Junction. But we're real still real happy with how the budgets going forward with city manager's office and if you actually go to the next slide. Lisa. This is kind of the timeline. So last week on Thursday they had a study session. I'm not sure if you all had a chance to watch that riveting good couple of hours of time. and then October 3rd will be the 1st reading which will include a public hearing. So anybody from the public, including commissioners, will be available to sign up and to be able to add any comments to the the 1st reading, and the second reading will also be under public hearing. And that is where you'll actually see the resolutions for the districts. Which is the the

[67:13] formal method of appropriating the funds for 2025 this year. So that's really all we had from matters for Staff. Chris, was there anything else you wanted to close out, or were there any other final questions? Alright, nothing more. Here. back to you, Ryan. Great thanks. appreciate that Elliot? we have one item on matters for Commissioners. I don't know the context for it, but it talks about the email distribution addresses. I don't know if any other info about that that might help us discuss.

[68:01] Have more info thanks for the question. So yeah, this is related to publicizing Commissioner emails. At your request, the last meeting Lisa has done some research with it and has some updates for you. Excuse me. So at the previous meeting commissioners and staff, we discussed the possibility of making the 2 aged email distribution list public, and I believe the idea was to deter the public from sending an email to every Commissioner individually through the same email and creating the public document. So I reached out to it. And they said, This is possible to make email public, but just want the Commissioners to be aware of a couple of caveats in that so I'll I'll read actually what they sent me says, although these lists will have our spam protection, they are still open to be found in email by anyone. Spammers sometimes scrape the Internet looking for public facing email addresses, distribution lists. They can send malicious emails, too. So exposing the distribution list to the public puts it at greater risk of receiving malicious emails.

[69:14] And then, second caveat it sent was when members of the distribution list reply directly to the emails, their personal email addresses will be visible in the replies. So it, you know, they said they they can't make teams emails public, just so that the Commissioners understand the possible address, so to speak. See Rebecca. Thanks. This. Yeah. Thanks. Yeah. And Rebecca. So I think the original. The original ask was more about the fact that if members of the public submitted some kind of feedback to the Commission. It actually wasn't getting to us. And that was that was part of the problem. And what needed to be solved. There was that nobody outside of a boulder

[70:10] city email address could actually email that distribution list. So that was my understanding of what the problem was. As far as the warning about spam. I agree wholehearted. That's why I I didn't want everybody's personal emails up on the website. They would prefer those communications to go through the form. So it sounds like Lisa. As long as everybody agrees she's going to be taking action as your secretary to make sure that folks are able to email, you via distribution list on the website. Perfect. Now a follow up that I expected to hear out of. That was maybe not from the it department, but from you, staff and and the city attorney of open

[71:03] meetings. Law, and you know, not emailing back and forth, using the distribution. But that's probably a fair warning to to my fellow commissioners. It's us. Yes, we certainly. Well, well, it's totally fine for folks to email you as residents. We ask that you all not respond. And we will. Not not a concern, Chris. send it to you. Perfect. Yes, that is, that is the desire we did not. All of our commissions are as enthusiastic at at that approach as you all are. Well, great! I think that resolves that issue. Then.

[72:00] I see we have our next meeting on the 13th of November. and unless there are any other matters from Commissioners. I think we can adjourn. Maybe I just will double check before we do. Chris, with Jennifer being present. Would you like a vote for Tdm. Or is there still not a quorum on Tdm. There's still not a quorum to be done. Okay. I haven't turn. So we will take care of it the next meeting. Thank you. Sounds good. Great. Well, then, I believe we can adjourn, appreciate everyone's time today. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Okay. Take care!